Future MWC as good as the mighty SEC?
by IDCWBY on Oct 15, 2010 12:10 PM PDT
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There is a lot of talk about whether or not Boise State could survive running through a schedule if they were in the almighty SEC. The resounding answer by national pundits is NO! We all know this is a ridiculous exercise because BSU will never get that chance unless God comes down and lifts the Treasure Valley up with his mighty paws and gently sets it down somewhere in the Ozarks and then the SEC good ole boys decide, instead of thumbing their noses at the blue turf boys, to invite the Broncos into their conference. I often wonder, though, how we know that the mighty SEC really is the best conference in all the land. The most obvious answer: the SEC has won the last four national championship games (Florida 2x, LSU, and Alabama). Those teams got to the title game just by winning their conference championship regardless of their loss total (LSU had 2 losses in 2007/2008) and some are claiming a 1 loss Alabama team would deserve to go again this year over other undefeated teams.
Other than the MNC trophies won, how do we know the SEC is greatest? Answer: because they tell us so. I don't blame those southern honks for promoting their teams; in fact, the SEC is probably the nations best conference for public relations. Do the teams really prove it on the field though? Are SEC teams dominating good teams in non-conference play or do they just beat up on bad teams as a warm-up for conference play. The latter is probably more accurate. I decided to take a look the SEC's best wins out of conference: I made a list of the good teams (.500 or better winning percentage) the SEC has taken out this year. The list will change as the season shakes out, but right now it's not pretty. Unless I missed a game, the SEC has beaten 10 good teams this year (an average of .83 good wins per team) and has just 1 great win (a win over a team currently ranked or receiving votes in the AP or Coaches Poll). Here is a list of the good wins with the great win in italics:
| SEC's Best Wins | W | L | W% |
| LSU vs West Virginia | 5 | 1 | 0.83 |
| South Carolina vs Southern Miss | 4 | 2 | 0.67 |
| LSU vs North Carolina | 3 | 2 | 0.60 |
| Mississippi vs Fresno St | 3 | 2 | 0.60 |
| Arkansas vs Texas A&M | 3 | 2 | 0.60 |
| Mississippi St. vs Houston | 3 | 2 | 0.60 |
| Kentucky vs Louisville | 3 | 2 | 0.60 |
| Florida vs South Florida | 3 | 3 | 0.50 |
| Florida vs Miami (OH) | 3 | 3 | 0.50 |
| Alabama vs Penn St | 3 | 3 | 0.50 |
Wow, I am flabbergasted at how well the SEC has gone out and proven itself this year. This list is phenomenal. The best win: West Virginia? Really? The West Virginia I saw make a miraculous comeback against (1-5) Marshal to win in overtime? The next best: Southern Miss, North Carolina (or 1/2 of North Carolina). The only team on this list maybe passing the eye-ball test is Texas A&M and they lost to the only two good teams they faced. Those SEC PR departments are good.
It turns out the SEC plan is to 1. schedule a bunch of patsy's and a couple of decent teams; 2. get as many teams through the non-conference schedule unscathed as possible; 3. have a bunch of teams ranked in the top-25; 4. watch them play each other and hype the games as much as possible; 5. push for the conference champion to be in the MNC; 6. hope they get to play (an overrated) Ohio State, if not, hire Harry Potter to turn Colt McCoy's arm into a spaghetti noodle in the first quarter; and 7. then tell everyone how great you are because you have won 4 MNCs in a row.
There has to be a conference out there with a better looking resume. I could have looked at the PAC-10, and I'm sure it could look better than this, but I decided to look at one I care about more as a Wyoming alumni who grew up in Boise cheering for the Broncos: the future Mountain West Conference. And assuming we are able to keep TCU from flying east for the future (crossing fingers daily), the results are favorable. Just like the SEC, the future MWC has 10 wins (averaging 1 win per team). Unlike the SEC, the future MWC has 3 great wins. Here's the list:
| 2012 MWC's Best Wins | W | L | W% |
| TCU vs SMU | 4 | 2 | 0.67 |
| TCU vs Baylor | 4 | 2 | 0.67 |
| Boise State vs Virginia Tech | 4 | 2 | 0.67 |
| Colorado St. vs Idaho | 3 | 2 | 0.60 |
| TCU vs Oregon St | 3 | 2 | 0.60 |
| Nevada vs California | 3 | 2 | 0.60 |
| Boise State vs Oregon St | 3 | 2 | 0.60 |
| Air Force vs Navy | 3 | 2 | 0.60 |
| Wyoming vs Toledo | 3 | 3 | 0.50 |
| Boise State vs Toledo | 3 | 3 | 0.50 |
Maybe it won't take an act of God to be in a good conference, just different colored glasses and grand theft of the SEC's PR departments.
