Is it a catch 22 for the Souteastern Conference to have as many good teams as it does?

This whole "the SEC is so tough" thing has basically only come about because OSU lost twice in 3 years to SEC teams. Other than that, there's really no basis for all of this hoop-lah. As the one guy above pointed out, the SEC has about 5 truely tough teams, just as do the Big Ten, 12, ACC, & (sometimes) the Big East. Remember, a very crappy Michigan squad beat Florida (at Florida), and Wisconsin JUST lost to the #2 in the SEC Vols in the last minute or so of that bowl game...

...you can't say that every team in the SEC is good just because the Buckeyes have been overrated. Just because the SEC has had a good last 3 or 4 years doesn't make them the all-time dominating force in college football...there's still equal talent in the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, and even in the Big East (well, maybe not this coming year...)

...I will agree with you about the Pac-10 being overrated though. They've got USC, MAYBE a decent Oregon squad, and besides that they're pretty much garbage (or at least very average).

As for every game being a "meat-grinder" in the SEC, it's exactly the same way in both the Big-Ten and the Big-12 right now. If you say that your whole conference is amazing just because you've managed to beat the buckeye's twice (who, let me remind you, have the worst record vs. the SEC of any other Big-Ten or Big-12 team), you run the risk of comparing yourself to Ohio too much, and thereby complimenting them in a back-handed way.

EDIT;

say what you will, but we'll agree to disagree there. I think if you ask ANY longtime college football buff or sports caster, they'd hands-down tell you that it's always been about the Big 10 & Big 12, with occasional SEC flare-ups. And you have to admit...the hype about the SEC is at least partly (in my opinion 'mostly') due to their recent victories over Ohio State. I'm not disagreeing with you about the SEC being good, because they are (really good), I'm just talking about the recent hype and smack talk that the SEC has been doing that didn't exist 5 or 6 years ago. I've religiously followed college football for a very, very, very long time...

It is and it isn't punished......as we saw this past year a 2 loss LSU team got into the national championship but there is no way a 2 loss USC team or OSU team would ever reach the championship...you live and die with your conference... and having a conference championship really helps the SEC because it gives that extra boost in the last game of the season....my theory is there the title game should be between the winner of the SEC title game vs the best of the rest....which still could contain an SEC team..haha thats just my thought

Notre Dame would be the team, no doubt about it. They already play 4-6 Big 10 teams every year as it is and have long established rivalries with several Big-10 teams... most notably Michigan. The rivalry with USC could still exist via out of conference, similar to Florida/Florida State. I highly doubt they would change the name of the conference, but they would have to find some way to manipulate the "11" in the conference logo into a "12". If they were to change the name, the North Central Conference (NCC) would fit geographically speaking.

All teams and conferences are cheated, because there isn't a playoff system. How is the SEC conference punished? Their teams get to go to a number of bowl games? I think the fact that the BCS has a 2 team limit on each conference and the SEC conference championship hurts them more than anything, because that makes it hard to have 2 undefeated teams.

How can you give a thumbs down...the BCS SUCKS!!!!

SEC has 5 teams: Florida, LSU, Georgia, Auburn, and Tennessee. The other teams in the division are mediocre. The Big 10 and ACC have been down recently while giving way to the SEC, but I feel within a few years the talent will even out.

yes the SEC is in a catch 22 for how good the top teams are and because there is a SEC conference championship--don't for get that. All that said you can't say USC plays in a weak conference. or accuse USC of playing a weak schedule.

In this BCS formula, the conference is punished, since virtually every game is an absolute meat-grinder. In a playoff format (8-16-32), there is more of a margin for a loss or two not knocking a club out of contention for high laurels.

But the conference has been known for football for years and is not going to change. And it can be argued that this excellence drives each program to keep trying to improve each year.

They are certainly the best right now, but not everyseason. I think they're overrated. I'm a Mizzou Tigers fan and last year we destroyed Ole Miss and Arkansas.