Big Ten upgrade

Next year the stakes go up in the pursuit of the Big 10 Conference crown.

This is from an early look by CFN at the 2011 Heisman race wrt Terrelle Pryor:

"and he’ll get games at Miami, at Nebraska, and against Wisconsin to shine. And if he’s great and can get the Buckeyes through the regular season without a problem, there’s the Big Ten Championship Game to make a final statement."

That is bound to make a big difference in final BCS selections.

Shoot.....that debate may really be at a close.

 

With the Big 10 going to a CG at the end of their season, that will make it the second toughest conference, behind the PAC-10, to go undefeated in conference play, relegating the SEC to third toughest.

 

Oops, checked again, sorry, but the SEC is actually the fourth most difficult conference in which to go undefeated, Big XII is also tougher.

 

Better check those sources WSU...... :lol:

 

Here you go, check them yourself. Why start at 1992? Because that's when the SEC decided to upgrade its schedule with a CG. Before that, it was even easier to go undefeated in conference play.

Difficulty of going undefeated in conference (1992-2010):

1: PAC-10, 5 times in 19 years, 4 different teams
2: Big XII, 5 times (8 not counting the CG), 4 different teams
3: Big 10, 7 times, 5 different teams
4: SEC, 7 times (11 not counting the CG), 4 different team
5: ACC, 8 times, 2 different teams
6: Big East, 9 teams, 4 different teams

I give the tiebreaker to the more balanced conferences (i.e. the higher percent of teams that shared in those undefeated seasons).



Sorry to burst your bubble, but the SEC isn't a murderer's row of NFL games week in, week out, like you and ESPN would have the rest of the country believe.

 

The SEC however has won significantly more non-con games and bowl games in that time frame.

Maybe there were just some very superior SEC teams mixed in with some very good SEC teams.

The numbers do say other conferences produced less unbeatens as you say but case in point the SEC East by all estimations sucked this year and the end of season East division game bewteen UF and SouCar for the championship featured two 3 loss teams. The measure of # of losses therefore was not an indication of the division's toughness but rather a measure of how very average the SEC East was this year.

 

I see the Gators are not in the pre-season top 25 for 2011....could this be the start of a trend?

Top 25 2011

 

On that list....UF plays 3 of the top 5.....#18 FSU......and #s 19, 20 and 21.

Glaringly though......the Gators don't travel to two time zones away to play another non-conference game so the above schedule should be a piece of cake.

This list is shortchanging the Gators!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

I saw Kes' first post and knew it was a trap. Remind me to hire Dave to navigate any mine fields I need to walk thru.

 

Also,

Did I really just read this?

An SEC guy falling back on noncon? Oh that's rich..

I've been ragging you guys about the SEC noncon for years..and the rebuttal is always, our conference is tougher and we win bowl games (which are all played in the south and truly mean ****).

So Kes chucks something out there that makes you scratch your head a bit and you fall back on noncon wins and bowl games..

WOW.. shuck and jive Satchmo

 

You make a good point Corey.

Out of that list above only FSU is a non-con.....the rest are SEC opponents.
:wink: 8)

 

Going undefeated is great but, winning your conference and NC's are the goals. Which conference has done that more times than any other since 1992. Look we can look at the number of Heismans, in conference wins, out of conference wins, first downs, winning seasons, whatever you want, but in the end if you don't win the national championship then the season is not a complete success. Which conference has the most NC's since 1992?

 

To Corey: 8)

To kp: the problem is that if it is easier to get through your conference schedule undefeated than any of the other four major conferences, then you're more likely to make it through the season undefeated, thus more likely to make it into the NCCG more often.

 

Who said it was easy?

UF lost one SEC game in each of it's last two National Championship seasons but scorched it's NC game opponents by a cumulative total of 65-28.

By the way Terry the Gators will be lucky to make it back to the Outback Bowl with that brutal schedule.

I see rough sledding in Muschamp's first season and actually that 2011 schedule may have also played a part in Meyer resigning.

 

9-3-11 FLORIDA ATLANTIC
9-10-11 UAB
9-17-11 TENNESSEE
9-24-11 at Kentucky
10-1-11 ALABAMA
10-8-11 at Louisiana State
10-15-11 at Auburn
10-29-11 Georgia @Jacksonville, FL
11-5-11 VANDERBILT
11-12-11 at South Carolina
11-19-11 FURMAN
11-26-11 FLORIDA STATE

:roll: :?: :!:


Now here's a schedule NOT to envy...

9-3-11 CHATTANOOGA
9-10-11 FRESNO STATE
9-17-11 WASHINGTON
9-24-11 at Wyoming
10-1-11 at Wisconsin
10-8-11 OHIO STATE
10-22-11 at Minnesota
10-29-11 MICHIGAN STATE
11-5-11 NORTHWESTERN
11-12-11 at Penn State
11-19-11 at Michigan
11-26-11 IOWA

:shock: :shock: :shock:

 

AJ......obviously you didn't see my earlier posts about all of the ranked teams on tap for UF next season.

I appreciate your new enthusiasm for the Big 10 though.

 

I did see them Dave.

 

Only see #6, 12, 13 and 24 for Nebraska AJ.......compared to 3 out of the top 5.....#18 FSU......and #s 19, 20 and 21 for UF.

 

Our gator is deflecting the intent of the original poll, which was to shed light on the sharp decline of the Gator program.....many teams improved their lot in the beauty contest by playing Florida this year, why expect any different next year..... :?:

KP, the results of a one game playoff between the two top vote getters in the beauty contest don't provide compelling evidence to me given it's inherent bias to begin with......in the kingdom of the blind, he who has one eye shall rule.....

On the field, head to head is the only meaningful competitive measure, imo......recent history provides no material advantage to either of our conferences in our bowl matchups.....that tells me all I need to know....you can have the beauty contests fwiw.

 

...say what??

I think Florida next year would go 9-3 in the Big Ten.....minimum.

With the tough 2011 schedule though that UF has in the SEC.....as exhibited by the preseason poll posted by WSU.....I don't think 7-5 would be a bad season given that schedule difficulty and the fact the Gators will be on a learning curve with Muschamp.

And with regard to advantages between our conferences.....

Florida all time vs. Big Ten = 9 W to 5 L advantage....Gators. 8)