Adams: SEC top, even on bottom

You will hear how great SEC football is this week. It’s a ritual of late summer during which the SEC coaches and top players meet with the media in Birmingham, Ala.

But no matter how boastful the league’s coaches might sound, I won’t challenge them. Not after last year. In fact, I might even offer a few “amens.”

Having grown up in the Southeast and covered SEC sports for 30 years, I always guard against provincialism. Sure, the SEC is often the strongest football league in the country, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best every year. And that doesn’t mean the best teams from the SEC will always beat the best teams from any other conference.

In retrospect, I might have gone overboard in my effort to avoid regional bias.

Before last season, I almost convinced myself Cal could win a season-opener against Tennessee at Neyland Stadium. Thirty-five consecutive UT points later, I slightly altered my lofty opinion of any Pac-10 team that didn’t have a Trojan horse for a mascot.

Despite that season-opener, I kept an open mind about the quality of football in other regions of the country. My mind was so open, I picked Ohio State to beat Florida in the national championship game.

Eighty-two Ohio State yards later, I slightly altered my opinion of any team from a Rose Bowl-affiliated conference that didn’t have a Trojan horse for a mascot.

Reader advisory: I’m officially putting my battle against provincialism on hold — with a few exceptions.

For example, if you tell me Vanderbilt’s offensive line would dominate Southern Cal’s defensive front, I might raise an eyebrow. But when I’m assembling my top 25 in November, don’t expect me to automatically put an unbeaten team from another BCS conference ahead of a one-loss team from the SEC.

The SEC might not have a team as good as Florida was last year. It might not have a team as good as LSU was last year — unless it’s this year’s LSU team. But that doesn’t mean the league is any less formidable.

You don’t have to evaluate the best programs in the SEC to gauge the strength of the conference. Instead, check out the lesser programs like Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt hasn’t finished higher than fifth in the East since the conference went to divisional play in 1992. Kentucky has finished higher than fifth only four times. And they will be consensus picks to finish at the bottom of the SEC East again this season. That says as much about the competition as it does about Kentucky and Vanderbilt, both of whom return most of their starters from last year.

They don’t just return starters. They return stars.

Lindy’s preseason football magazine ranks Kentucky’s offensive backfield, featuring 6-foot-5 quarterback André Woodson and running back Rafael Little, as the eighth-best in the country. The same magazine ranks Kentucky’s receiving corps — led by wide receivers Keenan Burton and Dicky Lyons, and tight end Jacob Tamme — as the fifth-best in the country.

Vanderbilt junior wide receiver Earl Bennett is on track to become the SEC’s all-time leading receiver after just three seasons, junior quarterback Chris Nickson ranked fourth in the conference in total offense last year, and Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson calls Chris Williams “one of the best offensive tackles in the country.”

If you just combined the best players from Vanderbilt and Kentucky, you could have an outstanding offense. What does that tell you about the SEC?

The conference is as famous for its balance as its champions. This season, because of Kentucky’s and Vanderbilt’s improvement, the East should be more balanced than ever.

And with that kind of strength from top to bottom, the SEC won’t have to have the nation’s No. 1 team to be the No. 1 conference.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.