Utah beats 'Bama and the SEC makes excuses

Utah continued there stretch of bowl victories by annihilating Alabama 31-17. After 10 minutes, the game was already over, with Utah scoring 21 points. The response from the SEC seems to be to make excuses (we had our star player suspended, we weren't prepared, we had injuries) Uh, nice try. Though don't mention that they were the de facto home team, playing a few hours from home near plenty of alumni. (Probably not a lot of Utah alums in the area.) They had also played the bowl game many times before and were quite familiar with the stadium and environs. Alabama also 'supposedly' had played big teams, and should have been ready for the game. Uh huh. When it comes down to it, Utah will end the season with no loses and victories over 2 teams that should end the season in the top 10. Alabama? Well, Georgia or Mississippi may end up in the top 15. With Wyoming's victory over Tennessee, that leaves the measly mountain west at 2-0 vs. the 'powerful SEC'.
USC gives us another example of west coat bias. They lost one game in the season, a narrow road loss to a 9-4 Oregon State. Florida also had one early loss, a narrow home loss to a 9-4 Mississippi. Both Florida and USC continued by destroying the other teams on their schedule. However, USC is deemed to have 'lost its chance' due to its loss. For Florida, on the other hand, the loss is brushed away.

Why is there such a desire to pander to the SEC (And to a lessor extent the Big-12)? It probably all comes down to money. The south lives for football. High school stadiums in Texas are larger than most IAA stadiums, and probably even comparable to some IA stadiums. The south lives off football. In Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina, the college game is the highest level of football for a population that lives for the game. These are the rapid fans that watch the games, buy the gear, and bring in the revenue. Out west? High School games are much less of a community affair. USC and UCLA may get a lot of people to games - but they are to top football teams in the nations 2nd largest city. (And USC is really good.) Other than that, you have teams like Stanford offering money back guarantees on season tickets. It only makes sense to pander to the core constituency in the south. Keep their teams up near the top so they can continue to have a strong interest and keep the revenue flowing.