[eDebate] ...or not salvation

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I will  go on record saying that Florida will get smoked.  
I will go on record that Michigan already lost to Ohio State.
I will go on record that Michigan was completely outplayed by Ohio State  and 
would probably lose again.

Let's  look at some 
of Florida's wins--and I use that term loosely--they barely  beat South 
Carolina by a point (17-16), they beat Vandy by 6 points, (who  Michigan beat 
by 20) and they escaped with a win against a powerful 6-6  Florida State 
team.  This team is in way over their heads which Urban  Meyer knows.  
But the bottom line is they won their games.  Florida played the  
statistically toughest schedule in the country in the toughest conference in the  
country.  They beat more bowl eligible teams than Michigan and more top-25  teams 
than Michigan.  Florida State would beat Notre Dame, Michigan's  toughest non 
conference opponent because Notre Dame is one of the two most  overrated teams in 
college football (the other being Wisconsin).  Also,  Florida State was 6-6 
but don't tell me a win over FSU is easy because teams  play REAL tough in big 
rivalry games.  Just ask USC about UCLA.   Additionally, no one plays as many 
big rivalry games as Florida.  Having to  get up to play Tennessee, Georgia 
and Florida State every year is freaking  tough.  Michigan gets OSU and an 
overrated Notre Dame team every  year.  Florida always has tough SEC West teams 
like Auburn and LSU to play  and when all is said and done, the SEC has a 
Conference Championship game that  teams have to get primed for (no easy task...just 
ask Oklahoma from a few years  back).  Big Ten has no Conference Championship 
game.  Don't denigrate  Florida or their schedule.  You just sound silly.

It is  
true that Florida won a mediocre SEC this year.  Auburn,Tennessee,  Georgia, 
and LSU were not nearly as good as they have been in the  past.  But 
pollsters have fooled themselves into believing that the  SEC is the best 
conference in college football regardless of how good the  teams actually 
are.  This year conference play was a joke, all across  the nation, the two 
best teams are clearly OSU and Michigan and they  should be playing each 
other.  
The SEC is the toughest conference in football every year.  Hands  down.  You 
are naive or just a hater to think otherwise.  First off,  we can just write 
off the Big East, ACC and Pac-10 for being far inferior this  year and every 
year to the SEC.  The Big 12 is a bit down this year (the  Big 12 North might 
be one of the worst Divisions in Football) so lets compare  the SEC and Big 10 
top to bottom.  The Big 10 has three teams in the BCS  Top 25.  Wisconsin is 
the most overrated team around.  Out of  conference games against Bowling 
Green, Western Illinois, San Diego State and  Buffalo is pathetic, plus they 
avoided playing Ohio State and got to feast on  the chum of the Big 10 (Indiana, 
Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota plus  a down Iowa team and a down Penn 
State).  Notre Dame (not in the Big Ten  but touted as a "real" win by 
Michigan fans) is the second most overrated  team around (one win against a top 25 
team in the Weiss era and a strength of  schedule in the 50's).  This is who 
Michigan got to feast on.  Sure  they played well against Ohio State but when 
that is your one tough game you can  prepare well for it.  Heck, Illinois only 
lost by 7 to Ohio State and there  defense played better than Michigan's defense 
(17 points compared to 42  points).  Let's give the Fighting Zooks another 
shot!  (This also  shows how ridiculous it is to define a season by losses 
rather than wins)  It's not like it is at Florida where navigating the SEC is like 
navigating  a minefield.  I really doubt Michigan could go undefeated in the 
SEC  because it is an absolute grind.  Whereas the Big Ten has three teams in  
the Top 25, the SEC has five in the top 25 including four in the top 12 of the 
 BCS.  Tennessee is ranked 17.  Florida played them all.  They  best Georgia, 
LSU, Arkansas, Tennessee and they beat decent teams South  Carolina, Georgia, 
Florida State.  All I'm saying is that in a season like  that, the likelihood 
of running the table is super tough.  Auburn did it  and it was a rarity.  I 
don't know how you can say the SEC is  overrated.  Lets match up the top 11 in 
the SEC and the entire  Big Ten.  I'll use the Fox Sports Top 119 which rates 
all Division 1-A  teams.  My apologies to Jason Russell who thinks the Fox 
poll is biased  because of some Rupert Murdoch/Fox News/Bill O'reilly/Southern 
conservative  thing.  I'm using it because the AP, Coaches and Harris polls 
don't rank  teams 1-119.  If you don't like this poll, find another that ranks 
all 119  teams and I'll bet you a dinner that the SEC has a higher aggregate 
ranking than  the Big 10 on a team by team basis:  

