What the Rise of Southern Football Says About America

Wall Street Journal ^ | DECEMBER 5, 2008 | Darren Everson

[bamahead]

College football has been conquered, in nearly every respect, by the Deep South.

The Southeastern Conference, a 76-year-old coalition of 12 universities in nine Southern states stretching from Louisiana to Florida, has won three national college football titles in five years, including the last two by blowout, and has an unrivaled 11-4 record in the Bowl Championship Series since 1999.

Its teams lead the nation in average attendance, have five of the 12 highest-paid coaches in college football and just signed two broadcast deals worth as much as $3 billion over the next 15 years. Tomorrow, Alabama and Florida, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 by the Associated Press, play for the conference title -- with the winner likely heading to the national title game.

The engine of this success is college football's unshakable primacy in Southern culture -- plus the recent shifts in population and wealth, the protection of politicians and some prescient financial moves by the conference that have reinforced it.

In recent years, the South has undergone rapid growth. Twenty-seven of the 50 fastest-growing metropolitan regions in the country in 2007 were in the South, while personal-income growth in the region outpaced the national average over the past decade. These changes have added muscle to the South's historic passion for college football. While they rank low in many measures like per-capita income and educational achievement, states like Alabama and Mississippi rank close to the top in the percentage of high-school students who play football. And among states that have more than 10 native sons playing in the National Football League, the top six producers by percentage of population are Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida and Georgia...

[petitfour]

ROOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL TIDE!

[Lee'sGhost]

...and the ACC continues it’s 50 year domination.

[Boonie]

SEC for football!!!!!!!!!!!!!(I’m a TENNESSEE Alum)

But drive a few miles east for Basketball...GOHEELS!!!!!!! and the ACC for basketball....

[TankerKC]

True, so I will retreat while a can do so safely. I know better than to say anything negative about the SEC.

[The Sons of Liberty]

Back in the good old days you sang "Dixie" at the football games and Southern football teams were stand ins for The Old South vs. the yankees. If you tuned in and a northern team was playing a Southern team, you were for the Southern team, at least until the end of the game - even if it was a hated rival.

The South will rise again.

[A Strict Constructionist]

“True, but the north has all the industry and a much larger population.”

But our car industry is non-union and relatively healthy.

[NoDRodee]

My chance to remind everyone Georgia Tech beat Georgia, oh yea baby!!!. Tech 2 & 0 verses SEC this year plus will play LSU or USC in their bowl game. ACC started off slow finished strong. SEC better top two teams (Fla and Bama) but ACC better rest of the teams.
Clemson > USC
Wake > Vandy
Tech > Georgia

But I agree that Big 12 equal to SEC and ACC this year with Tex, Tex Tech, OU, OSU, Missu, Kansas may be best. conference this year.

[Boonie]

If you tuned in and a northern team was playing a Southern team, you were for the Southern team, at least until the end of the game - even if it was a hated rival.

*LOL* Yeah....You keep hoping that Florida/Ohio State will end in a 0-0 tie....*LOL*

[Cicero]

Bassetball, anyone?

[massgopguy]

But they can READ the Letters of Intent they send to Boston College.

[Boonie]

...But they can READ the Letters of Intent they send to Boston College

OUCH!!!!!!!!

[Ted]

I said THIS YEAR.

[ghostrider]

...but this year the Big 12 (especially in the South) is head and shoulders above the pack

I never liked those "Stinking Gators," but they will damn sure test your theory.

[BuckeyeTexan]

It’s the NFL that brings out that characteristic. In college, it’s still mostly about the team.

[A Strict Constructionist]

“College Football is big in the south because that’s all they have. There is minimal NFL presence there.”

The same area has a little more than 20% of the NFL not counting the Texas teams.

[Citizen Blade]

But they can READ the Letters of Intent they send to Boston College.

I went to Michigan undergrad, which is a pretty sports-crazy school. But, I've always been struck by how much emphasis there is in Southern schools on athletics over academics. There aren't that many schools in the south known primarily foe their academics, but there are plenty of sports powerhouses.

[Neoliberalnot]

OU is not in the South.

I would ask the crowd, which school has more NCAA championships in this particular sport across all sports. I think this school has 30 plus national championships. Which school and which sport am I referring to?

[Colonel Kangaroo]

SEC for football!!!!!!!!!!!!!(I’m a TENNESSEE Alum)

But drive a few miles east for Basketball...GOHEELS!!!!!!! and the ACC for basketball....

Don't be surprised if Tennessee wins more national titles in basketball than in football the next 25 years. In fact, given recruiting realities I can almost guarantee it. Tennessee is more of a basketball player producing state and the flagship state college will follow that reality over the long run.

Actually with Bruce Pearl as Vol coach, it's not beyond possibility that the Vols will have more NCAA men's titles than the Tarheels over the next 25 years.

[A Strict Constructionist]

“a large number of the top recruits cannot meet the admissions requirements and even if they could, they don’t like the idea of actually having to go to class and pass real courses.”

You mean like the legacies at Harvard. The gentleman’s C is alive and well in a lot of places.

[The Sons of Liberty]

Hey it’s not the “good old days” and I’m no Fla fan, but I sure was cheering for them to beat Ohio St. After all, they’re SEC!