What is the most powerful conference in college football?

[WVRed]

Really? You don't know much about College football if you don't realize UC has a great defense. They did last year also.

Mike Mickens and Byrd are two of the best players at their positions in the nation. They are loaded.

The SEC hype is just hilarious and it never stops.

Kinda easy to have a "great" defense when you play teams like Marshall and Miami Ohio. If UC is still alive after November 3rd when they play South Florida, then come back to me.

I did look at last years schedule, but for the most part, five of the teams were ranked, and they did dismantle Rutgers last year 30-11. The rest outside of Louisville were barely even contests.

I did a search on Mike Mickens and Terrill Byrd for NFL draft projections and nothing came up. Haruki Nakamura did though.

And the SEC hype is very real. The Big East may be the most overrated conference right now outside of the Big Ten.

[OnBaseMachine]

I never once said those other bowl games were the true proof of the better conference. I'm just amazed at how good the SEC and CBS do at promoting their conference. Hell, they have their own announcers sound like total homers on the air. I would be embarrassed if I was a fan of one of their schools. Gary Danielson was just hilarious and stupid last year.

I agree with this. CBS has become enarly unbearable due to the SEC bias. It's pretty bad when commentators are making fun of and rooting against other conferences on live TV. It's hard for me to sit down and watch that crap.

[OnBaseMachine]

I voted the Sun Belt.

Because you can't get enough North Texas & Arkansas State, obviously.

That - and I couldn't choose between the Pac-10 & SEC.

One of the talking heads (Not on CBS) tonight talked about LSU struggling to go undefeated because "The SEC is so tough top to bottom" - then mentioned two minutes later that USC finally was "exposed by a weaker Pac10 squad"

So USC loses to another Pac-10 Squad - it's because they were exposed, yet if LSU can't make it thru the SEC it will be because of the depth of the SEC? Um...sure thing - try and wrap your brain around that logic.

Great post. And after Florida almost lost to a Stanford-level team in Ole Miss, SEC announcers said that it was a hard fought battle in the SEC. But like you said, when USC loses it's against a weak Pac-10 opponent. The SEC bias on CBS is ridiculous.

[LoganBuck]

To be overrated doesn't someone have to rate them highly? People keep saying that the BigTen is overrated, but I have yet to see someone actually say they are a great conference. Ohio State is in one of those "sometimes the year picks you" type of seasons. I think Ohio State could match up with LSU pretty well, and with a healthy Chris Wells, give them fits. I don't like them in any game where they are going to have to score 25+, except against a suspect defense like Cal's.

USC mails in too many games. They lack focus, everyone talks about the loose laid back atmosphere that Pete Carroll creates for his players. From where I stand that comes off as sloppy and over confident, against a team like Stanford. They will probably blow Cal away.

[MaineRed]

Great post. And after Florida almost lost to a Stanford-level team in Ole Miss, SEC announcers said that it was a hard fought battle in the SEC. But like you said, when USC loses it's against a weak Pac-10 opponent. The SEC bias on CBS is ridiculous.

The guys doing the game on CBS last night weren't watching the USC game so it is kind of hard for them to call it a hard fought battle. Nobody can deny that Stanford is a weak team in the Pac 10. I don't know how else you could describe USC losing to Stanford from afar. I heard people not on CBS claiming it was bigger than App State beating Michigan. Talk about hype.

I don't see the bias everyone is talking about. Kirk Herbstreet was having a heck of a time laughing it up over USC losing while covering the OSU game. It excites people when teams they aren't covering lose because it opens the door for teams they do cover. I don't call it bias, I call it human nature. KH was excited for Ohio State. Wonder why. Must be that ABC Big Ten bias.

And even if there is bias, that does nothing to prove the SEC isn't the best conference in the country.

Someone show me a tenth best team from another conference as good as Arkansas.

[jmcclain19]

Someone show me a tenth best team from another conference as good as Arkansas.

The same Arkansas team that struggled last night against D-IAA Chattanooga?

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/203651/

[Cedric]

Kinda easy to have a "great" defense when you play teams like Marshall and Miami Ohio. If UC is still alive after November 3rd when they play South Florida, then come back to me.

I did look at last years schedule, but for the most part, five of the teams were ranked, and they did dismantle Rutgers last year 30-11. The rest outside of Louisville were barely even contests.

I did a search on Mike Mickens and Terrill Byrd for NFL draft projections and nothing came up. Haruki Nakamura did though.

And the SEC hype is very real. The Big East may be the most overrated conference right now outside of the Big Ten.

Byrd and Mickens are going to be first team Big East. Good enough for you? NFL projections? What the hell does that have to do with college production?

If you don't think UC has a GREAT defense I can't help you. You are just wrong and anyone would agree.

[MaineRed]

Byrd and Mickens are going to be first team Big East. Good enough for you? NFL projections? What the hell does that have to do with college production?

If you don't think UC has a GREAT defense I can't help you. You are just wrong and anyone would agree.

Not so fast my friend.

Ohio State has a great defense. The most points they have given up is 14 and they just went into Purdue and allowed only 7.

Meanwhile Cincinnati gave up 23 to both San Diego State and Rutgers.

