PAC-10 or SEC? Who's Tougher?
Let's get one thing straight right here at first: I'm a Big XII guy. Born in Fort Worth. Live in Abilene. If a Big XII school is playing a non-Big XII school, I root for the Big XII. Having gone to a Division 2 university, I have no ties to any Division 1 school so I can root for them all the same...Texas does get more of my attention, however, because my wife's family are Longhorns and they did win a National Championship in 2005 and have some of the best athletes in the country in all sports.
BUT...I believe the debate for the toughest conference has to be between the SEC and the Pac-10. And I don't base my arguments on the conference's overall records against other BCS conferences or records in bowl games. I base my arguments on who plays the toughest schedules top to bottom.
If you think about it, a conference with the toughest schedules might have somewhat of a down year in the bowls because they're completely exhausted, beat up and worn down from the regular season. Now, I don't completely throw those stats out the window...they are on the window sill if I need them.
Let's look at the Pac-10. Since 2000 it has produced some pretty good teams. USC comes to mind - an AP National Title, a BCS National Title, a BCS Championship game loss and a few seasons that just a few points kept them from playing for the national title - see 2006 UCLA (13-9).
USC opens the 2008 season at Virginia, a team that was a win away from playing for the ACC title last year, then they host Ohio State and will host a much-improved Notre Dame team in November. That's a pretty tough schedule.
Let's also keep in mind that the Pac-10 is the only BCS conference where every team plays every team. That's nine conference games. That does make a big difference some years. Look at Kansas in 2007. A Big XII North team that didn't have to play Texas, Oklahoma or Texas Tech out of the South Division last year. No wonder they were 12-1. The only non-cream puffs they blew out were Baylor, Nebraska and Iowa State...impressive.
Washington has a case for playing the toughest schedule in 2008. They, of course, play the entire Pac-10 with road games at Oregon, Arizona, USC, Washington State and California. Then on top of that they host BYU (arguably the best team in the Mountain West), Oklahoma (arguably the best team in the Big XII) and Notre Dame, which will surprise this year and be WAY better than its 3-9 record from 2007 - but that's another article.
Arizona State plays Georgia on September 20. California plays Michigan State, Maryland and Colorado State. Oregon goes to Purdue early in the year and hosts Boise State the next week. Oregon State goes to Penn State week 2 then hosts Hawaii and has a road trip to Utah a few weeks after that. UCLA plays Tennesee to open the year, then goes to BYU. Stanford plays TCU and Notre Dame. Washington State plays Oklahoma State and Baylor (I know...Baylor's terrible, but they do have a new coach). Those are tough, tough, tough non-conference games.
Let's go through the Big Ten like that...Ohio State opens against Division IAA Youngstown State then hosts Ohio before they're biggie with USC. Penn State opens against Coastal Carolina. Wisconsin begins its year at home against powerhouse Akron. They do end the year against Cal Poly, though. Iowa plays Maine (they have a football team?) and Florida International. You get the picture... I will give Michigan State credit for playing at California and hosting Notre Dame.
Now let's look at the SEC. Last year the conference finished the year with two teams on top of the final AP poll - Georgia and LSU. That hasn't happened in a while. They also had 35 NFL draft picks - best of any conference.
The SEC teams play each team in their division and then draw three teams from the other division. That's eight conference games, and really the only "bad" teams in the whole conference are Vanderbilt and Kentucky. But even those teams have made some noise lately. Vanderbilt had a good year with Jay Cutler and Kentucky beat a #1 team last year. Those kinds of years help with recruiting and bring in quality athletes. And you may not be a good team, but if you have athletes on the field, you can beat anybody if the chips fall right. See Stanford vs. USC last year.
In other words, the SEC doesn't get a break in conference no matter who they play.
Florida draws Ole Miss, Arkansas and LSU from the West Division and plays Hawaii, Miami and Florida State in non-conference. That's a top 10 tough schedule if you ask me. Georgia draws Alabama, LSU and Auburn from the West and plays Arizona State and Georgia Tech. South Carolina has NC State and Clemson on the non-conference schedule, and Arkansas plays Texas on the road.
Keeping it fair, LSU and Auburn are known for playing cream puff non-conference schedules and they live up to the billing this year with teams like Troy, Louisiana Monroe and Tennessee-Martin on the list.
But I have to say, after writing this article and flipping through my schedules...top to bottom, the Pac-10 has the tougher schedules.
We could look back at the end of 2008 and change our minds, though. You never know, The Citadel might contend for a national championship then Tennessee looks a lot better...stuff like that might happen. Especially if 2008 is anything like 2007 in the way of absolute crazyiness and chaos every week. For the record 13 different teams in the top 5 lost to unranked teams last year...unbelievable. Makes for good TV.
OK, we're at the end. I vote Pac-10 is the toughest conference. Agree? Or Disagree?