This was my first post and I'm hoping to post again. Let me know what you think. I'd be interested to see how other conferences stack up if you have the time to do some research. I'll try to keep track as the season progresses.
-IDCWBY
This content was not created by OBNUG and therefore may not meet our standards. On the contrary, it probably exceeds them.
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MWC is still non-AQ, unfortunately.
I’m not sure I’d give them better than the SEC (that’s a tough conference,) but I’d dang sure give them better than the ACC or the Big East. Nobody knows what is going to conspire during the off season – I wouldn’t be shocked to see TCU jump ship to the Big 12.
Wanna get BSU to the Pac-10, which is where they rightfully should be? (Come on. If Wazzu can be Pac 10, so can we.) Support Bronco Basketball. Men’s and Women’s. Fill Taco Hell arena with the same fervor as we fill Bronco Stadium. Bronco Nation has a lot of collective will to win and positive vibes flowing around the football team – we need to share that enthusiasm and get on board with Coach Rice and go get a WAC Championship and a tournament berth. Wrestling and gymnastics are already Pac-10 sports. Track is fairly strong, and since I have a moral objection to volleyball, I have no clue about them. Are they any good?
We have to make ourselves an attractive pick up, not just a one trick pony who will come blow your football championship hopes out of the water and then not perform anywhere else.
Keep writing, cowboy!
"Or, if boarding the bus is just too difficult for an Establishmentarian to do, get your snob school to schedule the Broncos home-and-home. Any takers?" - Pat Forde
BSU, SEC have had a similar path to success
I am sure the SEC is a very tough conference with a lot of good teams. I think the conference as a whole builds its success each season in a very similar fashion to BSU’s rise over the last decade. They beat a lot of bad teams, everyone gets a good record, then when the top of the conference beats the middle and the bottom of the conference the SOS and the computer scores shoot way up.
Boise state beat a lot of bad teams to build confidence, pointed to a good record to get better recruits, then slowly increase the SOS as the team gets better. It is a smart way of doing it.
Every time you hear of a school wanting to be the ‘next Boise State’ they never quite get it. Wyoming said that when they hired Christianson but they are making too hard of a schedule to ever build the program. This year they played Texas, Boise, Air Force, Toledo, TCU, and now Utah in that order. They should feast on a healthy diet of Sun Belt, MAC, and lower tier MAC and CUSA teams until they build a consistent habit of winning and recruiting.
The SEC may get overhyped but lets not be guilty of underhyping it either
They don’t beat a lot of bad teams. There’s a reason they play cupcakes for their OOC games. They have to play a lot of stellar teams in conference that are loaded with some of the fastest and most athletic talent in the country. Texas and Florida are insanely fertile recruiting ground. There’s more football talent in Dade county (Miami, Fl) alone than some other states as a whole.
This year the entire SEC seems to be rebuilding at key positions, making the conference weaker than normal. But there are some years that it is far and away the best conference in the nation. The year UF blew out a good tOSU team, the Gator players were expressing genuine surprise after the game and saying there were several teams in their own conference that were tougher to beat.
Bottom line is this; that area of the country is extremely rich in athletes with a lot of football experience for their ages and surrounded by a culture that promotes, encourages, and aides players in their football goals and development (i.e. giving star athletes A’s to keep them eligible to play Friday nights). The SEC has a reputation for good reason…it’s just that their fans are so rabid, obnoxious, and narrow minded that it gets inflated to legendary and invulnerability status which is ridiculous.
I Wall of Text like it's the in thing to do
by pjohn56 on Oct 15, 2010 11:08 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
I need some clarification...
