[paladin]

yet florida was considered a championship contender this year and lost to michigan while michigan lost to a div 1-aa. interconference play isnt the end all on a national level

the sec is probably the toughest, and the sagarin conference ratings agree with you, but the sagarins also show the pac10 #2 and also show the pac10 individual teams have a much stronger strength of schedule than the sec average because the pac10 challenges themselves against other conferences while some sec teams do not. this year was particularly tough with most of the pac10 teams facing major non-conference opponents. unfortunately for usc this year nebraska and notre dame took giant shits on the field, which hurt their overall schedule strength, but thats much harder to expect than expecting lsus non-conference schedule to be any good

florida has a fairly good non-conf schedule next year. georgia is playing ucla and GT. tennesse usually plays a good out of conference set of games. lsu plays tulane. infact, tulane is the hardest lsu ooc game until they play app state in 09 or '10. in '11 they play colorado. they need to get with the program if they dont want arguments that lately have hurt some big10/big12 teams and even the wac/mwc teams with schedules. to combat the recently weak big10, ohio state is going to visit usc. what happens if the sec weakens? lsu will have the same problem ohio state did this year with questions and wont be nearly as battletested come big games.

basically, the sec is good, but not as far ahead as sec homers would like to think. the pac10 is very competitive and any team that can go through it undefeated is 100% qualified to face the best in the nation, just like anyone that could go through sec play undefeated or even the big10 to some extent. this year was an anomoly in that everyone who was presumed to be good stumbled, and the end result is unfulfilling to about a 75% of the nation as at least 4 teams made very strong big bowl showings and had legitimate claims to the national championship game beforehand based on record and performance. i would love to see an 8 or 10 team playoff. 4 team just wont work

[Optimus Prime]

paladin;240454 said:

the pac10 had an average strength of schedule around 10, the sec had an average strength of schedule around 30 or so. the sec was probably stronger as far as total strength, but the pac10 was still the #2 conference in sagarin ratings and not far behind. pac10 also plays a much harder out of conference schedule and lsu plays NOONE in nonconference games until 2011 when they play colorado of all teams. georgia, florida, and tennessee at least have some good non-conf games, and some of them are away from home(gasp!)

stanford is a conference opponent. conference games are always tough, especially when you're starting qb has a broken finger and your backup has little experience, not to mention the injuries to the defense. they lost the game on the last possession, and also lost to the best team in the country at the time in oregon in a close game. lsu lost to two unranked opponents. evens out, just like georgia and oklahoma(eventhough oklahoma got wasted)

basically, get over yourself until you get a better non conference schedule. conference games are always risky, no matter what conference you're in

Pretty weak argument. No offense.

The SEC every year has 6 quality teams...the Pac 10...has...USC...that's it.
Let's see...UGA next year plays Arizona State (AWAY), Georgia Tech, and I believe Central Michigan which was champion of their conference and by no means a push over.
Florida plays Miami, Florida State and Hawaii in out of conference
I could go on, but why do SEC teams need to go out of their way when their OWN CONFERENCE is hard enough. Please quit making excuses about USC...that was an ALL TIME UPSET. USC gets so much love from everyone....because of the past...they blew it last year and blew it this year.

The SEC is the deepest conference and every game is a battle. Everyone wants to hate because they know it is the truth.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Xander;240624 said:

Pretty weak argument. No offense.

The SEC every year has 6 quality teams...the Pac 10...has...USC...that's it.
Let's see...UGA next year plays Arizona State (AWAY), Georgia Tech, and I believe Central Michigan which was champion of their conference and by no means a push over.
Florida plays Miami, Florida State and Hawaii in out of conference
I could go on, but why do SEC teams need to go out of their way when their OWN CONFERENCE is hard enough. Please quit making excuses about USC...that was an ALL TIME UPSET. USC gets so much love from everyone....because of the past...they blew it last year and blew it this year.

The SEC is the deepest conference and every game is a battle. Everyone wants to hate because they know it is the truth.

To be fair though, oregon was a great team this year as well, at least until their qb got hurt. Also, while I agree the SEC is the toughest overall, when you look at the bottom of the barrel, it's at least as bad as the other major conferences. Also also, not one of the teams you mention as tough out of conference games are a top tier team, based on recent performance. There was a time when playing Miami and Florida State was 2 crazy hard games. That time is not now. Hawaii? After the bowl game I don't think you can call that a tough game, especially now that their coach and Colt Brennan are gone.That doesn't really matter too much though, because I agree with the train of thought that their in conference schedule is so tough they would be silly to look for more powerhouses to play.

