SC69er, here something just for you.

[Don]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/ncaa/06/19/schedules.top25/index.html

Here is the last sentence in the concluding paragraph on page 1.

"Even though many of the SEC schools don't play strong nonconference opponents, the strength of the league itself makes its schedules among the toughest in college football."

#2 South Carolina
#5 Auburn
#6 Tenn
#7 Florida
10 Miss St.
11 Kentucky
#14 Georgia
#18 LSU

[CJHawkeyes]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/ncaa/06/19/schedules.top25/index.html

Here is the last sentence in the concluding paragraph on page 1.

"Even though many of the SEC schools don't play strong nonconference opponents, the strength of the league itself makes its schedules among the toughest in college football."

#2 South Carolina
#5 Auburn
#6 Tenn
#7 Florida
10 Miss St.
11 Kentucky
#14 Georgia
#18 LSU



I'm not here to attack the SEC but wouldn't that be because they load up on patsies in OOC play? How else do you determine the difference between one 12-team conference and another if not for the fact that one is more successful in non-conference play? If, for example, the SEC goes 48-0 in OOC games while playing mostly nobodies, each team is guaranteed eight conference games versus teams that are already 4-0. This makes the conference schedule look stronger than it might be. That said, I think the SEC is smart for employing this strategy because that is what the BCS encourages and I do not think this has any bearing on whether or not the SEC is the best conference

[ZOOMBAG]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/ncaa/06/19/schedules.top25/index.html

Here is the last sentence in the concluding paragraph on page 1.

"Even though many of the SEC schools don't play strong nonconference opponents, the strength of the league itself makes its schedules among the toughest in college football."

#2 South Carolina
#5 Auburn
#6 Tenn
#7 Florida
10 Miss St.
11 Kentucky
#14 Georgia
#18 LSU

And as always with SEC apologists and fans, when faced with the facts from Bowl games and games against other BCS conference opponents that show the SEC as being nothing special, they fall back on the self fulfilling prophecy tact. "We are great because.....well we think so so when we play ourselves it makes our schedule tough.

Of course no one here buys it....

[Don]

I'm not here to attack the SEC but wouldn't that be because they load up on patsies in OOC play? How else do you determine the difference between one 12-team conference and another if not for the fact that one is more successful in non-conference play? If, for example, the SEC goes 48-0 in OOC games while playing mostly nobodies, each team is guaranteed eight conference games versus teams that are already 4-0. This makes the conference schedule look stronger than it might be. That said, I think the SEC is smart for employing this strategy because that is what the BCS encourages and I do not think this has any bearing on whether or not the SEC is the best conference

SEC games vs BCS teams
Ala - FSU
Ark -
Aub - KSU, USF
UF - FSU
UGa - Ok St, GT
UK - L'ville
LSU - VT
Miss - Mizzou
MSU - WVU
USC - NC, Clem
Tenn - Cal
Vandy - WF

That 14 BCS games and 13 different opponents.

P10 games vs BCS teams

Ariz -
ASU - Col
Cal - Tenn
Ore - Mich
OSU - Cincinnati
USC - Neb, ND
Stan - ND
UCLA - ND
Wash - Syr, OSU
WSU - Wisc

That's 11 games with 9 different BCS teams.

Which one is better?

[CJHawkeyes]

SEC games vs BCS teams
Ala - FSU
Ark -
Aub - KSU, USF
UF - FSU
UGa - Ok St, GT
UK - L'ville
LSU - VT
Miss - Mizzou
MSU - WVU
USC - NC, Clem
Tenn - Cal
Vandy - WF

That 14 BCS games and 13 different opponents.

P10 games vs BCS teams

Ariz -
ASU - Col
Cal - Tenn
Ore - Mich
OSU - Cincinnati
USC - Neb, ND
Stan - ND
UCLA - ND
Wash - Syr, OSU
WSU - Wisc

That's 11 games with 9 different BCS teams.

Which one is better?


First of all, I don't have a dog in this fight. I was just asking questions. That said, Pac-10 teams play at least 30 OOC games to SEC teams that play at least 48 OOC games. Percentage-wise favors the Pac-10 as does quality of competition from my POV.

Again, I'm not being critical of SEC. If anything, I think all BCS conferences are hypocritical. They pretend they are being brave by playing more talented competition even though they have guaranteed their kind face less parity.

[CJHawkeyes]

Actually, on second look, I'm not so sure I think quality of competition favors the Pac-10.

[Don]

And as always with SEC apologists and fans, when faced with the facts from Bowl games and games against other BCS conference opponents that show the SEC as being nothing special, they fall back on the self fulfilling prophecy tact. "We are great because.....well we think so so when we play ourselves it makes our schedule tough.

Of course no one here buys it....

Do you EVER think (or even better, look up things) before you open your mouth?

In the "BCS era" the Bowl records.

SEC (37-31)--0.54412
ACC (30-26-0)--0.53571
Big Ten (30-29)--0.50847
Big 12 (32-35-0)--0.47761
Pac-10 (22-27-0)--0.44898

AND the bowl records vs BCS teams

SEC (36-30-0)--0.54545
ACC (24-23-0)--0.51064
Big Ten (29-28-0)--0.50877
Pac-10 (19-19-0)--0.50000
Big 12 (26-31-0)--0.45614

For the clueless one who can't/won't count.

