Auburn is trying to break a long standing trend that defense wins championships in the SEC.  History has shown that to win the SEC you have to have one of the top ranked defenses in the league.  This is what has lofted Florida and Alabama to such high standings in the past few years but Auburn is going against the grain.

The Tigers lead the SEC in the current standings despite being ranked 9th in total defense in the SEC.

Looking over some numbers from the NFL Draft over the last 10 years it is interesting to see the effects that coaching staff’s have in the development of players.  Any top-tier high school football player in the state of Georgia will likely consider both UGA and Georgia Tech as two options for college.

Here is one statistic some of those recruits may want to keep in mind:

Since 2000, UGA has had 10 first round picks in the NFL Draft…Georgia Tech has had only 1.

Here is a detailed look at the number of players drafted from both schools sorted by round:

Check out these statistics of the difference between the lofty No. 1 overall pick compared to the No. 2 pick since the turn of the centruy:

Number 1 Picks:

Number 2 Picks:

There are 9 Pro-Bowls for the No. 1 pick players in the last 10 years while the No. 2 picks have 10.   Since we know that the significance of pay difference in these two picks is substantial it is a pretty obvious argument that there is little to no value to getting the No. 1 pick over the second spot in the NFL draft.