So, SEC is the toughest. That doesn't mean they aren't overrated as a conference at the same time. Look at what Mizzou did to Arkansas. I often hear that most conference champs from other conferences would be able to come in about 4th in the SEC at best, which I don't think is really true most of the time.

[Optimus Prime]

Miami and Florida State will be much better next year. SEC is the deepest and toughest. Yeah Hawaii won't be as good but Florida didn't know that when they scheduled them did they?

Mizzou had a chip on their shoulder and crushed an Arkansas team without its head coach. Mizzou got hosed and Kansas had no business being in a BCS game over them.

The only true shocker was Michigan over Florida...but again...inspiration and healthy players can heal a lot of wounds...

SEC 7-2 in bowl games. (Includes 2 BCS GAMES)

[paladin]

like i said in a previous post, florida, uga, and tennessee have respectable non-conf games(tennessee has some falloff next year while uga and florida make some upgrades), but also their share of super-powder puffs. sagarin ratings(which are respected by everyone) put the sec slightly over the pac10 in conference strength. a pac10 team losing to stanford is on the same level as an sec team losing to vanderbilt, which imho, isnt that bad. its a loss, a bad loss even, but its not an all time loss.

as far as the pac10 having just usc, tell that to michigan and tennessee, who lost to oregon and cal respectively this year. cal, oregon, asu, and oregon state are all quality programs with quality coaching and quality talent that have shown they can play with anyone. they may not win as many titles, but then again, going through the pac10 is more difficult than people like you give credit for. they have their cycles, but you can rely on them to make a strong showing consistently and not be a one year wonder.

usc gets love because they are consistently good and they challenge good teams outside of their division and consistently win those games. if the only big non-conference game you're playing every year is a bowl game you're not showing anyone how tough your conference is because of the small sample size. the biggest non-conference showcases for sec lately have been early season games vs usc(arkansas) and cal(tennessee) in the past few years, and i believe the pac10 is 3-1 in those games. fsu and miami can definately be a showcase for florida, but the teams have to step up better than they have the past few years. hawaii could also be a good game as well.

[paladin]

Xander;240655 said:

Miami and Florida State will be much better next year. SEC is the deepest and toughest. Yeah Hawaii won't be as good but Florida didn't know that when they scheduled them did they?

Mizzou had a chip on their shoulder and crushed an Arkansas team without its head coach. Mizzou got hosed and Kansas had no business being in a BCS game over them.

The only true shocker was Michigan over Florida...but again...inspiration and healthy players can heal a lot of wounds...

SEC 7-2 in bowl games. (Includes 2 BCS GAMES)

kansas won their game though, so they proved they were worth it. illinois on the other hand was an at large bid(since big10 champion went to bcs title game) and a terrible one at that.

[Optimus Prime]

paladin;240670 said:

kansas won their game though, so they proved they were worth it. illinois on the other hand was an at large bid(since big10 champion went to bcs title game) and a terrible one at that.

Kansas beating an overrated Va Tech team doesn't take away from the fact that Mizzou got robbed.

The Big Ten is the worst, most overrated conference in the last 10+ years. Awful.

The Pac 10 has a few decent teams...but it still is basically

1. USC
big gap
2. A team like Oregon or Arizona St. who is better than usual for one year.
3. Cal (Beats someone like Tennessee but then SUCKS it up the rest of the year)
4. Middle of the pack teams (Oregon St, UCLA, etc)
5. Bottom Feeders (Wash, Wash St., Arizona)

The depth is just not consistent.

[paladin]

washington has potential. a good coaching staff and some good players that can bud into some good ones.. asu has seemed to grow into the preseason rankings it always gets

cal and oregon usually will be good and then once they lose, they will collapse, usually because the loss is because they lost one of their key players and their depth isnt close to any depth top recruiting teams have. the other reason is a loss in a very emotional game to a team not seasoned enough to recover from it. both happened in the pac10 this year. cal fell off the table when oregon beat them(iirc) and oregon when dixon went down. oregon, though, has the players to build for a steady future. they were down to their 5th string qb at one time, which is pretty bad. its also bad when your second string qb is ryan leafs brother. might as well quit at that point

[Optimus Prime]

I enjoy the Pac 10 style...it is fast and usually offensively explosive. The Defense is usually like swiss cheese though.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Xander;240672 said:

The Big Ten is the worst, most overrated conference in the last 10+ years. Awful.

