It’s an argument that has been burning for years, and in recent days it’s gotten just a little hotter in the blogsphere. The Big 10/1. The SEC. Which is better? Most of the time, the arguments are moot. It’s kind of hard to have a cohesive argument when you don’t understand the other side. And, let’s face it, most Big 10/1 fans rarely venture south of the Mason-Dixon (other than to watch their teams get stomped more often than not in Florida bowl games), and few SEC fans venture north (waaaay too cold). That’s where yours truly comes in: I was BORN in the heart of Big 10 (it was only 10 then) country, I graduated from an SEC school. So I’ve got some perspective from both sides. As an aside, the main debate right now centers on Michigan and Alabama. As a proud Ohio native and an even prouder UT alum, let me just say: THEY CAN BOTH SINK INTO AN ABYSS FOR ALL I CARE! Asking who’s more ethical: Rich Rodriguez or Nick Saban is like asking who’s the least deserving Heisman winner in history, Charles Woodson or Gino Torretta - you can’t really win, it’s pretty much a draw. Anyway, on to the comparisons:
The Stadiums: The Big 10/1 has the three biggest on-campus stadiums in the country with Michigan Stadium, Beaver Stadium and the Horseshoe. The SEC isn’t far behind with Neyland Stadium, the Swamp, Bryant-Denny and Jordan-Hare. The Big 10/1 also has the Metrodome (yuck), but Vanderbilt’s stadium isn’t much better. The Edge: Big 10/1 by a hair. Bigger is better.
The Cities: The SEC has Athens, Ga. Enough said.The Edge: SEC (in a big way)
The Women: Nothing to write here. If your eyesight is so bad you don’t know which is better, you’re not able to read this. The Edge: SEC (in a big big way)
The Fans: Both are passionate, but here’s the difference: In the Big 10/1 if your favorite team loses Saturday, you wake up Sunday morning hoping the Bears, Lions, Browns, Bengals, Steelers or Vikings can redeem the weekend (well maybe not, if you root for the Lions). If your favorite collegiate team wins, you hope the aforementioned NFL teams can complete your perfect weekend. In the SEC, if your favorite team loses, you go get drunk Saturday night because there is no redemption until the following Saturday. If your favorite team wins, you go get drunk Saturday night because the perfect weekend is complete. Falcons, Titans, Jaguars, Bucs and Dolphins fans? All Yankee transplants. I’m convinced of this. The Edge: SEC
The Rivalries: The Big 10/1 has cool trophies such as Paul Bunyan’s Axe and the Little Brown Jug. The SEC has that boot thing LSU and Arkansas play for. The Big 10/1 has Ohio State vs. Michigan. Even after 20 years of living in the South, I’m still convinced its the greatest rivalry in college football. Yes, even greater than the Iron Bowl. The Edge: Big 10/1 (would be SEC if UT and Kentucky still played for the Beer Barrel).
The Coaches: Coaches from lesser divisions (Jim Tressel), non-BCS leagues (Mark Dantonio) and lesser-BCS leagues (Rodriguez) look to the Big 10/1 to provide the next challenge in their careers. NFL coaches, meanwhile, know the only way to go up is to go SEC (see Steve Spurrier, Bobby Petrino and Saban).The Big 10/1 however gets bonus points for JoePa. Those points are quickly used up by Ron Zook though. The Edge: SEC, by a Zook.
