SEC Football: Momentum, who has ‘Big Mo’ and who is stuck with ‘No Mo’
By Ronald Evans
Offseasons are driven by perception. Looking at momentum and SEC football teams, who has the ‘Big Mo’ from last season and who is shackled with ‘No Mo’
Conventional wisdom presumes that momentum is a key factor in winning and losing. Wins and losses spawn repetition, becoming expectations and even habits. Eight SEC football teams fit into the categories of either ‘Big Mo’ or ‘No Mo’ from last season.
How much does momentum matter in the transition from one season to the next? There is no clear answer. The outcomes of rival games certainly carry positive and negative momentum forward until the next contest.
Late season wins also carry momentum forward. Losses do as well, but all losses are not the same. Losing to a better team in a conference or playoff championship game can be mostly discarded.
A blowout loss like Ohio State’s loss to Clemson in the CFP Playoff semifinal is harder to shed. An upset loss when the better team fails to win cannot be shed.
There are other factors in the game of offseason perceptions. Fans by the nature of their emotion-driven allegiances are not just susceptible to delusion, they crave it. Most fans will embrace any positive spin concocted by their team’s head coach.
The exception is when a coach is in the swirl of a death spiral and fans are rooting for his quick demise. LSU and Les Miles was an example of this last season. Kevin Sumlin is near the same situation in College Station this season.
Momentum matters, real or imagined. Let’s look at eight SEC football teams with clearly defined momentum trends and the prospects for each in 2017.
Before we move on, remember the first rule of sports momentum – it always ends. The only doubt is when.