Has the SEC East caught up with the SEC West?

[Sly SylvesterParticipant]

Currently, the East is 6-5 vs the West with 3 games left:

Auburn @ UGA
Ark @ Mizzou
Ole Miss @ Vandy

The East may be favored in all 3 remaining games.

[Gator-6Participant]

I would say there is parity, with one glaring exception. I think it gets better than that for the next few years, then it’ll probably switch again.

[gator67Participant]

Apart from Alabama, it does appear that the two divisions are roughly equal. If you include Alabama, the West still dominates at the top.

[Sly SylvesterParticipant]

Glad to hear I’m not out in left field on this one. Yes, Alabama is still dominant but Arkansas and Ole Miss have taken a step back while UK and UF have taken a step forward.

[Joe ShiverParticipant]

Sly, sounds right to me. May be more of meeting in the middle with the West regressing and the East rising. Either way, it beats going 3-11 and getting blown out in the SEC CG.

[mtn2topParticipant]

Some SEC West programs have always fared a little better such as Alabama and LSU to some degree.

It always comes down to continuity of coaching for the individual SEC programs. The West was stable for the past few years. They recruited well over time for their systems. Success followed.

Now that the West is turning over, LSU, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and MSU have new coaches. The East has been more stable and the victories are mounting.

[JHCRANE-14Participant]

Soon 😊

[MexiGatorParticipant]

The pendulum always swings back and forth. The East is definitely catching up to the West. The East needs a strong Florida, Georgia and Tennessee to balance out Alabama, Auburn and LSU. The wildcard is Texas A&M vs Missouri. The East got the weaker team especially from a financial standpoint. Kentucky’s recent rise has somewhat balanced the equation. South Carolina is somewhat equal to Arkansas on a historical basis, while Vandy and Kentucky historically balance the Mississippi teams. Overall, I believe the league has fairly good balance between East and West. Perception always needs time to catch up to reality.

[Sly SylvesterParticipant]

So the East finished 9-5 against the West. There’s little argument that the East has quickly caught up. This begs the next question…. Is the East better than the West this year?

I would say if UGA beats Bama, the East is superior top to bottom. If UGA loses, how strong is the argument with a 9-6 record but not capturing the conference title?

[Gator-6Participant]

Sly, I’m pretty sure we’re near-parity, but if you think about it, we really have a relatively small sample size with respect to Georgia. If they can sustain it, then by all means — we have parity.

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