Historic Coaches: General Neyland and Bear Bryant. Enough said. But before you pull out the “Paterno-has-more-wins-than-either-of-them card” are we sure Penn State hasn’t been pulling a “Weekend at Bernie’s” on us since 1999? The Edge: SEC
The Recent Players: Both have had recent Heisman winners, both have a ton of NFL draft picks. It’s a push until you realize even the Big 10/1 has to go south to recruit.The Edge: SEC
The Historic Players: The Big 10/1 has the only two-time Heisman winner with Ohio State’s Archie Griffin. It doesn’t have Bo Jackson, the single greatest Tecmo Bowl athlete of all-time (and not too shabby in real life either). The Edge: SEC
Recent Titles: The SEC is 4-0 in BCS title games and might be 5-0 if undefeated Auburn hadn’t been left out. The Big 10/1 is 1-2 with both losses coming against SEC schools. Dig a little deeper and see the SEC has two more consensus titles (Alabama in 92, Florida in 96) since 1990. The Big 10/1 has one split title (Michigan in 97). And really, should it count considering they beat RYAN LEAF in the Rose Bowl that year? The Edge: SEC
Overall Titles: Alabama has 312, and that number is growing by the day! Beat that Big 10/1!The Edge: Alabama, er, the SEC
Ability to be put on probation: Alabama and Auburn. Enough said.The Edge: SEC
Ability to teflon itself from probation: Tennessee. Enough said. The Edge: SEC
The TV deals: The Big 10/1 has ABC and the Big Ten Network. The SEC has CBS and (gulp) the three Daves of Jefferson-Pilot/Lincoln Financial/Raycom/Whatever its called next week. The Edge: Big 10/1 (in a big way)
The Academics: The Big 10/1 has Northwestern and a bunch of schools willing to sacrifice academics to win at football. The SEC has Vanderbilt and a bunch of schools willing to sacrifice academics to win at football.The Edge: Even
The Tradition: The Big 10/1 has the dotting of the i and not much else. The SEC has the Vol Walk, Denny’s Chimes, The Grove and … yeah, the Grove pretty much settles this (see The Women). The Edge: SEC
The Food: Dreamland. Enough said.The Edge: SEC
The Fight Songs: It basically comes down to “Hail to the Victors” vs. “Rocky Top” The Edge: Big 10/1 (because I realize not everyone is sophisticated enough to “get their corn from a jar.”)
The Uniforms: Michigan’s helmet is overrated, especially when you consider they stole the design from PRINCETON! However, the Big 10/1 has some nice classic looks, including Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Purdue and Iowa. They lose points for the Nike monstrosities Illinois has.The SEC has its classic looks (Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss) and its own Nike mishap (Kentucky). The Edge: Even
The Bowls: Pretty even considering most of the bowls pit the Big 10/1 against the SEC. The Big 10/1 has the Grandaddy of Them All, the Rose Bowl. The SEC has the Sugar Bowl (and the French Quarter).The Edge: Even
The Offseason: In the Big 10/1, you hibernate through brutally cold winters, thaw out for the NFL draft and start thinking football when NFL preseason games begin. In the SEC, there is no offseason. The Edge: SEC
The Blogs: The SEC has us. Enough said. The Edge: SEC (in a big big way).
Final Tally: SEC 15-4-3.
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Even with the overwhelming and most assuredly unbiased victory, I think you sold the SEC short.
Rivalries. Sure Ohio State - Michigan is great, but the SEC has The 3rd Saturday in October (Hello?!?), the Iron Bowl, the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, the Egg Bowl….OK, forget that last one, but you get my drift.
TV Deals. The Big Ten has to share ABC with two other conferences, while we get CBS all to ourselves. But JP/LF probably still tilts the balance to the Big TelevEN.
Ohio State has also proven very slippery when it comes to being nabbed by the NCAA.
No question it was tough to go against the blog’s namesake for the rivalries. Definitely the toughest call. But didn’t want to come across as homerish. And Ohio State at least got busted by the NCAA in basketball. Wrong sport, but still.
Good stuff Power T. I know you took a few shots at Alabama, but that’s ok and it’s expected. I think you nailed every category except the biggest rivalry. It has to be the Third Saturday in October or the Iron Bowl. It has to. There is really no comparison when you mention Ohio St. and Michigan. Zero comparison.
As far as TV goes. The SEC has media giant CBS and almost every Saturday night has TWO games on ESPN. It’s tough to beat that.
Even with that being said, this a great post (especially from someone who has seen and experienced it all).
Academics? You are absolutely nuts to even compare the SEC with the Big 10. I’ll give you one test to consider: NSF grants. The SEC schools are in a category, much like our inner-city public schools, requiring — dare we say — special attention. If your assessments in the remaining categories is as groundless as your academic rating, the whole must be discounted.
