You gotta love the SEC. Their holier-than-thou attitude and perception that a spot in the Nat'l Championship game is their birthright makes them as lovable as Yankees Fan. It's one thing for their uppity fan base to do it, but even their coaches want a piece now.
"I can tell you this, that they have a much easier road to travel," Miles said of the Trojans. "They're going to play real knockdown drag-outs with UCLA and Washington, Cal-Berkley, Stanford -- some real juggernauts -- and they're going to end up, it would be my guess, in some position so if they win a game or two, that they'll end up in the title (game). I would like that path for us.
"I think the SEC provides much stiffer competition."
[...]Speaking later in the week with reporters in Baton Rouge, Miles continued the theme.
"The Big 12 is a conference that might have two really pretty good teams, maybe four," said Miles, who coached in the Big 12 while at Oklahoma State. "I think the Pac-10 may have one or two really good ones. The ACC certainly, arguably, has some quality teams.
"I don't think there's any conference out there that has as many quality teams as ours."
Then he back tracked on ESPN:
Rece Davis: Now you were quoted recently that you would Love to get a shot at USC for the national championship. You went on to say that "They're going to play real knockdown drag-outs with UCLA and Washington, Cal-Berkley, Stanford -- some real juggernauts. What led you to make those comments about USC's Schedule?
Les Miles: This...Hey, Hey this is a bad news time that's all there can be I can only tell you that we have great respect for the Pac 10 conference as a whole I can tell that USC has been a great team no matter what anybody says, for years.
Davis Laughing in the Background
and certainly We would love to be in the national championship game and we would play any comer and certainly if that happened to be USC that would be great with us. That's what I was in reference to...I can tell that it was more in the pride in the SEC and understanding the we play a pretty competitive schedule and we finish our season and our conference record with a championship game.
I think the championship game certainly throws another great opponent at a neutral site at the end of the season that maybe makes the hurdle of the SEC even a little higher and a little bit more difficult to finish a season undefeated or in a highly ranked position.
Rece Davis: Now I saw you laugh when I brought up your quotes. Now, obviously they were given at a very pro Tiger function. They gotten some play, a lot of national media you have just gotten some more here, have you talked to Pete Carroll about them?
Les Miles: I would only hope that Pete Carroll is not concerned with any of this conversation, its nothing but speculative so far away from a seasons end and so close to a beginning of a very important schedule for both he and I.
Blahblahblahblah SEC is hard blahblahblahblah USC plays no one blahblahblahblah Whoever wins the SEC should get special recognition. What makes me curious when guys like Les Miles complains about SC is, has he even watched them play? It's not like USC has squeaked by their opponents these past few years, or won ultra-interesting, ultra-fun 6-5 games against Washington. Today on the college football show on ESPN, a viewer sent in an e-mail asking how would SC fare in the SEC? Probably bad. They score more than 10 points, and that definitely hurts.
