Spurrier hatin' again
The Ol' Ball Coach's hating game is in midseason form. In this SI article he claims playing East Carolina is more challenging than picking up a bottom tier Big Ten team.
The Big Five conferences all playing each other, I don't think that makes a lot of sense, really,” Spurrier said, via garnetandblackattack.com. “Playing East Carolina is a lot tougher game than maybe picking up one of those bottom Big Ten teams, and a lot of fans around here would rather see a team that's close by."
Sounds kind of crazy at first, until you actually look at the rankings and see that (according to Jeff Sagarin anyways) East Carolina finished no. 56, while the bottom of the Big Ten finished no. 76 (Illinois), no. 100 (Rutgers), and no. 157 (Purdue).
Maybe the Big Ten should have gone for that Raleigh and southern market and picked up East Carolina instead.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^
August 4th, 2014 at 11:53 PM ^
August 4th, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^
August 4th, 2014 at 12:04 PM ^
I'm not so sure about the "worse TV draw". Personally, I'd much rather watch South Carolina vs. East Carolina (or UCF) than a matchup against Wake Forest, Indiana or Kansas. You know that the fans in the stands would much rather see a regional game. Columbia will be electric when ECU comes to town this year.
There's a lot to be said for a good regional matchup. You won't really find it in B1G country because there's a fairly large gap between a good B1G team and most of the MAC. That gap isn't so big when you talk about ACC and SEC schools playing against the AAC or the PAC 12 playing against the Mountain West.
August 4th, 2014 at 12:29 PM ^
im calling shenanigans..
problem is u gave a total hypothetical for this yr.. if you gave a real game, i may be willing to wager.. but there will be no ECU/B1G to compare to..
PS who cares about Columbia, they still celebrate confederate veterans day.. F**K EM..
As a resident of the east coast and native to Michigan. Ive been to Greenville, NC. They talk a big talk about their football team. Come game Day, stadium is mostly empty. Rutgers is still a better choice than ECU
August 4th, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^
Every conference has some really bad bottom dwellers. What about SEC's Kentucky? If you're talking about power conferences playing each other, then why would South Carolina pick up a bottom teir B1G team? Why not go for a middle tier team like Nebraska or UM?
August 4th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
August 4th, 2014 at 11:35 AM ^
Exactly. Which is why Spurrier is using a stupid example to argue why he shouldn't schedule big conference opponents. He's smart. He knows that all that really matters is winning, and winning easily at that to get your poll rankings higher. Teams will start scheduling tougher teams when a loss to a big time team can move you up in the rankings while clubbing a baby seal can move you down.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^
reasoning: SEC member.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:58 AM ^
August 4th, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^
He isn't wrong.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
August 4th, 2014 at 11:37 AM ^
August 4th, 2014 at 11:46 AM ^
August 4th, 2014 at 11:52 AM ^
Yeah, but when people talk about the the big conferences playing each other, they're not talking about top tier teams beating up on celler dwellers of big conferences. People want equivalent teams from big conferences playing each other. Spurrier seems to be ignoring that to make a point on why he doesn't want to schedule big conference opponents.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:48 AM ^
Michigan was a bottom-tier Big Ten team that year? News to me.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:56 AM ^
not far off.....
August 4th, 2014 at 12:06 PM ^
Or ya know, 6-2 in conference like we really were that year.
August 4th, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
August 4th, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^
August 4th, 2014 at 12:25 PM ^
What did I do?
Edit: Nevermind. You responded to a deleted comment.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
The playa hater's ball is proud to induct Steven Spurrier
"What can I say about Spurrier that hasnt already been said about afghanistan."
August 4th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
Unless you're a Purdue fan living in denial. The bottom of the Big Ten is pretty bad, and East Carolina went 10-3 last year and won a bowl game.
August 4th, 2014 at 12:27 PM ^
Even then I think Purdue probably pulls 8-9 wins out of this schedule. It's not exactly daunting. ECU had some impressive OOC wins vs. UNC and NC State but outside of that they did what just about any school from a power conference would do in that league.