And I thought we were comparing the SEC and the Big 10. How the hell did Princeton — and a Princeton of old, to boot — get in there? It’s not who designed the uniform (they’re all a knock-off from something else); it’s which uniforms attract fans and players and which are currently the most identifiable in a positive sense. Uniform origin? Give me a break!
Power T, go ahead add the category “Ability to construct an argument” and score one more for the SEC. It must be because if he’s willing to let one grant speak for quality of education, surely he’ll be fine with letting himself represent the Big10. I’m doubtful the rest of the conference would agree with that, though.
John’s pointing to one grant from the National Science Foundation as grounds for academic superiority is both short-sighted and fallacious. The University of Alabama had three recipients of NSF grants last year alone, not counting faculty. As for the Big Three science grants available to all the universities in our little discussion here, how about this breakdown:
Sun Grant - SEC 1, Big10 0 (Only seven awarded nationally)
Sea Grant - SEC 7, Big10 7
Space Grant - SEC 5, Big10 2
The SEC also has more National Merit Scholars than the Big 10.
Of course, that’s no less arbitrary when I say it than when you do it. Not to mention the fact that like you, it ignores the basis of his argument, which is that only Vandy and Northwestern hold legitimate academic standards that they don’t bend as readily for their athletic programs. Because ultimately, we’re discussing athletic conferences, not academic alliances. If Michigan actually does that (which would be contrary to what your alumni are saying) then you will be looking for a new coach in a couple years.
Yippie Kay Yay, John. Speaking of, if you are posing as an intellectual superior, it might not be the best idea to choose the lead character from a movie about a cop with a vocabulary of about three words who stops a bank robbery that will be pulled off with a death toll of about two or three by doing billions in damages and increasing the body count to double digits.
Some additional fodder from a Corndog perspective:
Stadiums: size is important, but atmosphere is more important. Tiger Stadium puts SEC over the top, no question.
Cities: Baton Rouge! New Orleans, by extension. No contest. Have you been to Ohio? Pah-leese.
Tradition: LSU GBFTL walking down the hill, Pregame, Mike - Script Ohio is so hohum.
Food: tailgating at Tiger Stadium, alone, crushes all other conferences.
Historic Players: Tebow will unseat Griffin. Billy Cannon.
The Big Ten, like Europe, has a legacy but no future. Interesting to read about and visit, but you really wouldn’t want to have to live there.
Crunch, you old corndog, I have to agree with most of that.
Baton Rouge is not an extension of New Orleans, but gameday atmosphere is still strong and Cajun (whereas New Orleans is more the Key West version of Cajun).
You are right about stadium. Size isn’t everything. And the fact that the Big Ten discourages ‘atmosphere’ in their stadiums is a detraction. Noise matters.
Food/tailgating: I agree with you. the best tailgate I ever attended was in Tuscaloosa…with LSU fans. If your To-Go Tailgating is that awesome, I don’t know if I’m man enough to tailgate in Baton Rouge.
Historic players: the SEC has some up-and-comers like Tebow, but I’ll take Alabama’s player history over anyone’s. Three Super Bowl MVPs, the greatest lineman to ever play the game, the virtual inventor of the WR, the man who every modern TE reveres as the best to play the position, and the greatest catch in the history of the sport. Roll Tide.
Tradition: Sorry, when your strongest tradition involves a tuba player, it might be time to reconsider the meaning of the word. Ironically, Alabama, who’s tradition is both revered and reviled, doesn’t have specific game day traditions per se. And in an even greater upset of this blog, I’m going to salute the Vol Navy. Now THAT is a cool tradition.
As an East Tennessee native who has lived near Klummis, OH since ‘78, I might have some perspective. Many tOSU fans are some of the most vile, punk-a#$ed scrote bags ever. It is because they are jealous.
Watching a big 10 game is like watching C-Span..
Watching an SEC game is like watching Jerry Springer…
-t
An argument isn’t an argument on TSIB until GoN gets involved. Why so quiet Ghost?
