Let me first say that I am awed by the amount of effort that went into Ed’s latest post.
Second, when you get into the meat of his research, it’s hard not to be impressed with Rodney Garner’s body of work as recruiting coordinator.
Third, you have to admit that Mark Richt has done an admirable job keeping the program on an even keel as the talent has passed through Athens.
(By the way, given the advantages in talent and the conference that he’s enjoyed, how has Jim Tressel only won a single MNC?)
Get The Picture 
Because Tressel has lost two of the three national title games he’s been to. It’s not like he’s been failing to get there entirely.
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I wasn’t insinuating that he was. But look at that talent advantage over that length of time… wow.
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Yeah, it’s very hard to win a MNC. With rare exceptions, only one team wins it each year. Ohio State has been consistently excellent, if you look at their winning percentages and number of conference titles. But they’ve only had the best pure talent in the country one year during Tressel’s era (and that was actually 2006, not 2002). However, they’re usually in the top 5 or 6 talent-wise.
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Excuse me for jumping in here, but we hate the Little 10.
(“Hate” as in Clean Old Fashioned Hate).
There is only one word to describe the Little 10: Overrated.
Only the slobbering support of the elite northeast and midwest sports media can keep the Little 10 artificially high in media polls and rankings.
Yes, ok, give Tressel credit for playing in NC games, but this exposes the biased media and poll voters for what they are: obviously biased in favor of the overrated Little 10.
Ohio State had a few good teams in the 70’s with a running back who racked up yardage in a weak conference.
Even today, the hypocritical biased corrupt northeastern media has Ohio State #2 preseason 2010 ESPN poll, and Wisconsin #9. Overrated.
Even with the world’s #1 recruit Pryor, Ohio State has mixed results. Yet they are worshipped and glorified by the biased national media who continues to vote the buckeyes up there.
I could go on and on here.
Yes we hate the Little 10.
SEC DOMINATES!
GEORGIA FOREVER!
Go You Hairy Dawgs!
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And that is the crux of it David, “if you look at their winning percentage and number of conference titles”. I don’t give bonus credit for OSU’s conference titles; along with Michigan, it is the one stat that clearly points out the lack of competitiveness within the Big 11. To be sure, winning them is better than not, but Michigan alone has about 42 of those “precious” conference titles. Not exactly a rare commodity. Together the two have about, what, 80 of them? Add Bama’s 22 to the 2nd closest in the SEC and you have 35.
I am not one of those who will minimize the OSU, Michigan, and USCs of CFB, clearly they can be all be competitive in the SEC, and would win their share, periodically. But none of them could dominate, not one. And the winning percentage’s compiled from playing in those conferences for decades are not an apples-to-apples comparison. The Big 2/Little 8 comments all those years were not jokes, they were an accurate description of how the nation perceived them. (The PAC 10 is viewed similarly outside their region.) Only the Big 12, when A&M, Nebraska, and Colorado were at their peak and joined Texas and OU was any conference close to matching the difficulty of winning an SEC title. The “new” ACC could earn some respect if Miami, FSU, and Clemson regained their past form and joined Va. Tech as consistent winning programs. Even then, it would give them just 4 nationally respected programs compared to six in the SEC, but they would be as good as any of the others in bidding to be 2nd best,
I think evaluating conference strengths it is a mistake to only focus one the top programs, and every conference has a whipping boy that has to be thrown out (Vandy, Duke, Indiana, Baylor, Stanford, etc.). The key measure to me is the number of top programs, plus 2-3 below them capable of pulling a big upset almost every year. Besides having six programs that can legitimately contend 2 to 3 times every four years or so, this is where the SEC really pulls away from other conferences. It isn’t that SC, Arky, or Old Miss will win many titles, but they usually play a role in who does win by pulling an upset, or banging the top team up before a key game. The cumulative effect of this physicality is what cannot be matched in ANY other football conference in Division 1 A.
So OSU’s titles gives them a better winning percentage, and the writer’s in the North pay hommage, but I would be surprised if either Michigan or OSU had 25 titles between them if they had to play 8-9 SEC games to earn them, and taking 1-2 of those wins away every year for 8 decades would change their status on the all-time winning list. And that isn’t knocking them, just saying they haven’t had as tough a road to hoe. Just my perspective, and I am not a hater of either (It would be more difficult to be “fair and balanced” with ND who has had total control over their schedule.)
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Well said, thoughtful, detailed analysis.
In fairness, I guess I should reveal my personal bias against the Little 10:
My brother-in-law graduated from Ohio State.
Get this picture?
Go You Hairy Dawgs!
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The only thing that will save the SEC from being forever ranked behind OSU and USC is the contract. Now that the WWL has a vested interest in the SEC they need to hype it. UF, Ala, and LSU will be firmly in their top 10. We can only hope that eventually they will forgive us our 2008 flop. We have disappointed the media so many times in the last 20 years that we have to be awesome to get the recognition.
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Richt has done such a good job keeping us “even” that we are far from “great” and nowhere near an SEC Title game appearance next season
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“No where near an SEC itle game appearance next season”, OK. Any one counting it as a certainty at this date would be a fool, but I honestly don’t see anyone who is ahead of us at this point in the East. Not saying someone couldn’t beat us out, but any objective analysis would have us very near the top as a contender. The game is Columbia may well determine who goes to Atlanta, just wish it weren’t so early on the schedule. I have no more than my “gut” on this prediction so I am not criticizing anyone for picking SC, or even UF, but to say we are “no where close” is putting yourself on shaky ground. I haven’t seen any analysis where we don’t figure in as a contender.
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