Overrated? Yes. The worst conference in the past 10 years? I don't think so. You really think big Ten is the absolute worst conference in football? That's a little strong, I think.

[Optimus Prime]

Of the major conferences? Yes. I say it is a toss up between the Big 10 and the ACC.

The reasons why I think this are:
1) How much hype does the Big 10 get EVERY year. All we hear about is Michigan versus OSU...always a lame ass game.
2) Slower, more pedestrian offenses. Most of the games are SNOOZERS.
3) No depth. Ohio State...Michigan...and Illinois this year.
4) I hate the Big 10 (LOL)

[paladin]

big 10 are mostly cold weather teams, so you get cold weather football. the problem is they have no cold weather major bowls, so they get killed in domes

[Optimus Prime]

You seriously think that is a valid reason? It isn't even cold for the games until NOVEMBER.

And it does get cold in the south. i'm from there. Last year I was at a UGA game and it was 28 degrees. Not frigid by any means but the temperature difference is not a good reason for why the BIG ten is getting DOMINATED.

I respectfully disagree with you

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Xander;240693 said:

Of the major conferences? Yes. I say it is a toss up between the Big 10 and the ACC.

The reasons why I think this are:
1) How much hype does the Big 10 get EVERY year. All we hear about is Michigan versus OSU...always a lame ass game.
2) Slower, more pedestrian offenses. Most of the games are SNOOZERS.
3) No depth. Ohio State...Michigan...and Illinois this year.
4) I hate the Big 10 (LOL)

I don't know, I think the Michigan/OSU game has been great five out of the last six years! Coincidentally, thats the Ohio's record in those games! Look, I agree they're always overrated, but I think you're being a little hard on them. Most years, Ohio and MIchigan are good, there's one team barely below them or equal (Often Penn State, Wisconsin, or Iowa. Purdue comes up with a good team sometimes.) and the 4th team is also quality. After number 4 there's typically a pretty steep dropoff, true enough. What conference doesn't have some weak sisters in the basement?

Even the SEC has weak teams at the bottom, although the dropoff isn't severe until around the 6th or 7th team.

[Optimus Prime]

Sorry man I just have very little respect for the Little Ten.

They do usually have a few solid teams...but then it is just crap after that

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Fair enough.

[bubba]

hey hey....next thread down......j/k........I know most of your teams out at this point ,but any thoughts on this weeks playoff games?......being the only Pats fan here(at least that admits it) I think the Jags game will be close.....hmmm.....34-27 Pats......your thoughts?

[Optimus Prime]

Here is how I see it:

Giants vs Cowboys-- I think this may be the upset of the week. TO is hurting and Romo hasn't played too well lately. Giants 37--Cowboys 27

GBay vs Seattle--Will be a close game until Favre breaks it open in the 4th with the deep ball. Green Bay has the better running game and in Lambeau...that is crucial. GBay 31----Seattle 17

San Diego versus Indy--Tough one because San Diego is so much improved but the Colts are getting overlooked because of the Pats. San Diego won the first matchup but Manning was without major offensive weapons (Marvin Harrison, Dallas Clark) and threw 6 picks. That won't happen again and Indy's defense is so fast. Indy 30----San Diego 14

NEngland versus Jax--Jags have great running game and interior linebacker's are the soft spot on Pat's D. Jags defense is very good. This seems like a good matchup but I just think NEngland is too powerful offensively. Sooner or Later Brady is going to hit a big one and if the Jags fall behind it will be hard (w/ their offensive strengths being running the ball) for them to catch up.

New England 38----Jags 21

[bubba]

I see the out comes the same but I think the green bay game will much closer....maybe come down to the last two min. Sea trying to tie it but being stopped maybe a pic or 4th down play.

Cowboy game comes down to which Manning shows up.

If the Colts can stuff the run it should be a blow out

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

I think you nailed it, but I'll take Giants by a field goal if they pull it off. And sadly, since I love my Packers so much, they're probably doomed. That's the way it seems to work. If I could make myself hate them, they would win the superbowl. On paper they should be able to pull it off, but me supporting a team is typically a curse for them.