Despite the fact that news could be on the way that throws more fuel on the fire that is Tressel Gate 2011, there is no doubt that the staff here at The Buckeye Battle Cry is excited about the upcoming football season.
When it comes to football conferences, there has never been a question that the Big Ten is one of the top leagues. With the restructuring of the conference, the addition of Nebrasksa, and a handful of resurgent teams, this season should be no different.
But one media outlet believes the Big Ten is becoming soft; especially with it’s non-conference scheduling.
The Sporting News compares the new structure of the Big Ten to that of the SEC. Despite being a strong conference, with a championship game and brutal conference schedule, the Sporting News believes non-conference opponents throughout the conference are a joke.
Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the Big Ten’s best attempt yet at following the SEC: Of 48 possible nonconference games, the Big Ten has 14 games against BCS schools — only five of which are road games (10 total road games among the 48). And we’re not done yet.
The Big Ten also has 10 games against FCS opponents, and six more against some truly awful non-BCS opponents: Eastern Michigan (twice) New Mexico State, North Texas, Arkansas State and Louisiana-Monroe. The combined 2010 record of those five teams was 14-46.
Though there are some games on the schedule to laugh about (Indiana State/Penn State, South Dakota State/Illinois), nearly every team taken seriously has a tough non-conference game on the schedule. The Nittany Lions will take on Alabama. Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue will battle the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Illinois will take on a very tough Arizona State team. And Iowa will take on the former Big Ten hopeful Pittsburgh Panthers.
Our Ohio State Buckeyes will take on the Miami Hurricanes and they have consistently proven to put together a tough non-conference schedule. The Buckeyes have scheduled BCS opponents at least once for the last five years. They also have one scheduled all the way through the 2020-21 season.
But for all the top teams in the conference, there are teams like Indiana who have arguably been the worst in college football at scheduling. In last five years, the Hoosiers have only scheduled two BCS opponents in Virginia and UCONN.Indiana lost to those two schools plus have losses on their non-conference record to Central Michigan, Southern Illinois, and Ball State.
Despite having a softer non-conference schedule, regularly filled with MAC teams, there is a difference yet between SEC non-conference competition and the Big Ten’s.
The defending champion Auburn Tigers take on the likes of Utah State, Samford, Florida Atlantic, and Clemson. The surprising South Carolina Gamecocks take on East Carolina, Navy, The Citadel, and Clemson. Arkansas, who Ohio State defeated in last years’ Sugar Bowl will battle Missouri State, New Mexico and Troy.
Only LSU (Oregon) and Georgia (Boise State) face legitimate championship caliber teams.
It only seems right that every team schedules a team equal to them in talent in non-conference. Despite scheduling taking place years ahead of time, the Big Ten for the most part has found a way to do so.
That’s not the case for most of the SEC.
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