OT - Which is the best conference in football, the ACC or Big Ten?

[nuwildcat]

So, Colin Cowherd pointed out that except for Alabama being favored over Florida State by 7 points, EVERY SEC team is the underdog in its early big non-conference games.


He went on to say that since even Vegas has no faith in them, the SEC is obviously not the best college football conference anymore.

I just looked @ the list of national champions and although the best team did indeed hail from the SEC from 2006-2012, they've claimed only one title in the last 4 years.
 
I can't speak to the ACC since I don't follow it but lately the B1G seems to always have at least 3 or 4 squads in the Top 10, which suggests we're pretty damn good and I'm guessing we should continue to be for the foreseeable future.


So, if u have any thoughts regarding this, please share


- that includes if u think the answer is 'None of the Above' (aka 'the Big 12', 'Pac-12' or 'Watcha talking about, Willis? the SEC is still the best conference')

[OrangeAfroMan]

The phrase, "only one title in the last 4 years" tells you something.  Best or not, the SEC still seems to be the measuring stick. 

P5 means there are 5 major conferences with many programs that have a realistic shot at the national championship.  So generically, each one should average a NC once every 5 years.  When you say ONLY one out of the last four...

I'm not sure why the ACC suddenly gets all this love.  FSU is FSU, but Clemson MAY have been Deshaun Watson & the Orange PeeWees.  We'll see.  What else does the ACC have?  Anyone betting the house on UNC without the #1 QB in the draft?

[MichiFan87]

The ACC had the best collection of wins and the least bad losses of any conference last year, so I think it's fair to say they were the best overall, and not just because Clemson won the national title. They probably won't be as strong at the top this year but the middle and the bottom are still relatively strong compared to comparable teams in other leagues.

[847badgerfan]

Can't put the Big Ten in the conversation after that post-season performance last year. Sorry.

[ELA]

It's certainly not the Big Ten.

The SEC defenses aren't quite where they were at peak SEC, and so a little more is falling on the offenses, and I think that is exposing the lack of QB depth, particualrly as compared to the ACC.  I was trying to think of how many SEC starting QBs from last year I could name off the top of my head, and the only two I could were Hurts and Kelly.  I know Florida and LSU were starting former Purdue backup QBs at times.

Just naming the elite QBs the ACC had (has) Jackson, Trubisky, Watson, hell, even Nathan Peterman got drafted.

[Temp430]

SEC and Big Ten > ACC and PAC >> Big 12

[847badgerfan]

SEC
ACC
Big Ten
Pac 12
Big 12

[rolltidefan]

It's certainly not the Big Ten.

The SEC defenses aren't quite where they were at peak SEC, and so a little more is falling on the offenses, and I think that is exposing the lack of QB depth, particualrly as compared to the ACC.  I was trying to think of how many SEC starting QBs from last year I could name off the top of my head, and the only two I could were Hurts and Kelly.  I know Florida and LSU were starting former Purdue backup QBs at times.

Just naming the elite QBs the ACC had (has) Jackson, Trubisky, Watson, hell, even Nathan Peterman got drafted.

not being able to name them doesn't mean they are bad. sec actually has some good qb's this year.

allen (ark) and lock(mizz) both threw for 3400 and ~25 tds last year.
uga's eason is thought to be one of the better young qb's in nation and had a pretty good frosh campaign.
au has stidham, who's touted at pretty good and looked good in his short bigxii stint.
msu's fitzgerald is a dynamic running qb (1375 r/y and 16 r/td, plus 2400 p/y and 21 p/td). 
even ole miss has a good looking qb in patterson.
and uk, vandy, lsu, and usc all have returning starters, though none were spectacular.
tenn, uf and aTm are the only ones starting completely over i think. and uf has zaire, who was at least decent at nd as backup.

obviously not all of those will have amazing years. but i do think this year will feature a good crop of qb's from sec. the foundation is there for that, anyway.

having said that, all conf have ugly spots going into season. b1g had bad bowl season, acc lost a ridiculous amount and there's an unknown of who's up top, sec is looking like bama and the rest for last few seasons with no apparent change. bigxii just doesn't have it and pac doesn't look like it does either.

not convinced any conf will be able to differentiate from the rest.

