Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Pac 10 vs. The SEC

This is a debate that has raged on since before the season started. It began with Louisana State's head coach Les Miles proclaiming that the University of Southern California has an easier road than any of the SEC teams. Being a student at Arizona State and having lived out west my entire life let me try and put my bias aside for a moment and comment on this:

1. HE'S OFF BASE
Don't get me wrong. I love the SEC. They've got an insanely committed fan base, great teams, great stadiums, great traditions, and great players. A large portion of the NFL either played or was raised in SEC territory. There's no doubting their spremacy in the high school, college, and pro ranks especially in Florida. HOWEVER, you have to take a look at the early season schedules for the top teams. Your out of conference schedule matters hugely in college football and if you're just scheduling wins, then your road is definitely easier. Plus, all of the teams that are any good, the SEC has usually lost to. Let's take a peek:

SEC in the first couple of weeks so far:
LSU schedules Mississippi State, a school it has murdered for god knows how many years and Sylvester Croom has won I think 9 games in three years, they're not a good football team

Alabama vs. Western Carolina-WIN
Arkansas vs. Troy-WIN
Florida vs. Western Kentucky-WIN
South Caroilna vs. UL-Layfayette (WHO?!)-WIN
South Florida vs. Alabama-LOSS
Florida vs. Troy-WIN
Kentucky vs. Kent-WIN
Georgia vs. Western Carolina-WIN
LSU vs. Middle Tennessee-WIN
The only school that had the nerve to schedule a team that was worth anything was Tennessee and they got hammered at the hippie-fest known as Cal-Berkley. I'm not very fond of these teams scheduling so many W's. How are they able to prove they're the greatest conference if two teams are scheduling TROY!!??

PAC-10 on the other hand has had a much more impressive out of conference scheduling:
Washington vs. Syracuse
Utah at Oregon State
San Jose State vs. Arizona State
Colorado vs. Arizona State
Tennessee at California
Arizona at BYU
Washington State vs. Wisconsin
Oregon State vs. Cincinnati
Boise State at Washington
California at Colorado State
Houston at Oregon
Oregon at Michigan
San Diego State at Washington State

Within the first three weeks of the season there is only one team that is scheduled that's not a 1-A school, my alma mater, Northern Arizona University. They played a team that's the weakest in the Pac-10, Arizona. This game isn't just about scheduling a W though, at least 20% of the people that attend NAU are originally from Tucson and this game is great for NAU and U of A students to reconnect with friends who went to a different school. Aside from that, LOOK AT THE PAC-10 SCHEDULE! All of those teams are Division 1-A schools. NO TROYS! NO UL-LAYFAYETTES! None of these schools that get killed every time they step on the field. These teams like San Jose State, Boise State, Michigan, Cincinnati, and Utah have all either been ranked in the last three years or appeared in a bowl game and that's just off the top of my head.

I'm not saying the Pac-10 is years better than the SEC. The SEC is literally RIGHT behind the Pac-10, but I really couldn't see Georgia or South Carolina beating Arizona State or California right now. Until the SEC schedules tougher out of conference games like the Pac-10 then I have to say the Pac-10 is better.

2 comments:

LeftLeaningLady said...

Oh, my friend. Did you think I wouldn't comment on this one?

#1 TROY is Div 1-A and has been for 5 years.

#2 Florida's first game was SUPPOSED to be Central Florida, but UCF dumped us because they wanted to play in their own new stadium.

#3 If Troy were playing Utah, BYU, Houston or SD State, I would put my money on TROY!

#4 I couldn't see Arizone State or Cal beating Florida or LSU right now either.

But none of this is the point. While I think the polls are relatively stupid before the first week of October, you can look at them now and see which teams are still ranked, based on their win/loss record, strength of schedule and "style points". Everyone has played SOMEONE by now.

PAC 10- 4
SEC - 6

Each has 2 teams in the top 10.
PAC 10 has more ranked teams that are undefeated, so I will give them the nod there.

In essence? It is pretty much a tie.

But I would like to sit down with you sometime and compare CONFERENCE schedules for a team like USC. The PAC 10 is a lot tougher for a team like Washington (#1 most difficult schedule this year) because they have to play USC. Who does USC play? They don't even have ND to point to this year.

If LSU does not make it to the National Championship game it will be because they lost to another ranked team from the SEC, probably in Atlanta. USC didn't make it last year because they lost to UCLA and they never have to play a conference championship. The conference championship is USC's to lose every year. The SEC championship? It is still possible for it to go to at least two teams.

Hopefully we will know the answer for sure in January!

LeftLeaningLady said...

Sorry my comment was so long.

It was a nicely written, well thought out post, even if you were wrong. :-)