You are still trying to live on the past. Right now in the real world your Big 10 just isn't close to the SEC and PAC 10.
Not arguing, debating. :grin: I heard all the same points from Big 10 fans last year and we saw how that turned out. I just want the teams in the NCG that deserve to be there. However if I am wrong about what I have said here feel free to bring it back up at the end of the season. I am a big boy I can handle the truth. :wink:
I don't get the "team speed" stuff. I think the Buckeyes were very fast last year with Ted Ginn and Troy Smith (just ask the NFL) and I doubt that you can win a football game with just fast players. I think when SEC people refer to "team speed" they are talking about their offensive and defensive game plans which are probably different than Big Ten schools. Obviously a spread option offensive team is going to recruit different players than a team that runs a lot of power running plays. Is one team better than the other because they have a different game plan and recruit different players? No, you still have to settle it on the field. A few weeks ago OSU went to play Washington and their Pac 10 spread option offense, and crushed them. How? Because OSU's defense is loaded with 5 star recruits that can run fast.
Not trying to be argumentative but a good example/comparison of "SEC speed" would be Florida smothering your offense last year.
Well, they used a lot more than speed to shut us down. I'll admit, their DEs were faster than what we had faced in the Big Ten.
Some of these really screw with the overall numbers. Clemson owning So. Carolina doesn't really mean anything in the conference vs. conference arguement. Just like UGA owning Ga. Tech doesn't mean anything. The bad thing is, that we rarely see teams considerd on equal levels playing each other out of conference. Usually (I know not always) you see an upper tier team from one BCS conference playing a lower tier team from another. Really doesn't tell us which conference is better when one's contender whips another's doormat.
So, let's see. If you can't use games played on the field as a reference, what do you use to proclaim your conference dominance?... Players in the pros, media rankings, things Daddy told me??? And if it's a case of "one conference contender whipping another conference's doormat", then someone needs to explain the ooc records of Florida, Auburn, and Tennessee over the past six years... aren't they usually among YOUR conference contenders? Your doormats over the past five years would probably be Vandy, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Mississippi State... okay, let's throw out their combined 28 occ games, it still leaves the SEC slightly over .500 in the other 80 some games. So, I don't get your point. Shouldn't your top tier teams be playing equal or lesser than opponents... and kicking butt in the process? And if you don't want to use games played on the field during regular season, how about just using bowl games over the past five years? Yes, LSU and Florida have rung the bell, but this conversation is conferences, not teams, right, and your conference bowl record over the past five years is so-so... hardly living proof of conference dominance. I mean, if you're dominant, shouldn't you be dominating something? A perfect example was the earlier comment about "team speed" and the proof was how Florida laid it to Ohio State. So if the SEC speed is so significantly better, how come Penn State and Wisconsin won their bowls last year against SEC teams? Or the year prior? or the year before that? Finally, I repeat... I think the SEC is a great conference. I also think there are those who have the league on a glass pedestal. This thread started with "here we go again, the Big Ten has two teams....". What a crime, right? We all know things ain't right unless at least five SEC teams are in the top ten because, because, well, you know, the SEC is so far ahead of these other leagues, it's almost sinful. I don't believe that is true. I don't believe there is any great proof of that... especially now that games played on the field don't count.:wink:
bottom line. the public's perception of sec dominance comes from several NCs and the large # of teams that win the conference championship and/or NC. the big10 has only had one team play in BCS title game. for whatever reason, the public thinks that the only good programs in the big10 are OhioSt and Mich. this is despite the fact that tons of teams have won or shared conf championships recently (of the top of my head--OhSt, Mich, PennSt, Wisc, Illinois, Iowa, NW, and Purdue too i think). to compare-the SEC has 9. team speed---emphasis on "team". skill player speed has been even througout the big 6 conferences for 10-20 years. the speed difference is mainly on the defensive side of the ball--specifically DL and LB.
