The ACC was better than the SEC this year..I said it.

Ever since the ACC poached the Big East of its few elite teams, it has
been in a downward football spiral. Think back to the days when the ACC
expanded by adding Miami and Virginia Tech in 2003 and Fredo in 2004. They were building what looked to be a powerhouse
conference.

From 1990 through 2003(the last season before full expansion was
completed), the teams that now comprise the ACC averaged 4.79 teams in
the Final AP Top 25 and 1.93 teams in the Final AP Top 10.

But instead, what they got was a conference that annually battles with
the Big East as the BCS's red-headed stepchild. From 2004 through this
most recent poll in 2008, the ACC has averaged 3.6 teams in the Final AP
25 and only 1.0 team in the Final AP Top 10. Frequently, the ACC
champion is the team in the BCS bowls that makes you go, "Really?!?"

The reasons for that may be plenty and are the subject of another column
for another day. I raise these stats only to show that the ACC has not
been very good lately.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the mighty SEC, a
conference that has been trending in just the opposite direction. Since
2004, the same year that the ACC became whole, the SEC has averaged 4.8
teams in the Final AP Top 25 and a staggering 2.4 teams in the top 10.



So that being the backdrop, I'm going to tell you why..the ACC, the league that's been the dregs of the BCS for the last few years, was actually a better conferene as a whole than the mighty SEC this year.

Reason 1: Head to head record.

There's not much argument that the top two teams in the SEC are better than anything the ACC has to offer. But the rest of the SEC was downright mediocre, while the ACC had a very deep conference.

One of the most under-reported stats this year was the ACC's dominance over anyone in the SEC not named Florida or Alabama. Overall, the ACC was 6-4 against the SEC. But if you take away Florida and Alabama's 3-0 record, the ACC ends up going 6-1 against the rest of the SEC. And we're not talking the two division winners either. Va Tech and BC didn't play any SEC teams. IT was the middle of the ACC beating up on the middle of the SEC. Here are the actual results, beginning with the top 2's domination of the ACC. Winners are bolded.

SEC ACC
Florida 26 Miami 3
Florida 45 Florida St. 15
Alabama 34 Clemson 10
Georgia 42 Georgia Tech 45
Ole Miss. 28 Wake Forest 41
Mississippi St. 7 Georgia Tech 38
South Carolina 34 NC State 0
South Carolina 14 Clemson 31
Vanderbilt 7 Duke 10
Vanderbilt 10 Wake Forest 23

Now that's not enough of a sample to say definitively. But it certainly shows a pattern.

2. Their records vs. other conferences

The SEC was 6-9 against other BCS conferences. They were 4-6 against the ACC; 1-1 against the Big East; 0-1 against the Big 12; 1-1 against the Pac 10.

The SEC had 3 teams with winning records against non-conference BCS opponents: Florida (2-0), Kentucky (1-0), and Alabama (1-0).

The SEC had 6 teams with losing records against non-conference BCS teams: Vandy (0-2), Tennessee (0-1), Ole Miss. (0-1), Auburn (0-1), Arkansas (0-1), and Mississippi State (0-1).

The SEC had 2 teams who were .500 (South Carolina and Georgia) and one that didn't play any BCS non-conference teams (LSU).

SEC teams were also and a record padding 31-2 against non-BCS opponents. Of those 31 wins, 6 were against bowl teams and 1 of the two losses was a bowl team. 9 of the 31 wins were against I-AA teams. Additionally, the SEC was 1-1 against the WAC, 0-1 against the Mountain West, 8-0 against Conference-USA, 3-0 against the MAC, 8-0 against the Sun Belt and 2-0 against Independents that aren't Notre Dame

The ACC, on the other hand, was 15-8 against BCS teams. The conference was 2-2 against the Big East; 4-0 against the Big 12; 0-1 against the Big 10; 1-1 against the Pac 10; 6-4 against the SEC and 2-0 against Notre Dame.

The ACC had 6 teams with winning records against BCS non-conference opponents: Wake Forest (3-0), Boston College (1-0), Maryland (1-0), Georgia Tech (2-0), Virginia Tech (1-0), and North Carolina (3-0).

They had only 2 teams with losing records: NC State (0-2) and Virginia (0-2).

