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OVERRATED: SEC DEFENSES
Defenses around the SEC are overrated because of the amount of scoring that took place.
There’s a direct correlation between the new rules and the scoring. Defenses are so handicapped by these “targeting” penalties that cut down on hard hitting and physical play.
I keep reverting back to the Shane Ray hit on Blake Sims in the SEC championship game. Some people think it was a dirty hit, but I’ve been in Sims’ shoes before. Those hits don’t hurt at all.
The defensive line is taught to hit the quarterback. That’s their job. Now don’t get me wrong, it was a late hit, but wasn’t dirty or anything. He should have gotten a 15-yard penalty only because it was late, but not an ejection.
Between handicapped defenses and offenses that are so potent, we’ve seen a rapid increase in scoring. There are still solid defenses and teams that play physical (sort of), such as Ole Miss and Alabama, but we all saw what happened to them when they played against high-powered offenses.
UNDERRATED: SPEED IN OTHER CONFERENCES
After seeing the bowl games and watching a bunch of out of conference games, the speed gap between the SEC and other conferences is shrinking.
Let me say this though, not every team is catching up. I’m mainly talking about teams like Oregon, Ohio State, TCU and Baylor.
I keep thinking of Ohio State runining back Ezekiel Elliot running away from the Alabama defenders in the Sugar Bowl for an 85-yard touchdown. When was the last time we saw a player from a different conference outrun a defender from the SEC? I can’t recall.
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