Why is the Big Ten considered to be the best conference?

[eastcoasthoops]

Does the Big Ten really deserve to have 4 Top 10 teams and 6 in the Top 25, according to the "experts"? We now have a full body of work to consider. What has the Big Ten really put on film? Isn't the national perception based primarily on how the conference performs against itself? Kind of creates a self fulfilling prophecy doesn't it?

Some data:

- The Big Ten only went 8-5 against the Power 5 (+BYU & ND)
- Of the 42 OOC games the Conference played, only 4 were not played in a Big Ten friendly stadium.
- Who did they beat?
Colorado 10-2 (Michigan)
Oklahoma 9-2 (Ohio St)
@Notre Dame 4-8 (Michigan St)
LSU 7-4 (Wisconsin)
Oregon 4-8 (Nebraska)
Duke 4-8 (Northwestern)
Iowa State 3-9 (Iowa)
Oregon State 4-8 (Minnesota)

Only 3 wins over out of conference teams with a pulse? As a group? Really?

Maybe the expert "eye test" needs a new prescription?

 

[Jpripper88]

Doesn't really matter this year. The whole country is lacking in top teams outside of Alabama. They may still lose (because you just never know on any given day) a game, but the rest of the country (including the SEC and B1G) is really, really average.

 

[eastcoasthoops]

Doesn't really matter this year. The whole country is lacking in top teams outside of Alabama. They may still lose (because you just never know on any given day) a game, but the rest of the country (including the SEC and B1G) is really, really average.

I completely agree. So if the whole country is "average", doesn't it defy logic that 4 of the "best" are from the same average conference?

 

[Jpripper88]

I completely agree. So if the whole country is "average", doesn't it defy logic that 4 of the "best" are from the same average conference?

They have to come from somewhere and other conferences have just exchanged more wins between their better teams or seen them fall OOC to also rans from other conferences.

 

[ThePanthers]

Instead of just listing their schedule/wins, we'd have to do a comparison to the other P5 leagues. Just listing theirs is worthless w/o comparing.

Personally, just high level from what I know off the top of my head, I'd have the following:

1) BIG
2) ACC
3) Pac 12
4) SEC
5) Big XII

But again, would need to do a more thorough comparison.

 

[CJsE]

Most agree that the Big Ten is the best conference at the very top, but as far as overall conference strength they aren't considered the best. Power rankings and predictors usually have them as the 3rd or 4th best conference behind SEC, PAC and ACC.

http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm

 

[Burgh15]

When Urban Meyer is coaching at Ohio State and Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, the conference will get a lot of hype, no matter what the rest of the teams do. It's certainly not a bad conference with good seasons from Wisconsin, Penn State and solid years from Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.

 

[President Stache]

Well... you can blame us for losing close ones to UNC, VT (sure refs gave that game away), and OSU... or else we would be top 5 now... that is huge, thinking how close we were to that, in, as the poster said, a very average year in college football.

kudos to those average big ten teams for winning against the scrubs, we did too, but we played more non-scrubs and didnt win.

Same for Louisville, florida state... they would be up there as well... the ACC could easily have 4 in the top 8 if Pitt, FSU, Louisville and Clemson all won their close games

 

[eastcoasthoops]

Instead of just listing their schedule/wins, we'd have to do a comparison to the other P5 leagues. Just listing theirs is worthless w/o comparing.

Personally, just high level from what I know off the top of my head, I'd have the following:

1) BIG
2) ACC
3) Pac 12
4) SEC
5) Big XII

But again, would need to do a more thorough comparison.

For shits and giggles:

ACC OOC wins v P5:
@Auburn 8-4
Ole Miss 5-7
Florida 8-3
Notre Dame (2) 4-8
@Indiana 6-6
@Illinois 3-9
Penn St 10-2
Vanderbilt 6-6
Georgia 7-5

Big XII OOC wins v P5:
Pitt 8-4
Missouri 4-8
BYU 8-4
Notre Dame 4-8

Pac 12 OOC wins v P5:
Rutgers 2-10
Kansas State 7-4
Notre Dame (2) 4-8
Texas 5-7
Virginia 2-10
BYU (2) 8-4
Texas Tech 5-7

SEC OOC wins v P5:
Virginia Tech 9-3
North Carolina 8-4
Louisville 9-3
USC 9-3
UCLA 4-8
TCU 6-5

 

[ThePanthers]

ND would be (3): Duke, NC St, VT

 

[9nationalchampionships]

Some years it is....just not this year

 

[CJsE]

Well... you can blame us for losing close ones to UNC, VT (sure refs gave that game away), and OSU... or else we would be top 5 now... that is huge, thinking how close we were to that, in, as the poster said, a very average year in college football.

kudos to those average big ten teams for winning against the scrubs, we did too, but we played more non-scrubs and didnt win.

