No surprise....the SEC again finds itself at the top of a list such as this one. When the article recaps the bowl games it's no wonder that the SEC is again at the top. http://cfn.scout.com/2/850007.html
And you believe this. They had the fruckin' ACC # 2 for cryin out loud. Time to wake up Dave. You're reminding me of that scene from the Mr. Mom movie... :wink: :lol:
If having all their teams beat each other, not having anyone in the top 10, losing BCS bowl games qualifies a conference to be 2nd best then ok. However if I could go to one other football game during the year other than the Gators I would choose a Big 12 game. The Big 12 is head and shoulders above the ACC and in my opinion is as good a conference as there is in football. ACC does pretty well in basketball.
While the ACC hasn't been a very strong football conference in the past, I think there's potential there to be tough this year. Butch Davis is building a monster at North Carolina, Miami appears headed in the right direction under Shannon, and Virginia Tech has been by far the strongest team in the conference for the last 5 years or more. Then you have teams like Georgia Tech which beat Georgia in the last game of the season before getting drilled by LSU in the bowl game. I think there's a tremendous amount of parity in the ACC and that is sometimes perceived as weakness but if you take a look at how they did in the non-con schedule, it isn't that bad. The Big 12 probably is at or near the top when you're talking about the toughest conference but I think this year will not be last year in that conference. Oklahoma and Texas should be fine and Oklahoma State may be top 15 worthy but after that, I just don't see it. Nebraska may be the next toughest team in the conference and I think they're still a year or two away from being serious contenders. Of course, in comparison to the ACC that still makes the Big 12 better as I don't think anyone in the ACC will be contending for a national title this year with the possible exception of Virginia Tech.
Aquila, I agree that CFN is looking at next year's returning players and teams....not last year in their rankings of these conferences. The Big 12 will still be very strong with Texas and OK St but maybe OU and Neb step back a tad due to the loss of some key offensive players. Texas Tech will be drastically reduced in talent.
Gator Bowl DVD still ranked #1 in post season DVD sales!! Some place in Missouri seems to be buying a lot of them, go figure.
While I have no idea it the B12 will be as exciting as it was last year. I look for Texas to be every bit as good as they were in 2008. Certainly Colt McCoy will miss Quan Crosby but the Longhorns have some young WR in Dan Buckner and Malcom Williams who got valuable playing time last year and both are big and have good speed. On defense that young defensive backfield will be back and have a year under their belt. They should be much improved. The non-conf schedule is very easy with the biggest game being a road trip to Wyoming. Which to me is interesting, what other big name school would take a road trip to Wyoming? Certainly the Longhorns should handle them easily but still in this day and age of demanding teams like Wyoming only play at your place it's refreshing to see a name team like Texas go on the road to Wyoming. Last year we went to El Paso. I expect that OU will not be taking a step back, they are a team that pretty much just reloads. Neb I think will just send the Gator Bowl DVD when other teams request game film.
When reading these things, regardless of position and rank, I am always amazed at how little the 'experts' know about the Pac10... Makes me wonder who actually considers these guys to be authorities on these subjects anyway?
Corey, Stay tuned for question #12......Will the Pac 10 finally get some respect? At least you don't have to see your favorite conference as the subject of question #15.....Does the Big 10 suck? :cry:
Sid, LOL so true. I don't see the Pac10 as ever getting respect. All conferences in any given year have those that are 'up', those that are 'down' and those that are somewhere in the middle. The past 20+ years have taught me that those traits are signs of weakness in the Pac10... then thru a different set of glasses shows the SEC and Big12 as signs of strength. The Big10 is due, IMHO.
The Big 10 may be "due"but what is it about next year's returning teams would make you think next year is the year? I think OSU is off a step with their losses, UM is still trying to figure out out RR, MSU may be the team to beat and PSU probably isn't as good. I can't see the Big 10 as being any better than this past year and maybe not as good at the top.