The ultimate debate question. You can talk about history, but recent history works best. Some crap title from '54 really doesn't mean much in the discussion of modern college football.

The Southeastern Conference has become the leader due to the unbelievable recruiting base literally next door to the universities - some of those high-school programs are run better than a few Division I-A programs - and the pro-style offensive/defensive schemes that are incorporated in the playbooks.

During conference play amongst the top programs, each game seemingly is like a single-elimination playoff for the conference title, which ultimately cries out for a BCS "November Knockdown" - March Madness-styled playoff - that leads to a title game in January.

A powerhouse conference like the SEC is short-changed each year during the bowl season due to the strength of its teams and lack of top games each can qualiify into.

Historically and in the most recent 20 years the SEC has been the most dominant conference in the polls, bowl games, recruiting and in placing starting players in the NFL.
In 2006, the SEC, Big 10 and Big East all had multiple top 10 finishes. The SEC has 7 of the top 10 recruiting classes as well. Report It

This is as of 05. I'll put some avgs based on the final AP poll since 1936 & use current alignments. I'll do it over several posts. One or 2 for each conference. Report It

SEC - avg 3.8+ teams per year ranging from top 25- top 10 [I say this, because most yrs polls were top 20 only, some top 10 only and more recently top 25]. A total of 267 ranked teams to 2005, 67 of them top 5. Only 1 time in 70 yrs the SEC had zero in a published AP poll. Report It

Big 10 - avg. 3.4+ teams per year, 241 total ranked, 71 of them top 5. Have had at least 1 in every poll.
Big 12 - avg 2.8+ teams per year, 199 total ranked, 67 top 5, and 7 w/o a top 10 most of them in the early yrs. 1 yr they had zero ranked. Report It

ACC - avg. 2.785 teams per year, 195 total, 31 yrs w/ at least 1 top 5. In the last 26 yrs only 4 yrs without a top 5.
PAC 10 - avg. 2.285 teams per year, 160 total, 38 top 5, 34 yrs w/ at least 1 top 5 ranking and twice had 2 top 5. Only twice did not have a ranked team. Report It

Notre Dame - avg. .6857 teams per year, all by themselves. 48 total ranked seasons, 21 top 5, [0 top 5 in the last 12], 7 for the last 26 yrs. 33 top 10 finishes. 22 times unranked. They were very good the first half of the 70 yrs, but so-so over the past 35. Great avg however. Report It

Big East - avg. .74+ teams per year, That's for 8 teams. 10 top 5 finishes, no multiple top 5's at all, 1 in the past 17 yrs [2005] 5 for the past 26 yrs. They lost some history w/ recent alignment changes. Mostly the past 30 yrs w/ the rise of Miami. ACC robbed them and padded their stats. Report It

A total of 60 [+/- 1 or 2] Non-BCS conference teams have been ranked in the top 10. 41 of them occured prior to 1964 and mainly consist of Army, Navy, Ivy League, MtWest, WAC, C-USA, and unknowns. From 1967 on there have been 19 [2 or 3 in the last 10 yrs] mostly from C-USA, MtWest, WAC and MAC. Report It

I have a bit more on the polls and conferences if anyone cares to know. Let me know if there are any corrections. The averages do not include 2006 and may be off a little, because I did this on my own using info I could find searching the net. Report It

Great information. I was very surprised to hear the successes of Notre Dame, though I understand most of that success is before the modern era. Report It

no doubt the SEC cuz they got the national champs, they got the winners of the sugar bowl and they have arkansas who all had strong seasons and where upsets could happen any day

There is no debate here its the SEC.

Everyone Here Says "Theres No Debate The SEC" The SEC Is Great, And I Believe Its A Contender For The Best But Come On, You Also Have The Big 12 And The Pac 10. So I Believe Its A 3 Way Tie Between Those 3

SEC you think about it man, if you put the best teams from the other conferences in ours, they would be lucky to to win 9 games a year. the reason people dont think the SEC is the best is because the teams beat up on eachother all year and any team win because they are all good.

okay I can see arguments for the SEC but not all of modern college football lets say from the late 60's on. And to put the PAC10 before the Big Ten is a joke. To me for the last 30 years it has been the Big Ten and the now current Big 12 and the two leagues that the Big 12 at one time had members in (the 70's and 80"s).

PAC 10

SEC. hands down

Well its the SEC

every team was quality with the exception of ole miss
florida was nat champs
the confrence shows depth when the nat champs come close to losing to vandy.
LSU is a power house and showed that notre dame was a joke
Nobody gave Kentucky respect and they went in and beat clemson in a bowl game that .0083% of america picked kentucky.
the confernce is also one of the best recruiting conferences.

It really all comes down to what conference your team is in. For me Big Ten all the way. Nobody plays smash mouth, blue collar football like the Big Ten. SEC might have the nat. champs this year but big deal, I'm willing to bet you all still said SEC last year when Texas was the champs. I would also say the Big 12 is a contender but they have great teams but they also have the worst teams. (and yes I know indiana and illinois are in the Big Ten.)

SEC is overrated. I don't see any other teams blaming their conference when they lose. Did USC blame their conference when they lost to Oregon State? Did WVU blame the the big east for their loss to USF.
When SEC teams can get off that lame excuse i'll gain more respect for them, until then im going with the BIG 12.