1 Florida (2)        Ohio State  (1)
2 Arkansas (5)    Michigan (3)
3 Auburn (6)        Wisconsin (11)
4 Tennessee (9)   Iowa (35)
5 LSU (10)          Penn  State (36)
6 Alabama (33)    Purdue (46)
7 Georgia (39)      Indiana (59)
8 South Carolina (40)   Michigan State (66)
9 Vanderbilt (49)    Minnesota (70)
10 Kentucky (56)   Illinois (78)
11 Ole Miss (68)     Northwestern (87)
 
I don't think ANY of the Big Ten teams in matchups 4-11 have a sniff of a  
chance against the SEC team.  That is why the SEC is such a tough  conference.  
Michigan had one decent and two overrated opponents to prepare  for.  To win 
in the SEC Even our 8th best team is as good or better than  the Big Ten #5.  
Give the SEC its due.

 
 

Florida  lost to Auburn which is a deeply flawed team.  Aurburn got 
beat like  dogs by a very average Georgia team.  
Auburn isn't very good?  Are you serious?  They are a top-10 team  in the AP, 
Harris and Coaches poll, #9 BCS, #6 Fox Rankings.  There only  losses were to 
a hot Arkansas team and a Georgia team that finished strong and  had wins 
against the ACC Runner up in Georgia Tech and Colorado (a marginal team  but 
better than playing a 1-AA cream puff).  They beat Florida, LSU,  Georgia, 'Bama 
and South Carolina.  Give them some credit.  They  didn't play the cake 
schedule Wisconsin had who didn't even have to play OSU  this year (see above on 
Wisonsin's JOKE schedule.  War Eagle!

However,  Michigan only lost 
to OSU on the road by 3 points. Michigan's quality of  loss far exceeds any 
other teams in the country.  In the end that  should be the deciding factor, 
but it wasn't television ratings  were.  
First of all, quality wins should matter more than quality losses (see  
Illinois argument above) and Florida had more quality wins, played more  bowl 
eligible teams, more top 25 teams, played in a tougher conference.   You can say 
quality of loss is more important than quality of win and that is  your right.  
Lets just say most fans, coaches, and sportswriters are more  likely to rank 
you based on wins than losses.  If losses mattered more than  wins than USC 
should never have been in contention because a loss to a 6-4  Oregon State team 
is worse than a loss to OSU or Auburn.  The rest of the  world (outside of 
Michigan fans, you and Jason Russell) rank wins higher than  losses.  That's why 
Florida got in.  They played the statistically  tougher schedule than Michigan, 
they played in a better conference than the Big  Ten, they beat more bowl 
eligible teams than Michigan and there strongest  argument is stronger than the 
Wolverine mantra of "At least we lost  close!"

The  brain trust that does the polls 
did some polling of their own and found  that people wanted to watch someone 
OTHER than Michigan play and that is  what we got.  
Do you have proof of this?  The ESPN Sportsnation poll indicated 51%  wanted 
an Ohio State-Michigan rematch.  Wouldn't this be "evidence" to the  powers 
that be that TV ratings would be high for a rematch of one of the most  watched 
college football games ever?  Please keep your conspiracy theories  to the 
world of politics.  I don't see it here.  Also, these "powers  that be"...are you 
referring to the coaches, to the AP, to the other polls which  ALL have 
Florida rated higher?  Are they all a part of the conspiracy to  keep Michigan down?

Even  though it is going 
to be blowout it won't matter cause people will watch  until halftime.  And 
to top it off they place Michigan in the Rose  Bowl against USC, functionally 
making Michigan play USC at home.   
Just in case you didn't know this, the Big 10 played the Pac 10 at the Rose  
Bowl for many years before the BCS came along.  Non unique.  Michigan  and USC 
have met in the Rose Bowl in 1948, 1970, 1977, 1979, 1989, 1990 and  2004, 
but I'm sure it's always been part of the grand conspiracy  

Priceless! Do not email about the 
logistics of the Bowl system I  understand them but it reminds me of the days 
when Big 8 teams had to go  to Orange Bowl and play Miami for the national 
championship know how many  of those games Miami lost? Zero.  
How about you know what you're talking about before you write.  1995  Orange 
Bowl, last time Miami played a Big8/12 team
Nebraska 24  -  Miami 17 - Osborne wins National Championship and  Tommie 
Frasier wins Orange Bowl MVP.  get your facts straight.

Ok I  have 
homework but I will say I have never been a proponent of a playoff  but after 
this jobbing I am leaning heavily in that direction.   Phil
First thing you've said that made sense.  A playoff system would be  best but 
in the status quo, you play the hand you are dealt and the BCS got it  as 
right as it could this year.  GO GATORS!
 
frank
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