Conventional wisdom is something too many in the media tend to feed you, the readers, on far too often a basis.

I, myself, have never been much of a conventional wisdom kind of guy, but I feel the need to eat crow on something today.

Despite years of fighting it, this year it has become obvious that the SEC is completely, totally and undeniably significantly stronger than the rest of the conferences in Division I college football.

This isn&8217;t to say I&8217;ve never felt it was the strongest, it&8217;s actually quite the opposite. The conference has always been the strongest in the country, but 2006 seems to be the strongest the SEC has ever been, at least since it expanded to 12 teams in 1992.

How strong is a conference when LSU, who I honestly think would beat everyone in the country other than Ohio State, was relegated to also-ran status by the sixth game of the season with its second conference loss to Florida.

The Tigers and Gators, along with Auburn, Arkansas and Tennessee, form an unbelievable top half of the conference for this year. Not only that, but you also have Georgia (on a down swing but sure to be right back next year), Alabama and South Carolina right after them.

Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville has spent much of this year (and the two before it) flapping his gums about how unfair the BCS system is, and how SEC teams face an unfair handicap due to their tough conference schedule.

Generally, this wouldn&8217;t seem like that big of a deal, considering four teams (1992 Alabama, 1995 Florida, 1998 Tennessee and 2004 Auburn) have finished the regular season undefeated since the conference expanded, and two more crept back into the title game with one loss (1996 Florida and 2003 LSU), but this year really does seem different.

With the Big 10 in the midst of a downswing, the PAC 10 still floundering outside of USC and Cal, the ACC being a complete trainwreck, and the Big East being absolutely awful outside of Louisville, West Virginia and maybe Rutgers, this is definitely spring time for SEC fans.

Heading into this weekend, the conference as a whole has a 26-7 record in non-conference play. While few of those wins are against hig-quality competition, the losses have come to the likes of Michigan, USC, Louisville and Missouri, all of whom are ranked in the top 25 at the moment.

While the bottom four in the conference &8212; Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Kentucky and Vanderbilt &8212; are not very good, each has shown a sign or two of brilliance thus far. Vandy went on the road to beat Georgia, Ole Miss and Mississippi State nearly beat that same team and Kentucky gave Florida fits earlier this season. Virtually anything can happen this year.

After a couple of years without some true competition at the top, these are exciting times to be a fan of the SEC. Unfortunately, these won&8217;t be times for national championships. Perhaps each team should treat a conference championship as such.

Tim Cottrell is the sports editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached by phone at 601-445-3632 or by e-mail at

tim.cottrell@natchezdemocrat.com

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