The mighty SE...err...ACC

Submitted by trueblueintexas on
Great day for the ACC vs the SEC in rivalry games today. 4-0. FSU over Florida, Clemson over South Carolina, Georgia Tech over Georgia, and Louisville over Kentucky. In fairness, those games matched up well for the ACC, but still, this has to take a little of the shine off of the SEC. Throw in Indana's win over Missouri who one the SEC East, and you really have to question the inflated records of SEC teams due to poor out of conference scheduling. This is not to promote the B1G, because, well, yeah. But this along with the Miss St vs. Ole Miss outcome should address any thought of the SEC getting two teams into the playoff.
MGoBoard

Sparty123

November 29th, 2014 at 10:32 PM ^

I think MSU got a lot of credit for hanging with a very good Oregon team on the road in a tough environment.  I don't think a MAC win instead would have been enough keep them in hunt after the loss to OSU (especially how they were manhandled in that game).  But I think you could be right about the cost/benefit of secheduling tough OOC vs. cupcakes.  The SEC has been proving that for years.

What bothers me most about the SEC narrative is how when a bottom-feeder like Arkansas beats LSU everyone says "look at the depth in that conference, all those teams are so good".  Meanwhile, when OSU struggles against IU people say that the Buckeyes aren't that good.  It's a ridiculous double standard.

Joined: 11/10/2013

MGoPoints: 64

BJNavarre

November 29th, 2014 at 8:13 PM ^

I'm not going to argue that the B1G is a great conference, but OSU, UW and MSU can go toe to toe with anyone in the nation this year. They should go to an 8 or 16 team playoff and get representation from all the major conferences. The 4 game non-conference schedule tells us little about the relative strengths of each conference. For example, SEC schools rarely play outside of the south. LSU playing in Green Bay will be the first time a big time SEC school has played in the midwest in forever.

Top to bottom, the SEC is still clearly the best, but the gap is not as big as some people would believe, especially this year.

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 4434

BJNavarre

November 29th, 2014 at 8:24 PM ^

MSU didn't get blown out by Oregon, and lets not pretend that the OSU excuses aren't legit.

My point being, I have confidence those teams would handle themselves about as well as any school not named Alabama. They could get beaten handily, but a lot of the other top teams could too.

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 4434

ghost

November 29th, 2014 at 8:28 PM ^

They lost by 3 scores.  OSU's excuses aren't legit.  Barrett played in that game.  They don't get a pass because he didn't play well.  What was the OSU reasoning for almost losing to awful PSU?  Baylor has played with there backup QB quite a few times and they haven't lost to a VT level team.  

Joined: 09/02/2011

MGoPoints: 4140

BJNavarre

November 29th, 2014 at 9:06 PM ^

So 14 points = 3 scores now? The game was tied in the 4th qtr and VT scored their last TD with less than a minute left. And the aforementioned Baylor team just eked out a victory against awful Texas Tech. 

Not arguing that any Big Ten team should be in the 4 man playoff this year, just that I'd like to see one of them play in the darn thing. Usually the top team is good enough to make some noise, and allowing each Power 5 champ a spot gives the conference championships some real meaning.

 

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 4434

ghost

November 30th, 2014 at 7:32 AM ^

VT lost to an awful WF team.  W.Virg worse loss is to Texas.  W.Virg's other 4 losses are to top 20, possibly top 15 teams.  VT also lost to BC, ECU, GT, 6-6 Miami and Pitt, and BC.  W.Virg had the better record and comparing those schedules is an absolute joke. Losing to VT is way way worse than losing to W.Virg.  Only OSU fans would argue otherwise.

Joined: 09/02/2011

MGoPoints: 4140

Muttley

November 30th, 2014 at 12:38 AM ^

Purdue was absolutely atrocious last year. Illinois was also not worthy of Power 5 cellar dweller.

 

Per Massey

The Bottom Three (through Friday)

B1G SEC Pac12 Big12 ACC
68 Ill 32 SCar 59 OreSt 67 TT 66 NCSt
81 Purd 51 KY 63 WSU 79 ISU 84 Syra
86 Ind 90 Vandy 82 Colo 83 Kan 98 WakeF

I bet those SEC ratings take a hit after the 0fer4 today is taken into account.

Joined: 07/07/2009

MGoPoints: -73245

JamieH

November 29th, 2014 at 8:30 PM ^

SEC superiority is mostly propaganda. A huge part of their dominance has been hoodwinking the BCS into always including an SEC team in the 2-game playoff. 75% of winning the BCS title was getting voted into the game

Joined: 09/05/2009

MGoPoints: 28331

alum96

November 29th, 2014 at 8:56 PM ^

I was scoffed at a few weeks ago when we were doing bowl projections and they had Georgia Tech v PSU and I said I want nothing to do with GA Tech, let PSU deal with them (this was about 3 games ago).  They have the #1 FEI offense in America....

I do think the SEC is down this year mostly due to QB play.  No real studs out there - yes Prescott is good but there are no Cam Newton types or Tebows or heck Chris Leaks.  Most of the top 10 QBs are in the Pac 12, Big 12, etc. 

Also this was basically a day the 4 best ACC teams played most of the bottom third of the SEC.   UF and SC are both down big time.  The exclusion being Georgia which again played a team no one wants to face - funky offense that works quite well with the players on it this year.  And still it took a 52 yard FG to tie it for GA Tech in the closing seconds - with GA missing the best RB in the country.

Indiana over Mizzou is going down as the strangest result of the year - keep thinking Missouri will lose here or there but they find a way.

 

Joined: 04/28/2012

MGoPoints: 82522