"Is OSU's schedule easy", or "In which the Big Ten is once again disparaged while the SEC's supremacy is never to be questioned"
My SEC homer buddy is trying to get an OSU fan's goat - so I almost want to be on his side - but his link to CFN/Scout/whatever's piece concerning OSU's strength of schedule really grinds my gears because it obviously accepts the SEC's dominance and even gives the Pac-10 a total pass.
I personally wish everybody would just shuuuut uuuuup about Boise State until they actually get past Nevada and maybe at least half of their schedule, and I'm also pretty impressed by the way Fiutak tries to pass off Virginia Tech as a great win. Of course we have to take a very close look at 4 degrees of Purdue's Toledo loss, but let's put the blinders on for the most obvious flameout since approximately The Horror.
Also, I'm incensed by the insinuation that Michigan would not just lay an Oregon Duck Egg, but possibly resort to the most egregiously poor sportsmanship ever, if forced to try and run against Boise State's vaunted defense. So much for all the positive press Shoelace and the Boys are getting.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:27 PM ^
Its CFN dude: when was the last time they said anything correct?
Fiutak is an idiot, plain and simple. Nothing he says gets any sort of validity from me.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:34 PM ^
Lolcfn.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:36 PM ^
There's a reason that Brian highlights idiotic things in his "Fiutakin' it" section.
September 27th, 2010 at 1:33 PM ^
My user-added tag was:
i guess this is "fiutakin' it"?
because I normally don't read CFN or anything with an MSN butterfly on the top, so I have never completely understood the "Fiutakin' it" tag. Everything makes the sense, now.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:43 PM ^
It's not going to be easy come the end of November.
September 27th, 2010 at 1:35 PM ^
... because Alabama played Penn State. Right?
D'OH!
September 27th, 2010 at 12:45 PM ^
as one of the 4 "sure" bowl teams that OSU plays this year.
So we got that going for us.........................................................................which is nice!
September 27th, 2010 at 12:48 PM ^
Am I the only one in thinking the SEC looks overrated this year? (I mean, it's always a bit overrated, but...). Because I see a lot of good teams in there, but I don't see any great ones. Bama looks down, and recovering. Florida is rebuilding. Georgia is awful. Arkansas chokes in the big time, like always. LSU still bumbles around a bit. Auburn could easily have 2 losses. I'd say they'd be ripe for a National Championship game upset...but I'm not sure who could pull it off this year. USC is down. Oregon has to convince me they can do it after the Rose last year. The Big 12 has a down Texas, and Oklahoma always flops in the limelight. Maybe Nebraska. Maybe Ohio State. (Though their record against the SEC isn't so hot). Boise might have a shot this year. (Though I'm horrified by the thought of someone bumping off Bama and getting OSU vs. Boise for it all). I don't think this is a year for a historically great champion. But a lot of games ought to be good, because there's a lot of good teams to play each other.
September 27th, 2010 at 1:33 PM ^
It's fairly apparent that the SEC's best teams this year are not as good as its best teams in recent years past.
Arkansas is up, and would be a tough team for anyone to beat. Auburn looks good but not special. Alabama is still excellent, but not quite like last year. LSU's offense is the opposite of ours, but their defense is stout. FLorida is quite obviously down offensively. Georgia's program is starting to resemble ours of the past 3 years, or at least Tennessee's at the end of the Fulmer regime, which yea...
This is definitely not the SEC's strongest stable of teams. I'm not sure any one conference is up though this year.
September 27th, 2010 at 2:25 PM ^
September 27th, 2010 at 1:38 PM ^
September 27th, 2010 at 2:22 PM ^
Until proven otherwise, I am sticking with my preseason prediction: Michigan beats Boise State in the NC game (and Molk gets the Rimmington and Denard gets the Heisman). Call me an optimist, but that is the way Michigan fans approach a season!
September 27th, 2010 at 1:12 PM ^
That column is reminiscent of the Lisa Horne gem of '08.
Different methods, of course... Fiutak aspires to this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitive_relation
Seriously, the last time I saw that much cherry picking, I was in Traverse City.
