Dear Les and Urban,

You may have the two best teams in the country. Maybe you have two of the top 5. But, it's not unlikely that you will both be watching at least one inferior team in the national title game. Why? I think it has something to do with your non-conference schedule. Urban, come on ... Western Kentucky, Troy, Florida Atlantic and Florida State. And Les, seriously ... Virginia Tech, Middle Tennessee State, Tulane and Louisiana Tech. The regional games are ok, but you need to bolster the non-conference schedule!

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that the SEC is the best (and deepest) conference in the nation. I don't disagree. Urban, you'll spit out that along with a solid FSU team, you play Tennessee, Auburn, LSU, Kentucky, Georgia and South Carolina in conference play (along with Ole Miss and Vandy). Miles can point to tough conference games against South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama and Arkansas (to go along with easier ones against Mississippi State and Ole Miss). I understand the argument. However, if both of you end up with one loss (let's say you split the regular season match-up and the conference championship game), you won't be in the national title game if two teams from BCS conferences go undefeated (USC, WVU, OU, UT, Penn State, Ohio State, BC, Clemson, etc.).

It probably is not fair, but you are culpable. You need to convince yourselves, as well as the other coaches in the premier conference in the nation (for college football), that you need to prove every year that your conference is the best and the winner of your conference deserves to be in the national title game.

LSU smashed Virginia Tech. So, this gives the SEC an edge over the ACC if Va Tech challenges for the ACC title. A similar result in the Florida vs. FSU game would bolster the SEC's position. Unfortunately, the other 6 non-conference games are against non-BCS conference schools.

South Carolina plays UNC and Clemson, regional match-ups against ACC schools. Alabama's only BCS non-conference match-up is against Florida State.

Kentucky squeaked one out against Louisville (Big East), but if the Cardinals turn out to be the third (or 4th) best team in the Big East behind WVU, Rutgers and South Florida, it won't be that important in the grand scheme of things. Georgia flogged Big 12 South bottom feeder Oklahoma State and has a match-up against ACC rival GA Tech. Tennessee got beat soundly at Cal (Pac-10) and Arkansas isn't playing anyone.

So, at the end of the year, the SEC will probably have proven it's superiority over the ACC. That's just about it. Urban, you can point to your win over Ohio State last year as proof that you're better than the Big 10, but you have to prove it every year. With no wins (or games) against top teams from the Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10 and, possibly, the Big East (if Louisville turns out to be a pretender in that conference), you can't demand a position in the national title game if your conference doesn't produce an undefeated team.

What's the solution? I'm glad you asked. You need to stop scheduling the cupcakes and seek out games with the big boys from other conferences. It's hard to imagine less than 6 solid teams from your conference: LSU, Florida, USC (w/Spurrier), Bama (w/Saban) and at least two from Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas. Solid teams from MSU, Mississippi, Kentucky or Vandy are icing on the cake. Keep your regional rivalries (with ACC teams Florida State, Clemson, GA Tech, etc.), which are important for college football. But, instead of taking easy games against MTSU, get games with Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma, USC, Oregon, Cal, Nebraska, etc., even if you have to give up 2 for 1. There are four BCS conferences neglected by the SEC. If the top 6 SEC teams each schedule 2 games a year against power teams from those conferences, it will give everyone a better idea of which conference is the best. If you aren't able to get games against those guys, call them out in the media and put some pressure on the system to get things changed. College football needs more loses for the top teams in order to figure out who is actually the best team, and you two need to lead the charge to make it happen.