[847badgerfan]

UF has Zaire from ND. Kizer from ND is in the NFL now, with Cleveland. Poor kid. At least he has a great left tackle to protect him.

[rolltidefan]

UF has Zaire from ND. Kizer from ND is in the NFL now, with Cleveland. Poor kid. At least he has a great left tackle to protect him.

lol, i knew something didn't sound right. i'd rather be with uf than the browns.

[FearlessF]

Big Ten


ACC


SEC


PAC


Big 12


The top 3 are very close

[ELA]

not being able to name them doesn't mean they are bad. sec actually has some good qb's this year.

allen (ark) and lock(mizz) both threw for 3400 and ~25 tds last year.
uga's eason is thought to be one of the better young qb's in nation and had a pretty good frosh campaign.
au has stidham, who's touted at pretty good and looked good in his short bigxii stint.
msu's fitzgerald is a dynamic running qb (1375 r/y and 16 r/td, plus 2400 p/y and 21 p/td). 
even ole miss has a good looking qb in patterson.
and uk, vandy, lsu, and usc all have returning starters, though none were spectacular.
tenn, uf and aTm are the only ones starting completely over i think. and uf has zaire, who was at least decent at nd as backup.

obviously not all of those will have amazing years. but i do think this year will feature a good crop of qb's from sec. the foundation is there for that, anyway.

having said that, all conf have ugly spots going into season. b1g had bad bowl season, acc lost a ridiculous amount and there's an unknown of who's up top, sec is looking like bama and the rest for last few seasons with no apparent change. bigxii just doesn't have it and pac doesn't look like it does either.

not convinced any conf will be able to differentiate from the rest.

No, bad it's not a bad place to start for anecdotal evidence.  I think the SEC is still tops, but I think it's taken a half step back due to the defenses not being quite where they were at the peak, and the QB play not picking up the slack.

1a. SEC
1b. ACC
3a. Pac 12
3b. Big Ten
5. Big XII

[betarhoalphadelta]

The phrase, "only one title in the last 4 years" tells you something.  Best or not, the SEC still seems to be the measuring stick. 

P5 means there are 5 major conferences with many programs that have a realistic shot at the national championship.  So generically, each one should average a NC once every 5 years.  When you say ONLY one out of the last four...

I think the knock on the SEC is that a few years back, it seemed like the entire SEC West, top to bottom, were contenders. Increasingly we've gotten to the point with the SEC that people think "well there's Alabama, and then there's everyone else". LSU firing Miles, TA&M looking maybe slightly above average, Ole Miss looking like they're going to implode... They don't have that top-to-bottom excellence that they used to. And in the East, you have a lot of teams with history, like UT, UF, UGA, but the East has still played second fiddle to the West for long enough that people don't yet trust them to carry water for the conference.

So the SEC is getting knocked this year because it's seen as Alabama and "everyone else".

Granted, other conferences have issues, which I'll cover in the next post here in minute...

[betarhoalphadelta]

Now, when you compare conferences, it's all a matter of what you're measuring. Are you measuring how many legit NC contenders are in the conference? Or are you measuring top-to-bottom strength?

I think if you're measuring legit NC contenders, as of today I think it's B1G vs ACC. The B1G could have legit NC contenders in OSU and PSU, UW could come out of the West, and Michigan is an unknown but clearly have elite talent and a damn good coach. The ACC has FSU who has legit talent and an elite coach, has the returning Heisman winner and a dynamic offense at Louisville, and while I think replacing Watson will move Clemson off this list, they have the returning NC. I think the only legit NC contenders in the other conferences are Alabama and USCw.

In short, I think you'd see two B1G or two ACC entrants into the CFP if neither Alabama nor USCw win their conference.

But that's not the question. The question is who is the best conference. If you start looking at top-to-bottom strength, I think the SEC recovers nicely. I think if you line up B1G or ACC against the SEC from teams 1-14 based on strength, those conferences will outdo the SEC in the top few rungs but the SEC will have a stronger middle and low-middle. And at the bottom of the conference, I'd say the worst in the SEC is equal if not better than the very bottom of the B1G or ACC.

So I think the B1G and ACC are a little more top-loaded than the SEC this year, but those three conferences are the cream of the crop when you look at them top-to-bottom. The PAC and the B12 can't really stand up whether you're measuring how top-loaded or how strong they are across the whole grouping.