Best Conference?

G

gobears92

Guest
How does one go about determining this???

Do we base it on:

Total conference MNC's

Total conference winning %

Total conference wins

Total conference bowls/bowl wins

All American selections

OOC games wins and who they played

Conference wins against ranked opponents at the end of a season

How does one account for the change in conference teams

Or a combo of the aforementioned????


I am of the mind that the 5 major conferences are pretty equal but they just cycle in and out with great teams...

Yes its the offseason....sigh....
 
The Big 12 member schools fare quite well when you count up all the National Championships (AP, UPI, BCS, etc) in the modern era (1950-Present). Same deal with Heisman Trophy winners. We hold our own at or near the top in the nation.
 
Total conference MNC's (only if you count only the legitimate newswires/coaches polls)

Total conference winning % (

Total conference wins

Total conference bowls/bowl wins (seems important)

All American selections (maybe)

OOC games wins and who they played (seems very important)

Conference wins against ranked opponents at the end of a season (important)

How does one account for the change in conference teams (their wins should count for the conference they were in a the time -- Arkansas doesn't take its MNC to the SEC. It was from the SWC, so should count for the Big XII. Well, maybe not: TCU had an MNC while in the SWC, but they were never invited to the Big XII, so maybe they should take it with them to the Mountain West).
 
First and foremost is the Big 12 isn't the old SWC....

The Big 12 is the old Big 8 (6 if you remember that far back) with four additional teams.

The Wire polls are just that polls and who looks to be the golden team of time.

Math systems are better (not the best, but better than polls), polls lead to the more popular teams being ranked higher. Some of the maths systems are very bad, there is two were offense dominate the polls; so that the top offensive team comes out way ahead.

MNC shouldn't count before the BCS era, here is why:
What poll or math system counts?

example;
USC claims 1939 and another 3 that are very weak claims.

Before 1927 what do you count then?

All American picks is a joke for the most part, example:

The Best offensive lineman in the 80's at LSU, never made All American and yet we had two players in that decade make AA.

All American picks before the mid 30's is a total joke as Camp never saw enough games to pick a true AA team in any way shape or form.

You name a decade and I can point out many players who made AA that should not have been or name some that should have been.

Example;
1943 Steve Van Buren of LSU while missing 1 game and only playing 5 mins in another lead the nation in scoring and near single handed destoryed Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl..

The Miami paper the next day said it best:

Forget every All American team you have seen, Steve Van Buren is the best football player in America.

All time conference wins?
No most conferences never have played a round robin

So a team like Ole Miss in the SEC gets Vanderbilt as thier permanente East opponent vs LSU getting Florida.

That happens in every conference.

That also means Total conference wins mean nothing for the most part.

Bowl wins?

Really have you seen how many Bowl games there are today, vs when I was growing up?

Back just 40 years ago Bowl games meant much more, but in the 30's they really meant something, when the Rose Bowl was king.

I think the West coast teams got tired of losing to the Southern teams and then signed the deal with the Big 10.

What does that leave?

This is the best way to look at what is the best conference...

All time wins, minus the rugby, scorer wins (kiss those 50 wins away Michigan).

All time winning percent.

When looking into what conference played what teams, here is an example of how bad an idea that is:

Vanderbilt and Kentucky have played more matches against the Big 10 than the rest of the SEC as a whole..

89-95-7 .484%

Vandy is 7-17-2
Kentucky is 24-31-1

So is that fair gauge?

Look at 1983, Washington was looked at preseason as the clear favorite by many as the number 1 team in the nation, having gone 9-3, 10-2, 10-2 going into 1983 with near everyone back...

They come to play LSU and are destoryed 40-14 and LSU goes 4-7 and Washington 8-4 that year;

Was the Washington team overrated, or the LSU team underachieving, it is a like both. But goes to show how and why polls never have or will work..

1st the golden team was Washington in those years

2nd Many teams like LSU of that year are loaded with talent and its only breaks going the wrong way does the team underachieve.

