College Football: Southern Bias
I’m a really big fan of college football. Within the cultural context of males and sports, this reaction to sports is not out of the ordinary. I start to question that sentiment when its the night before National Signing Day, the day high-profile high school football players sign with the college of their choice, and I’m up all night watching videos, and reading articles on what school some super-freak athlete will choose to play for. This type of obsession is usually reserved for creepy, sweaty guys who park their vans by city parks and create countdowns for celebrity starlets’ 18th birthdays. Given all of these reservations, athletics is still one of the purest forms of entertainment, steroids aside, and like all good things, moderation is key. So with that out the way, on to the real story…
Over at one of my favorite blogs, Saurian Sagacity, there is a story comparing the population size of a state and its representation in recruiting rankings. Like everything they do, they always have ample amounts of data supporting their premises. Towards the end of the article, they hinted towards the correlation between the recruiting prowess of southern states and superiority of the SEC.
I have discussed this matter many times with a lot of people and that argument does not sit well with me. In truth, I do believe that the SEC is the best college football conference but not by much. The reason for SEC’s edge is mostly attributed to weather and population shift in my opinion.
It’s obvious that living in the southern US is an advantage when it comes to outdoor sports. You have much more time to practice outdoors when you don’t have to worry about excessive snow, or extreme cold. This applies throughout the development of the human body so a person living in the south would theoretically have slightly more outdoor time to develop athletically than a similar person up north. Of course this logic is highly speculative but merits attention.
Population shift towards the west and south is another trend that has affected many areas of the US including college football. This hypothesis actually supports the general argument Mergz (from Saurian Sagacity) presented. Ohio State and Michigan still have great programs. Other schools up north also compete well nationally every year.
When it’s all over, it appears this argument is just a regional chest-thumping about whose better. For me, I would rather give a nod of approval.