Is the Southeastern Conference an all-powerful entity that has rightfully earned its place atop the college football foodchain, or is the SEC's position due in large part to a marketing machine that has a financial stake in the league?
Jordan Burchette authors a piece in Rolling Stone titled, "The Worldwide Cheerleader: ESPN and the College Football Playoff." Burchette lays out a compelling argument that the network uses its multimedia might to twist and turn narratives in favor of the SEC.
ESPN has invested heavily in the SEC by creating the SEC Network. By one account, ESPN could earn 12% of its annual profits from the network.
Burchette points out that South Carolina — a team that has already racked up four losses — was touted as a darkhouse national title contender in the preseason. Much of the praise came from ESPN's roster of talent. Then along came Texas A&M, which handed the Gamecocks a 52-28 loss in the season opener at Columbia.
The victory propelled the Aggies from No. 21 to No. 9 in the Associated Press poll. Texas A&M rose to No. 6 after wins over Lamar, Rice, Southern Methodist and Arkansas, but the Aggies have lost their last three games by a combined 91 points.
Texas A&M quarterback Kenny Hill went from being a Heisman frontrunner in Week 1 to likely seat on the bench for Saturday's game against Louisiana Monroe.
Nonetheless, Mississippi State, Mississippi and Alabama, which scored lopsided victories over the Aggies, built their resumes in part on A&M's lofty — and undeserved — status among elite teams.
"I know how to become a top-five team ... just play Texas A&M," Rick Neuheisel said on the Pacific 12 Network. Neuheisel, of course, felt the wrath of SEC fans, but Slick Rick knew what he was talking about.
ESPN has also showed favoritism in its coverage of athletes in trouble. There was round-the-clock coverage of Jameis Winston for allegations that the Florida State quarterback was compensated for over 2,000 autographed items. Yet outside of a link on its SEC blog, ESPN has yet to report the discovery of 112 grams of marijuana and nearly $5,000 in cash in Alabama tight end Kurt Freitag's dorm room.
Auburn quarterback Nick Marshall was cited in July for possession of small amount of marijuana, a violation of a city ordinance, and was given a half-game suspension. Little was heard from ESPN, but when Winston was suspended for shouting an obscenity in public — not a crime, Burchette points out — ESPN's Mark Schlabach wrote: "How many strikes does Winston get before he goes from being a foolish, immature college student to a complete knucklehead who can't be trusted?"
Marshall, it might be noted, was dismissed from Georgia in early 2012 after he was caught stealing from a teammate. There has been little mention of that incident on ESPN.
Coaches on the outside looking in are making note of the network's relationship with the SEC. Nebraska's Bo Pelini said on Nov. 20, "I don't think that kind of relationship is good for college football. That's just my opinion. Anytime you have a relationship with somebody, you have a partnership, you are supposed to be neutral. It's pretty hard to stay neutral in that situation."
Pelini, whose team is among 18 with only one loss, knew that the rankings for the College Football Playoff were days from being released and ESPN's influence would likely impact the selection committee. He was right. When the rankings were released Tuesday night, four of the top six teams came from the SEC's West Division. A true concentration of power.
The Cornhuskers were 15th, despite their only loss coming at No. 8 Michigan State by five points. Essentially, Nebraska has no hope of finishing in the top four. The Spartans' only loss is at No. 5 Oregon, but the aggressive scheduling move has clearly backfired. The same could be said for Notre Dame, which came within a play of defeating No. 2 Florida State on the road. The Fighting Irish are at No. 10.
One-loss Nebraska, Michigan State and Notre Dame share something else: none of them play in the SEC.
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