SEC (36-30-0)--0.54545 That's 66 bcs opp or 5.5 per conf member.
ACC (24-23-0)--0.51064 That's 47 bcs opp or `4.7 per conf member.
Big Ten (29-28-0)--0.50877 That's 57 bcs opp or 5.2 per conf member.
Pac-10 (19-19-0)--0.50000 That's 38 bcs opp or 3.8 per conf member.
Big 12 (26-31-0)--0.45614 That's 57 bcs opp or 4.8 per conf member.Note that means that the SEC has played more bowl games than any other conference, has played more BCS opponents than any other conference, and has a better record vs them than the other conferences!

As for last year, I think the SEC's 6-3 Bowl Record and NC speaks for itself!

[terpintime]

They tend to support Zoombag's point.

[Don]

They tend to support Zoombag's point.

explain your comment.

[TommyTrojan]

I would assume it goes back to the nothing special line. Those %'s would indicate that to be true.

It looks as if stats were pulled that ranked the SEC #1, yet across the board, anyone can see there isn't a huge gap between the major conferences right now.

[sc69er]

No one will know who has the toughest Strength of schedule until the season is over and you know exactly where the tough teams finish. Last years final SOS had the PX as having the toughest ovwerall schedule with individual teams ranked (Sagarin)

1. Stanford

2 USC

3 Arizona

5 Washington

6 Oregon

7 UCLA

9 Cal

10 Washington St

11 Arizona St

15 Oregon St

Looking at all the div-1aa teams the SEC has on there OOC schedule I would bet that the 2007 season finishs up pretty much like the 2006 season, strenght of schedule wise

[sc69er]

Proving that the SEC plays more BCS level schools than the PX? The PX plays a real round robin in conference hence has only 3 OOC games hence 30 OOC game where there is an opportunity. The Tough SEC only plays 8 conference games and 4 OOC games hence they have an opportunity to play 48 BCS teams yet only play 14!!! They are to busy playing Western Carolina or La-Monroe to schedule good teams.

[GatorGrad]

All I know is that Florida won both MNC's (1996 and 2006) while playing the NCAA-rated #1 SOS in the country. How legit SOS rankings like this are can be debated of course. But as a Florida fan, I won't ever apologize for our road to the MNC. Playing programs like Tennessee, Georgia, LSU, and FSU year in and year out with programs like Alabama, Auburn, and Miami mixed in and an extra SEC Title Game to get by just to get to the MNC game, and our schedule certainly not easy. I understand that the above programs all have their ups and downs, but overall, they are all considered to be very good programs during the last 10-20 years. I would put our annual road to the MNC game up against any other school in the country.

[sc69er]

The NCAA rankings for Strength of Schedule is based purely on Won/Loss record!
Please use Sagarin or Massey to get the real SOS. BTW using a strickly w/l record to calculate SOS would immediatly help the SEC with there artifically inflated W/L records bulked up on a diet of div-1aa and directional schools which, in turn, is why you cite it!

[Blue Hen]

Don, try opening your eyes a little..........regarding your perception of the in- conference toughness of SEC competition.

a) Take the perceived 'big 6' of the SEC. That would be Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida. ( the hyped 6 )
These big name programs , since 2000, are a combined 228-109 vs SEC competition and 43-35 vs other BCS leagues in same period. That's .677 vs SEC and .551 vs everyone else. UGA is the only one of the hyped 6 that actually has a better record out of conference than in.
Fla (.750 in, .438 out )
Aub (.746 in, .429 out)
LSU (.729 in, .727 out)
Ala ( .473 in, .333 out)
Tenn (.630 in, .571 out)
so you can see that these big names (collectively) scare themselves more than they scare the rest of CF.



b) Take the whole league. The SEC is obviously .500 vs itself in the BCS era, but it's also .500 vs everybody else. .500 in, .500 out.....no difference at all. The 'myth' is quite comical.

[GatorGrad]

The NCAA rankings for Strength of Schedule is based purely on Won/Loss record!
Please use Sagarin or Massey to get the real SOS. BTW using a strickly w/l record to calculate SOS would immediatly help the SEC with there artifically inflated W/L records bulked up on a diet of div-1aa and directional schools which, in turn, is why you cite it!

sc69er,

I realize that the NCAA SOS rankings are based purely on w/l records. Which is why I said "How legit SOS rankings like this are can be debated of course." I guess you missed that disclaimer. And since you brought them up, Florida was still in the top 8 SOS in 2006 for both Sagarin and Massey last year. They also finished #1 in the country, and played and beat the #2 and #3 teams (Ohio State and LSU) both by double digits. Not sure what else you can ask #1 to do other than beat #2 and #3 handidly. By the way, the only other team to beat two of the top three teams? Auburn of the SEC - they beat Florida and LSU.

[BigTiger72]

I got a better one....I personally don't give two craps what the stats say. If my boy Les can beat down Saban, he'll be gone in les time on his contract. Anyone want any other real news. If Pete want to put his panties where his mouth is.....Call out LSU. The LSU fans will show up in California. But, beware. When USC comes to visit....It will be hot, sticky, and down right fun in Baton Rouge.

[Blue Hen]

.....sooooo, will you give me VT and 18 points for the Sept 8th game ?