So, it's two and a half weeks into the college football season and it's about now that things start happening that might actually be worth talking about. With only a few exceptions, the first couple weeks are a joke, as most of the top 25 teams play warm-up games against heavily overmatched opponents.
This week, for the most part, isn't much different, with USC being spotlighted on the west coast playing Washington. This game means so little that Pete Carrol is willing to let his starting QB sit the game. This is the same Pete Carrol who likes to rack up at least 50 point margins in every game to somehow prove that his team is better than everyone else in the country and help his team's stats. If you couldn't tell, I don't like teams running up the score.
On that topic, I understand that sometimes it's hard not to. Case in point: Virginia Tech and Frank Beamer. Every time Beamer's team gets up big, he pulls the starting QB and RB. Usually the starting defense is long gone by this point. Take last week against Marshall. Tyrod and Ryan Williams didn't play in the second half. Despite this, Tech scored another 17 points in the second half, and amassed around 200 yards of offense.
What I don't like, is when teams keep in their star players despite the fact that the game is won. Take, for example, Ohio State last season against Youngstown State. Who? you ask. Exactly. Up by over 50 points, Ohio State's star running back Beanie Wells was still in the game late in the third quarter and ended up being injured and missing half the season. It could be argued that Tressel was trying to help his running back's statement in the Heisman trophy race, but it ended up killing his chances, and it could have cost Ohio State's chances at a Big 10 title (though, that's not saying much in my opinion).
Moving on, I want to rank the BCS conferences from toughest to weakest.
1. SEC: I think it's really hard for anyone to argue against the SEC. They consistently have a National title contender each year, and it's almost always a different team, year to year. In the past couple years, it's been a tough competition between Florida and 'Bama for the SEC crown, which is arguably the hardest conference to win. It says something about your conference when your down teams include such big time programs as Auburn, LSU, Georgia, and Tennessee.
2. Big 12: If the Big 12 South was an independent conference, they would arguably be the toughest, with all 6 teams traditionally good teams, and 5 of the 6 making top 25 appearances this season. Even my loathing of Bob Stoops can't stop me from giving the Big 12 South credit. The Big 12 North has, in the last 5 years, really been dragging the conference down. Fortunately for the Big 12, Kansas, Mizzou, and Nebraska have been improving steadily in the last few years. That said, the South is still the heart of the conference, and will represent the conference in the BCS this year, and in years to come. Texas should be the Big 12's representative this year, and likely in the National Title game.
3. ACC: Most established football writers would completely disagree with me on this one. Part of their argument is right: The ACC is still lacking in a true powerhouse to compete year after year on the national title stage. This is, I believe, in part due to the parity of the conference and just how tough it is to truly get through the conference schedule unscathed. Last season, a record 10 teams went to bowl games. 10! That means all but two teams in the conference had a winning record. However, no team had more than 9 wins going into those bowl games. The conference needs a team to step up into the national spotlight, and it could happen this year. Virginia Tech, despite losing to Alabama, can still make a run at the title (and they have almost every other year before this since joining the ACC). Miami is potentially much improved and could crack the top 10 if they continue to play the way they have throughout the season (though I hope that will come to an end in eight days in Blacksburg, I have to give credit where it is due). Another reason I have the ACC where I do is because of what I see as dire flaws in the other BCS conferences.
4. PAC-10: The PAC-10 is an improving conference. The conference's biggest flaw is that, outside of USC, it seems like none of them know how to play defense. In my opinion, in order for the conference to improve and jump at least the ACC, another team besides USC has to really prove themselves as a good team. A return to glory by Cal or UCLA would go a long way. It would also help if the two worst teams in the conference combined for more than 1 win this season (and that win barely counts at all, since it was one previously winless team over another winless team). One of the biggest strengths of the conference is its conference play. The PAC-10 is the only conference where every team plays every other team in the conference each year. That's pretty tough and, if another team or two can emerge as a power, will be a strong argument for the legitimacy of the conference. The problem with that though is that it could lead to the ACC's problem, where all the good teams beat up on each other each year.
5. Big Ten: The Big Ten is a fallen conference. There is too much argument within the conference about its own strength based on its history. The problem is, the Big Ten has fallen behind in college football and is generally, just plain weak. It's one of two conferences that has refused to adopt a conference championship game, and it suffers because of it. Not only does it make the conference "champion" hard to take seriously, the team that wins the conference (aka, Ohio State for the last 4 or 5 years at least), has so much down time between their final game and their bowl game, and as a result, seem to always embarrass themselves on the national stage. Michigan looks better this year, which is good for the conference, but honestly, it won't matter until the Big Ten adopts a division system with a championship game at the end of the season. As it is now, the best teams in the conference, unless they're Michigan and OSU, don't even necessarily play each other, ever, in a given season.
6. Big East: Everyone hates on the Big East, but it's hard not to when a team that's only in its 5th season as a member of a BCS conference is probably going to repeat as conference champions. Yes, I'm talking about Cincinnati. A few years ago, the Big East stunned everyone by having three or four very good teams, and a couple teams right behind them. However, each of those teams, with the exception of Cincinnati, have fallen apart since then. WVU is still trying to recover from Rich Rodriguez's betrayal, and it could be a while for the Mountaineers. Maybe Notre Dame will come to its senses, fire Charlie Weiss, and join the Big East. That would help both the Big East and Notre Dame, believe it or not.
So that's my rankings of the BCS conferences. Purely my opinion, but based on my observations. Feel free to take issue with them, and I wouldn't mind discussing it if you do (not that I have a wide readership).
Until next time,
-TES
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