Quote:
Originally Posted by Austiger
There's a myth that the SEC plays soft nonconference schedules. The SEC schedules are as tough as any conference in the country, although not as tough as USC. When you consider how tough the SEC conference schedule is and how tough it is to get through the SEC championship game, SEC teams have nothing to apologize about when it comes to scheduling. Look at the computer strength of schedules, which have no media bias whatsoever and you'll see that.
As for on the field performance, the SEC has been the best conference the last couple of years and looks to be the best this year, although it's early.
What makes it a myth other than the fact that YOU PERSONALLY don't believe it?
1. The SEC plays a higher percentage of non BCS opponents than any other conference - FACT
2. The SEC leaves their geographical area for home and homes against other top tier teams less than teams in other BCS conferences - FACT
3. Five out of the ten objectively ranked weakest non conference schedules over the last ten years are SEC teams - FACT
4. You can make all the arguments that you want about the OVERALL schedule (including conference games) being the toughest, but arguing that the SEC schedules far weaker out of conference games than the majority of other conferences (ESPECIALLY the Pac-10 which regularly ranks as the TOUGHEST OOC scheudles of any conference) is just ridiculous.
Nobody is saying that the SEC isn't good, or that if you had to pick one conference that was the best top to bottom that it probably isn't the SEC this year. What I'm saying is that the SEC isn't nearly as dominant as the media makes it out to be, and this has real consequences.
This means that the SEC can schedule laughable OOC games, and go 4-0 at home against cupcakes, and then waltz through the SEC schedule and get more credit than they deserve for beating mediocre teams like Arkansas, South Carolina, etc. who are vastly overrated.
I don't need to explain again why this bias has significant implications for rankings, TV contracts, BCS bowl and title game selections etc. Plus, it's just plain annoying.
Last edited by GoldenBears; 09-05-2008 at 09:02 PM.