Was football in the Big 10 overrated in 2006? Just a simple little poll after seeing Michigan and Ohio State get creamed by USC and Florida. Remember all the critics saying Michigan and Ohio State should play for the National Championship?
Yes
Yes
Was football in the Big 10 overrated in 2006? Just a simple little poll after seeing Michigan and Ohio State get creamed by USC and Florida. Remember all the critics saying Michigan and Ohio State should play for the National Championship?
You can't make sweeping judgments about entire conferences based on two games. Besides, no one really rated the Big Ten very high this year. Most people realized this was a down year for the conference outside of Michigan, OSU, and Wisconsin. Both Ohio State and Michigan were better than they showed in their respective bowl games. I'm not suggesting they were better than their opponents, before someone accuses me of sour grapes. But both teams showed up completely unprepared and got their butts handed to them. But I don't think you can then take those games and then assume they'd automatically lose to other good teams in that conference. Afterall, Florida barely beat Arkansas in the SEC title game and Wisconsin beat Arkansas. You could do this all day long. USC struggled most of the year with medicre teams, but played great against Michigan and Notre Dame, but lost ot a bad UCLA team. Weird things happen sometimes. But you can't take that and make sweeping judements on an entire conference because of a couple of games.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
SEC fans are really emabarrassing themselves on various boards on the Rivals network with this SEC vs. Big Ten crap. What MWM said above is exactly right.
I mean, Florida players talked more about the SEC vs. Big Ten than they did the game. It's like they prefer beating the Big Ten to the fact thay they won the NATIONAL FREAKING CHAMPIONSHIP.
Considering the way OSU and Michigan represented the Big 10 in the post season, i guess next year one of us also rans is going to have to knock them off so we can restore some respectability to our poor beleagured conference.
Michigan struggled and almost lost against Ball State, Ball State...at The Big House. It's not like Michigan and Ohio State barely lost to their opponents, Ohio State just lost by 27 points in a game they were expected to win. If Ohio State lost a close game things would be different in my mind, but other than the opening kickoff TD, Ohio State pretty much looked like crap. All teams have bad games, but 2 bad games by the supposed 2 best teams in the country make me think otherwise.
Last edited by harangatang; 01-09-2007 at 01:51 AM.
I agree with most of the above. Overrated? No. Top-heavy? Yes.
"Strickland Propane... Taste the meat, not the heat." - Hank Hill
Maybe the SEC was underrated...
OSU looked completely unprepared last night. Florida was likely better than advertised, but no way is Ohio State as bad as the pitiful performance they put up. 86 yards in total offense? Sisters of the Blind A&M would put up better numbers. It's as if they went in thinking that a win was a forgone conclusion, only they forgot that you actually have to show up for the game. It's also one of the very few times since he took over as head coach that Jim Tressel looked completely outclassed by a rival coach.
I have to agree with Chip--I don't know that the Big 10 was necessarily overrated, because both OSU and UofM took heat for playing what many believed were light schedules heading into their bowl games. I just don't think the Big 10 was very deep. And plenty of credit should go to Florida, of course--they were unquestionably the better team last night. In every facet of the game, they dominated completely. OSU isn't nearly as bad as they played last night, but Florida might very well be as good.
We'll burn that bridge when we get to it.
Michigan and OSU certainly played like crap in the bowls.
And the SEC teams fared pretty well in the post-season.
But I think it should be noted that one of the SEC heavyweights thumped Notre Dame in a bowl game.
The same Notre Dame that Michigan, OSU and USC have also thumped in the past 12 months.
LSU vs. USC or Louisville might have been a better measuring stick.
It's also worth noting that VPISU played Georgia in Georgia's backyard. Play that game in Charlotte or Nashville or pretty much any place outside the state of Georgia, and I think the outcome of that game very likely changes.
Completely overrated, and top heavy. The media is in love with Tressel and they fell all over the Ginn, Troy Smith connection.
"You're drunk again. No, I'm just exhausted 'cause I've been up all night drinking."
Peter Griffin
Bowl Games are perhaps the worst possible way to determine the best teams. Play that game 100 times and I bet OSU wins 60+ of them. Florida just got one of it's 40. Within the top 10-15 teams, it's mostly shades of gray anyways -- any of those teams can beat any of the other ones.
I still think OSU was the best team in the country. They just happened to lose the National Championship game.
Btw, Florida > OSU > Michigan > Wisconsin > Arkansas > Auburn > Florida. When you only play one game against a team, anybody can win.
Last edited by RedsManRick; 01-09-2007 at 04:14 PM.
Games are won on run differential -- scoring more than your opponent. Runs are runs, scored or prevented they all count the same. Worry about scoring more and allowing fewer, not which positions contribute to which side of the equation or how "consistent" you are at your current level of performance.
I do wonder if maybe Wisconsin was the best team in the Big10.
BTW, the 6 weeks Florida had to prepare allowed them to get healthy(Wynn and Harney were not playing late in the season) and to put in all kinds of stuff on offense. Without a doubt the Gators had the Bucks on their heels on defense the entire first half. I think most of that was because they were in formations and ran plays that had not shown before. Meyer is known as an offensive genius and it showed.
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