Usually I find the my conference is better than your conference argument to be pretty lame.  I mean, when's the last time a conference played a bowl game? But something grabbed my attention about the SEC the other day.  Let me start by saying there are a hell of a lot of good teams in the SEC, no argument.  The boards are full of passionate SEC fans arguing, not without support,  that theirs is the toughest confernce.  But here's my question SEC fans. 

How come your SEC teams rarely play any out of conference road games?

It dawned on me that I can't remember often seeing  SEC teams visiting a major out of conference school. I looked at the schedules of all the SEC teams this year and found two decent out of conference road games: Tenn v. Cal,  and Miss. St. v. WV.  Yeah, there's GA v. Ga. Tech which is a tradtional rivalry and SC v. NC (also traditional?).  But it seemed that the SEC teams just never leave the South.  So I looked at last year's schedules for Auburn, Alabama, and LSU, and lo and behold, found the same thing.

So SEC fans my question is, why is this?

I looked at Big 10, Big East, ACC, Big 12, Pac-10 schedules too.  It seems they always have about one out of conference road game per team against a substantial division one school.  If the SEC is at dominant as its fans believe, why don't they head to California more often to kick the snot out of Pac-10 team?  Maybe prove once and for all that the Big 10 is overrated by annihilating a Wisconsin, a Michigan, a Penn State or an Ohio State in a snowstorm?  Go smack some Big East pretenders like West Virginia or Rutgers around on the East Coast?  Or if you don't want to travel that far, kick around some ACC or Big 12 teams?

SEC teams are willing to play some of these teams at SEC stadiums.  The SEC champ goes to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl.  Why not take to the road once in  a while?  I often hear the argument, that this Big East team would only be a mid-level team in the SEC.  So why not schedule them and pick up a win?  Or send a Mississippi up to the Big 10 and beat up a Purdue or an Indiana?  (my respect does go out to Mississippi St. who agreed to play WV at Morgantown, and still managed to beat Kentucky and Auburn).

To me, part of the beauty of a nationwide game like college football is to see how teams from different areas stack up against each other.  Would Ohio State melt in the Swamp in September?  Would LSU freeze in Boston in November? Wouldn't it be a hoot to find out?Just think of the benefits recruiting wise if  Alabama flew into LA and stomped SC.  By staying home, it raises the question does this SEC brand of football not travel well? Are they aftraid to schedule out of conference teams?

I've posed this question on some of the boards, but these are so full of trash talk, it's never really answered.  Is it scheduling problems because of the number of teams in the SEC? But the ACC and Big 12 can do it.  I would love to see the Gators, or the Tigers, or the Tide or the Vols in NJ.  But it never happens.  Can anybody tell me why?  Is it stadium capacity? I'm sure they could move it to Giants Stadium or Foxboro, MA or some other large venue.

Travel was an issue last century.  Knute Rockne obviously took one too many plane trips.  But it's the 21st century now and I just can't explain why the rest of the country doesn't see more of the SEC teams.

Am I missing something here?  Let me know.