Nicely done!! However, OSU and UM do not hold a candle to Alabama vs auburn. I do
understand that OSU and UM are huge but this rivalry does not compare to the iron
bowl!! The entire state of Alabama stops for this game. Wedding’s, family
reunions, church gatherings, and etc does not take place when it comes to Alabama
and auburn. The animoisty between these 2 schools is unprecedented. I do not
believe that the states of Ohio or Michigan actually stops just to watch that
rivalry. Big rivalry, for sure and without a doubt. Just not bigger than the Iron
Bowl. If you ever have a chance go to Tuscaloosa, Alabama or mosey down to the
plains to watch the game. To be at the stadium is great but I would adivse sitting
on the home side, though.
Anyways, thought your blog was really good.
ROLL TIDE ROLL TIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ll stand behind Ohio State-Michigan being the best rivalry in college football, even if it does sound like blasphemy on here. No doubt whatsoever The Third Saturday in October and the Iron Bowl are among the greatest rivalries, but they don’t quite top Ohio State-Michigan.
For Ohio State, Michigan is THE game. And vice versa. Is the Iron Bowl really the biggest game for Alabama? I’ve had plenty of Alabama fans admit to me that The Third Saturday in October is bigger to them - that they hate Tennessee with such a passion, not even Auburn can match it. And there’s a good many (maybe even most) Tennessee fans who consider Florida, not Bama, to be the top rival.
Too many quality teams take away from the (still great) rivalries in the SEC now.
If you must choose a rivalry outside the SEC, Army-Navy is vastly superior as a rivalry to OSU-Michigan. The Buckeyes and Wolverines talk about how great it is, but they don’t carry it on year round. I have tons of family from Ohio and Michigan (and grads from each school) and it took only one visit to Alabama for them to acknowledge that the Iron Bowl is superior. That visit wasn’t even during football season.
The Ghost was on vacation for the weekend, and, boy, did I miss a good one.
It was a great post by Power T, if only for the Bo Jackson Tecmo Bowl comment. I’m a Tennessee grad, so I’m not going to get into the education thing. I know we have smart people in the SEC, but I’m a Communications major.
On the rivalries thing, I’m flabbergasted that Ohio State-Michigan is considered bigger than the Iron Bowl and Third Saturday. I won’t believe it until OSU can live up to its “national” reputation. Beat an SEC team then I’ll think you’re relevant. Another thing is this is an Alabama-Michigan argument which is like herpes and genital warts. I don’t care about either. But it certainly has been fun to read.
One more thing: I bet John won’t come by too much anymore. He got pwned.
Power T, the reason Alabama fans hate Tennessee more is because of Phil Fulmer and how he “got” us in trouble. That’s never really been proved, but we all know he did it. Personally, UT doesn’t bother me near as much as Auburn. I think Ghost brought up an excellent point a long time ago.
Ghost hates Alabama more than anything because when he was growing up Alabama had a lot of success and he had to deal with some of his good friends constantly nagging him. Well, we, or at least I feel that Alabama fans are in the same situation when it comes to Auburn. I hate them with every ounce of my body. I REFUSE to go down there except once every 2 years. I HATE everything associated with Auburn. Especially their HC.
While I know the OSU/Michigan rivalry is big, NOTHING compares to the Iron Bowl. While Alabama hasn’t really kept up their part in making the Iron Bowl more interesting, neither has Michigan.
I’ll even go out on a limb and say that The Third Saturday in October is bigger than OSU/Michigan. Yea, that’s right…I said it.
Look at the stats. The State of Alabama has it’s highest crime rates after the Iron Bowl, and the Monday after is also when the most divorces are filed. The State of Alabama isn’t big enough for you to get away from the other. It can’t happen.
At Michigan, or Ohio St., you have the NFL to look forward to the next day. Or hockey. No one really cares about anything other than college football down here. That’s the difference.
One last thing…Alabama is at the top for National Merrit Scholars. Not to mention our Academic All-Americans (more than Harvard). Our academics are a little better than some believe.
I think CK might be selling the OSU-Michigan rivalry short. On a national scale, the past few years it has mattered more that either the IB or the 3SIO. Heck, as recently as 2007 they were playing for the right to lose the MNC. Had Michigan won it, they probably would have played each other again.
