The Big 12 is looking more and more mediocre as the season goes along. I just don't see how you can argue that going undefeated in this year's Big 12 is really that much of a challenge.
1 BIG 12 (A) = 81.92 81.92 ( 1) 10 81.96 ( 1)
2 SOUTHEASTERN (A) = 80.94 80.90 ( 2) 14 80.98 ( 2)
3 PAC-12 (A) = 79.90 78.72 ( 3) 12 79.29 ( 3)
4 BIG TEN (A) = 75.39 74.70 ( 4) 12 74.88 ( 4)
5 I-A INDEPENDENTS (A) = 73.67 73.69 ( 5) 4 73.67 ( 5)
6 BIG EAST (A) = 70.06 69.53 ( 7) 8 69.59 ( 7)
7 ATLANTIC COAST (A) = 69.68 70.05 ( 6) 12 69.92 ( 6)
8 SUN BELT (A) = 64.94 64.52 ( 9) 10 64.58 ( 8)
9 MOUNTAIN WEST (A) = 63.82 64.61 ( 8) 10 64.46 ( 9)
10 WESTERN ATHLETIC (A) = 63.46 63.86 ( 10) 7 63.73 ( 10)
11 MISSOURI VALLEY (AA)= 60.99 59.98 ( 13) 10 60.32 ( 13)
12 MID-AMERICAN (A) = 60.80 60.63 ( 12) 13 60.68 ( 12)
13 CONFERENCE USA (A) = 60.63 61.10 ( 11) 12 61.00 ( 11)
14 BIG SKY (AA)= 55.41 54.90 ( 14) 13 55.21 ( 14)
15 OHIO VALLEY (AA)= 54.20 53.09 ( 16) 9 53.35 ( 15)
16 SOUTHERN (AA)= 53.89 53.19 ( 15) 9 53.31 ( 16)
17 COLONIAL (AA)= 53.54 51.37 ( 17) 11 52.18 ( 17)
18 SOUTHLAND (AA)= 50.23 50.78 ( 18) 8 50.52 ( 18)
19 IVY LEAGUE (AA)= 43.20 43.43 ( 19) 8 43.34 ( 19)
20 PATRIOT LEAGUE (AA)= 42.03 42.09 ( 20) 7 42.08 ( 20)
21 MID-EASTERN (AA)= 40.11 39.78 ( 21) 11 39.83 ( 21)
22 NORTHEAST (AA)= 38.99 39.43 ( 22) 9 39.35 ( 22)
23 BIG SOUTH (AA)= 37.67 38.74 ( 23) 7 38.23 ( 23)
24 SOUTHWESTERN (AA)= 34.85 35.14 ( 24) 10 35.08 ( 24)
25 PIONEER (AA)= 32.76 31.45 ( 25) 10 32.15 ( 25)
26 ***UNRATED*** (**)= -90.00 -90.00 ( 26) 1 -90.00 ( 26)
The Big 12 is good on paper. I'll give you that. I'm not sure how anyone could argue that it's better than the SEC, though. The Big 12 has less bad teams than the SEC, but that's mainly because it's a smaller conference now. K-State is by far and away the best team in the Big 12, with Oklahoma a distant second. Outside of that, I just don't see much to write home about. The SEC has BCS #4 through #9.
The SEC has seven great teams and seven unbelievably awful teams. The Big12 has 1 great team, 1 unbelievably awful team, and 8 good teams. The average favors the Big12 slightly. The problem with saying the SEC is ahead is that all those seven great teams do not play each other. Texas A&M may as well be in a different conference than South Carolina because they will never play each other, and therefore should not be used to help each other's SOS argument or perception.
The SEC is set up to maximize the number of 1 loss teams in the conference.
They each play 4 Western Carolina type teams so even a winless conference team like Tennessee doesn't look like a bad opponent when they get beaten.
Then the top 6 teams only play 2 or 3 of the other top teams. So if you go 1-1 or 2-1 in these three games and you sweep through the UK, Vandys, Ole Miss of the worlds you end up with 5 or 6 teams in the toughest conference in the world all sitting at 11-1 or at worst 10-2. This enough to put any BCS team in the top 10.
In the big 12 it is mathmatically impossible to end up with more than 3 1-loss teams. The round robin automatically makes the conference look worse no matter how good it is. This is why K-State was in the top 25 but picked 6th in the big 12 before the season. 5 road games in this confernece and having to play every team guarantees the team that emerges has nothing to be ashamed of.
By the way, welcome back beems!
