Rank the Conferences

Now that the season is nearly over, its pretty easy to see which conferences surprised and which disappointed.

ACC - Average. I don't think anyone thought they would be world beaters this year but the do have Georgia Tech, Miami, and several other decent teams.

Big 12 - Disappointment. The North is a giant mess and with OU being down this year, the South only has 1 great team in Texas and one good team in OSU...with many average teams. However, they still could end up with 10 bowl eligible teams.

Big East - Surprise. Cincinnati is in the top 5, Pitt in the top 15, and with a couple other teams flirting with the top 25. Pre-season, the Big East looked like it would be a disaster, but they have surprised in my opinion.

Big 10 - Surprise. Like it or not, the Big 10 has 3 teams in the top 15. Top to bottom, the league is pretty good. They have their share of disappointments (Michigan/Illinois) but Iowa/Wisconsin have been pleasant surprises.

Mountain West - Surprise. TCU carries the conference but Utah only had 1 loss before last weekend. BYU also started the season strong. Is anyone still arguing the league shouldn't have an automatic BCS berth?

Pac-10 - Average. They do have several quality teams but they are beating up on one another. USC and Cal are major disappointments but Stanford and Arizona are nice surprises.

SEC - Disappointment. The conference hasn't been the powerhouse it normally is. Sure they have the top 2 teams but after that, there is a major drop off. It is still most likely the strongest conference but isn't hand-down the best as thought in the pre-season.

Boise State/Notre Dame - BSU deserves a BCS game. Technically they could be left out since TCU is ahead of them in the BCS poll but it would be a crime if that happened. Thankfully, it doesn't look like it will. Notre Dame has been a major disappointment. Lou Holtz predicted them in the national title game. Enough said.

Thoughts?

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Originally Posted by cycloneworld

Now that the season is nearly over, its pretty easy to see which conferences surprised and which disappointed.

ACC - Average. I don't think anyone thought they would be world beaters this year but the do have Georgia Tech, Miami, and several other decent teams.

Big 12 - Disappointment. The North is a giant mess and with OU being down this year, the South only has 1 great team in Texas and one good team in OSU...with many average teams. However, they still could end up with 10 bowl eligible teams.

Big East - Surprise. Cincinnati is in the top 5, Pitt in the top 15, and with a couple other teams flirting with the top 25. Pre-season, the Big East looked like it would be a disaster, but they have surprised in my opinion.

Big 10 - Surprise. Like it or not, the Big 10 has 3 teams in the top 15. Top to bottom, the league is pretty good. They have their share of disappointments (Michigan/Illinois) but Iowa/Wisconsin have been pleasant surprises.

Mountain West - Surprise. TCU carries the conference but Utah only had 1 loss before last weekend. BYU also started the season strong. Is anyone still arguing the league shouldn't have an automatic BCS berth?

Pac-10 - Average. They do have several quality teams but they are beating up on one another. USC and Cal are major disappointments but Stanford and Arizona are nice surprises.

SEC - Disappointment. The conference hasn't been the powerhouse it normally is. Sure they have the top 2 teams but after that, there is a major drop off. It is still most likely the strongest conference but isn't hand-down the best as thought in the pre-season.

Boise State/Notre Dame - BSU deserves a BCS game. Technically they could be left out since TCU is ahead of them in the BCS poll but it would be a crime if that happened. Thankfully, it doesn't look like it will. Notre Dame has been a major disappointment. Lou Holtz predicted them in the national title game. Enough said.

Thoughts?

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I think this is pretty accurate. Obviously we'll have a better understanding after the bowl games, but right now I think the Pac 10 is the best conference from top to bottom but I think the SEC has the best top 3. I think the Big 10/Big 12 are pretty much equal with both conferences being very top heavy. The Big East is better than people think and the ACC is a disaster outside of GaTech. TCU might be the most dangerous team in the country and this years version of last year Utah team...or they could be this years version of the Hawaii team that got beat down by Georgia.


As for the Mountain West and the auto berth you have to look at the conference after the 4th best team (Air Force), who is 7-4 with a loss to Minnesota and whose best win is Wyoming, it gets ugly fast. The rest of the conference is 16-35 with one win against an auto-bid league team (CSU over Colorado)

Pretty much agree. Even though the SEC is a disappointment this year, I still think they're the best conference.

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Originally Posted by cycloneworld

Is anyone still arguing the league shouldn't have an automatic BCS berth?

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As a matter of fact, yes -- the commissioners of the six conferences that do have automatic BCS berths will argue this no matter what. And they'll win.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cycloneworld

Now that the season is nearly over, its pretty easy to see which conferences surprised and which disappointed.

ACC - Average. I don't think anyone thought they would be world beaters this year but the do have Georgia Tech, Miami, and several other decent teams.

Big 12 - Disappointment. The North is a giant mess and with OU being down this year, the South only has 1 great team in Texas and one good team in OSU...with many average teams. However, they still could end up with 10 bowl eligible teams.

Big East - Surprise. Cincinnati is in the top 5, Pitt in the top 15, and with a couple other teams flirting with the top 25. Pre-season, the Big East looked like it would be a disaster, but they have surprised in my opinion.

Big 10 - Surprise. Like it or not, the Big 10 has 3 teams in the top 15. Top to bottom, the league is pretty good. They have their share of disappointments (Michigan/Illinois) but Iowa/Wisconsin have been pleasant surprises.