Ohio State has a GREAT defense. I hope you aren't claiming Cincy is in their class.

[paintmered]

Not so fast my friend.

Ohio State has a great defense. The most points they have given up is 14 and they just went into Purdue and allowed only 7.

Meanwhile Cincinnati gave up 23 to both San Diego State and Rutgers.

Ohio State has a GREAT defense. I hope you aren't claiming Cincy is in their class.

7 of Rutgers points came from an interception returned for a touchdown and 3 came from another turnover in field goal range. So UC's defense only gave up 13 points last night. And they held Ray Rice to under 3 yards per carry after stuffing him for a season low last year. As for San Diego State, 13 points were off UC's second and third team defenses.

Are they a great defense? I don't know. But it's arguable that UC has the best defense in the Big East.

[Sea Ray]

This thread is about entire conferences, not just certain teams. The Big Ten defenders here are hyping OSU and that's fine, but what about the rest of the conference? The conference has losses to Duke and App St and we all know what Oregon did to Mich yet Michigan will probably contend for the Big Ten title this year. What does that say about the rest of the conference?

Northwestern took 3 OTs to beat Miami (OH) after losing to Duke, then they beat MSU yesterday and it's looking like Minnesota is the bottomfeeder of the league this year.

This is the wrong year to complain about SEC hype. What have they done to make the hype unwarranted? The pummeling FL gave OSU should have quieted such talk for awhile but apparently not.

I am an alumnus of both OSU and a major SEC school and I will say this, the SEC takes its football much more seriously than the Big Ten. I also have in laws that take me to a lot of Mich games so I see how things work up there as well.

That said, as of today I voted for the PAC 10 but that may change as the season progresses.. I would put the Big Ten 4th behind the SEC and Big East as well.

[paintmered]

Best conference in college football this year? It's the SEC. By how much absolutely is debatable.

As for the rest of the BCS conferences, there are arguments that can be made for all of them for spot #2. Okay, maybe not the ACC.

[CrackerJack]

The question is: who has Rutgers beaten this year to make them "somebody?"

I don't think anyone's saying anything other than it was a quality victory for UC, against a ranked opponent on the road.

Good for them. Their schedule doesn't get easier.

[jmcclain19]

I would group College football into tiers myself

Tier 1
SEC, Pac-10
Tier 2
Big East, Big 12, Big Ten
Tier 3
ACC, WAC, Mtn West, Conf USA, MAC
Tier 4
Sun Belt, Division I-AA

[Javy Pornstache]

lol @ "The SEC hype is just hilarious and it never stops." Ridiculous.

[paintmered]

FWIW, here's Jeff Sagarin's conference rankings:

    CONFERENCE          CENTRAL MEAN    SIMPLE AVERAGE  TEAMS

   1  PAC-10              (A) =  80.47      80.11  (  1)     10
   2  SOUTHEASTERN        (A) =  79.25      79.48  (  2)     12
   3  BIG EAST            (A) =  78.59      77.84  (  3)      8
   4  BIG 12              (A) =  77.93      77.22  (  4)     12
   5  BIG TEN             (A) =  76.30      76.51  (  5)     11
   6  ATLANTIC COAST      (A) =  76.20      75.83  (  6)     12
   7  MOUNTAIN WEST       (A) =  70.44      70.27  (  7)      9
   8  I-A INDEPENDENTS    (A) =  65.96      65.90  (  8)      4
   9  WESTERN ATHLETIC    (A) =  64.94      65.56  (  9)      9
  10  CONFERENCE USA      (A) =  62.60      62.64  ( 10)     12
  11  MID-AMERICAN        (A) =  62.32      62.32  ( 11)     13
  12  COLONIAL            (AA)=  58.26      57.80  ( 13)     12
  13  GATEWAY             (AA)=  57.89      56.66  ( 15)      7
  14  GREAT WEST          (AA)=  57.72      58.10  ( 12)      5
  15  SUN BELT            (A) =  57.43      57.15  ( 14)      8
  16  SOUTHERN            (AA)=  54.63      55.01  ( 16)      8
  17  BIG SKY             (AA)=  52.02      51.67  ( 17)      9
  18  SOUTHLAND           (AA)=  48.30      49.26  ( 18)      8
  19  IVY LEAGUE          (AA)=  45.77      46.51  ( 19)      8
  20  PATRIOT LEAGUE      (AA)=  45.28      44.22  ( 20)      7
  21  BIG SOUTH           (AA)=  41.29      41.07  ( 21)      5
  22  MID-EASTERN         (AA)=  39.77      39.19  ( 23)     10
  23  OHIO VALLEY         (AA)=  38.69      39.45  ( 22)     10
  24  SOUTHWESTERN        (AA)=  37.87      38.05  ( 24)     10
  25  NORTHEAST           (AA)=  31.05      30.95  ( 26)      7
  26  PIONEER             (AA)=  30.66      31.28  ( 25)      8
  27  I-AA INDEPENDENTS   (AA)=  24.27      25.10  ( 27)      4
  28  METRO ATLANTIC      (AA)=  22.95      21.83  ( 28)      4
  29  ***UNRATED***       (**)= -90.00     -90.00  ( 29)      1