Bye bye, Ohio State Topic

If Miller is out for the season, welcome to playing for bowl eligibility.
8/19/2014 8:23 AM
Bowl eligibility.  Don't be ridiculous.  Ohio State is still at least a 8 win team with Barrett at the helm.  They should beat Navy, Cincinnati, and Kent State.  Given Virginia Tech is at home and not exactly the Va Tech of old, they should probably beat them as well, but that one could be tough.  In conference at Penn State, at Michigan State, and home to Michigan should be the only 3 games that  should pose any real difficulty.  Assuming they win the 8 games they should and win just 1 of the 4 more difficult games that puts them at 9-3.  I'd say 10-2 is much more likely and frankly I wouldn't be overly surprised if they put all the **** together and went 11-1 or even 12-0 (though would expect them to lose at MSU, even with Miller that will be a tough tough game).  
8/19/2014 9:30 AM
How did I know this would bring you out to fly your Buckeye flag?

Yeah, they have a soft schedule.   They could be bowl eligible with me at QB.   But 12-0 is a dreamer's silly dream.    10-2 is realistic.   9-3 if they stumble against some chump they should beat.
8/19/2014 9:36 AM
Ohio St might still be the best team in a bad conference.
8/19/2014 5:42 PM
Posted by stinenavy on 8/19/2014 5:42:00 PM (view original):
Ohio St might still be the best team in a bad conference.
Everyone knows I'm a Buckeye fan, but Michigan State has to be the clear favorite especially since their game is at Michigan State.
8/20/2014 6:49 AM
Big fish in a little pond.   Not their fault but it is what it is. 
8/20/2014 11:16 AM
Probably changes the dynamic of the first playoff.   I figured we were getting the winners from the SEC, ACC(assuming FSU), B10 and PAC12.    MSU will dick up a game or two because it's what they do and that will open a door for the B12. 
8/20/2014 11:18 AM
Posted by MikeT23 on 8/20/2014 11:16:00 AM (view original):
Big fish in a little pond.   Not their fault but it is what it is. 
yep.  would have been nice if Nebraska, Penn State, and Michigan weren't so mediocre of late.  Wisconsin has dipped since the ******** left.  Iowa has fallen off a cliff.  Just a real bad time for the conference.  I do think they will turn it around at some point and go back to being more credible nationally (outside of OSU).  Michigan State beating Stanford last year definitely helped the overall image, but they have a long way to go on the whole.
8/22/2014 6:46 AM
I think the SEC has changed the way we look at conferences.   With 5-7 teams consistently top 15 material(until they start beating each other), the 2-3 team conferences looks weak.   It wasn't so long ago when OSU/Michigan or Oregon/USC in the top ten made people say "That's a tough conference".   Now it's "Yeah, they have two in the top 10 but only three in the top 25.   It's a top heavy conference."
8/22/2014 8:26 AM
^^This.
8/22/2014 5:43 PM
In any given year the SEC only has 2 or 3 elite teams, it is just that who those teams are has been rotating among many schools, which sets them apart from the other conferences where the elite schools pretty much are the same teams every year.  So when Florida goes 4-8, people still think of them like the 13-0 Florida team from years prior (even when they lose to FCS schools).  The name recognition holds and that is the true advantage of the SEC.  So while the overall depth of the conference is great, I still maintain in any given year the truly elite schools in the conference are on par with the other major conferences.
8/25/2014 8:19 AM
If by "truly elite" you mean "capable of winning the NC", you're probably right.    I don't think GA/SC has had the horses to beat the SEC West's best over the last few years.  And, if you can't win the SEC, you aren't winning the Natty.     But I think that definition is about to change.   Because now I think "truly elite" should be defined as "Making the final four".     I think any of SC, GA, LSU, Auburn or Bama could make the playoff.    Possibly two of them.   And, just outside that group, TAMU, Mizzou and Ole Miss look pretty damn good and could possibly finish in the top 20. 
8/25/2014 9:32 AM
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They had a sick recruiting class a couple of years ago.    Pretty much everyone thinks they cheated because who the hell wants to go to Ole Miss?
8/25/2014 9:50 AM
Posted by MikeT23 on 8/25/2014 9:32:00 AM (view original):
If by "truly elite" you mean "capable of winning the NC", you're probably right.    I don't think GA/SC has had the horses to beat the SEC West's best over the last few years.  And, if you can't win the SEC, you aren't winning the Natty.     But I think that definition is about to change.   Because now I think "truly elite" should be defined as "Making the final four".     I think any of SC, GA, LSU, Auburn or Bama could make the playoff.    Possibly two of them.   And, just outside that group, TAMU, Mizzou and Ole Miss look pretty damn good and could possibly finish in the top 20. 
Fair enough, but if you are talking about making the playoff, you could reasonably see 4 or 5 teams from the Big 10, Pac 12, and Big 12 all have that shot if the chips fall right for them this year (though early on it will be clear that a few teams just don't have that shot).  I mean I don't think anyone would be surprised if Oregon, UCLA, Stanford, Southern Cal, Arizona St., or Washington, had a season worthy of the playoff, but I certainly wouldn't call all of those elite teams before the season started (and early on some of them will show to not be worthy).  Same in the Big 10 where OSU and MSU look like the clear favorites, but a team like Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, or Michigan might run through their division and prove worthy.  Big 12 has OU and Baylor in the top 10 and KSU and UT ranked in many polls.  Is it unfathomable that one of those 4 might run the table (or end up with just 1 loss)?

Going into the season, you are right a number of SEC teams might make a run at a playoff birth, but I do really think only Alabama and Auburn are what appear to be elite teams (South Carolina has the talent, but they always seem to fail to reach the talent so I just can't be sold on them ever until they prove to me that they can do it).  Obviously that could and probably will change as the season bears itself out, but if you had to pick what you thought were elite teams, I'm not sure many people will go further than the two teams in Alabama from that conference.
8/25/2014 10:48 AM
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Bye bye, Ohio State Topic

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