DD4ME
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Your argument should be that the Big 10 is the most top-heavy, and that's about as far as it goes.
The SEC vs Big 10 in a straight up, pound for pound fight would look something like this:
The top would be a battle. Bama vs. Ohio State, Ole Miss vs Mich State, Florida vs. Iowa, etc etc. I personally think Florida smashes an Iowa team that can't move the ball on that defense, but everything else is a tough call.
In the middle, I'll take Tennessee, Arkansas, LSU, Georgia vs. Northwestern, Wisconsin, 7-5 Penn State and 6-6 Indiana all day long. I say the Big 10 wins one of those at best, and it's hard fought.
At the bottom, I would absolutely take 4-8 Vandy and 3-9 SC over 2-10 Purdue and 3-9 Maryland. 5-7 Mizzou vs. 5-7 Minnesota would be a good game, but again, I have a hard time with the idea that Minnesota could score on their defense. 5-7 Kentucky would beat 5-7 Illinois.
That's about as even as I could match it. But in 14 games of SEC vs B1G, B1G maybe wins 6. And several of those 6 come at the top in hard fought matches.
Not against Arkansas either. If we played Florida late, we'd probably find a way to lose to someone else early
I get it. I blame that on being hungover from UF but again it doesn't count or matter. We are playing as good a ball as anyone at the close though. Ran roughshod on every great D in this league.
People try to make it about Southern athletes being better or whatever, but that's stupid. It's about coaches. The SEC got good because there were a bunch of great coaches here and college coaches control basically every aspect of the program. Now, the B1G has Meyer, Harbaugh, Dantonio, etc. while in the SEC there's a huge dropoff after Saban. The Big Ten is better than SEC fans want to admit
The Iowa team that we pounded is one of their best teams. You are discounting how good we are but inflating what a good team is. Just because a handful do really well playing the other patsies doesn't mean much.
If you don't believe me look at the big10 standings
8 teams have less than 4 wins in their division. 4 in each division.
6 of those have less than 3 wins
3 fricking wins
So how did the top half of the divisions rack up their 6 or 7 conference wins? Beating a bunch of scrubs. It's like having 8 Vandy's in your division.
Except in the SEC our bottom feeders can beat some of their mid level teams. Do you think Wisconsin wants AR? MSU? UT? etc
Our conference has the best ooc record including our loss to playoff bound OK. Again a second tier UT went to OT against a playoff team from another division.
You left out Harbaugh and Michigan, who are better than everyone but 1 or 2 teams in the SEC.
Those teams aren't bottom-feeders. Vandy, Kentucky, Mizzou, South Carolina and Auburn are all garbage.
Nope.
You have to be off your rocker if you think the Big 10 is the best conference right now. It's not even close. There's a legit case for the Big 12, Pac-12, and the SEC. There is no legit case for a league with only 4 - 5 good teams. The B1G has more deadweight at the bottom than the Big 12, Pac 12 and SEC combined.
For starters, there are 6 losing teams in the B1G. Some of those losing teams are real bad, such as Maryland, Rutgers, and Purdue. The difference between the mid-tier teams and the top-teams in the B1G is also massive, as Penn State is just frankly not that good. Arkansas, Miss State, LSU, and Tennessee are all way better than Penn State right now. Even Auburn (in the bottom half of the SEC) is probably better than Penn State.
And I'm not just spouting out random opinions here. Check the Sagarin conference ratings. Sagarin ranks conferences and divisions, so it's not completely straightforward, but no matter how you spin it, there's almost no way to come up with the Big 10 as #1.
If you average out the Sagarin division ratings, here is how Sagarin would rank the conferences:
1. Big 12
2. SEC
3. Pac 12
4. Big 10 / ACC (tie)
The top 3 on that are all very close. The Big 10 and ACC are way behind. So, going to have to disagree strongly with your opinion. You're using the old "only the top teams" count formula which sort of ignores the fact that the "top teams" normally look a lot better in weak conferences that lack depth. If you made a case for the Big 12 or Pac 12, I could've bought in. But the Big 10 is just way behind the SEC, Big 12, and Pac 12 right now.
If you look at it OU is where TCU was last year...so, if UNC were to win a Close one, and MSU dominates Iowa *thus improving the quality if OSU's loss, I could see OSU (more likely Stanford --assuming they beat SoCal) going in instead if UNC.
I don't disagree with any of this. The SEC shrills aren't going to like it.Now that pretty much all the dust has settled and smoke has cleared on the 2015 season, I think its clear that the best conference in America this season is the Big 10.
Yeah, I said it.
For one thing, I dont think there is a top 4 that compares with the top 4 of the Big 10. From what I have seen, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State could play with anybody, or most anybody. You have a pretty good argument when right off the bat a team that isnt playing for a conference title is possibly the best team in America. Dont kid yourselves. Whoever you think is the best team in the country, that team is happy Ohio State wont be around.
In addition, Northwestern and Wisconsin are solid football teams.
The two best teams in the ACC are 1-1 vs. South Carolina with a point differential of (+1).
In the SEC, youd have an argument as to who the top 4 even are, but Florida has to probably rank at #2 by default. Ole Miss is probably in that top 4 as well. Both were spanked in non-conference play by Memphis and FSU respectively.
The Big 12 has an argument with quality at the top with TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State. However, its more top heavy than the Big 10 and defense is optional.
As the year has played out and considering what leagues did also stepping out of the conference, I think the Big 10 had the best year.
99 only posted this because his team looks like chum now. If they were playing like they did at the start of the season I doubt this gets posted. As a fan of a team actually closing strong none of the other conferences look "dominant". The one team pouring it on the best is Bama.
People try to make it about Southern athletes being better or whatever, but that's stupid. It's about coaches. The SEC got good because there were a bunch of great coaches here and college coaches control basically every aspect of the program. Now, the B1G has Meyer, Harbaugh, Dantonio, etc. while in the SEC there's a huge dropoff after Saban. The Big Ten is better than SEC fans want to admit
If you look at it OU is where TCU was last year...so, if UNC were to win a Close one, and MSU dominates Iowa *thus improving the quality if OSU's loss, I could see OSU (more likely Stanford --assuming they beat SoCal) going in instead if UNC.
Yes, 99's opinion on which conference looks the strongest is based only on how UF looks at this particular moment.