|
Sat, Aug 31 |
vs Old Dominion |
W 52-38 |
1-0 (0-0) |
| Thu, Sept 5 |
vs Florida Atl |
2-0 (1-0) | |
| Sat, Sept 14 |
L 15-10 |
2-1 (1-0) | |
| Sat, Sept 28 |
W 55-31 |
3-1 (1-0) | |
| Sat, Oct 5 |
W 24-17 |
4-1 (2-0) | |
| Sat, Oct 12 |
@ Tulane |
L 36-33 OT |
4-2 (2-1) |
| Sat, Oct 19 |
W 55-14 |
5-2 (3-1) | |
| Sat, Nov 2 |
@ FIU |
W 34-13 |
6-2 (4-1) |
| Sat, Nov 9 |
vs Tulsa |
W 58-24 |
7-2 (5-1) |
| Sat, Nov 16 |
vs UAB |
W 63-14 |
8-2 (6-1) |
| Sat, Nov 23 |
@ NC State |
W 42-28 |
9-2 (6-1) |
| Fri, Nov 29 |
@ Marshall |
L 59-28 |
9-3 (6-2) |
| BEEF 'O' BRADY'S BOWL ST. PETERSBURG | |||
| Mon, Dec 23 |
vs Ohio* |
W 37-20 |
10-3 (6-2) |
It's the Boise State argument. Really how good are they? And then, do you want to find out? Nobody wants to put Boise on their schedule because losing to them hurts you more than beating them helps you. That's the stigma. I get what Spurrier is saying about the regional thing but scheduling good non-AQ schools like ECU, Boise, last year's UCF, etc. aren't necessarily good for football buisiness either.
August 4th, 2014 at 12:34 PM ^
was against a 1-11 FCS team by 6 points. They don't win 4 games against that schedule.
August 4th, 2014 at 12:38 PM ^
Touche. I guess I blacked out how truly terri-bad Purdue was last year. Michigan still went 12-1, right?
I read about it on Bleacher Report.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^
When referencing the polls just be mindful that espn is in bed with the sec. Not to say the BiG bottome dwellers or even the conference is a football powerhouse at the moment but it is somehting to be mindful of.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:35 AM ^
I like the OP's post and the discussion it's generating, but this may be the least controversial thing that Spurrier has said this year.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:41 AM ^
I'm not going to lie: I've always liked Spurrier. I mean truth be told, South Carolina vs ECU is going to be a better game than South Carolina vs Purdue would be. But truth be told, Michigan vs Ball State in 2006 was a better game than Michigan vs Vanderbilt in 2006.
If you are a top notch team in a power five conference, chances are, playing a mid major conference champion is going to be tougher than a bottom feeder from a power five. But, I'd still rather see Michigan play Kentucky, Vandy, Arkansas, or Tennessee as opposed to Akron, Eastern Michigan, or ECU.
August 4th, 2014 at 12:26 PM ^
2006 was a long time ago in terms of the progression that the SEC has made since them, financially and talent-wise (coaching and recruits).
August 4th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^
His best cracks are against teams in his own conference and Florida State.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^
What in THE fuck does this have to do with Craig James killing hookers?
August 4th, 2014 at 12:31 PM ^
August 4th, 2014 at 11:43 AM ^
The last two seasons, a bad Rutgers team has beaten the mighty SEC by defeating Arkansas.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, and PSU were not by some accounts (PSU, for instance, ranked ahead of ECU in Sagarin, but not F/+). However, before Spurrier (who always gives a good interview) gets too ahead of himself, ECU would have ranked ahead of Florida, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Arkansas as well in F/+, and both Tennessee and Arkansas in Sagarin.
In general, this is just Spurrier hyping up the teams he has to play. It's something the media will latch on to, and he'll use it to make South Carolina look better, because some in the media will say "Look, ECU would be a decent B1G team". It's just him helping his team out, hating on other teams/conferences, and bein hatin' ass Spurrier shooting from the hip.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:45 AM ^
I'd rather play a bottom big five team compared to most non-big give teams. There's no way to judge which of the random non-BCS teams are going to be good year in and year out. And since these schedules are drawn up years in advance, most of the time you end up playing EMU. At least with an Indiana you're getting a team that's pretty consistant. Not good but not EMU.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:45 AM ^
August 4th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
I do give him kudos for working in the B1G slam. He is definitely a master at that type of thing. But when people bring up the "why don't you play a tougher schedule" question, I don't think it is because we want South Carolina to replace ECU with Purdue (or we want Michigan to replace EMU with Kentucky). We want South Carolina to replace ECU with MSU, Wisconsin, U of M, Nebraska etc. (and Michigan to drop EMU for Georgia, South Carolina, LSU, etc.)
August 4th, 2014 at 11:53 AM ^
East Carolina is 0-4 vs. the Big Ten with an average loss by 13.5 points.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:58 AM ^
Who beat Iowa @Iowa by 3, and Purdue @Purdue 55-24. Now that was a mid-level B1G team.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:55 AM ^
What about Furman and South Alabama, OBC?
damn, I am a purdue alum and my wife is a Furman grad and is now rubbing that higher ranking in my face.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:55 AM ^
I would hate to see how shitty the bottom of the SEC is. Probably pretty shitty.
August 4th, 2014 at 11:58 AM ^
Florida was their 9th worst team last year.
But the SEC also plays a very closed schedule that doesn't venture outside it region much either.
August 4th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^