ESPN: Big East Making Run at SEC's Top Standing...

[TyBull]

ESPN: Big East Making Run at SEC's Top Standing...

Updated: Oct. 30, 2006, 7:46 PM ET

SEC's conference standing taking a hit in 2006By Mark Schlabach

ESPN.com

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I've spent the majority of my professional career in SEC press boxes. From Fayetteville, Ark., to Columbia, S.C., I've always felt SEC schools had the most rabid fans, the prettiest coeds, several of college football's best settings and many of the game's best athletes. The South has always been the region where college football matters most.

Jim Rogash/WireImage.com

Rich Rodriguez's West Virginia team is pointed toward the national title game.So nine seasons out of 10, I would probably agree that from top to bottom, the SEC is hands-down the best conference in college football.

But not this year. The SEC might still be the deepest league in the land, but it's not good enough this season to afford a mulligan to Arkansas, Auburn, Florida or Tennessee, which are all trying to jockey their way back into the BCS title game picture now that USC has fallen.

If the winner of Thursday night's Louisville-West Virginia game at Papa John's Stadium in Louisville (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET) finishes the season with an undefeated record, that Big East champion will be more deserving of a spot in the Jan. 8 BCS title game than any one-loss team from the SEC.

In fact, undefeated Louisville or West Virginia would be more deserving than the loser of the Nov. 18 game between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan. And it would be more deserving than one-loss Texas, one-loss California or one-loss Notre Dame.

"Certainly, you keep your eye on that," Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said of the BCS standings. "When you saw USC lose, it's one more step for the winner of our game or the winner of the Big East having a shot at the BCS title game. Rutgers is sitting out there undefeated, so there's more to the season than this game."

The Mountaineers and Cardinals would probably struggle to finish unbeaten in the meat grinder that is the SEC. Auburn couldn't do it this season. Neither could Florida, nor Tennessee. Auburn had its chance to win a national championship and lost to Arkansas. Florida lost to Auburn, and Tennessee lost to the Gators. LSU might be the best team in the league, but the Tigers can't win big games.

The bottom of the SEC is worse than the bottom of the Big East. Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt have combined for two conference victory. Georgia can't score. Kentucky can't defend. South Carolina can't win games that matter.

And what have those SEC teams at the top done besides beat each other? Arkansas got crushed by USC in Week 1. Auburn's best nonconference win came against Washington State.

Florida beat Southern Mississippi and Central Florida and finishes the season against I-AA Western Carolina and Florida State, which is playing like a I-AA team. Tennessee has the SEC's best nonconference win, 35-18 over California in the opener, but the Vols struggled against Air Force and barely beat Alabama and South Carolina.

For that matter, whom has Ohio State beaten besides Texas? Whom has Michigan beaten besides Notre Dame? Whom have the Fighting Irish beaten at all?

So it can be argued that Louisville and West Virginia have played just as tough a schedule as everyone else.

The Big East isn't chopped liver. Rutgers is one of six unbeaten teams left in Division I-A.

Pittsburgh is 6-2 and was on the cusp of being ranked before the Scarlet Knights beat the Panthers.

Cincinnati and South Florida aren't as easy to beat as Mississippi State, and both the Bearcats and Bulls should play in bowl games again. Syracuse and Connecticut still have a ways to go, but both are getting better.

Peter Aiken/WireImage.com

Brian Brohm's return from injury rekindled Louisville's title aspirations."We're a small league, but from one through eight, we're as strong as we've been in a long time," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. "I think all of that talk about the demise of the Big East should be gone."

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese isn't looking past Thursday night's game between his league's two powerhouses. The Mountaineers still have to play at Pittsburgh on Nov. 16 and host Rutgers in a Dec. 2 finale in Morgantown, W.Va. (who would have ever thought a Big East regular-season game would trump the ACC, Big 12 and SEC championship games on the last day of the season?). If the Cardinals beat West Virginia, they still play at Rutgers on Nov. 9 and at Pittsburgh on Nov. 25.

"I haven't even given it a lot of thought," Tranghese said, when asked about the possibility of unbeaten Louisville or West Virginia being left out of the BCS title game. "If that happens, I will be disappointed. But I'm not going to sit here and scream about it. I don't even worry about it. There's still a long way to go. There's a lot of games left. I don't even know if we're going to have an undefeated team left at the end. Those teams still have tough road games left."

Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville was screaming about the BCS, even before his Tigers were upset at home by Arkansas 27-10 on Oct. 7. Auburn regained its footing to beat the Gators 27-17 the following week, but struggled at Ole Miss before beating the lowly Rebels 23-17 last Saturday.

With Tuberville's team right in the middle of the BCS beauty pageant, in which strength of schedule and final scores will matter most during the next month, Auburn is preparing Saturday to play … Arkansas State.

Along with Washington State, the Tigers' other nonconference games were against Buffalo and Tulane. And the Tigers won't face a formidable opponent on the road this season -- they played at Mississippi State, South Carolina and Ole Miss and play rival Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 18. The Crimson Tide were losing to Duke in the second half three weeks ago.

Beating Georgia, which lost to Vanderbilt and nearly lost to Colorado and Mississippi State, won't do much for the Tigers' strength of schedule this season, either.

Conversely, the Big East teams' strength of schedule figures to get better. If West Virginia finishes undefeated, it will probably have beaten seven teams with winning records -- if Cincinnati, East Carolina and South Florida finish better than 6-6. An undefeated Louisville team would have as many as nine wins against teams with winning records -- if Miami, Kansas State, Middle Tennessee and Cincinnati finish strong.

The Mountaineers' victory over Maryland looks better and better each week, and the Cardinals played the Hurricanes at home and Kansas State on the road. There are few SEC teams that can claim such quality nonconference wins.

"I think because there are so many games left, I don't know how you can compare strength of schedule until the end of the year," Rodriguez said. "For us, everybody said our nonconference schedule wasn't very good. But look at what Maryland did. They beat Florida State and have done well. I think if there are two undefeated teams left from BCS conferences, those two teams will be there."

In a perfect college football world, teams such as Louisville and West Virginia would get an opportunity to prove themselves against the likes of the SEC.

The Mountaineers got that chance a season ago -- and they waxed the SEC champions in the Sugar Bowl.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=2643667

[smazza]

computer rankings dont lie

[deathrow95]

Sure they do when they don't have all the data.  A very well done article.

[Joe]

Thios guy wrote this article to piss every SEC fan off, very apparent he wanted to make his mark.

The BE has come MILES from last season, but it has a lot of work to do before it's SEC/Big 10 level. Maybe in a few years when schools like Us, Cuse, and Pitt are stronger.

[Bull Dozer]

Tonights game showed how far the BE really has to go.  The BE has 3 top teams that have really pretty offenses but no defense what so ever.  The SEC is built off of good defesnes and would shut down one dimensional team like WVU or Rugters THIS YEAR.  

[bulls96go]

3 teams in top 15

says a lot

all BE teams have improved this year. and should cont. to get better

[USFPDiddy]

Tonights game showed how far the BE really has to go.  The BE has 3 top teams that have really pretty offenses but no defense what so ever.  The SEC is built off of good defesnes and would shut down one dimensional team like WVU or Rugters THIS YEAR.  

Too bad the SEC teams mostly lack any offense whatsoever.  Rutgers has a good D too, they really hampered UL in the 2nd half.  I'm not convinced at all that UF would beat them (or louisville) on a neutral field.  I doubt either team would put up more than 20 or so.

Wvu is particularly one dimensional.  If they are to ever run the table completely, Pat White is going to have to be come a better passer.  If troy smith could do it, perhaps white can too.