Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Enough with the academic superiority crap

In an effort to legitimize its money-grab that almost broke apart the Big 12, Texas supporters continue to say the school would never consider joining the SEC because the league is not strong enough academically.

Once again, the Horns' point of view again reminds us that just because you're rich doesn't make you smart.

UT is an excellent public university, particularly since it floats on a nonstop gusher of oil money that gives it one of the largest endowments in the country, billions of dollars to support research and attract the best in students and faculty.

So, of course, UT's motives in its manipulation of at least three conferences was all about protecting academics. Really?

UT has already shown itself quite willing to compromise its academic standards when it pushed through a rule to allow partial academic qualifiers to play in the Big 12. The renegade SEC doesn't grant academic eligibility to partial qualifiers.

Had Texas jumped to the Pac-12, I'm sure its sports teams would have been cramming away for that next exam during the puddle-jumps to Pullman and Eugene. Not that the academic performance of UT athletes is all that scintillating.

In fact, check out this recent column by Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News. It shows that at on at least one NCAA academic gauge, the SEC kicks Big 12 -- and Bevo -- butt, just as it did in the last two BCS championship games. Read here.

UT is an excellent university, but school is out. Its recent machinations were all about money and power. The rest of the college footbal world, not nearly as dumb as Texas likes to think, can see that.

mg

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Anyone who doesn't wear Orange glasses knew that was a line of complete BS. They don't sell 100,000 tickets a week to watch college kids do research. Texas was/is scared of the SEC. They knew they'd get lost in the Alabama/Florida/LSU shuffle. And that running the conference game they get away with over in Texas wouldn't work under Slive. He's not going to let anyone in the SEC wield more power than him and his office. As a fan of the SEC, I would have loved to seen Texas and Texas A&M come on board, but I knew there wasn't a snowball's chance.

Anonymous said...

What school besides Vandy in the SEC has a great academic reputation though? There is credibility behind the point and I think it is a shame the Observer fails to realize that. The SEC has GREAT football schools, but nobody is comparing their education to IVY league status.

Anonymous said...

And, save for Duke or Virginia, nobody is comparing ACC education to IVY League status either. Good schools? Sure. Guess what, SEC has good schools as well. So does the Patriot League. So does the Big 12 and Pac 10. Large, state supported schools offer good educations to those that want it and are willing to work for it. Get off your high horse. The moving of conference affiliations had everything to do with Sports $$$ and nothing to do with BS Newsweek "rankings." Hence, once the Big 12 pretty much guaranteed Texas $20 million plus a year, they stayed.

Anonymous said...

That is NOT the Carolina way! You are all trailer trash compared to us!

Anonymous said...

In the major conferences for FBS football there are only a handful of truly great schools:
ACC- UVa, Duke
SEC- Vanderbilt
PAC 10- Cal, USC, UCLA, Stanford
Big 10- Michigan

You have great schools in the smaller conferenes or independent with Rice (CUSA), Notre Dame (Ind), Navy (Ind), but other than that in major conferences, you have a bunch of schools that run the gamut from being good (Texas, BC, Ga Tech) to not (most schools that end in State--NC State not being among them)

Reid said...

Anon 4:04, the ACC also has North Carolina, Boston College, and Miami(Fl) that are upper eschelon schools...

Reid said...

And also Wake Forest

Anonymous said...

UNC, BC, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech are all very good schools. That being said, they are not in the same conversation with Virginia and Duke. Both schools are on the tier right below the Ivy's. UNC is a really good state school, but saying they are on the same level as Virginia, for example, is like saying UNCC is on the same tier as UNC.

Anonymous said...

Thats triple BS.

Texas is a central SW state and most of its opponents in the Big 12 are in the vicinity.

The SEC would welcome Texas but it has nothing to do with superiority. Texas is after one of the original 11 southern states and if push came to shove it would have no problems.

Mack Brown is a born and raised Tennessee boy who was HC in NC at ASU and UNC so wheres the problem?

Texas is the redneck cowboy oil capital. It would be an excellent fit in the SEC but it could also fit in the SEC with its excellent play or ACC for that matter.

Football is football. Who the hell cares?

Top of the List said...

all you ABCer's can post all the idiotic posts you want in this blog and in any forum you like, but that won't change fact into the fiction that you wish everyone to believe.

UNC is one of the top 5 public research universities in the US and is regularly in the top 25 universities for many of its undergraduate and graduate programs.

NCSucks isn't even on the radar. But all you NCSU grads should know that, since you were so quickly rejected from UNC. My dog could get into NCSU.

Anonymous said...

To Top of the List:

This is an SEC fans blog. Take your UNC crap over to some blog for you and other ACC losers. I'll be watching on Sept. 4 as LSU hands your team their heads. Are you going to Atlanta for the game? If so, I'll look for the sign you'll be holding up screaming about UNC's "top 5 public research university" status. The cameras will probably find you once LSU has a 20-point lead.

Michael said...

Just for the record, the last time I looked Florida and Georgia were both listed among the Top 50 public universities.

The ACC with Duke, UVA, Carolina, Clemson, Wake and even Maryland trumps any other major conference, even the insufferable swollen-heads in the Big 10.

But even us dumbies from Third World places like Alabama (which by the way had more National Merit Scholars in its freshman class last year than Harvard)know Longhorns produce waste from two places.

mg

Anonymous said...

This blog posting is so far off base, its as though the author were not able to actually READ the rules regarding academic qualifiers, or certainly didn't take the time to do so.

here are the actual rules by conference.

http://compliance.pac-12.org/ccacaitems/surveys/NQAcadReq.pdf

Also, NEbraska had their panties in a wad because they lived off partial academic qualifiers. When the Big 12 was formed, Texas pushed for stricter limits and that's a fact.

you guys are just feeding the perception that most already have. The SEC is an athletic organization that merely dabbles in academics to maintain NCAA eligibility.