September 27th, 2010 at 2:06 PM ^
I just love the sour cherries up there, but of the Fiutak label whine, I'm not a fan.
September 27th, 2010 at 1:24 PM ^
They played one traditional top-tier BCS school, Miami (YTM), plus two MAC squads and Marshall out of C-USA. Their two MAC opponents (Ohio and Eastern Michigan) are terrible, even by MAC standards, but the Buckeyes probably didn’t expect that when they contracted those games. Marshall is not having a good year so far, but they have a history of playing tough.
So the Buckeyes took on one serious OOC opponent, and although their remaining OOC opponents aren't great, at least they played no one from I-AA. That sounds about average to me. Michigan is the only Big Ten team that scheduled two BCS-level OOC opponents, but this was the first year in a long time that the Wolverines did so. The majority of the Big Ten, including Michigan, scheduled a I-AA opponent, whereas OSU did not.
September 27th, 2010 at 3:45 PM ^
2010: UCONN and ND
2009: Just ND
2008: Utah (I know, MWC, but actually went to a BCS game) and ND
2007: Oregon and ND
2006: Vanderbilt and ND
In four of the five years since the schedule has gone to 12 games, Michigan has played 2 quality (BCS or good team from midmajor) opponents. If you count Notre Dame as quality.
Edit: and in 2002 and 2003 when the schedule was 12 games, we played Washington and Oregon, respectively, in addition to Notre Dame.
I think UM plays a respectable nonconference schedule.
September 27th, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^
Clearly the marquee game was Miami, but at this point, I'm not so certain we can say much about any team...period. Should a lot be read into that UCLA just stomped Texas, after they themselves looked like Kansas Western School for the Morbidly Obese against Stanford? What about ASU having themselves Threet'ed out of contention against an Oregon team that looked very beatable? Mallett? Oh god, Mallett you idiot.
Meanwhile, OSU gets a pass because they played Miami? Not so sure on that, as Jacory Harris has looked pretty mediocre to terrible the last two games. Pitt is pretty awful and a 31-3 beatdown means...well, who knows what it means. Pitt didn't get a first down until the third quarter and Tino whatever looks like a more terrified version of Mike Kafka.
September 27th, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^
Harris has looked rattled this year, but this Miami team obviously has some talent. I would say they are better than UCLA, ASU, and maybe even Arkansas (which looks really good until you start pressuring Mallet). Nobody outside of Nd has played a particularly tough OOC schedule this year, and trying to divine how good teams are after 1/3 of the season seems like an exercise in useless punditry by CFN.
September 27th, 2010 at 1:56 PM ^
I agree that it is an exercise in futility to try to figure out who is better than who now, as well as that Miami clearly has talent. But Miami always has talent. NFL caliber players turn the corner in Miami and walk right into campus. That state is filthy with top talent. The real question is, how good of a coach is Shannon and how well does he put that talent to work? I don't pretend to know those answers, but I'm not so certain they'd beat any decent team on the road with Jacory doing his best Cutler impression.
September 27th, 2010 at 1:40 PM ^
At some point, you just need to stop worrying about what idiots say and just watch the games on the field. The SEC looks down to me - 'Bama, Fla, and LSU are the top 3 and all look to have serious weaknesses - and the Pac-10 is basically Stanford, Oregon, and (maybe) USC. If OSU goes 11-1 (losing to UM), they should have a chance to play for the MNC in a rematch against 12-0 UM. That makes total sense to me.
September 27th, 2010 at 5:00 PM ^
It was the strongest conference for most of the 'aughts, but I agree that they are down a little this year. GA is down and UT sucks; that takes away a lot of their depth. Alabama, Auburn, Florida, SC, and Arkansas still match up well against OSU, Iowa, Wiscy, Michigan, and PSU.
Next year, when Michigan is all the way back and Nebraska is in the conference, The Big Ten may be just as good as or even better than the SEC. I think the SEC is still the best conference, even this year, but it isn't the slam dunk it has been the last few years, and their days of supremacy are fading fast.