Being the LSU football historian, I can say it would be a massive work to draw conclussions on what is the best year to year and a major effort to undertake listing the teams by year as the best.

I'm finshing up a work on 1908 and can tell you the Pennsylvania team of 1908 isn't the best in college football and that the Carlisle team is all pros, leaving a weak Harvard (weak for Harvard at the time) and LSU.

But back in those days there is no real MNC....

and BTW modern football starts in 1906, the year they let teams pass to save the game.

Two way football starts in 1960's.

Also I'm fixing to take away one of Pop Warners wins, as he didn't coach that game and was more than 200 miles away that day scouting the next opponent.
 
The answer is very simple: SEC
rolleyes.gif
 
If you take out OOC games, every conference averages a W/L record of 0.500 for the average team.

By definition.

QED.

Except the SEC. They have an in conference record of .750 for every team. All time. No kidding.
tongue.gif
 
My two cents...the best conference would be the one deepest in teams playing winning sports. Most conferences are probably pretty equal among the top teams...it's those teams starting at about fourth or fifth in the conference, and whether or not they're winning or just playing break even.

Probably, in an average year, the SEC is a little deeper in winning teams, but the Big 12, Pac 10, and ACC are generally very close in the total number of winning teams. The Big 10, not so much lately and the Big East is coming on, but not there yet.
 
SEC is good,thats why when they get to the Title they Usually win it.Over all history who is better? For the most part Alabama was the cash cow with the Bear in the Sec Auburn was always decent Tenn and Lsu as well as the Dawgs the but for the most part Bama.LSU and Florida have in the past decade and a half moved to the elite in college football.We however Have OU,Texas,Nebraska who have been successful since Ou's runs in the 50'S ,Texas and Darrel Royal as well as the Huskers with Devaney and Osbourne combined 16 Natl championship mostly in the A.P. and the "Undisputable"Bcs and I would put the Big 12,Big 8,,SWC against any other conference in the country.Now and always.The only prob I see is that we of cse get ramped to play eachother.To a lesser degree Okie and Texas Lite and some moderate rivalries but mainly Sooners and Horns.Until ATM and OSWHO AND Nebraska can catch up(not countin on Aggie and Okie Lite)We have in October what the SEC has almost every week at least the better part of their season.A Hate filled war.And that has proven to make the SEC strongest in Bowls and overall.Every week is a battle not very many gimme's in that conference.As I see it we need to schedule tougher opponets rather it's You all scheduling the Bucs,us Scheduling the Pac-10 and there refs.I don't know your future sched like you all do.We are Scheduling some bad *** conf opponets in the next 10 years.I almost hate it because it will cost us some national runs (No one wins them all)The Domers,Vols,Free shoes(They will be back)and many others that scare the hell out of me)We have to beat these teams most of the time obviously and then we can bump shoulders with those damn SEC teams and we'll get the rec we deserve even though we get damn good recognition anyways(OU,Tex,Neb, and hopefully others)But like I said I would put our conference against anyone any time.
 
IMO it has to be the SEC right now anyway. They are NCs the last 2 years. Also, probably from top to bottom have more good teams. They may not always have the top team, but usually a bunch of good ones. The Big 12 hasn't done too bad in its existance. I believe 3 NCs and OU played for 2 more. The west has USC and the Big Ten down some even though tOSU played for the last 2. ACC seems to be down and the Big Least has a couple of good teams. Got to be the SEC, but I know a lot on this board hate 'em!
hookem.gif
 
from 1996 or 1997 to about 2003 the BIGXII was hands down the best conference in college football.

its been on a decline since 2004, but I think the conference is set to bounce back with the reemergence of the North division.

SEC and PAC-10 have been the best the past couple of years.
 
Not exactly true. We fight between ourselves over which conference would be best for the U of A constantly (B12/SEC). In doing so we've given birth to two types of posters who frequently look for ways to explain their desire to move to the B12 and those who vehemently call those guys idiots.

It's as entertaining to watch as a chicken/egg, Barry Sanders/Emmitt Smith or play all games at RRS or WMS (LR) debate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Recent Threads

Back
Top