I like this picture. I like it when it takes two of their guys to bring down one of my guys. Nice.It's a stupid argument, really, about which is the better college football conference. Here in the South, we hold with our own, just like Yankees hold with their own. Fair enough. Still, the numbers are what they are. All time, the SEC is 65-46-2 against the Big 10 through the 2007 season, with a 0.584 winning percentage.
The primary argument presented by Big 10 fans is the "you guys don't have to play in the snow" thing.
No. We don't. It's true. We don't typically play in the snow. I think it's true that an SEC team playing a winter game in Ohio would be at a serious disadvantage. I agree. But the fact is, National Championship games are played in good weather. Are you telling me that Big 10 teams are incapable of winning football games in good weather? The argument doesn't wash. And when the game is played in the Super Dome in New Orleans, it's even worse. You have a climate-controlled, indoor facility with no wind and no glaring sun. You should be able to play your best game, period.
Add to this the fact that a school like Ohio State tends to recruit nationally, while SEC schools tend to recruit almost exclusively in the South, and you have an even weaker argument for why a team should lose. If your team is comprised with hardy fellows from Ohio, along with a compliment of players from other regions of the country, you should have a well-rounded team. And yet, we've seen the Buckeyes punked by SEC teams in the national championship game two years straight. In the past 20 years, the SEC has won the national championship six times. Twice by LSU and Florida, and once each by Alabama and Tennessee. The Big 10 has won two, once each by Michigan and OSU.
Another telling thing is that I keep mentioning (the) Ohio State Buckeyes. Why? The Big 10 isn't deep as far as contenders for the national championship. In any given year, it is OSU and Michigan. Sometimes Wisconsin is in the mix. Penn State has a respected history, but hasn't really been in the thick of things for a while. In the SEC, besides the six titles already won by four different schools in the past 20 years, you have Auburn and Georgia (who is the likely SEC school to be playing for the title this year), and even our "weak" schools like Kentucky and Vandy have made bowl games the past two years. The SEC went head-to-head with the Big 10 in three bowl games last year and won two of them.
The fact is, we're more scared of playing each other than we are of playing the Big 10. I'm sure they feel the same way. Or maybe not.
2 comments:
You do realize that over the past ten seasons, the Big 10 leads the SEC 14-13 in the 27 head to head bowl match ups during that time span? Ten years is a pretty good sample of work from which to draw a conclusion.
There was no excuse for what happened in the Ohio State/Florida game. Those were two evenly matched teams and the score should never have gotten that out of hand. Ohio State had even more future NFL players out on the field that night, so there is no excuse for what happened. That's on OSU. They choked.
As for the LSU/Ohio State game? Ohio State was in a total rebuild and wasn't even supposed to be in the national title hunt. They played an unusually soft schedule in 2007, which inflated their record and many other teams lost games they should've won, as well...so OSU was over-ranked. LSU was the pre-season #1, due to a wealth of senior talent. They simply outplayed a younger OSU team that had no business being in that game.
For 2008, Ohio State returns almost every single starter from 2007 and added a talented recruiting class. They are loaded. If they waltz out of Los Angeles with a big win over USC in September, they won't be stopped. You can bring on any SEC team you wish. You can even bring back the 2002 Miami Hurricanes, possibly the most talented college team ever (who OSU beat for the national title)...it won't matter. This is the year of the Buckeyes, and not even the SEC bogeyman is going to get in the way of another national title.
What a nice and lengthy comment. Why are you anonymous?
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