ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Julio Jones was asked about the Texas defense and repeated the answer that so many of his Alabama teammates have given leading up to the BCS national championship game.
“It’s just like an SEC team, how they play the game,” the Tide receiver said earlier this week.
As if there was no greater compliment than comparing the Longhorns to South Carolina or Kentucky. As if the greatest praise one could bestow upon on a college football team is declaring that, yes, this team could play in the Southeastern Conference.
Competing in a league that has produced three consecutive national champions — something never done before — certainly helps justify Alabama’s high opinion of the SEC.
And it’s a feeling shared by many, though somewhat begrudgingly.
“The SEC is the best conference,” ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said Wednesday. “But I do sense just from a fan’s perspective once you get outside the region, it is the SEC versus the world.”
So it’s safe to say that more than just Texas fans would like to see the Longhorns take Alabama — and with it the SEC — down a peg Thursday night in the Rose Bowl, denying the league a fourth straight title.
SEC football dates back to 1933 and in many ways it unifies the Deep South like nothing else. As fierce as the rivalries are within the conference, fans and players are passionate in their support for each other when teams step outside the league.
“It’s almost become a fraternity of the South,” Alabama tight end Colin Peek said. “I have a lot of friends at Florida who all want to see us win. They almost want to say the national championship game is decided on Dec. 5 in Atlanta.”
