BleedGopher
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per Fox Sports:
There has been a lot of chest thumping from Big Ten fans about their conference this season. Some media have even bought into the idea that the Big Ten is better than the SEC this season -- I'm talking about my good friend Paul Finebaum, who turned into William Sherman on his recent ESPN hit, blowing up my timeline with Big Ten antagonism as a result of his comments.
But is it really true that the Big Ten is the best conference in football this year?
Well, there are four bowl games matching up Big Ten teams against SEC teams. So this gives us an objective analysis of the two conferences to begin our break down. Alabama is a ten point favorite over Michigan State, Georgia is a seven point favorite over Penn State, Tennessee is a nine point favorite over Northwestern and Michigan is a four point favorite over Florida. That's a pretty good approximation of conference strength. The SEC is favored by a touchdown or more in three of these four head-to-head match-ups.
So what would a 1-14 contest between both conferences look like? (Incidentally I don't know why college football doesn't set up opening weekend conference challenges from the top to the bottom. Can you imagine how awesome it would be to see the SEC and Big Ten play every year, 1-14? Seven games in SEC venues and seven games in Big Ten venues. You could seed teams based on last year's standings. Play two games on Thursday, three games on Friday, five games on Saturday, three on Sunday and one on Monday night. The NFL season hasn't even begun yet. Can you imagine the ratings? How much fun would this gambling be?)
Since this won't happen I decided to set up a 1-14 SEC vs. Big Ten challenge and forecast the opening lines in Vegas. In seeding the teams I went with conference record as a primary ranking determinant except in cases of ties in conference record when I went with which team I believed was better or which team had the better out of conference record.
1. Alabama -10 vs. Michigan State (actual line)
2. Florida vs. Ohio State -14.5
3. Ole Miss -3.5 vs. Iowa (Iowa is a seven point underdog to Stanford in the Rose Bowl. This line is probably generous to Iowa).
4. LSU -2.5 vs. Michigan (Michigan is only a four point favorite over Florida. LSU was favored by 7.5 over the Gators when Florida was undefeated).
5. Tennessee -9 vs. Northwestern (actual line)
6. Arkansas -6.5 vs. Wisconsin
7. Georgia -7 vs. Penn State (actual line)
8. Texas A&M -4 vs. Nebraska
9. Mississippi State -8 vs. Indiana
10. Auburn -6.5 vs. Illinois
11. Vanderbilt vs. Minnesota -2
12. Kentucky -4 vs. Rutgers
13. Missouri -2 vs. Maryland
14. South Carolina -6 vs. Purdue
http://www.foxsports.com/college-fo...-sec-and-big-ten-played-1-14-this-year-120915
Go Gophers!!
There has been a lot of chest thumping from Big Ten fans about their conference this season. Some media have even bought into the idea that the Big Ten is better than the SEC this season -- I'm talking about my good friend Paul Finebaum, who turned into William Sherman on his recent ESPN hit, blowing up my timeline with Big Ten antagonism as a result of his comments.
But is it really true that the Big Ten is the best conference in football this year?
Well, there are four bowl games matching up Big Ten teams against SEC teams. So this gives us an objective analysis of the two conferences to begin our break down. Alabama is a ten point favorite over Michigan State, Georgia is a seven point favorite over Penn State, Tennessee is a nine point favorite over Northwestern and Michigan is a four point favorite over Florida. That's a pretty good approximation of conference strength. The SEC is favored by a touchdown or more in three of these four head-to-head match-ups.
So what would a 1-14 contest between both conferences look like? (Incidentally I don't know why college football doesn't set up opening weekend conference challenges from the top to the bottom. Can you imagine how awesome it would be to see the SEC and Big Ten play every year, 1-14? Seven games in SEC venues and seven games in Big Ten venues. You could seed teams based on last year's standings. Play two games on Thursday, three games on Friday, five games on Saturday, three on Sunday and one on Monday night. The NFL season hasn't even begun yet. Can you imagine the ratings? How much fun would this gambling be?)
Since this won't happen I decided to set up a 1-14 SEC vs. Big Ten challenge and forecast the opening lines in Vegas. In seeding the teams I went with conference record as a primary ranking determinant except in cases of ties in conference record when I went with which team I believed was better or which team had the better out of conference record.
1. Alabama -10 vs. Michigan State (actual line)
2. Florida vs. Ohio State -14.5
3. Ole Miss -3.5 vs. Iowa (Iowa is a seven point underdog to Stanford in the Rose Bowl. This line is probably generous to Iowa).
4. LSU -2.5 vs. Michigan (Michigan is only a four point favorite over Florida. LSU was favored by 7.5 over the Gators when Florida was undefeated).
5. Tennessee -9 vs. Northwestern (actual line)
6. Arkansas -6.5 vs. Wisconsin
7. Georgia -7 vs. Penn State (actual line)
8. Texas A&M -4 vs. Nebraska
9. Mississippi State -8 vs. Indiana
10. Auburn -6.5 vs. Illinois
11. Vanderbilt vs. Minnesota -2
12. Kentucky -4 vs. Rutgers
13. Missouri -2 vs. Maryland
14. South Carolina -6 vs. Purdue
http://www.foxsports.com/college-fo...-sec-and-big-ten-played-1-14-this-year-120915
Go Gophers!!