Were you saying that we are official participants in PAC-10 Wrestling and Gymnastics? I ask b/c, though we may compete against many PAC-10 teams, I didn’t think that made us an official part of their league and thus equal recipient of the rewards that come with being in that conference.
Here’s what I think based on my above assumption (which may need to be corrected)
The biggest thing BSU must do is continue to build it’s football program and academic resume. Forget the other teams and programs when it comes to the goal of being a more attractive conference prospect (I know that sounds harsh but hear me out).
Football is head and shoulders above any other program when it comes to making money. So much so that it is very nearly the only sports program that matters when it comes to increasing the annual budget. Florida St. was accepted into the ACC b/c of it’s football program. That deal was made b/c FSU wanted to improve it’s basketball while the other teams wanted to improve their football. So FSU entered into one of the nation’s toughest basketball conferences solely b/c of it’s football program. Why…b/c football makes money.
As I understand it, BSU cannot even begin to think about entering a major conference until it’s academics are at an acceptable level. That’s not a slam against BSU, everyone knows this University is growing up. It’s not like it was established in 1860 or anything. The quickest way to increase the academic standards is to get more funding…hence the football program. The growth of the university as a whole, imo at least, lies firmly in the hands of the administration and the football team’s ability to continue getting placed in major bowls and winning them.
I Wall of Text like it's the in thing to do
couldn't find an explanaiton as to why...
but it appears that it’s only the wrestlers competing in the Pac-10.
"Or, if boarding the bus is just too difficult for an Establishmentarian to do, get your snob school to schedule the Broncos home-and-home. Any takers?" - Pat Forde
by reflectivity on Oct 16, 2010 8:02 AM PDT up reply actions
and i was totally wrong on gymnastics. :/
"Or, if boarding the bus is just too difficult for an Establishmentarian to do, get your snob school to schedule the Broncos home-and-home. Any takers?" - Pat Forde
by reflectivity on Oct 16, 2010 8:18 AM PDT up reply actions
Thanks
I guess a better way of asking is… “is BSU actually in the PAC-10 in wrestling or do they just play their teams?”
Do we wear PAC-10 patches on our uniforms or have PAC-10 banners on the walls or emblems on the mats?
I don’t understand how we could be a part of a conference in just one area and not be welcome in other areas. Seems like being a part of a family, either you are or you’re not.
I Wall of Text like it's the in thing to do
NVM Reflectivity...
For some reason I didn’t realize you provided a hyperlink. This quote came straight from the article you linked…
“The Broncos are coming off back-to-back Pac-10 Championships, including a record setting scoring performance in 2009. "
This amazes me…I had been reading in multiple areas that the main thing keeping us out of a major conference was academics. But if we are participating in wrestling as an official member of the PAC-10 and winning championships it seems that what I have been reading is simply the excuse.
They are afraid to let us in, Academics has nothing to do with it. Wow, I guess saying something like “We’d let you in but football makes so much money and we like our current power structure. We’re afraid you would unseat Oregon and USC right the BW away and that is simply unacceptable.” sounds too cowardly and self serving.
I Wall of Text like it's the in thing to do
MWC
Yeah, kind of hard to evaluate a dog that never leaves the porch (SEC).
Hopefully TCU stays and keeps the new MWC intact otherwise it just blows up.
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2012 Boise State Football Schedule
@ Michigan State  |
Fri 08/31 | 6:00 p.m. MT |
| Miami (OH) | Sat 09/15 | 2:00 p.m. MT |
| BYU |
Thu 09/20 | TBA |
| @ New Mexico | Sat 09/29 | TBA |
| @ Southern Miss | Sat 10/06 | TBA |
| Fresno State | Sat 10/13 | 1:30 p.m. MT |
| UNLV | Sat 10/20 | 1:30 p.m. MT |
| @ Wyoming |
Sat 10/27 | 1:30 p.m. MT |
| San Diego State | Sat 11/03 | 8:30 p.m. MT |
| @ Hawaii | Sat 11/10 | 5:00 p.m. MT |
| Colorado St. | Sat 11/17 | 1:30 p.m. MT |
| @ Nevada | Sat 12/1 | TBA |
