This bowl season exposes the BCS (again)

[HawkI101]

You should talk to Iowafarmgirl and DwayneTwill then, because they were the one who brought up a statistical argument about wins and losses. I was just pointing out that their numbers weren't even correct.

I'm not sure if you took the time to read my post, but the main thing I did was point out how bad the bottom of the Big Ten was-- and that in fact statistics like Indiana's 5-7 record were actually pretty deceiving because they didn't beat anyone with a pulse and gave up 83 points to Wisconsin. I don't think it's "spewing numbers" to point out that those three teams were freaking terrible and would have been terrible regardless of what conference you put them in.

If you really want to defend the BCS, you'd be better off not mentioning the Big East. TCU would have destroyed that conference, much like Cincinnati did last year. Their conference champion lost to Temple. Utah, a team TCU beat by 40, beat Pittsburgh, which tied for the best record in the Big East.

How about the ACC? Their champion managed to lose to Boise State and James Madison, and then ran the table in conference play. Awesome. Although they did survive the "grind" that is Duke, Virginia, and Wake Forest. Well played, Hokies.

You keep mentioning the bottom of the conferences, which is valid, but the "grind" of playing Duke, WF, Virginia etc, would be like playing the 2-4 place teams in their conference.

I do like the BCS and TCU got exactly what they deserved. They would have never got that huge payout pre-BCS, so I think they were treated MORE than fair.

TCU could have competed in the Big Ten this year, but it is just my opinion that they wouldn't have won it, and they are the only Team in the MWC that could have competed for the top of the Big Ten, where as there were 8 teams from the Big Ten that would have competed for the top spot in the MWC.

 

[HawkI101]

Using your logic, you can make the argument that no Big Ten would be able to compete in the SEC. How would Ohio St do if they had to play LSU, then Alabama then Florida? Ohio St has played one good team all year and they got beat pretty soundly by them. I think TCU would win the Big East and ACC and finish either first or second in the B12, B10 or Pac-10. If Michigan St can win 11 games in the B10 pretty sure TCU could as well.

Your GOOD team argument is skewed by records. You are looking at records and bowl games to say a team is good. OSU played Iowa and Miami who were good teams, they played Michigan and Illinois. All 4 of those teams would have 9-10 wins in the MWC and then you would say they were good teams. Having wins in bad conferences doesn't make you good.

The Big Ten got killed in the bowls. If OSU wins tomorrow all it would have taken was PSU not to throw 4 interceptions and get a punt blocked and the Big Ten would be 4-4 in bowls. Does that mean they would be better or worse. No it doesn't mean anything. Most of the Big Ten matchups are against SEC teams which is a better conference than the Big Ten. If the Big 12 or Pac 10 were matched up with the SEC then they would have gotten killed too.

 

[olivecourt]

Your GOOD team argument is skewed by records. You are looking at records and bowl games to say a team is good. OSU played Iowa and Miami who were good teams, they played Michigan and Illinois. All 4 of those teams would have 9-10 wins in the MWC and then you would say they were good teams. Having wins in bad conferences doesn't make you good.

How foolish of us. We thought this was a sport, and not a popularity contest/beauty pageant. Maybe next year the Big Ten can just have people vote for the best team instead of using those stupid won-loss records.

I'm also tempted to say that Miami, by any definition of the term, was not a good team. But I guess I'd be using records and bowl games to make my argument, so I probably shouldn't.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

Your GOOD team argument is skewed by records. You are looking at records and bowl games to say a team is good. OSU played Iowa and Miami who were good teams, they played Michigan and Illinois. All 4 of those teams would have 9-10 wins in the MWC and then you would say they were good teams. Having wins in bad conferences doesn't make you good.

The Big Ten got killed in the bowls. If OSU wins tomorrow all it would have taken was PSU not to throw 4 interceptions and get a punt blocked and the Big Ten would be 4-4 in bowls. Does that mean they would be better or worse. No it doesn't mean anything. Most of the Big Ten matchups are against SEC teams which is a better conference than the Big Ten. If the Big 12 or Pac 10 were matched up with the SEC then they would have gotten killed too.

Miami was overrated. They were never a good team. Illinois lost to a WAC team in its regular season finale. Illinois or Michigan would not have 9 or 10 wins in the MWC. As for the bolded part of your post, can you point to a major B10 non conference win? Winning a lot of games in a bad Big Ten doesn't make you good either.

Also, compare the MWC teams nonconference schedules to the B10 non conference schedules. These teams play some brutal schedules, B10 teams would have much worse overall records if they played some real non conference games.

Some selected non conference games for MWC teams this year:
Air Force: @ Oklahoma, Navy
BYU: Washington, @ Florida State, Nevada
Colorado St: Colorado, Nevada
New Mexico: @ Oregon, Texas Tech
San Diego St: @ Missouri
TCU: Oregon St, Baylor, @ SMU
UNLV: Wisconsin, Nevada, @ West Virginia, @ Hawaii
Utah: Pitt, @ Iowa State, @ Notre Dame
Wyoming: @ Texas, Boise St.