There’s an old saying in the NFL that you are what your record says you are

but Falcons head coachhttp://www.atlantafalconsteamonline.com/jake-matthews-jersey Dan Quinn doesn’t it applies to his team.The Falcons fell to 1-3 when Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton hit A.J. Green for a game-winning touchdown with six seconds left to play on Sunday afternoon. It was the second straight week that the Falcons failed to hold onto a late lead and they’ve now lost the three games by a total of 13 points.“At the end of the day, we have to get these moments right,” Quinn said, via ESPN.com. “Through our first quarter of the season, our record doesn’t show that we have that part down, so we’ve got work to do. We’re a good team and our record doesn’t show it at this point.”A big reason why the Falcons keep finding themselves in these moments because their defense hasn’t been able to stop opposing offenses with any regularity. Losing three starters to season-ending injuries contributes to such failings and finding a way to replace what they’ve lost will be crucial to getting to a point where the record better reflects Quinn’s view of the team. The SEC-SoCon Challenge — or the week prior to Thanksgiving, in which most of the SEC treats itself to a helping of easily beatable non-conference opponents who may or may not actually be in the SoCon — is a newer innovation. Until about a decade ago, the SEC’s mid-November was defined by rivalries like LSU-Ole Miss, Tennessee-Vanderbilt, and even the Iron Bowl itself.Eventually, the SEC discovered its teams could essentially gift themselves extra bye weeks during a crucial spot in the calendar. As long as they picked the right cupcakes, at least, they could get some breezy reps in and stay healthy right before the biggest games Authentic Keanu Neal Jersey , with smaller schools getting crucial revenue.Doctors in other conferences hate this one weird trick! (Even though most conferences do similar things internally before Rivalry Week anyway.)Every November, Ohio State fans look up from their team running a layup line on a 1-9 Illinois or whatever to complain about Alabama getting to play a bad team in November. I assure you, Charleston Southern — which plays every SEC team at once every year (it’s true) — is as good as the Kansas, Rutgers, Oregon State, or Maryland your team is playing during the SEC-SoCon Challenge. If you force the SEC to add a ninth conference game, it’ll just grant membership to Wofford and UT Chattanooga.But still, yes, I get it, yes. It’s silly and weird and not courageous of the SEC to do this in November. Yes. I know. Sure.We’ve now got roughly a decade of SEC-SoCon Challenge history to reflect upon. Bama was one of the first teams to deploy this maneuver, way back in 2007. Boy, did it work great right off the bat. We’ll get to that game.7. Alabama 63, Georgia State 7 in 2010Important point: Georgia State has never been in the Southern Conference. However Authentic Vic Beasley Jersey , all mid-November games involving an SEC team and a wildly overmatched non-power are spiritually included in the SEC-SoCon Challenge. Thank you.Noteworthy only for the image of a program in its first year of existence, nine weeks after losing to a since-defunct NAIA team, scoring a touchdown in Bryant-Denny Stadium.The part I wish the broadcast (which for some reason had Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, and Desmond Howard???) had captured: GSU’s post TD victory lap by like the entire roster up and down the sideline.6. Alabama 45, Georgia Southern 21 in 2011Nick Saban said this:And Georgia Southern made shirts about it.5. Kentucky 42, ULM 40 in 2006FORESHADOWING!4. Georgia 23, Georgia Southern 17 (OT) in 2015Well hey there, Dawgs! You clicked on this post, all excited to see a certain Georgia Southern game, and now you’re being reminded of this other one. I know this doesn’t exactly ruin anything here for you, but I just wanted to say hello.3. The Citadel 23, South Carolina 22 in 2015You know how Midwestern teams are terrible at not scheduling North Dakota State? The SEC is terrible at not scheduling FCS triple option teams. Speaking of:2. Georgia Southern 26 http://www.atlantafalconsteamonline.com/andy-levitre-jersey , Florida 20 in 2013Please never forget THE EAGLES COMPLETED ZERO PASSES ALL DAY.1. ULM 21, Alabama 14 in 2007One of the greatest upsets in the upset-bloated 2007 season and by far the most delightful loss ever suffered by a Saban team, this was also arguably the first game of the SEC-SoCon Challenge era. The year prior, the Iron Bowl had been in this weekend. But around this time, the SEC decided to move its biggest rivalries to Thanksgiving week, helping fortify the last weekend in November as the national Hate Week. In 2007, Auburn played Tennessee Tech in November, but the Tigers used to play cupcakes before Georgia, not right before Alabama. The Tigers wouldn’t move their November cupcake week to before Thanksgiving until 2011, around which time many other SEC teams began doing the same. So it’d be reasonable to credit Bama both with putting the SEC-SoCon Challenge in its current spot and with getting the whole thing off to a deeply enjoyable start.And again: ULM was not in the SoCon, except for one special day.