It’s an argument that pits the two best teams college football teams in Ohio: the University of Cincinnati (and our 2008 outright Big East conference championship) and the Ohio State Buckeyes (and their share of the 2008 Big Ten title, they lost to Penn State, also a “co-champ”).
Who is better? Well fans may have to wait until they die to find that out (Ohio State has repeatedly paid off UC to not play them in the near future; a fact, not an opinion) but we can at least look at statistics to see who plays in a better league.
By far the Big Ten is a better league for football right? They played in two straight national titles just a few seasons ago. Ohio State got throttled in both games. The only true way we would have had to see this Big East vs Big Ten battle play out is if West Virginia beat Pitt in 2007 (an oft talked about game on this blog). West Virginia would have played Ohio State. Big East vs Big Ten to settle the battle once and for all. Instead we were left to play it out on video games to see who would have won.
The Big Ten began in 1896. They have 25 national titles. By comparison the Big East has just one championship. The Big East began as a football conference in 1991. Since the Big East began playing football the Big Ten has captured two national titles (Michigan in 1997 and Ohio State in 2002) to the Big East’s one (Miami (FL) in 2001).
Miami (FL) no longer plays in the Big East. They defected for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 2004. Even though many writers, fans and college football gurus wrote off the Big East after that season, the Big East went on a tear in BCS bowl games. The first Big East loss in a BCS game since the re-alignment? The 20-7 win by former Big East member Virginia Tech over Big East newbie Cincinnati in last year’s Orange Bowl.
Who is better? Well fans may have to wait until they die to find that out (Ohio State has repeatedly paid off UC to not play them in the near future; a fact, not an opinion) but we can at least look at statistics to see who plays in a better league.
By far the Big Ten is a better league for football right? They played in two straight national titles just a few seasons ago. Ohio State got throttled in both games. The only true way we would have had to see this Big East vs Big Ten battle play out is if West Virginia beat Pitt in 2007 (an oft talked about game on this blog). West Virginia would have played Ohio State. Big East vs Big Ten to settle the battle once and for all. Instead we were left to play it out on video games to see who would have won.
The Big Ten began in 1896. They have 25 national titles. By comparison the Big East has just one championship. The Big East began as a football conference in 1991. Since the Big East began playing football the Big Ten has captured two national titles (Michigan in 1997 and Ohio State in 2002) to the Big East’s one (Miami (FL) in 2001).
Miami (FL) no longer plays in the Big East. They defected for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 2004. Even though many writers, fans and college football gurus wrote off the Big East after that season, the Big East went on a tear in BCS bowl games. The first Big East loss in a BCS game since the re-alignment? The 20-7 win by former Big East member Virginia Tech over Big East newbie Cincinnati in last year’s Orange Bowl.
In the 2008 Sagarin ratings, done by college football expert Jeff Sagarin, the BCS conferences were ranked according to strength of schedule and more factors. The Big East was fifth of six BCS conferences. Not good at all. The Big Ten was sixth.
Michigan head man Rich Rodriguez—the same guy who was at the helm for West Virginia’s near national title game run in 2007—compared the Big Ten now to the Big East right after that re-alignment. “When Miami, Virginia Tech and BC left, everyone said the Big East was way down and wouldn’t survive,” he said. “I said then that the best thing for Big East was for each individual school to make a commitment to the program to do the very best it could. If every school got better individual, then the league’s perception would get better. That’s what happened.”
Last season the Big Ten went 1-6 in bowls. The Big East went 4-2. Arguments from Big Ten supporters state that the Big East didn’t play anyone in their bowl games. Why? Most experts know how much national support the Big East lost in 2004, and their bowl tie-ins were hurt as well. The Big Ten made up two of the ten BCS teams, the Big East had one. All three lost.
Ohio State is often known as a “pro factory” and one OSU magazine proclaims them as, “Wide Receiver U.” Last year the Buckeyes finished an abysmal 105th in the nation in passing offense out of 117 Division-I FBS teams. But, only six teams had multiple receivers drafted in the 2009 NFL Draft. Of those six teams, Ohio State ranked last in average passing yards per game. Rutgers, of the Big East, ranked second. It’s tough to argue with Ohio State headman Jim Tressel’s comments about his receivers.
“Yeah, you can go somewhere else and catch twice as many balls for maybe less yards per catch,” he said. “But come here and we’ll train you and see if we can win some games and send you on.”
Rutgers averaged 270 yards per game through the air, OSU averaged 150. Let’s say each team has two wideouts that split the catches and the yards. At ten catches a Buckeye would average 7.5 yards per catch. At twice that number—Tressel’s figurative suggestion—a Rutgers player would catch 20 balls for 13.5 yards per completion. Last time I checked 13.5 was greater than 7.5, case closed.
A few weeks ago Matt Hayes of the Sporting News released his list of the top five coaches in America. His list included Florida’s Urban Meyer (a UC alum), USC’s Pete Carroll, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops and Alabama’s Nick Saban. The fifth best coach in America? According to Todd Porter in the magazine named “Buckeye Battle Cry” (which by the way was mailed to Cincinnati media outlets, I guess that means these media folks should cover Ohio State and not Cincinnati. Yet another reason for UC fans to dislike the school in the state’s capital, but I digress) that fifth coach, who is referenced with the other four, is Jim Tressel.
Porter covers Ohio State football for the AP. Hayes, a guy who writes for The Sporting News, a non-team affiliated group, disagrees. Brian Kelly is the fifth best coach in America according to Hayes’s list released last month. Brian Kelly, the head coach at the University of Cincinnati. The “little brother” of the state. The second best team in the state.
Get the point? For as high and mighty as Big Ten fans—especially those wearing Scarlet and Gray—can be, they fail to realize the plain and simple truth: The Big East and the Big Ten are fairly similar. One just has more recognition. I guess having 113 years of history will do that for you. Check back in 100 years and we’ll see who is better. Until then, I guess we’ll have to wait for a Big East vs Big Ten matchup in a bowl game to prove it once and for all.
Honestly, Penn State and Minnesota wiping up Syracuse this season just doesn’t cut it. But don’t tell your Big Ten friends that. They’ll think it means they rule the world.
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