Nah, probably some LSU fans who had spent money on tickets, airfare, & hotel rooms thinking it would be LSU there. And were out the money so went anyways.
I'm not buying that for a minute. I can think of several SEC teams that would more than likely take it to Michigan. It's widely felt that Florida isn't event he best team in the SEC, so Ohio State may not even be getting the best the SEC has to offer. I truly feel that Michigan and Ohio State have both been overhyped this year. Michigan just got exposed and seeing as how Ohio State barely beat Michigan, it makes one wonder about how good Ohio State really is. Media hype? I tend to think so.
This Big Ten/SEC debate will not be resolved on this thread or anytime soon... both are good conferences with the ability to do a lot of "chest-thumping". Michigan and tOSU have been so consistently good that, usually, especially from outsiders, fans think no one else but them can even play the game. Obviously, Wisconsin, Penn State, Iowa can hold their own with anybody, as shown by the CapOne and Outback games this year... and Iowa, with our 2-6 conference record, giving 6-2 Texas all they could handle in what was basically a home game for the Horns. The fact is both conferences take on a higher challenge each bowl season than any of the other conferences. Consider this, from one of our posters: "Plus look at the quality of the opposition the Big Ten played in their bowls this year - #2, #8, #12, #17, #18. That's 5 top 20 opponents out of 7 games. The Big East plays one ranked opponent in their 4 bowl games and that is #15. ACC played 2 ranked opponents in their 8 bowl games - both from Big East. Big 12 played 5 ranked teams - the highest #9 Boise St and lost to all of them. Pac 10 played #3, #19 and #23. Only the SEC plays 5 ranked opponents out of 9 games, and 2 of them are virtual home games - LSU at the Sugar Bowl and Georgia at the Peach Bowl." So, I'm just not sure it's the "given" you suggest... that there's all these teams in the SEC who could beat tOSU or Michigan this year.... anymore than an SEC team would romp through one of those weak, weak Big Ten schedules. I don't know if tOSU will handle Florida or not... but I expect great play from both sides... and I doubt that whoever wins is living proof that the other conference "sucks"...
I think it is entirely possible that the top 3-4 SEC teams could beat the top 3-4 Big Ten teams. OSU and UM each played OK schedules this year. Nothing to laugh at, but nothing to brag about either. So IMO it's absurd to think that OSU is head and shoulders above everyone else like the media thinks. They deserve to be ranked #1 because they are unbeaten, but I think most of the top 10 could go unbeaten with that schedule. Same for Michigan. As far as the outcome of the NC G, if Florida beats OSU as badly as USC beat UM, there will be lots of talk that the Big Ten was overrated this year. However, if it's a close game, it won't solve anything as far as who is the better conference. If OSU beats UF badly, I don't see much outcry, because that is what the media is predicting anyway.
Well we already had BT#3 Wisconsin beat SEC#2 Arkansas and BT#4 Penn State beat SEC#5 Tennessee (SEC#4 obviously being LSU and SEC#3 beating Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl) Now we just have BT#1 OSU vs. SEC#1 Florida. Also remember that the OSU v. UM game is a big, if not the biggest, college football rivalry. Of course the game is going to be close. It's a rivalry.
Anything's possible... the fact is both Arkansas and Tennessee had a chance to prove your point and didn't. Florida wil get it's chance soon. The Big Ten and SEC have played something like 17 games over the last five years... I think the Big Ten leads 9-8, something like that... the point being neither league has proven any kind of dominance over the other. I think the SEC is a great league, but who is it they've dominated over the recent past? And as far as depth of conference, the "lowly's" of our two conferences have play twice in bowls the past five year. Minnesota was our doormat bowl eligible team, getting to bowls both in 2002 and 2004 with 3-5 conference records... and beat Arkansas 29-14 (when the R-backs were 5-3 in conference) and Bama in 2004, 20-16. I mean this is friggin' Minnesota we're talking about. I don't know what else to say... and given the SEC has a losing record over the past five years against teams from other BCS leagues (including ND)... I just don't get where these comments of some kind of dominance take root.
I predicted Arkansas would win that game mostly because I forgot they had a dumb@$$ for a head coach. I didn't make any predictions on the UT game because I know very little about Penn St. this year. Both were good games, and to think that neither could have gone the other way is foolish. If you noticed, I said could not would . I think the 2 conferences are closer than most people think. I only stated this, because I think it was you (if not, I apologize) who said that the top of the Big Ten is better than the top of the SEC. Using conference seedings the way you did is difficult. Florida is obviously # 1, but between Arky, Auburn, and LSU they all have the same number of conference losses, and all are all 1-1 against each other. (no I don't know how the Big Ten is or should be seeded.) I for one would love to see a round robin type tournament between the 2 conferences. Which is why I didn't mention this game at all in my post. The only refernece I made to it is that every hardleg ijn the media proclaimed these the 2 best teams in the country after their game. It would look pretty bad if they both got beat badly.
The point is that it's all about the matchups. Tennessee simply imploded after the loss to LSU, Arkansas was an extremely overrated team with a relatively cupcake schedule just waiting to be exposed (also done by the Tigers) with their star player injured, so with the exception of the NC game, it's very rare that you have the true top teams from both conferences playing head to head at year's end on a consistent basis. As for the SEC vs. Big 10 record, how many of those games were top talent vs. top talent? But I agree, it's hard to make a blanket claim that SEC > Big 10.
