Here's the thing, though ~ What is the marquee win any of the B1G has over any OOC opponent? PSU over Pitt? Mich over FL? I guess it'd be Iowa over Iowa St in OT now that the Cyclones have knocked off both OU & TCU, but they also lost to a .500 Texas team. The biggest plum(s) available by far would have been tOSU vs OU or Sparty vs ND, but they both whiffed (at home, no less). Ohio St curb-stomping Rutgers and MD might look impressive score-wise, but the entire conference is essentially wading in its own kiddie pool at this point.

Contrast w/ UGA riding the weight of their win at ND to the #1 slot thus far (and I hate the SEC and the constant polishing of Bama's knob by ESPN, but nobody has a better win yet this year). My only fear is both Bama and UGA getting in if Bama wins the SECCG, that'll be their one quality win. Otherwise, if UGA wins out, what's the best win a 1-loss Bama team would have? Auburn (who already lost to Clemson)?

Yeah there is certainly a nice cluster right now. Generally agree with the OOC argument but you can't discount Ohio St's win over Penn St just because they're in-conference. Still too early anyway and several big games left. And rivalry games are always unpredictable.

And if you are going to apply that standard to the Big 10, you have to apply it to Bama. The only big non-conference win for the SEC that I can find is GA over ND. Does that cascade to the rest of the conference so they get 2 teams in?

You can't find them because no one schedules them. Why should they? OSU played OU early, team wasn't in sync yet and lost. If they had played Chattanooga they'd be in the top 3.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Obviously the Pac-12 has cannibalized itself to the point of irrelevance already, but at least USC, Furd, & Notre Dame all play each other every year, and ND also plays Sparty quite often along w/ their quasi-ACC rotation, so that gives us a few more steady data points between conferences, as well as the later in-state SEC/ACC rivalry games (FL-FSU, UGA-GT, SC-Clemson). USC also played Texas, and rarely schedules the directional schools (such as WMU this year). And this year at least Bama tried playing FSU before the Noles turned into a raging grease fire.

The problem w/ Penn St & Ohio St is they've pretty much taken turns beating mostly the same teams, and just about all of them suck. Where's the biggest skin on either wall, outside of the fact they faced each other? Pitt? Army? Michigan, I guess, although losing to tOSU again would/will take them down yet another peg. Meanwhile you have what's still one of the bigger-name programs losing at home to NIU (shades of LSU gagging vs Troy, don't think I've forgotten). It's an echo chamber of suckage, so Penn St and Ohio St beating everyone else in conference adds up to only slightly more than squat.

Did you go to Georgia Tech too?

Negative. Did not grow up or go to school down here.

There doesn't seem to be much support for your position ...


USA Today ranks the B10 as the best conference. https://www.usatoday.com/...12-pac-12/700733001/

Bleacher Report ranks the B10 as the second best conference. http://bleacherreport.com/...-football-conference

ESPN ranks the B10 as the best conference. http://www.espn.com/...s-second-half-season

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

I'm not really defending the Big 10 as much as saying that the SEC is no different. There are no notable non-conference wins for either conference except GA/ND.

I give USC credit for playing ND, but they lost, if you want to give them credit for that then OSU gets the same credit for playing Oklahoma and losing. Topping USC's schedule this year is Western Michigan ( looking at their schedule you are fight, they don't usually schedule them, but that was kind of funny), Texas sucks, but also, if they hadn't played ND they would still be alive.

And as I said, if OSU had played Central Connecticut instead of Oklahoma, they would be top 3.

The biggest takeaway is there is no incentive to play big non-conference games when you play in a Power 5 conference. Kill 2 - 4 red shirts, win your conference, you have a good chance of making it. That is the formula we are working with right now. Schedule Bama, OSU, the Cowboys and the Patriots, win 2 out of 4, go undefeated in your conference, you are sitting home.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.