Mars wrote:

BYU would have won the Big Ten this year.

Air Force is good enough to come in 3rd behind Ohio State.

As a conference, their offenses, especially passing, are terrible and they can't stop the spread offense. They also schedule like scared little pansies, and for good reason.

To be fair, all the BCS confs schedule like scared little pansies except maybe the PAC-10 (and I have the Pac-10!). Again the BCS confs are nothing special. What makes the SEC a better conf is that they have more than two or three consistently decent to good teams.
SEC Fla, Ga, LSU, Tenn (sometimes), Auburn and Ark a littlebit.
B10 OSU, Mich, and Wisc (sometimes)
P10 USC, and then two other teams between (OSU, Cal, AZst, Ore, Wa)
B12 Texas, OK
BE WV, Lou (but not this year but I think they whole conf is overrated)

The rest of the BCS teams have occasional good years but generally dwell in mediocrity or the cellar.

Mingjai wrote:

The Big Ten is definitely in a down year, but I actually think it's not as bad as everyone says. I've been living in the Big Ten for over 4 years now, and I follow Big Ten football--it's a fun and competative league. I don't know why everyone hates the Big Ten so much on this board--there's a lot of tradition and passion in Big Ten football--a lot more passionate than what I've seen from the Pac 10. Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Purdue are football schools and have no problem packing their 65,000-105,000 seat stadiums every week. Michigan State, Illinois, and Indiana are basketball schools, but draw decently in football. Minnesota is a hockey school that will draw a lot better when it joins its Big Ten brethren in building on on-campus stadium (the Dome sucks). And Northwestern--well--they're the brains of the conference.

Anyway, I'd say this year, the Big Ten is better than the ACC and Big East, and competitive with the Pac 10 (which I think is overrated this year). The SEC and Big XII are the top 2 in that order. None of this is saying much because the bottom 4 BCS leagues have all been unimpressive this year. If the Big Ten is an average BCS league, going about .500 in the bowls wouldn't be unexpected.

Conference strength is all cyclical. From 2002 through 2005, the Big Ten was probably competative with the SEC. Let's not forget, as good as everyone says the SEC is, the Big Ten has won the last three Capital One Bowls, which pits Big Ten #2 versus SEC #2. Iowa beat LSU, and Wisconsin beat Auburn and Arkansas. The Outback Bowl, which is Big Ten #3 versus SEC #3/4 has basically been decided by a touchdown or less the past six games (except for Iowa's blowout of Florida in 2003).

It isn't necessarily passion that makes a good conference. In the Big 10's case, it's the Big $$$ and a chance to play in the National "Championship" game that makes a difference.

Let's see:

Awful Big-Ten teams:
Minnesota (1-11, 0-8; losses include: Bowling Green at home, FAU, Northwestern, and FCS's ND State)
Northwestern (3-5, 6-6; lost to Duke, the worst BCS team that doesn't end in "ota&quot

Bad Big-Ten teams:
Purdue
Michigan State
Indiana
Iowa
Wisconsin
Michigan

Mediocre Big-Ten teams:
Penn State
Illinois

Marginally good Big-Ten teams:
Ohio State

Good Big-Ten teams:


Great Big-Ten teams:


Phenomenal Big-Ten teams:


These last three categories would have been empty last year, too. It's unfortunate that OSU has been in the NC game these two years. I don't understand why ANYONE would think that BCS is anything other than a big joke or a "good ol' boys" club.

etyotx wrote:

Let's see:

Awful Big-Ten teams:
Minnesota (1-11, 0-8; losses include: Bowling Green at home, FAU, Northwestern, and FCS's ND State)
Northwestern (3-5, 6-6; lost to Duke, the worst BCS team that doesn't end in "ota")

.

Great post! The part about loosing to Duke the worst BCS team taht doesn't end in "ota" made me LOL.

Last year the SEC played the Big 10 in 3 bowl games. The record was 2 wins for the Big 10 and 1 win for the SEC (Florida over OSU). The SEC isn't that much ahead of everyone else. The Big 10 is marginal at best, and they had a winning record against the SEC in bowl games last year (and neither of those big 10 teams was first or second in their conference).

The Big Ten has been hiding between WEAK, no SUPER WEAK non-conference schedules for a couple of years now. The Big Ten was not much better last year. Ohio St., Michigan, and Wisconsin were better, but those big three are weaker this year and the rest of the Big Ten certainly did not improve.

The beautiful thing this year is, look at the Big 10's bowl schedule.

Ohio St. v. LSU = LSU blow out
Illinois v. USC = USC blow out
Michigan v. Florida = Florida blow out
Michigan St. v. Boston College = Boston College blow out
Wisconsin v. Tennessee = Tennessee win

The only gimmie game is Purdue/C.Michigan (Purdue already destroyed C. Michigan in regular season)...

The Big Ten's next best match-ups are Penn St/Texas A&M and Indiana/Oklahoma St. Neither of which is an easy Big Ten win.

I predict the Big Ten goes 2-6 in bowl games this year, the majority of the losses will be embarrasing scores. That will hurt Big Ten recruiting to ensure that the Big Ten continues to weaken. Then, an 11-1 or even 12-0 Ohio St. will be meaningless to voters, because who wants to see the top teams coming out of the Big Ten get destroyed in bowl games every year?
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