Same for Louisville, florida state... they would be up there as well... the ACC could easily have 4 in the top 8 if Pitt, FSU, Louisville and Clemson all won their close games

Just remember that we were just as close to a 5-7 year. Adding up all the close games, I'd say 8-4 is great finish for the year.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

because Northwestern has a big sports journalism program and many of their disciples are out there preaching the gospel of Big 10 superiority.

 

[President Stache]

Just remember that we were just as close to a 5-7 year. Adding up all the close games, I'd say 8-4 is great finish for the year.

I dont agree. The only games we were outplayed were Miami and OSU, and OSU was not that bad.

Gtech we won on the last minute, but we outplayed them all game, and of course Clemson, which was a great game, and they did outplay us statistically. But every other game we were definitely in control

 

[CJsE]

I dont agree. The only games we were outplayed were Miami and OSU, and OSU was not that bad.

Gtech we won on the last minute, but we outplayed them all game, and of course Clemson, which was a great game, and they did outplay us statistically. But every other game we were definitely in control

3 potential losses. Obviously Clemson was one.

PSU was in long field goal range when they threw the interception on 2nd down with under 2 minutes. They outscored us 25-14 and out gained us 218 yards to 121 in the 2nd half. Like to admit it or not, but that game was up in the air in the final 2 minutes.

The GTech game was decided on them going for it on 4th down at their own 39. Granted, if they would have punted we'd have had 2 minutes and 3 timeouts to drive the field, but the game was almost statistically identical until the final drive after they turned it over on downs. Calling it 1-sided is disingenuous. Stats prior to final 2 minutes.
Passing
GT - 7/10 130 yards
Pitt - 14/20 192 yards
Rushing
GT - 45 241 5.4/carry
Pitt - 37 194 5.2/carry
First Downs -
GT - 18
Pitt - 21
3rd Down -
GT - 5/11
Pitt - 5/10
Total Yards -
GT - 371
Pitt - 386

 

[apm74]

This depends on how you qualify "best" conference. The ESPN narrative annually overvalues the B1G, as does the AP Poll. The evidence is on display every year during bowl season, where the B1G has only twice been above .500, since 2003, and never more than one-game over. For all but 4 seasons since then, the B1G has been below .500 in bowl games. Consider the SEC was 9-2 last year in bowls, and the ACC has had three seasons of more than one game above .500 during this stretch of bowl seasons. It's not a stretch to suggest the conflict of interest ESPN has with broadcasting of B1G games, and perpetuating a storyline of the conference greatness (that typically falls apart at the end of the season). And don't get me started on SiriusXM (Idiots) College Nation.....

IMO, if you're going to qualify teams, an unbiased approach that factors winning over all else is best. This is why Vegas uses analytics to rank teams, because they have to put their money where their mouths are, unlike the playoff committee, AP pollsters and coaches. There are a bunch of good ones, but I like the work of FootballOutsiders.com, and the F+ rankings, which is a composite of the Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI) and Bill Connelly's S&P+ ratings.

So if you're looking at the "best conference" consider the number of teams in these groups of the current F+:

Top 10:

SEC: 3
B1G: 4
ACC: 1
Pac 12: 2
Big 12: 0


Top 25:

SEC: 5
B1G: 5
ACC: 6
Pac 12: 3
Big 12: 2



Top 35:

SEC: 6
B1G: 5
ACC: 7
Pac 12: 4
Big 12: 3



Top 50:

SEC: 7
B1G: 8
ACC: 9
Pac 12: 6
Big 12: 4


First outside top-50:

SEC: Arkansas #55
B1G: Indiana #61
ACC: Duke #70
Pac 12: UCLA #57
Big 12: Kansas State #53; Texas #54


Consider that half of the ACC is ranked in the top-35 of these rankings, and 9 teams are in the top-50. Also consider that if Penn State loses this week, they will fall out of the top-10 and be replaced by Louisville. Also figure that Colorado will fall out, and be replaced with Louisville. Interestingly, Pitt has been ranked in the top-25 almost all season in these ratings (and Vegas rankings).

Also note that the ACC has more teams in the Top 25, than the B1G and SEC have in the top-35, and as many teams as the SEC has in the top-50.

BTW, if you consider these rankings, the B1G West is arguably the worst conference division among Power 5 conferences (as it is every year), while the ACC Coastal is one of the best.