By: Kipp Branch

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Let me start by saying I picked North Carolina to cut down the nets this past Monday night and I have the SSE article from a couple of weeks ago to prove it.

I have been mulling this article over on my mind for a few weeks now. Folks that know me know that I am a die-hard SEC supporter and I make no bones about it.

So, take notice when I type this this next sentence. The ACC is better right now than the SEC. Yes, I said it. Now that I have that out of the way here is why.

Football: National Champion Clemson who I also picked to win it all and have the SSE story to prove that as well. The Tigers are the cream of the crop in college football. They beat Alabama, who by the way is the only team worthy on mentioning in SEC football right now.

Clemson is the champion. Florida State is poised to get back into the title hunt in 2017. Mark Richt has Miami headed back to being Miami again. North Carolina is turning into a pretty good football program. Virginia Tech is on its way back. Georgia Tech has beat UGA two straight times in Athens.

Yet, the ACC gets no credit. FSU beats Florida almost every year now. Clemson beats South Carolina like a rented mule, and the Yellow Jackets have beaten UGA two out of the last three.

The evidence is there in the head to head rivalry games. Clemson has been good enough to get to the title game two years in a row and I don’t know if you watched the last 10 minutes of that title game where Clemson just wore down the pride of the SEC and stuck a dagger in Alabama’s heart as time ran out.

In the SEC you have Alabama in football and that is it. The SEC East is a dumpster fire with no real dominant team; the SEC West is no better outside of Alabama. LSU and Auburn are not very good, Ole Miss wrote the cheaters handbook, and Texas A&M are world beaters until November.

The ACC is a better football conference right now than the SEC.

Basketball: National Champion North Carolina. The Tar Heels just won its sixth National Title and beat the pride of the SEC Kentucky in the South Regional Final, which was the best game of the entire tournament.

UNC, Duke, FSU, Miami, Virginia, Notre Dame (basketball only) and I’m not going to mention the rest that alone puts the SEC to shame in basketball.

Yes, the SEC had 3 teams in the elite eight; I get it. Florida and South Carolina had good runs in the tourney but would not have finished in the top 4 of the ACC regular season standings.

In SEC Basketball you have Kentucky and that is pretty much it. UK will always carry to SEC banner in basketball; that is their job and they perform it well. Florida, South Carolina and Arkansas had good seasons but seriously could they have run the ACC regular season gauntlet. The answer is no.

Kentucky beat Arkansas in the SEC Tournament Final and North Carolina beat both of those teams in the South Regional on its’ way to the title.

The proof is there. The SEC loyalists, like me, hate to admit it but you have to call it like you see it. So, I close this article by saying one more time….

The ACC is a better conference than the SEC at this moment in time. I hope to wake up from this nightmare soon.