But rivalries aren’t about impact on the rankings or national interest. Rivalries are about local, rooting interest. You will not find that as strongly as you do in the Iron Bowl.
I informally promised myself to get out of this argument, but there is one thing I will say. As far as the Michigan-OSU rivalry vs. Iron Bowl, 3rd Sat., The Game Formerly Known As The Cocktail Party, etc., the Michigan-OSU rivalry gets far more national attention than any of those. On the national level, Cocktail gets a lot, but it’s not as much. There are two reasons for this: the Mich-OSU is the only rivalry in the Big 10 that’s really worth all the national hype; the Mich-OSU rivalry is often the Big 10 championship game, whereas the SEC rivalries take a back seat to the SEC champ game in Atlanta - on the national level.
As far as regional interests go, I’d grant that the SEC rivalries consume the passions more. Part of it - particularly with Iron Bowl - is the proximity.
Long story short, whose rivalry is better depends on the perspective you want to argue. Nationally, the M-O rivalry is bigger. Regionally, the SEC rivalries outstrip the Big 10 rivalries in their respective regions, hands-down. Neither side will “win” this argument because you’ll never agree to argue on the same principles.
I agree with you hooper. No matter what we SEC fans think, from a national perspective the Michigan-OSU game usually at least determines one of the BCS games, including the overrated Rose Bowl. This is extremely important from a national level, moreso than the Iron Bowl which has not been nationally relevent over the last few years. It was only two years ago when UM/OSU were ranked 1 & 2 for their game. In the end though, no atmosphere can match the in-game SEC rivalries.
We would have to find a common definition of rivalry for this, and I doubt we would get Big Ten fans to agree with SEC fans on what makes a rivalry a rivalry. We don’t typically have a trophy, although making the SGA president of the losing school sing the opposing school’s fight song during the basketball game on the winner’s court is a nice tradition. They win for numbers right now, both in attendance (both stadiums are larger than the two stadiums the Tide and Tigers play in) and in national rankings, plus they have the benefit of the WWL’s strict “only former Big 10 players” hiring policy. Rece Davis got in under some sort of EEOC/Affirmative Action quota, but notice his seat on the set is both removed from the people allowed to offer opinions (he is not) and is not as well lit as the rest of the desk.
SEC fans on the other hand will argue that passion is the only thing that matters. That’s probably the beginning and ending of that argument actually.
I think TFIT hit it here. The reason the OSU/Michigan game is so big nationally is because ESPN hypes it up as much as possible because they are Big 10 bias. Argue if you want, but it’s a fact that ESPN takes the side of the Big 10 over the SEC every day. However, it’s quite evident that on the inside ESPN knows which conference has bigger games and bigger rivalries. Hence the Big 10 playing games at the crack of dawn and the SEC playing night games on ESPN.
The media giant known as ESPN is the reason the OSU/Michigan game is so big. I will not change my mind on this. Yes, on the grand scheme of things OSU/Michigan has been a bigger game because of the MNC chances over the past 2 or 3 years (not counting this year). I’m not testing the rivalry and I’m not trying to talk it down, but when the Iron Bowl comes around it’s the only thing that matters. Period. An entire state stops and watches. That’s why the Iron Bowl is the best.
I could go on and on with this but I will be stubborn and never change my mind. I’ve seen waaaaay too many things happen at Iron Bowls and the absolute hatred shown. For example, go to an Auburn message board and see how many of their topics are concerend with Alabama. At one point I saw that 90% of their topics were about Alabama.
ESPN certainly has an influence, but they’re not the only reason. The Schembechler/Hayes effect was huge, for example. Also, those schools are really the only two consistently great programs in the entire region. In the SEC, having so many schools chasing greatness makes them all seem more similar and downplays individual games.
That was worded strangely. Let me try it this way.
