CNNSI Stewart Mandel ranks the conferences....

[smazza]

big east has to feel proud but teams need to beat other top bcs teams

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pac 10 is strong

[smazza]

big ten top 3 teams against big east top 3 teams in a neutral site wouldnt have been  close last year

big ten would have won 2 maybe all 3 easily

[ProfessaBull]

BIG 10 is garbage

[twillybull]

Sorry Joe,

But those three teams got to 10 wins by playing in an over-hyped, lousy conference.  When the Big 10 played OOC they didn't make much of an impact.  

Now you throw Iowa in there as a legit top 25 too?  Keep believing in name hype all you want.

[Joe]

Sorry Joe,

But those three teams got to 10 wins by playing in an over-hyped, lousy conference.  When the Big 10 played OOC they didn't make much of an impact.  

Now you throw Iowa in there as a legit top 25 too?  Keep believing in name hype all you want.

Twilly,

Please. TAKE OFF you green and gold goggles. To you it has always been everyone BUT the BE is overhyped, overrated, and just up there because of their name.

Yet to try and back your points up you use Kansas...who didn't make a freaking bowl (and is in the same overhyped conference as Texas); Miami, who went 7-6 and fired their coach and had a 4 game losing streak in the season?

The Big 10 beat some good teams last year. Was it their strongest year? No. However, in my mind that coming into this season the Big 10 is a stronger conference top to bottom than the Big East.

Ya, Iowa had an bad year last year, but they were also without a lot of their key players at several points throughout the season. This year they return 9 starters on defense and have some studs waiting in the wings on offense. I think they are a 3-4 loss team this year, which would make them worthy of being in the top 25.

I love the BE and I fully believe that it is a great conference. But I also believe in being realistic in my analysis. The Big East was a great story last year, especially after all the problems we had in the 2005 campaign. That being said, who did we as a conference beat? Maryland? Wake Forest? Georgia Tech? Good wins, but nothing a conference can use as a cornerstone to say they deserve to be in the top 3 in the country...

If you really think the BE is a better conference, that is your opinion, but at least back it up with something better than..."overhyped/overrated" because you never have. I feel I've back my points adequately.

[twillybull]

You've backed your points?  With what opinion?

Slam Wake all you want, but they were ACC champions.  Miami had a down year, but they still could have blown by over half of the teams in the Big 10 last year.  You're wearing Mid-west name/hype football goggles.

Top to bottom, I would take any Big East team against its counterpart from the Big 10.  

[Joe]

You've backed your points?  With what opinion?

Slam Wake all you want, but they were ACC champions.  Miami had a down year, but they still could have blown by over half of the teams in the Big 10 last year.  You're wearing Mid-west name/hype football goggles.

Top to bottom, I would take any Big East team against its counterpart from the Big 10.  

No...I mentioned the 10 win teams, the teams the Big 10 beat, their rankings from last year...Yes I added my opinion, but nothing like stating a Miami team that struggled to beat Nevada and Houston and lost to Virginia could have blown over 1/2 the Big 10 teams...

I'm NOT a fan of midwest football, in fact before I moved here I had never even really been to the midwest for more than 4-5 days at a time. However, I am a fan of college football, and follow the sport very closely. I think the facts clearly state that right now the BIg 10 is a better conference than the Big East.

Is that saying that WVU or another of our brethern couldn't knock off Ohio State, Michigan, etc? No. But I did see a Cincy team who beat us get beat pretty badly by Ohio State. While they did hang for the 1st half, it was more of Ohio State sleep walking than Cincy playing hard. It turned out to be Cincy's worst loss and lowest offensive output and worst defensive game.

I'm just saying that right now the Big East is not as good of a conference as the Big 10. And I think most people, even Big East people, would agree.

It might change this year, or next year or the year after, but it's hard to say the Big East is that good when they have one great win in 2 years (UGA in the Sugar Bowl). That is why all eyes will be on USF at Auburn, to see if the Big East is in fact for real.

