Alright, after a week of unorganized discourse regarding teams and their non-conference scheduling a conclusion has been drawn. For many teams the difference between a bowl game and a losing season is the NCS games at the start of the year. However, if we're to argue that if a team needs to beat D-1AA U. to get to a bowl game they maybe aren't fully deserving of a bowl game. In these rankings we have four tiers, Top o' the Heap, Middle of the Pack, Losers, and Bigger Losers.
The Top o' the Heap squads for the most part have had more difficult NCS than the rest of the conference and that has arguably made a difference. For example OSU (last Big Ten team to win a national title) their 2002 season they played Texas Tech and a Washington State squad that ended up playing in the Rose Bowl. Since '02 tOSU has played North Carolina State (not great but bear with me, Phillip Rivers decent qb...) and Texas twice and have future dates with the Trojans of USC twice and the Hurricanes of Miami twice. Bottom line tOSU has manned up in a big way and Tress in some sick and vaguely masochistic thought process has decided to go back to the man up table for a second and third helping.
It's not like the Buckeyes are winning every one of those games - just look at V. Young at Ohio Stadium last year. However, the Bucks also didn't fall too much in the rankings after that loss and still wound up thrashing ND in the Fiesta Bowl.
For a squad like Wisconsin to begin making a case for truly being considered an upper echelon squad conference and nationwide, scheduling a tougher NCS makes sense. They might lose a game or two but eventually they'll catch someone they're better than and begin rebuilding some cred/luster that has rusted and pitted in the face of time and mediocre scheduling.
For the Losers category, hey it never hurts to get smacked around by a bigger, better team than you and it always looks better when that team is from a power conference as opposed to a mid level.
For any of the teams they have nothing to lose, but especially for the teams in the Middle of the Pack and down there is nothing to lose, unless your unwilling to look past the potential financial windfall of the Wells-Fargo sponsored Sun Bowl.
Team/Credentials or rants*
Top 'o the Heap:
University of Iowa/ Big Ten Title, and only one losing season since 2000, grindin' straight grindin'
University of Michigan/ 3 Big Ten Titles, note, none outright, U of M hasn't won an outright title since 1997
Ohio State University / National Title, 2 Big Ten Titles, no losing seasons since 2000
Middle of the Pack:
University of Minnesota / Have only missed one bowl game once since 2000. Nothing outstanding, just consistent, polite and probably a little too proud of what they've accomplished, much like this state as a whole.
University of Wisconsin / Close to .500 since their back-to-back victories in Pasadena. Would definitely be competing w. tOSU for the lead dog slot if this were a breakdown of "extra-curricular" activities during the off-season.
Indiana University / Psyche! These losers are at the bottom of the list. You're telling me this is only team from the Big Ten not to make it to a bowl in the 2000s? Ha, losers!
Purdue / Remarkable in their complete and unremarkably unaccomplished period of 8 or 7 win seasons. Even their Rose Bowl season of 2000 was blemished by finishing with 4 losses and tying w. Northwestern for the title, lost to U of Washington in Pasadena. Incidentally, 2000 a down year for the Big Ten. Purdue seems to constantly be on the "brink of something big" uhh, at least according to Stewart Mandel and other pundits.
Losers:
Penn State University / Hmm, two winning seasons in six years, nice work guys. Seriously, this is a tough call. If you look back the Nittany Lions have in years past had some tough games USC in 2000, Miami in '01, and home & homes with Nebraska and Boston College in '02-'03 and '03-'04 respectively. But also have inexplicable losses at home against Toledo and Pittsburgh in 2000.
Northwestern / Get far too much cred for stringing together winning seasons due to NW's rep as a "really good school." That being said Randy Walker and his smoke and mirror option offense is a major pain in the ass for D's to defend.
Bigger Losers:
Michigan State
Illinois
*Criteria is based off overall team success since 2000. If a team had a fluke year, ie: Illinois in 2001 (Hello Big Ten title and inevitable smackdown at the hands of LSU in the Sugar Bowl) it matters less when compared with the not so Fightin' Illini's embarrassing track record through the rest of this century. Further evidence see Penn State's two winning seasons and one Orange Bowl win in 6 years does not a King Big Dick football team make.
1 comment:
Lavs -
I'd like to see this post updated with actual discussion of the quality of NCS opponents each team played, rather than a discussion of each team's overall performance over the last 6 years (which should be another post).
Example: "University of Michigan/ 3 Big Ten Titles, note, none outright, U of M hasn't won an outright title since 1997" - so who'd UM schedule as NCS opponents?
I'm with you on being on the fence with PSU's NCS schedule - while in the past they've scheduled big games you mentioned like USC and U Miami - the last 2-3 years have been pretty lightweight (Akron, YSU, Cincinnati, South Florida [although USF is getting better]) - however PSU does play Notre Dame this, and I believe Alabama is on the schedule in 2007, should balance it out.
While we both have a natural disbelief that U of Toledo is actually half decent, I'd point out that when UT took down PSU, they did have Chester Taylor (now in the NFL) in their backfield. And I don't think you give enough credit to Pitt - when they play PSU it's like their bowl game for some weird reason that no one outside of Pittsburgh really understands.
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