• SPORTS
    AND
    GAMING
  • Sports & Gaming Moderators: ghostfreak

what is the best college football conference?

yeah after the Big Ten's good showing in bowl games all the haters here (sec folks) seem to have disappeared, I think I hear crickets...

And I don't even think the sec was the best conference this year.
 
the SEC was by far the best all around conference this year. they had a bunch of duds but Florida and Alabama kept that conferences's respect on their shoulders. Penn State pretty much beat up on LSU... and Penn State was experiencing a pretty down year.

what conferences do people think are the best, now that the year is over?

1. SEC - will still give them props for Alabama and Florida... but if Saban loses...
2. Big 10 - their top four teams whipped up on teams with better rankings
3. Pac-10 - still have lots of strength, top to bottom
4. Big 12 - better than this if Texas wins
4. ACC - ...
5. Big East - ...
 
And I don't even think the sec was the best conference this year.

The Big Ten wasn't bad this year, with three teams finishing with 11-2 records. That said, I believe Ole Miss, which finished third in the SEC West, could have beaten Iowa and Penn State, and put up a fight against OSU.
 
I can't agree with that BW. I just am not a fan of Jevon Sneed, I believe he would be good for a pick 6 against those three pretty solid defenses of Iowa, Penn State, and Ohio State.

the only factor giving Ole Miss any winning chance would be Dexter McCluster. that dude can straight burn people. I have a hard time thinking that those defenses would get fooled by him in the Wildcat, but if they used him for reverses and maybe if Sneed played like half the player everyone thought he would be - Ole Miss would have a chance.

for what it's worth, I believe that Ohio State would have had a far better shot at beating Alabama than Texas. if your football team runs on the philosophy of good defense and a good running game - the Ohio State can beat you with Tressel Ball.

I still think FLA would have beat OSU this year. those two teams just don't match up very well, from a Scarlet and Grey perspective.

PSU handled the Louisiana State University, and Iowa and OSU handled PSU. I have a hard time taking anyone in the SEC seriously who doesn't have Tim Tebow or Mark Ingram on their team.
 
I do. It means you play not to lose - conservative play calling with a lot of runs and an occasional pass to keep the run available. Playing for field position A LOT. And finally, not running up the score on people you have severely outmatched (professional courtesy).

The problem lies in the fact that others don't play that way, they take chances and gamble; or they don't let up when they have tOSU outmatched. This makes his losses both rare (in that not many in the conference can outmatch them...ie, take bad field position and consistently move the ball) and memorably ugly (Tressel is one of the few who still act by the old code of coaching conduct, and he has the AARP card to prove it; newer coaches don't buy into it and keep the hammer down until the 4th quarter or final whistle. The exception here being tOSU vs MICH wherein Tressel would run the score up to a 4 touchdown lead before letting up at all).
 
Yeah, you know-- like Florida or LSU. 8(

come on jim. Those were both traditional run offense teams with tough defenses.

a couple things on this one, just because I say a team is operating on the football philosophy of good defense/good run game, doesn't mean that the teams in their conference that I didn't mention - don't operate on this philosophy. while historically LSU and UF do run on that football philosophy - they are a little different this year.

when you think about the good run game/good defensive standpoint, you traditionally think of conservative coaching. while it's difficult to call Nick Sabin a conservative type coach, he is definetely one compared to the Riverboat Gambling style of Les Miles, or the intricate, impressive offensive philosophies/formations of Urban Meyer.

lets take this further and be realistic here. in my humble opnion, the SEC and the Big 10 were the two best football conferences. since the top half of each conference teams were good football teams, all of these said teams had great defenses and at least a good running game.

some teams just live (and die) to that philosophy more than others. you don't see LSU dying by a conservative football philsophy. you see Les Miles singlehandedly ruin the game for them. I rest my case.

RE: tressel ball

not to be snide-- but nobody knows what that means, man ;)

I thought every single NCAA football fan knew what Tressel Ball was? if you can remember in the 90s and early 2000s when Marty Schottenheimer was around they called it Marty Ball.

it pretty much employs the same meaning between the both coaches, conservative play calling. generally, I have noticed with Coach Tressel it is said with a little more love than when it was ever said when directed towards Coach Schottenheimer.
 
I do. It means you play not to lose - conservative play calling with a lot of runs and an occasional pass to keep the run available. Playing for field position A LOT. And finally, not running up the score on people you have severely outmatched (professional courtesy).

The problem lies in the fact that others don't play that way, they take chances and gamble; or they don't let up when they have tOSU outmatched. This makes his losses both rare (in that not many in the conference can outmatch them...ie, take bad field position and consistently move the ball) and memorably ugly (Tressel is one of the few who still act by the old code of coaching conduct, and he has the AARP card to prove it; newer coaches don't buy into it and keep the hammer down until the 4th quarter or final whistle. The exception here being tOSU vs MICH wherein Tressel would run the score up to a 4 touchdown lead before letting up at all).

this is an even better synopsis of Tressel Ball that I missed, taking in the good and the bad.

what is good about Tressel Ball is that it has dominated the Big 10 and won a National Title. this year, it seemed many of the bowl games were kinda sloppy, defensive and field position battles (which has not been the case for bowl games the last three years).

whenever games are hard hitting, defensive and special teams oriented, the Big 10 usually comes out victorious (read: PSU trouncing LSU). and lets face, the best Big 10 team in the last decade has been Ohio State (nobody plays that game better). I remember watching some of these bowl games, and seeing the Big 10's elite dominate, and thinking - "damn all these teams are playing Big 10 ball." why you would play like that when playing a Big 10 team is beyond me (see how USC beat a better OSU team).
 
in my opinion, PSU physically worked over LSU. it's not anyone's fault but theirs that either team was so impotent on offense they couldn't muster more points (and the weather conditions probably had something to do with it).
 
I don't know enough about PSU's bench, but I can tell you that LSU had been plauged by injuries. Not that it excuses anything-- bowl selectors pick evenly matched teams. I just reject reading too much into a two point victory, especially whan what you're trying to glean is "which conference is better".

Big ten definitely did well this year. Most of it was in who they were up against. They got terrible matches (for them) last year-- this year, things were more balanced, and they took advantage of it.


How many years before Lane and Monte bring an NC back to USC?
 
well the most exciting thing about Big 10's wins were that they were all against higher ranked opponents, just like last year. this year they just imposed their will upon the opposition. still - if you would have told me that lowly Wisco and PSU would have beaten Miami and LSU respectively, I would have been shocked. nobody really thought OSU had a chance against Oregon either (just look at the voting here on sports and gaming).

I will give SEC the benefit of the doubt this year as being the best conference, but only really to the given respect that UF and Bama deserve
 
Man the Buckeyes are so awesome! Greatest fans in college football, greatest stadium in college football, biggest program in college football, the only two time Heisman Trophy winner in college football, I love being a Buckeye Fan!

LOL =D8):p

SEC. The only reason to watch football.
 
And today's rumor has it TX might give the Big10+1 a major upgrade....we shall see. Then ND is secured it's position as an independent. Hell, maybe they'll join the MAC?
 
Top