Someone who grew up far removed from either region would see two things. They’d see a Mich-OSU rivalry that utterly dominates an entire major conference. They’d also see an in-state game that pits two teams of basically the same caliber as Mich-OSU (give or take, depending on the year) that is one of a dozen or so games within the conference of that magnitude (Fla-UGA, UT-UA, UT-UF, LSU-Arky, etc.) The Mich-OSU game is unique in its area; the Iron Bowl is one of many. You have to remember that somebody from the outside won’t have the regional perspective to work from. They’ll see it from that national level only, and the localized effects of the game will be missed.
ESPN does have preferences for the Big 10, but that hardly explains their whole situation. They’re a business, and they make money off viewing interest. Behind the scenes, there’s a ruthless manager somewhere watching what goes onto SportsCenter and checks to see if something else might have been more appealing. There’s a lot of pressure to succeed, and their dollar intake is far more important than their alma mater. If the Iron Bowl ever featured a #1-#2 matchup, you’d be certain to see ESPN hyping the thing for weeks on end and applying the same hyperbole to it that you saw in the Mich-OSU game.
I don’t know what would cause the hiring discrepancy at ESPN, but I would first speculate that it’s due to accents. The Midwest has accents that are much closer to the TV-accepted accents than the South. Fair or not, that does make a difference for national TV shows.
No need to discuss the regional effect though; the South clearly invests more energy into the games. It’s not just the Iron Bowl. Any recurring game gets the same treatment. Even the annual drubbing of USC by Clemson shuts down all of SoCar.
I wouldn’t worry about it, though. Why would you care how somebody 4 states away views your game, anyhow? Once the opening kickoff occurs, you don’t think about them for a second. I’d say: enjoy your game and let them enjoy theirs.
ESPN’s investment goes more so to the parent company, Disney. They show Big10 games on ABC and so it is in their best interests for the games they show to appear more important than the games being shown on competitive networks. I don’t believe it’s something as mustache-twistingly evil as a bias against southern schools, but if it comes down to money, you want the teams on your network to draw ad revenue.
tfit,
Good point. I didn’t think about the Disney uber-link.
The Ohio State michigan rivalry is huge because they’re the two best teams in what used to be the best conference. I was watch ing ESPN and the said the big tens time is up. But you can’t knock a rivalry that has the team with the most wins in history and the 4th most wins in history. ESPN hypes up the rivalry because it’s the most watched game that weekend. Because they may not hate each other like the Iron Bowl but they hate each other.
I’ll state upfront that I’m an Illinois alum and, therefore, a Big Ten guy, but I’ll give you credit for trying to be as objective as you could for being an SEC blog. I’ve got a few thoughts on the original post and subsequent comments:
(1) Cities - I’ll grant that Athens is awesome, but there’s no way this category is a slam dunk for the SEC when Madison is on the Big Ten side.
(2) Fans - I guess I’m on the other side of your argument, where the fact that the Big Ten still brings up such passion even with how strong the NFL is in the Midwest, as well, is a testament to the strength of the conference and its fans (in contrast to the Big East locales, which are strictly pro sports towns). When college football is the only game in town as it is in many SEC locations, though, it’s easier to draw the attention of fans.
(3) Rivalries - In my opinion, Ohio State/Michigan is the best rivalry in all of sports, not just college football (and I can’t stand those two schools). Some of the comments have argued that there is an ESPN bias toward the Big Ten, which is pretty laughable. Plenty of Big Ten fans think that ESPN is intent on dumping on the conference while pumping up how indestructible the SEC is in football. Honestly, outside of Notre Dame football and Duke basketball, every team and conference can lay claim to being ESPN bias victims. That being said, OSU/Michigan and Notre Dame/Michigan (a quasi-Big Ten rivalry) are always the two most watched regular season football games of the year, regardless of how well the teams are doing in any given year, so of course they are going to get the most attention nationally. I completely understand and respect the regional fervor that the SEC schools have for and against each other, particularly the Iron Bowl, but in reality, Florida is really the only SEC school that draws viewers on a national scale year-in and year-out (not just in a particular year where they happen to be playing well). That’s not to say that there isn’t national interest in the SEC as a conference overall since it has been very strong over the past several seasons, but the SEC’s strength is that it has almost complete attention in the South (while the Big Ten gets more attention on a national basis).