They had 4 teams that went .500: Florida State, Clemson, Miami, and Duke.

The ACC also padded it's non-conference record by going 22-3 against non-BCS opponents. Of those 22 wins only 3 came against bowl teams and 2 of the 3 losses did too (2 against Navy and 3 against East Carolina). Additionally, a whopping 14 of the 21 came against I-AA teams. The ACC additionally was 4-1 against Conference USA, 2-0 against the MAC, 0-1 against the Sun Belt, and 2-1 against Independents.

Taking their performance against non-BCS opponents aside, it's easy to see that the SEC just didn't perform against BCS non-conference teams at the same level as the ACC. And it's not close.

3. Computer rankings.

The average Sagarin ratings for SEC teams: 48
The average Sagarin ratings for ACC teams: 30.58

The median Sagarin rating for SEC teams: 59
The median Sagarin rating for ACC teams: 26.5 (In fact the highest Sagarin rating for ACC teams is 53, under the median for the SEC)

Computer rankings aren't perfect. But a disparity that wide must mean something.


4. The subjective ACC vs. SEC challenge

People do this all the time. The very unscientific eye test that pits the ACC's teams vs. the SEC's teams in an ACC v. SEC challenge similar to the ACC v. Big Ten Challenge that the basketball conferences hold each year. So while I understand this is nothing more than a subjective assessment and doesn't count for anything more than my opinion. Let's have fun and do it.

First, let's rank the conferences. I'll base these rankings on records, tiebreakers, how the conference assigned teams to bowls and sagarin rankings. Again, there's some subjectivity here, but it's my blog, so I'll do what I want.

Here's how my matchups would look.

SEC	v.	ACC
Florida	v.	Virginia Tech
Alabama	v.	Georgia Tech
Georgia	v.	Florida State
Ole Miss	v.	Boston College
South Carolina	v.	North Carolina
LSU	v.	Clemson
Vandy	v.	Miami
Kentucky	v.	Wake Forest
Tennessee	v.	Maryland
Auburn	v.	NC State
Arkansas	v.	Virginia
Mississippi St.	v.	Duke

Looking at that, I think it's hard to say that the SEC could win more than half of those games. If I were to have to put $50 down on each game straight up, I think I'd guess the SEC would only clearly be favored in the Florida game and probably the Alabama game. I think Vegas would favor, Georgia and (maybe) Mississippi St. slightly too.

On the contrary, I think that Vegas would clearly favor Miami over Vandy, Wake Forest over Kentucky, Maryland over Tennessee and NC St. over Auburn. They'd also probably slightly be favored in the B.C. game, the UNC game, the Clemson game. The UVA v. Arkansas game would probably be a pick 'em game.

Taking out some of the subjectivity of one team vs. one team, if you split the conference in thirds making three mini-conferences and compare the top third vs. each other; the middle third vs. each other; and the bottom third against each other, you'd end up with conferences that look like this:

SEC top: Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi
ACC top: Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Boston College
Advantage: SEC

SEC middle: South Carolina, LSU, Vandy, Kentucky
ACC middle: North Carolina, Clemson, Miami, Wake Forest
Advantage: ACC

SEC bottom: Tennessee, Auburn, Arkansas, Mississippi St.
ACC bottom: MAryland, NC State, Virginia, Duke
Advantage: ACC


What it all means

I think ultimately, the data shows that the SEC is simply a very strong conference when you only consider the 3 or 4 teams at the very top. Once you get beyond the top 4 however, the SEC falls back into medicrity.

The ACC, on the other hand, isn't nearly as strong at the top, but is deep nearly all the way through the conference.

The question then becomes, is the ACC's lack of a top-notch team due to just that, a lack, or due to parody throughout the conference that means more losses for top teams? Conversely, is the SEC really that strong at the top? Or is it merely a few top teams that are merely much stronger than the mediocrity teams at the middle and the bottom.

While I don't think the bowl season will actually tell the tale (a long post for another day), I think it'll give us an idea as there are 2 ACC vs. SEC matchups. What's sure, however, is that the SEC fans, long noted for touting the superiority of their conference, certainly can't do that with a clear conscience. . . at least this year.

On a Scale of one to Gus Johnson, I give the SEC a Bill Walton and the ACC a Bill Rafferty