and they have to do with the conferences record against other conferences in OOC games. Unfortunately, those early season games pin down where the conferences are relative to each other, and don’t really change much in perception afterwards. Also, unfortunately, the OOC games that have teams with ranks next to their names are taken more seriously than the OOC games where one or both teams aren’t ranked (see #1 USC vs #5 O$U compared to #19 PSU vs NR OrSt)

This was the marque game of the season for the Big Ten and the winner was the Big Ten champion.

The game was highly promoted, 8pm, primetime, College Gameday, the works.

The game was an absolute monster of a defensive battle, and went into the 4th quarter 3-6. The game ended at 13-6.

The average fan watches football simply for offense, TD passes especially. There were no TD passes in this game, there weren’t even a RB running TD, just a QB sneak.

Most of the country compared what they had just seen to the Texas Missouri game from the week before (also 8pm primetime I believe), the score: 56-31.

Fans and announcers alike were bored watching a defensive battle, and likewise they were exhilerated watching TD pass after TD pass.

The conclusion most analysts, fans, and voters came to was that the Big Ten was a boring slow conference compared to the Big 12. Big 12 = ratings, Big 10 = zzz’s. So they began hyping the Big 12 by any means necessary: Heisman talk for all the QB’s, artificially inflating the hype, excessive coverage of the conference and teams, all the games went to primetime, and as a result all the voters pumped up the rankings.

But people hate Ohio State. Their fans, their coach, everything about them. Same thing with USC. The similarities are staggering:

So everyone hates USC and Ohio State; the only difference between the YCS (your conference sucks) debates is that USC wins its big non-conference games, therefore, the Pac10 is looked at as “USC and everyone else.” Ohio State loses its non-conference games, but remains on top of the Big10, so it’s “Big 10 sucks.” You bring up great points about Oklahoma’s flops in the BCS. But remember, those games were highlighted by things bigger than Oklahoma losing: 1. Boise State winning that miracle of a game was the highlight; 2. West Virginia, after losing RRod, and coming out and winning was the highlight. In Ohio State’s first loss to Florida, it was such a monumental flop for OSU (who had a Heisman Trophy winner and was considered the “giant” of that year) that it over shadowed the win for a talented UF team. And then, last year, it was all about how Ohio State shouldn’t be there and the OMG ESS EEE SEE is so much faster, so everyone was expecting a blowout, and when it happened, that’s all anyone would talk about.

It’s a combination of perception and sex appeal. The Big 12 had some of the “sexiest” names in CFB entering this year: Bradford, McCoy, Harrell, Crabtree, Daniel, Reesing, etc. The SEC had it’s share, but lost a lot of luster when LSU, Georgia, and Auburn fell off the map— all teams with HUGE expectations for this year. The Big 10 had, what I would call, 2 “sexy” names coming into this year, and one was a true freshman: Wells and Pryor.

What I find most interesting is SEC pundits touting their conference strength, saying how many teams were in the top 10, top 5, or even top 2 this year. They spout how Georgia and LSU were in the top 2 at some point this year— both finished with less-than-stellar records. Auburn was also in the top 10 (finished 5-7). I mean, yes, the rankings are great and all, but what does it mean if you don’t have teams finish.

I am one of the few fans of the current system we have: I hate, hate, HATE the idea of a playoff. I hate it in all sports. A champion should be decided by the regular season. A team like USC, who is known for stepping up in big games, would THRIVE in a playoff, where every week is against a Florida, a Penn State, a Texas, etc. What does that prove if they can’t beat Oregon State, or UCLA, or Stanford. I think winning the games you’re supposed to win should count more than losing games against close competition. However, all that being said, this year kind of changed my mind. A playoff was really the only way to decide it. And it wasn’t like there were so many teams that “deserve” to be in the championship, more as, there’s no way to find the teams that were least deserving. Fact is, USC beats Oregon State, they are in. Penn State beats Iowa, you’re in. Florida beats Ole Miss at home, they’re in. I feel for Alabama, I really do. They didn’t lose to anybody they should have beaten. Florida did. And yet, they have the same record, and UF is in the championship.

Sorry for that last rant, I don’t know where it came from. But anyways, the point is, perception is everything. Sexiness is everything. And hate is everything. People are going to continue to hate Ohio State, and therefore, they are going to hate the Big 10 as long as tOSU is on top. Same with the Pac10.