[dabull80]

Lets look at the Big 10

OOC wins:  Over 33-11  not bad

Big 10 vs BE:  3-3  Ws: Pitt,Syracuse(OT), Cinci  

                              Ls:  Rutgars,Syracuse,UConn

Big 10 Notable Wins:  Ohio ST beat Texas

                                   Michigan beat ND - great game

Big 10 Notable Losses:  ND beat Penn St

                                     Hawaii beat Purdue

                                     Cal beat Minnisota

                                      ND beat Mich St

Ugly Losses:  Southern Illinois, New Hampsire,Nevada and Ohio(not St).  

                     Big 10 teams that were beat shall not be named to avoid

                     total embarresment

The Rest(Ws):  Ball ST(3),N Ill(2),Bowling Green(2),Temple(2),Miami of Ohio(2),E. Mich(2),W. Ill,San Diego St,Buffalo,Vandy,Central Mich,Akron,Youngstown St,Indiana St,Idano,Kent St,N Dakota St,W. Mich,Montana,IowaSt,E. Illinois.

Not exactly murders row.

I think this reflects most conferences OOC but I sure wouldn't hail the Big 10 as anything to great based on last year.  Someone said their top three teams played much tougher teams then the BE and two of the 3 got waxed with Wisconsin beating Ark by 3.  I gotta think our top three teams could beat Ark and lose the other two games but doesn't that make us equal with the Big 10 ?  As a matter of fact I think UL and WV could win the game against Mich and maybe even Rutgars.  Ohio St would be tough.  They only played one bad game all year.

Least we all forget, two short years ago the BE was being pronouned dead by most sports writers and it is tough to negotiate bowl games when there is doubt if the BE will exist.  Yes we didn't end up with a bunch of great bowl games but things will change if the BE continues to prosper as they have.  We really really really need a ninth team in our conference.  It is so hard to get a fair shake out of BCS top caliber teams.  You know like a home and home.

[dabull80]

Just a note to Joe- ND has scheduled future games against the BE.

[Joe]

I know they have.

However look at the top 25 wins the Big 10 has out of conference and compare it to the Big East. It's no contest. Why? Because the Big East had ONE OCC ranked win last year...Wake Forest.

I think the Big 10 was the 3rd best conference last year and the 3rd best heading into this season.

Heading into this season:

1. SEC

2. Big 10

3. Big East

4. Pac 10

5. Big 12

6. ACC

If Cal knocks off Tennessee then it all hits the fan.

However, my point is the Big East is still rising and even with all the troubles they had in 2005, they were able to bounce back and make national headlines.

That being said, it was largely apart of having very soft schedules.

Louisville tried, but unfortunately the breaks didn't go their way. Miami was very bad in a very bad conference. Kansas State was too young. And of those three Kentucky was the most suprising. Wake Forest was a good team last year and gave UL a run for their money. If Bush was healthy they probably would have been in Glendale and we would have seen how good the Big East really is.

WVU played a joke of schedule. Mississippi St was still short on scholarships and have very little talent (they lost to Tulane too). East Carolina and Marshall...Maryland, who was a good team, but not a team you could hang your coat on for national respect. Then Georgia Tech who was about as consistent as a 90 year old's bowel movements.

Rutgers scraped by a very bad UNC team. Beat Illinois pretty handedly, which turned out to be a decent Illinois team at the end of the year. Then beat mid majors Ohio and Navy (who were bowl teams) and beat a sub .500 K-State team in their bowl game.

This is where I have trouble giving the Big East that much credit just yet. The conference make is not great...yet.

UConn is very bad, yes, they beat Indiana. However, that was an Indiana team without their head coach who had just had brain surgery. Outside of that they were murdered by Navy and only won 3 games against D-IA opponents

Syracuse is still rebuilding, they gave Iowa a run for their money (Iowa was without their starting QB). However, they also went to OT with a very bad Wyoming team who ran up 500+ yards total offense and held Syracuse to 275.

Pittsburgh...ya...They were blown the hell out of the water by Michigan State. Ya, the final score said 38-23, but 13 of that 23 was scored in the last 3 minutes of the game, including a hail mary TD as time expired. I though Pitt had turned the table when they blew UCF out of the water...nope they lost their next 5 games.

Listen the Big East will be a very good conference. However, they haven't played enough teams to make me fully believe they are on par to a Michigan, Ohio State, or Wisconsin. There is not one team that the Big East played last year outside of Va Tech that I would have taken against those three.

The Big East is a good conference, you know it and I know it. However, I don't believe it is Big 10 good...yet.