SEC and Big 12 rule day so far

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Wow, talk about a hostile takeover. Eight of the top 10 spots in this week's Associated Press college football poll are occupied by teams from the SEC and Big 12.How does that happen? There were supposed to be six Bowl Championship Series so-called "super-conferences" -- not two.Between them, the SEC and Big 12 can boast 13 unbeaten teams heading into Week 5. The other four BCS-affiliated conferences -- the Pac-10, Big 10, ACC and Big East -- have eight, combined. The Pac-10 and ACC each have just one remaining unbeaten, No. 1 Southern Cal and No. 16 Wake Forest, respectively.Big 12 and SEC commissioners Dan Beebe and Mike Slive must be reveling in the success. And their business models must be the envy of every other BCS conference commish.Widely regarded as the toughest league in the land, the SEC has become the business equivalent of a thriving conglomerate, crushing the competition with a game plan that's warp speed ahead of the rest -- except perhaps the Big 12.It all starts with coaching. It's no coincidence the SEC has six of the 12 highest-paid coaches in the game, four whose teams are ranked in the top eight of the AP poll and a fifth, Tommy Tuberville, whose Auburn Tigers are ranked No. 15. Bobby Petrino gets a reprieve, since he's in his first year at Arkansas.College football idealists might wish to think there isn't, or at least shouldn't be, a correlation between coaches' compensation and team performance, specifically wins. They could point out that legendary coach Joe Paterno was paid about $55,555 for each of Penn State's nine victories in 2007, while Charlie Weis cost Notre Dame $1.4 million for each of the three Irish wins.That's a case of one program getting more bang for its buck. In general, the best coaches are going to come at a big price, but they can also pay huge dividends, sometimes in short order. Take Nick Saban at $3.75 million a year. In just his second year at Alabama, Saban has already turned the Tide into a contender again. Certainly for the conference crown and maybe even the national title.And that's got to make Notre Dame blink. Weis is 24-16 in his fourth year as the Irish skipper, and he makes $4.2 million a year.The top two highest-paid college coaches in the country are Oklahoma's Bob Stoops at $6.5 million (due to a $3 million 10-year anniversary bonus) and USC's Pete Carroll at $4.4 million. Coincidentally, their teams are also ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the country, though Carroll's squad occupies the top spot -- for now.Other than USC, not a single Pac-10 team is ranked. And its doubtful Notre Dame will be when the Trojans devour the Irish in Los Angeles Nov. 29.In the end, USC could become a victim of circumstance, due to its conference affiliation, as could Penn State or Wisconsin, and maybe even South Florida. Is Wake Forest even worth mentioning?No question, any unbeaten -- or maybe even one-loss -- team from the SEC has a decided advantage to make the BCS title game over any other unbeaten from another conference.And why not? The SEC has proven to be the best college football show on earth, week in and week out.Who wasn't looking forward to the LSU-Auburn showdown last weekend? And who isn't looking forward to No. 4 Georgia versus No. 8 Alabama Saturday night in Athens?The bottom line is, the SEC has mastered the big business mentality of college football like no other conference.For the second consecutive week, ESPN's College GameDay will be at an SEC venue -- Georgia's Sanford Stadium for the Blackout Bama game. And you can count on the GameDay crew returning to SEC territory when No. 4 Florida takes on No. 5 LSU Oct. 11 in Gainesville.When you can bank on the league -- and on television -- to offer up the feature college football game almost weekly, who's going to complain about the billions the SEC will reap from CBS and ESPN over the next 15 years?At least the SEC is sharing the wealth. Good heavens, look at No. 21 Vanderbilt! The 4-0 Commodores -- the league's perennial weaklings -- have ascended into the AP Top 25 for the first time in nearly a quarter century.Maybe the rich are getting richer, but at least it's a league where even the football poor can prosper. And who's going to begrudge the SEC's power brokers their dividends for capitalizing on the free market, and recruiting many of the best coaches and players the game has to offer?Oh, that's right, those other four conferences. (Contact John Tucker at jtucker@unionleader.com) (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)