Kansas State’s QB nails image versus reality of the SEC that Jimbo Fisher missed
Jimbo Fisher’s kidding/not-kidding shot about TCU’s result in the national title game was a rhetorical question that a lot of people around the SEC feel, which is a part of a perception problem that ESPN helped to create with no immediate solution.
For those who need a refresher, in May the Texas A&M coach was in Fort Worth speaking to a group of Aggie boosters when he was asked about TCU’s run to the championship game.
His idiot response went viral: “They stayed healthy. They had a lot of experience. They got to where they’ve got to get to. And then when they got to the SEC, it changed, didn’t it? When they got to the SEC, it changed.”
TCU didn’t get to the SEC. TCU “got” to Georgia. There’s a difference.
Jimbo said what a lot of people all over the Southeast wear with pride.
What Jimbo could never publicly admit is that just because you’re team is in the SEC means you’re Georgia. Or Bama. Or LSU. The end.
The SEC is more than Georgia and Bama
Kansas State quarterback Will Howard lived some of this fun when the Wildcats lost 45-20 to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. He summed it up perfectly.
“You can say there is a difference but if you look at it, in my time here and (coach Chris Klieman), we’ve played four SEC teams and we’ve lost to ‘Bama,” Howard said Thursday at Big 12 Media Days. “We beat Missouri. We beat LSU. We beat Mississippi State.”
Those schools are in the SEC, the same as Georgia, Bama.
“’Bama and Georgia are on a different level. They’re the pinnacle of the sport,” Howard said. “I don’t think the SEC is that much different. It’s just that those two teams are really good.”
Jimbo doesn’t want to hear it, but Will Howard is right.
Texas A&M is an SEC school, but that doesn’t make an Aggie a Dawg. More SEC schools are closer to Missouri and Arkansas than they are Georgia and Bama.
How to catch the SEC’s best
The best marketing hooks in college sports remain, “S-E-C! S-E-C!” and “It just means more.”
Those slogans have fan bases from Missouri to Texas to South Carolina to Florida celebrating Georgia’s national title as their own when they miss the fact they’re fodder for the real winner.
This is all great for the SEC, and its member schools which have all used the success of a few, and the Saturday Game Day atmosphere, to help drive applications, enrollment and donations.
It’s good for ESPN, which has spent tens of millions to cultivate, foster and enhance the league’s image more than any other conference in the nation.
It’s not great for college football. NCAA football is essentially “NFL Lite,” and a dynasty is always good for sales, but these top-heavy results aren’t ideal for the rest of the country.
Since 2006, the best team in the nation has been from the SEC 13 times.
“There are some really good teams that have won championships the last few years,” Central Florida coach Gus Malzahn said Thursday; he coached Auburn from 2013 to 2020.
“The thing that stands out to me about (the Big 12) is that there is no off week. In most conferences, including (the SEC), there are a couple when you look at the schedule and think you can catch your breath a little bit.”
Every coach says this about their conference; but his point about the SEC schedule is valid. There are some real dogs among the Dawg.
Is there a solution?
These things tend to run in cycles, but the disparity in media right’s money coming into the SEC and the Big 10 compared to the other power conferences is stark.
Per The Sports Business Journal, the Big 12 recently signed a media right’s deal worth $2.28 billion, or about $50 million per year for the member schools.
By 2026, both the Big 10 and the SEC are expected to almost double that payout figure to their respective institutions.
“The gap exists, right?” West Virginia coach Neal Brown said Thursday. “The TV revenue and yearly payouts make a difference. That much money over the course of five years makes a difference.
“The bigger disparity now is what they have in NIL. To me, that’s where the real disparity is. Your talent is going where the NIL dollars are. It’s not TV contracts, it’s NIL funding.”
That’s a nice way to say the players will go where they can make the most money.
As it looks today the SEC will remain the top conference for a while, because it has the best team, and a bunch of people on TV say it.
The truth they omit is that after Georgia and Bama, and maybe LSU, the rest look like Texas A&M; teams that sell themselves as Georgia when in fact they’re more like Ole Miss, Kentucky or Missouri.
This story was originally published July 15, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
