You say computer rankings do better than humans and that is horribly inaccurate. Computers have bias written into them. Every year the Sagarin rankings have PAC-10 teams ranked highly. Case in point: last year's rankings. Two 12-1 teams, 4 teams under .500 out of ten is better than the SEC's 6 team's with 9 or more wins? Oregon was a great team last year, I won't argue that. But Stanford is another thing. Go back and look at their schedule. Tell me what their best regular season win was. It was either 7-5 ND or 8-5 USC (who got an 8th win because of their Hawaii exhibition). LSU, Arkansas, AU, and Bama all would have gone at least 12-1 with that schedule, too. South Carolina might have, too. To convince me that the PAC-10 was the "best" conference last year, you have to convince me that more than 1 team on your schedule was scary good. At the end of the year, LSU had 3 scary good teams to play: Arkansas, Alabama, and Auburn. The PAC-10 is still trying to live off when USC was that big scary name. They are average now. Last year's PAC-10 will be what the Big-12(-2) will be this year.
Without regard to stats and figures, you probably just will not find any SEC fan to admit, even a little, that the SEC is anything less than superior. I think that stems from the passion that surrounds football in the SEC. For those of us that grew up in the southeastern US, there was no time of year like football season. Even now, as the heat scorches daily, my blood is boiling, but not because of the heat--because football is on it's way. Four weeks from today, LSU and Oregon will suit up against each other, and all will be right with the world again for a few months. So, again, talk records and stats and figures, but then look at the following that SEC fans give to their conference. What other conference, for instance, wins a BCSNCG (or any bowl game, for that matter) and has the winning team chant not only the name of their school, but the name of their conference, as well. S-E-C ringing through the rafters of a domed stadium is a beautiful thing to hear...
This is an example of the logic error, "assuming the conclusion". The arguer assumes the SEC was much much better than the PAC 10, thus concludes the SEC teams play a much more difficult schedule, thus concludes that the SEC teams are much better than the PAC 10 teams. No evidence is give to support the original conclusion that the SEC was much much better than the PAC 10 last year. Here is some computer evidence. (Now, I know that computers are not totally accurate on these sorts of things, but this is over whelming.) According to Sagarin's computer rankings, last year, the 10 most difficult college football schedules were ALL PAC 10 teams. That's right, last year the PAC 10 swept all 10 top spots. (Poor Oregon State.) Look it up. Oregon State 1 Washington State 2 Washington 3 UCLA 4 Arizona State 5 California 6 Arizona 7 USC 8 Stanford 9 Oregon 10 (Edit: sorry about the bad formatting) USATODAY.com
Fact: The SEC could win the championship, place more teams in the final top 25, put more players in the NFL, solve the debt crisis, and walk on water for 20 years straight, and still some folks would find it a "controversial" subject as to whether they're the best conference in America. Just sayin'..
I know I am just a fan with no football knowledge but I would say this. Take the top 5 SEC teams and the top 5 pac12 teams. Let them play 1st week and I feel good about the SEC winning 3 of em !
Strength of schedule indicates the quality of opponent not the quality of that team. PAC 10 must play a tough out of conference schedule and lost games to high ranked teams to generate those numbers. The PAC 10 opponents strentgh of scheldule would not be as good.
You will always have schools that have a schedule that consists of one or two real games, and ten cupcakes ,cry because they aren't thought highly enough. Let Stanford or oregon have to endure the relentless schedule that sec teams play and they would be beaten up so bad by the end of the season that they would have a hard time fielding a team. If a PAC team was forced to play the schedule that LSU plays their team would be beat to death before the end of the season. The depth of positions that sec schools have is what allows them to play the sechedule that they play. The sec is the best conference in the country because of the competitiveness of the schools as a whole.
this is what the Ducks will deal with why are we concerned about all this ? in Baton Rouge we know the deal Sat, Apr 30 Spring Game Eugene, Ore. 1:00 p.m. 16 - 0 (W) STATS QUOTES ESPN2 Sat, Sep 03 LSU at Arlington, Texas 5:00 p.m. ABC Sat, Sep 10 Nevada Eugene, Ore. 12:30 p.m. FX Sat, Sep 17 Missouri State Eugene, Ore. TBA Sat, Sep 24 Arizona * at Tucson, Ariz. 7:15 p.m. ESPN/ESPN2 Thu, Oct 06 California * Eugene, Ore. 6:00 p.m. ESPN Sat, Oct 15 Arizona State * Eugene, Ore. TBA Sat, Oct 22 Colorado * at Boulder, Colo. TBA Sat, Oct 29 Washington State * Eugene, Ore. TBA Sat, Nov 05 Washington * at Seattle, Wash. TBA Sat, Nov 12 Stanford * at Stanford, Calif. TBA Sat, Nov 19 USC * Eugene, Ore. 5:00 p.m. ABC Sat, Nov 26 Oregon State * Eugene, Ore. TBA Fri, Dec 02 Pac-12 Championship Game at TBA 5:00 p.m. Fox Sports * Conference Games
I guess that means Sagarin is over-rated. BCS National Championships: SEC 7-0 Big 12 2-5 ACC 1-2 Big East 1-2 Big Ten 1-2 Pac 12 0-1 How many titles has the Pac-1 won since the 70's? Washington 1991
What would happen if Oregon or Stanford would play in the sec west and lsu played in the PAC to take their place. Could either of these teams take the beating given out every Saturday in the sec and how would lsu fare in the PAC?
