Column: Mailbag: SEC is playing by its own set of rules

Each week during the college football season, national analyst Chris Dufresne will burn a timeout to answer questions and exchange opinions. You can email him at chris.dufresne@latimes.com and reach him on Twitter: @DufresneLATimes

Unbuckling the mailbag:

Normally I don’t take time to write to columnists, but I just had to reach out to you after reading your most recent L.A. Times article on “Teflon Coated SEC West.”…Let me guess, you’re from California? It’s evident in everything you write. You constantly complain about the SEC and how unfairly they are treated over your hometown conference. News flash: Those teams are far superior.

College Football Fan

Normally I don’t answer mailbag letters from readers who use aliases. I have turned away previous queries signed by “Honk If You Love Spare Ribs,” and “My Child is an Honor Student at Starkville Middle School.”

I have never complained that the Southeastern Conference has been treated unfairly. The SEC has actually been treated exceedingly fair.

The league created the Bowl Championship Series system and then won nine titles in 16 years.

My only complaint is that all leagues should play under the same rules in the new college football playoff system.

The idea was all conferences would go to nine-game league schedules by the year 2016. The Pac-12 and Big 12 conferences already play nine, and the Big Ten will by 2016.

The SEC decided, at the last minute, to stay with its eight-game format.

Playing eight games in a 14-team league is easier than playing nine games in a 12-team league.

Also, yes, I am a native Californian, with the hopes of retiring some day to the whine country.

---

I have never written to a writer about a column, but I had to thank you for your excellent article about the SEC and the Pac-12. As long as ESPN and so many other sportswriters\sportscasters are in love with the SEC, it will probably never change.

Jeanne Gee

I think the only way to get the playing field even is to publicly keep shaming the SEC into doing the right thing in terms of scheduling. I feel the same way about the Big 12 being the only major conference to not play a title game.

Every conference should either stage a title game or not stage one.

College football is the only sport where teams competing for the same championship can rig the system to their advantage.

Imagine the Angels saying next year “we’re not playing the AL Central because Kansas City is too good.”

---

Don’t bury the Ducks just yet. Different deal when what was supposed to be the best offensive line in the conference is (relatively) healthy.

Mike Jelline

I had the ditch half dug after those games against Washington State and Arizona. I had never seen a worse performance by an offensive line representing a team in the top 10.

It didn’t matter that the poor performances were based on injuries. It started with losing left tackle Tyler Johnstone in training camp, and continued with hits to Jake Fisher and Andre Yruretagoyena.

What was rated the nation’s No. 1 line this summer by Phil Steele deteriorated into a leaking band of walk-ons, freshmen and position transfers.

Then, miraculously, Fisher returned last week and everything got better against UCLA. After giving up 12 sacks in two games, Oregon allowed none against the Bruins.

I’m still not quite sure how much of that was Fisher’s return, or UCLA’s continued struggles on the defensive front.

Oregon will get another big test against Washington’s tough defensive line. If the line holds up against the Huskies, I will lift the small-craft warning I issued after Oregon’s seven-point win at Pullman.

---

Will you least admit (about USC): 1) Their special teams have really stunk this year — after getting rid of John Baxter, the special teams coach; 2) Justin Wilcox is not the second coming of anyone’s great (or competent) defensive coordinator?

Howard Cohen

I agree USC’s special teams have not been special, but I don’t know how you blame coaching for a player not jumping up to defend a Hail Mary pass — any more than you give USC coaching credit for successfully completing a Hail Mary to end the first half against Oregon State.

Hail Mary plays are 95% luck.

And if Trojans fans want to fire defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox after six games, I know about 120 other Football Bowl Subdivision schools that would hire him tomorrow.

Steve Sarkisian hired Wilcox at Washington to replace coordinator Nick Holt after the Baylor amassed 67 points and 777 yards against the Huskies in the 2001 Alamo Bowl.

Holt was once a pretty good defensive coordinator at USC under Pete Carroll.

Wilcox almost instantly made Washington’s defense better.

Let’s give Wilcox 10 or 15 minutes before we send him out on a rail. Especially given that USC sits in first place in the Pac-12 South.

USC’s national No. 74 ranking in total defense is nothing to brag about, but check out these Pac-12 schools that rank worse: Colorado (81), Arizona (88), UCLA (89), Washington State (97), Arizona State (101), Oregon (107) and California (121).

---

What gives with the love affair with the Spartans? They play in the worst league, got embarrassed by Oregon, then beat up on cupcakes and are back in the hunt? Say what?

Don Troy

Michigan State’s ranking to me is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, and topped with melted Velveeta cheese over tortilla chips.

I like the Spartans and disagree they were “embarrassed” by Oregon at Eugene. Michigan State outplayed the Ducks into the third quarter but did end up losing by 19 points.

It mystifies me that the USA Today coaches have Michigan State ranked No. 6, three spots ahead of Oregon.

Remember, though, these are the same coaches who had Grenada ranked ahead of the U.S. after Uncle Sam’s big road win there in 1983.

Thankfully, the coaches (or writers) won’t have anything to do with picking national football champions. And we can assume the selection committee, if it comes down to a choice, can reconcile that Oregon defeated Michigan State in a head-to-head matchup.

---

I am “older than 80” yet remember 1937-38, living in Minnesota in those years and the legendary football coach Bernie Berman. Just ask Michigan’s Tom Harmon how he performed against Berman…

P.S. It may be years, in my opinion, before the Little Brown Jug leaves possession of Minnesota! Thanks for updating me and your other “older” readers.

Daniel Brigham Jr.

I was born two years before Minnesota’s last Rose Bowl appearance but look forward to welcoming the Gophers back to Pasadena very soon.

The Big Ten features some of my favorite road-kill mascots — Gophers, Badgers, Hawkeyes, Wolverines, and now “Testudo” of the Maryland Terrapins.

---

I want to read your columns. Why are they hidden deep in the vaults? Do you want me to read them? Does the L.A. Times like you?

Brad DeCamp

I think L.A. Times still likes me but I am also still on my probationary employment period, having only been hired in December of 1981. My goal is to slowly work up the ladder and prove to the bosses my stories deserve better display, especially now on something called the Internet.

One problem is, I’ve had a lot of bosses in 30-plus years and some of them have retired.

I am sorry you cannot find my stories.

People have said I have written some really good ones lately.

Good luck finding this one.