Mountain West - Surprise. TCU carries the conference but Utah only had 1 loss before last weekend. BYU also started the season strong. Is anyone still arguing the league shouldn't have an automatic BCS berth?

Pac-10 - Average. They do have several quality teams but they are beating up on one another. USC and Cal are major disappointments but Stanford and Arizona are nice surprises.

SEC - Disappointment. The conference hasn't been the powerhouse it normally is. Sure they have the top 2 teams but after that, there is a major drop off. It is still most likely the strongest conference but isn't hand-down the best as thought in the pre-season.

Boise State/Notre Dame - BSU deserves a BCS game. Technically they could be left out since TCU is ahead of them in the BCS poll but it would be a crime if that happened. Thankfully, it doesn't look like it will. Notre Dame has been a major disappointment. Lou Holtz predicted them in the national title game. Enough said.

Thoughts?

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And 4 teams in the top 16. If the SEC is top-heavy, the Big 10 is definitely middle-heavy. Bowl season will be interesting.

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Originally Posted by Clark

I think this is pretty accurate. Obviously we'll have a better understanding after the bowl games, but right now I think the Pac 10 is the best conference from top to bottom but I think the SEC has the best top 3. I think the Big 10/Big 12 are pretty much equal with both conferences being very top heavy. The Big East is better than people think and the ACC is a disaster outside of GaTech. TCU might be the most dangerous team in the country and this years version of last year Utah team...or they could be this years version of the Hawaii team that got beat down by Georgia.


As for the Mountain West and the auto berth you have to look at the conference after the 4th best team (Air Force), who is 7-4 with a loss to Minnesota and whose best win is Wyoming, it gets ugly fast. The rest of the conference is 16-35 with one win against an auto-bid league team (CSU over Colorado)

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I'm not really following you here. The Big 10 has 4 teams in the top 25, the Big 12 has 2. I guess you could call the Big 12 top-heavy since it has Texas in the title hunt and aside from Okie St. that's it. But with Ohio St., Penn St., Iowa, and Wisco all falling between 10 and 16, I wouldn't really consider that being top heavy.

I'm too lazy to look it up, but could someone tell me if Wisconsin was ranked pre season.

I am pretty sure Wisconsin was not ranked preseason.

All of college football seems down if you know what I mean. No conference or even team stands out as clearly the best.

Big 12 stinks minus texas
Big 10 stinks...period
SEC is top heavy
PAC 10 is average at best
Big East is average
ACC is average

Bowl games will tell the tale....

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Originally Posted by M3MEPLEASE

I am pretty sure Wisconsin was not ranked preseason.

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I was wondering that, thank you,

How many Big 10 teams were ranked pre season??

tOSU, and Penn St were both top 5-6. Iowa was in the top 20 if I remember correctly.

Who were the others?

Thank you in advance,

ACC- Disappointing, at least to me. I expected Virginia Tech, North Carolina, NC State, Clemson, and Florida State to be a little bit better.

Big 12- Disappointing, though I think Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas Tech, and Missouri are a little bit better than the public perception. All of those teams probably have one or two more losses than they should have though. Missouri has struggled a bit with Gabbert's injury, and OU, NU, and TT have combined for four one-point losses between them.

Big East- This league is almost always better than people expect. Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are better than I thought they would be, and the rest of the conference is about as expected.

Big Ten- I'll get blasted for this, but the Big Ten isn't as bad as most people think. You could make a strong case that it's the third best conference this year.

Mountain West- About what I expected. One great team, a few pretty good teams, and four of five crappy teams. I always laugh when people say the MWC is better than the Big East. Anyone who compares teams 1-9 in the MWC and teams 1-8 in the Big East and thinks the MWC is better needs to have their head examined. Every BCS conference team besides probably Washington State could finish fifth or at least sixth in the Mountain West.

Pac-10- I think it's the best league in the country. USC is the 5th place team in the conference and beat Big Ten champion Ohio State on the road. The 7th best team, UCLA, has wins over Kansas State and Tennessee. Arizona State is 8th in the Pac-10 and almost beat Georgia (2nd in the SEC East) on the road. Washington is the 9th best team and hung with LSU. This is a deep conference with the most exciting championship race of all the BCS leagues. USC picked the wrong season to have a rebuilding year.

SEC- Dissappointing year. Other than Florida, Alabama, and overrated LSU, it's a bunch of teams that are going to finish with six or seven wins.

Boise State/Notre Dame- Who really knows about Boise State. I think Oregon has improved a ton since that first game, and other than that BSU has played nobody. I'm inclined to think they're pretty good though. Notre Dame of course has been a huge disappointment, though I think their schedule is tougher than people thought it would be.

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Originally Posted by Gonzo

I'm not really following you here. The Big 10 has 4 teams in the top 25, the Big 12 has 2. I guess you could call the Big 12 top-heavy since it has Texas in the title hunt and aside from Okie St. that's it. But with Ohio St., Penn St., Iowa, and Wisco all falling between 10 and 16, I wouldn't really consider that being top heavy.

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By top heavy I mean that both conferences have some good teams at the top of the conference but both fall off dramatically after you get past the 4th-5th best team.

I don't know about the Big 11 being a very good conference. It seems like every year, they get the benefit of the doubt in the polls and then lose almost all their bowl games. The team that won their conference this year (Ohio State) lost to Purdue and USC who doesn't even look like a decent loss anymore.