Sorry, but this just isn't a big concern of mine. We've ALWAYS played big-time football here in the SEC--it's just that in our wired-up, plugged-in, media-savvy world the rest of the nation's college fans have all been forced to face it, come to terms with it. While I have always felt a certain pride in the level of skill, toughness and stamina that reality demands in our Gators, familiarity also breeds contempt, as they say, limiting the degree to which that pride extends to the other actual schools and programs in the conference.
Their success at the national level ratifies our relative success and once more illustrates the tough road we must annually travel in negotiating our conference schedule (and refutes all claims that any early out-of-conference tune-up games make our overall schedule an "easy" one!), but beyond that I really don't care that much about how well or badly the rest of them do EXCEPT as to how it relates to OUR standing, reputation and relative strength-of-schedule--and, hopefully, our own quest for a higher ranking (with an eye ultimately towards a national championship, of course).
As for the next year or two, I don't know if the SEC will continue to hold a monopoly-like grip on the top spot, but meanwhile, is it a "dynasty"? I'm not sure that term applies to a whole conference, and in the end, I don't give a damn. It is a remarkable streak, albeit one that is bound to be broken at some point. I have no doubt that several of our teams will be in the race, though, and that for the foreseeable future the cream of the conference will almost HAVE to be considered as a participant in the ultimate game. Moreover, I expect the Gators to be one of those teams, THE team representing the SEC in the BCS Championship by 2012.
It is for this reason, and this reason ONLY that I care about the other SEC schools and their performance on Saturdays. Otherwise, for all I care they can all go hang.
Go Gators!
