Count Oregon right tackle Jake Fisher among those sick of the fawning over the greatness of the SEC.
Fisher laid the sarcasm on thick when discussing Tennessee, the Ducks' opponent on Saturday. Among the highlights of a smiling Fisher's interview with CSN Northwest:
Week 3 game rankings
All eyes will be on College Station Saturday. How does the rest of the week's action rate? We rank the games from worst to best in the power conferences. **More ...**
» "They're big, strong and fast, and they're the SEC, and no one can beat the SEC, so, we're going to have all the challenges."
» "Yeah they're really big and scary, so, we're all really, really intimidated by the SEC, so we're just going to have to keep our minds right."
Oregon is 1-2 in its last three games against SEC opponents, including a 22-19 loss to Auburn in the 2011 BCS National Championship Game. The lone win came in a 48-13 humbling of the Volunteers in Knoxville, Tenn., as Oregon scored the final 45 points. Running back LaMichael James rushed for 134 yards and one touchdown in that game, while Kenjon Barner had an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown.
One other reason Fisher can afford to be chirpy is the absence of Tennessee defensive lineman Maurice Couch, who has been declared ineligible after a Yahoo! Sports investigative report alleging Couch was one of five SEC players to receive impermissible extra benefits from a representative of sports agents.
The ultimate way for Fisher to shut up the SEC would be to deny the conference its eighth-consecutive BCS championship, which Oregon would have done last season if not for a 17-14 November home loss to eventual Pac-12 champion Stanford, its only defeat in 2012. Undefeated Oregon would have played Notre Dame for the title, relegating Alabama to the Sugar Bowl.
Follow Dan Greenspan on Twitter @DanGreenspan.
