Trigger Warning: As much as you hate to hear it, Big Ten fans, the SEC is the best conference in college football and the Big Ten is looking like a hot pile of garbage.
Ohio State & Wisconsin
While I so elegantly put, “the Big Ten is looking like a hot pile of garbage,” I will give credit where credit is due. With 2 weeks of college football played, Ohio State is ranked at No. 4 and look like they deserve it. After missing the playoffs last year just to dominate USC in the Cotton Bowl, the Buckeyes appear to be serious playoff contenders yet again. Sure, they have only played Oregon State and the laughable Rutgers program but they did what they were supposed to do against weaker opponents.
Wisconsin also appears to be a real threat and able to contend with essentially any of the top 10 teams in the country. After dominating Western Kentucky and New Mexico, the Badgers have earned the No. 6 spot in the rankings. While plenty of Big Ten fans will argue that they deserve a higher ranking, Wisconsin has yet to prove themselves against a worthy opponent. In my opinion, they are ranked too high to be above Auburn but I suppose that’s just semantics after only 2 weeks.
The Overrated Big Ten
If you’re a Big Ten fan and still somehow reading this, I know what you’re probably thinking at this point, “but Rattlesnake, what about Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State?” Well, let me address that by stating, all of those teams are overrated. I will admit that Penn State deserves to be ranked. They completely dominated their rival Pitt last week 51-6 and that shouldn’t be overlooked. Just a week before however, they nearly lost to Appalachian State at home. You simply can’t ignore that fact and something a team ranked No. 11 shouldn’t allow.
I know Michigan State is only ranked at No. 25 but I honestly have no idea how they are even still ranked at this point. They opened their season by barely beating Utah State 38-31 at home and the very next week lost to Arizona State. Michigan is also 1-1 with a loss to Notre Dame. Although they played a close game with a highly-ranked team, I was still somehow unimpressed with their performance. For as much hype as Jim Harbaugh receives, he sure does know how to not impress me. I think Tim Tebow said it best after their loss to Notre Dame.
“I’ve got to be honest, last week I was kind of shocked. I expected more from Michigan. I expected more from Shea Patterson. I expected more from their offense. Honestly, I thought it was kind of pathetic. I thought their effort was. All of their recruiting, their talent… and that’s the way you showed up against Notre Dame, who I also think is a little bit overrated?
You’ve got to give me more than that. You’ve been there. You’ve recruited your guys. Now this is your chance to make a statement to show the type of coach you are, that you’re worth all that money they gave you. That you’re worth all of these trips to Paris and everywhere else.
I think it’s cool you take trips, but the most important trips [are] when you go get a ‘W,’ big guy. So you’ve got to get that done first.”
The Mediocre and the Garbage
We can start with the B10 East. I think it’s supposed to be the better division but it’s getting hard to tell. While they have the dominate Buckeyes and competitive Michigan and Penn State, the East also has a lot of mediocrity. I’ve already stated my opinion on Michigan State but I have a fairly similar take on Indiana and Maryland. I know both programs are still undefeated and Maryland beat Texas again but that’s like celebrating when you defeat an ex-professional ping pong player after he’s gone blind. Regardless, the Terps and the Hoosiers are the definition of mediocre programs. To make matters worse, the East also has Rutgers, the mistaken child of the Big Ten that can only take pride in saying, “hey, at least we’re not Kansas!”
The B10 West is the division that has Wisconsin and a few historic programs that people only remember being good. Iowa is a competitive team every year, I’ll give them that but let’s be honest, no one expects the Hawkeyes to win the Big Ten anytime soon. Remember when Nebraska was a good team? Oh yeah, that was before they joined the Big Ten. At least they fill up that stadium though I guess. Beyond that; Northwestern, Minnesota and Illinois are just happy to potentially play in a bowl game at the end of the year. Let us not forget about Purdue either, the Big Ten team that just lost to Eastern Michigan at home.
The SEC is Actually That Good
Hate them all you want; the SEC is the most dominate conference from top to bottom. After two SEC teams played for the national championship yet again, Alabama and Georgia, the same two teams still look like the best in the country. Sure, you could be like every other Big Ten fan and claim that the SEC is top heavy but that simply isn’t the case, at least not more so than any other conference.
The top half of the SEC is the best top half of any conference. Alabama, Georgia, Auburn, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, LSU and even Kentucky could stack up against the top 7 of the Big Ten, or any conference for that matter. Hell, the aggies, not even in the top 3 of best SEC teams, just took the No. 2 team in the nation, Clemson, to the wire and arguably should have won. Even the worst teams in the SEC; Arkansas, Missouri, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, would destroy the likes of Rutgers, Purdue, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota.
Stop Being a Hater
Although this may sound like a message to Big Ten fans from an Ole Miss or Auburn alumni, I assure you, that it is not the case. I actually graduated from an AAC school in one of the biggest SEC alumni cities, Houston; so, I know how annoying SEC fans can be. I can however, at least acknowledge how great the conference is. I wanted to write this because I noticed Big Ten fans seem to be the main voice in SEC denial or “SEC committee bias” conspirators.
The simple fact is, the SEC is still the most dominate conference in football. No, the SEC is not overrated. They have 5 schools ranked in the top 25 and could have two or three more. The Big Ten also has 5 ranked teams but could stand to lose one or two. So, Big Ten fans, the SEC is not overrated, you are. Maybe it’s time to focus that anger on another conference that is actually comparable like the ACC or Big 12.
Feel free to send all you hate mail to my Twitter or Instagram.
