Balance of power shifting to SEC East?

#3
#3
A team from the east will have to win it two years in a row before you could make that argument.
 
#5
#5
In the past 5 years:

South Carolina has gotten progressively worse

Mizzou has gotten progressively worse

Vandy has become Vandy again

Kentucky......

The problem is any team in the West would go 4-0 against those 4 teams. The Big 3 in the East are returning to form, but that's not enough to call it a power shift.
 
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#6
#6
If the championship were decided in a bracket style LSU and bama would be in the final.

Outside of a few teams the east is garbage.
 
#7
#7
Only real takeaway from that article is that Jones (and Stoops) are now the longest tenured coaches in the East with 3 years under their belt.
 
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#9
#9
ALGator said:
A team from the east will have to win it two years in a row before you could make that argument.
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Agree. But I think the first order of business is to get over the hump and win it this year to start getting the respect again. If the East can break through it could start a snow ball affect. The power seems to be shifted back to where it traditionally should be with UF, UGA and UT as the Power 3. As it should.
 
#10
#10
chatt-townVOL said:
In the past 5 years:

South Carolina has gotten progressively worse

Mizzou has gotten progressively worse

Vandy has become Vandy again

Kentucky......

The problem is any team in the West would go 4-0 against those 4 teams. The Big 3 in the East are returning to form, but that's not enough to call it a power shift.
Click to expand...

...sorta.

East and West play 15 games each year. The Vols, Dawgs and Gators can get as many as 7 wins if we collectively run the table (2 regular season games each plus Atlanta).

Now, 7 of 15 is almost (but not quite) half. To get above that, we'd need Mizzou, USCe and Kentucky (who are we kidding, not even gonna list Vandy) to get a win from time to time.

If that happened, we'd pretty much be back to the 90s. Where the East has the 3 best, and 3 worst (maybe now 4 worst) teams in the conference. Our talent would be shaped like an hourglass...while the teams of the West were all jammed into the middle, together.

That's parity, of a sort. The West fans would claim (with reason) that TN, GA, and FL have an easier route to Atlanta than any of them. But ah well.

So yeah, we can start to reestablish parity this year. I don't think it's suddenly going to be 8W to 7L in our favor all at once, but we can start climbing the hill.

All we gotta worry about is our part. Beat A&M, then beat Bama, then win in Atlanta. That'll be our 3 chits.

Go Vols!
 
#11
#11
No. And not for quite some time. Vandy, Kentucky, and Mizzou are all hot garbage and USCe is reverting to that stage as well. You might get lucky and have one of those 4 teams pull out a win against the west every once in awhile, but our "Big 3" aren't enough to carry the division.
 
#12
#12
It's entirely possible for the East improve from last year to this year, and have the balance of power remain the same.

Let's pump the brakes until an Eastern division team gets a win in Atlanta.
 
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#16
#16
The perceived strength of the west is primarily a by-product of the top teams in the east hitting some lean times.
 
#18
#18
ntxVOL said:
The perceived strength of the west is primarily a by-product of the top teams in the east hitting some lean times.
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Some west teams have fielded better than usual teams. Who knew Ole Miss could ever be good again? That never crossed my mind they could be competitive again.

I wouldn't mind playing them in Atlanta.

See you in Tampa.
 
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#20
#20
The East was never better than the West. The top 2 in the division were the top 2 in the SEC at that time.

In addition, even though the top 2 were from the East, the West produced some legit teams during that time period.

There isn't a team from the Eastern division since 2010 that could touch 1992 Alabama, 1993 Auburn, 1994 Alabama and 1999 Alabama.
 
#21
#21
chatt-townVOL said:
In the past 5 years:

South Carolina has gotten progressively worse

Mizzou has gotten progressively worse

Vandy has become Vandy again

Kentucky......

The problem is any team in the West would go 4-0 against those 4 teams. The Big 3 in the East are returning to form, but that's not enough to call it a power shift.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't past 2-3 years be more accurate?
 
#22
#22
99gator said:
The East was never better than the West. The top 2 in the division were the top 2 in the SEC at that time.

In addition, even though the top 2 were from the East, the West produced some legit teams during that time period.

There isn't a team from the Eastern division since 2010 that could touch 1992 Alabama, 1993 Auburn, 1994 Alabama and 1999 Alabama.
Click to expand...

Sure, there have been years that the East was better than the West.

In 1998, as most of us know intimately, Tennessee beat Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi State.

That same year, Florida beat Alabama, LSU, and Auburn.

While Georgia was beating LSU, Auburn, and Ole Miss.

Even Kentucky pitched in that year, beating both LSU and Mississippi State.

The East's overall cross-division record in 1998? 12 wins, 7 losses. Almost a 2-to-1 win record.

That counts as better.

The division did it again in 2008, but that one is less fun for Tennessee fans (we only beat Miss St), so I'll leave out the details.

Fact is, there were a lot of years when the East was better between 1992 and 2008. Some, we were just a little better; others more significantly ahead. It was a long period of balance, with years that went the West's way, and plenty that went the East's way, as well.

It's fiction (and defeatist fiction, coming from a fan of an Eastern school) to say that the East has "never been better" than the West.

East%20vs%20West%201992%20to%202015%20v2.jpg
 
#23
#23
I really don't care how good the east is. As long as we're good and beat everyone else I'm fine with that.
 
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#24
#24
As long as LSU, Auburn and Alabama can outbid TN for recruits, the West will retain its power base.

This year should be the best chance for the East to win the SECCG since Georgia Richted out in 2012.

Tennessee is peaking on Talent and Experience this year and Georgia will be loaded for 2017 (arrrgh!).
 
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