The Not-So-Big Ten

It's always fun to play with stats - pick the ones that support your argument, ignore the ones that don't. One of the most dishonest is the strength of non-conf schedule. You need to show what the other conferences are doing. After all, defending champ Florida loaded up with powerhouses Western Kentucky, Troy, Florida Atlantic, and Florida State. True they can't help that FSU isn't the team they used to be, but Michigan can't help that Notre Dame turned out to be a stinker. One thing's for sure, GMs in the NFL don't think the Big Ten is so bad. Here are the conference rankings for the first two rounds of the 2007 and 2006 drafts: Number 1 SEC - 25; Number 2 (the poor lowly) Big Ten - 19; number 3 ACC - 18; number 4 PAC 10 - 16; number 5 Big 12 - 13. And by the way, I think if you bother to check, the Big Ten has a winning record over the SEC in bowl games the past few years.

I wonder how the Pac10 representative would fare at Soldier's Field for a bowl game in January to play the Big10 Champ. Pretty tough to plan a parade in the winter though.

We all know talent has run down south. California has always been a hot spot for sports, including football. The real name of the game here is consistancy. Sure, nobody can doubt or debate that the Big 10's record in bowl games against other conferences has been mediocre, however, that is one game of the season. One game that follows a month long period of no games. Is that really an accurate way to measure talent? We've got a number of games against the pac-10 coming up in the next few years.....is that ok with you? And notice how most, if not all of these games are scheduled in the west......AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON. If you want to know why people still praise and respect the Big-10 try looking at simple facts like this: Football came from our area. Warm sunny starters to a season followed by cold, dark, wet games in the midwest. You want to measure TRUE all american football talent? You bring a USC or a Ducks (whome by the way LOST last night big guy) or another Texas or even a LSU up to play in the Horse Shoe or Big house in 10 degree wet winter weather, away from their warm couzy stadiums and see how they play their fast, pretty boy ball then. People like the Big-10 because it's not always about numbers pal. It's about hardnosed, oldschool tough football. And when it comes to our lose in the BCS game last year, try focusing a little bit more on how absolutely terrible the Buckeyes played along with how great the Gators played. You make it sound like we threw everything we had at them and they just were still waaaaaaay better because their SEC and were little ole Big-10. PS. Have you even played football before cheif?

You do know schedules are completed before the rankings come out right?

OSU has played Texas, and has USC, OU, VT and Miami coming up. Good enough for you?

OSU has played Texas, is set to play USC, OU, and Miami. Is that a good enough OOC schedule?