There is less than a month until the kick-off of the college football season. With many topics that are floating around the football world, one is still a popular topic from last year: Who is number one? Which is the best conference in all of America? With the Big Ten fading, the PAC Ten, with only one national power house, the Big East, and the ACC, with no powers to speak of, we are left with the oldest conference in history, the SEC, and the Big 12. The SEC has been built on defense, while the Big 12 currently has the most potent offense in the country. But, just as football is taught, defense wins championships. When the top four teams are compared from each conference, there is a clear-cut reason of why the SEC is the best all around conference in the country. The top four teams from last year for the South Eastern Conference are: Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. From the Big 12: Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State. I took stats from each team and added the averages from the margin of victory, points allowed, and points per game. Also I have the bowl game records from the 2008-2009 bowl season. This discussion was all sparked by the Big 12 South division. Oklahoma lost to Texas in the Cotton Bowl, then Texas went to Lubbock and lost in a last second thriller. Texas Tech was then beaten down by Oklahoma in Norman. There was so much competition, but only in the Big 12 South. The Big 12 North is an absolute joke. There is no chance that the Big 12 North champion will win the Big 12 championship. The SEC has teams like Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana State that can compete for the SEC title. The Big 12 has their decision of the Big 12 champ made when OU and Texas play in the Cotton Bowl. Yes, the Big 12 has the best scoring offense in the country. Within the top four teams, their average points per game, added together, came out to 183.8 points per game. The SEC was 139.3 points per game. The SEC defense allowed together only 69.2 points per game compared to the Big 12, allowing 96.3 points a game. The SEC as a whole doesn’t score tons and tons of points, but they don’t have to. They don’t give up nearly 25 points per game. They SEC teams can get away with scoring 28 points and win comfortably because they have a defense to lean on. In some cases the defense is stronger than the offense. If Oklahoma State or Texas Tech didn’t have their offense clicking, then they most likely will not win. Look at the bowl games from last year. They both lost handily, the offenses were a no show, and they defenses were exploited. If Mississippi or LSU didn’t have much a offense, then they would still have a chance because of their defense. Now, lets look at the bowl games. Any bowl game you are in is your national championship. If you have a chance to win some hardware and take it home, then that is your championship. The SEC has 12 teams in the conference. They had eight teams in their conference that went to a bowl. Six of which won their bowl games. The Big 12 had seven compete and four teams win. Only Texas won their bowl game out of the top four teams, while the SEC went three and one, and two of those wins came over Big 12 teams. The most important Bowl game was won by Florida. In the last eight years, the SEC has won four national championships. While the Big 12 left with two wins. Those Big 12 teams that won had great offenses, but the thing that won the game was defense. The SEC was built on defense. Championships are won by defense. That’s how it will always be. Until that philosophy is practiced in the Big 12, the SEC will rule the college football world.