(4) Academics - To try to be objective here, let’s just look at the U.S. News rankings of colleges, which is what the average person looks at to determine how well a college performs academically (it’s not perfect, but like the weekly AP poll, it’s the most widely used metric that we have to work with). Let’s break it down with the number of schools from each respective conference in parentheses:
RANK 1 - 25
Big Ten (2): Northwestern (#14), Michigan (#25)
SEC (1): Vanderbilt (#19)
RANK 26-50
Big Ten (3): Illinois (#38), Wisconsin (#38), Penn State (#48)
SEC (1): Florida (#49)
RANK 51-75
Big Ten (6): Ohio State (#57), Purdue (#64), Iowa (#64), Minnesota (#71), Michigan State (#71), Indiana (#75)
SEC (1): Georgia (#59)
RANK 76-100
SEC (3): Alabama (#91), Auburn (#96), Tennessee (#96)
RANK 101-125
SEC (3): South Carolina (#112), Kentucky (#122), Arkansas (#124)
RANK SUB-125
SEC (3): Mississippi, Mississippi State, LSU
So, the Big Ten has the highest ranked school of all of them, 2 in the top 25, 5 in the top 50, and every single school in the top 75. Meanwhile, there are 9 SEC schools that are ranked lower than the lowest ranked Big Ten school (and 3 that aren’t even listed in the top 125). Top to bottom, the Big Ten is the most academically rigorous of the BCS conferences (even compared to the ACC, whose top heaviness with Duke and UNC is balanced by the likes of Florida State and NC State at the bottom). The Big Ten beats the SEC in this category in a huge way.
(5) Bowls - There’s a reason why the Rose Bowl has its own television contract that garners almost as much money as the national championship game (much less the other BCS bowls). The average person on the street, regardless of whether they know anything about sports, has heard of the Rose Bowl. While the Sugar Bowl is certainly nothing to sniff at, the Rose Bowl is on a level that transcends the world of college football, so whether you agree with their traditional ways or not, it is the most valuable bowl out there by a wide margin. As a result, the Big Ten clearly takes this category since all of the other bowls down the line are pretty equal.
I can quibble on the margins with the other issues, but these are the big points that I wanted to make.
Frank,
It’s pretty much all opinion, so here is mine:
1) Never been to Madison. I still like Tuscaloosa better. Heh. Been to one BigTen town on Game Day, Happy Valley (although it wasn’t “BigTen” at the time). It was nice. We may need to investigate this further. I’ll host you in T-town; you host me in Champaign.
2) The NFL is more popular in the SEC states than it has ever been before. We’re up to 7 NFL teams and most SEC fans follow one of them. The BigTen states have 9 (If I counted correctly), but I don’t think it matters. I don’t think it’s an ‘either or’ situation. In other words, the recent addition of those NFL teams in the south hasn’t diminished college ball’s popularity, and I don’t think that Michigan would be “more popular” if the Lions folded. There is no distraction for the fans. Just ask my wife; I can follow the Saints/Braves/Tide/Thrashers/Hawks with amazing ease. I won’t remember my anniversary, but I can tell you how many RBIs Chipper Jones has.
3) In my opinion, the 3rd Saturday in October and the Iron Bowl are as good as it gets. I am biased, however.
4) Most academics regard the rankings of the US News and World Report like a poll in the National Enquirer. Further, most (correctly) feel that there is little difference in the “public relations” or “communications” undergrad degree path at any major 4-yr school. Graduate and professional schools may be a horse of a different color, though.
5) Well, the Rose Bowl is special. Obviously, it’s special because Alabama went to 6 of them. The Big Ten and Pac-10 later excluded all other conferences for a number of years (until the BCS), so you can’t say, “Wow, go Big Ten! We Rock! Look at all of our Rose Bowls!” Or, I guess you can, but as long as it was a closed-door event, it becomes special more like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade that concludes with a football game.
“Or, I guess you can, but as long as it was a closed-door event, it becomes special more like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade that concludes with a football game.”
Ha, good stuff, AA. And isn’t there a reason why they excluded southern teams from playing in the Rose Bowl? I know there is, I just can’t quite put my finger on it.