HOW THEY DID 2010

December 9, 2010

There are two times during a college football season when a conference has a chance to improve the nation’s perception of it. One is the bowl season.

The problem with that is, much like the NIT in college basketball, they don’t mean the same thing to both sides. If you were one win away from playing for the national title and then lost, or if you felt you deserved a BCS bid and didn’t get one, you won’t be as excited to play as your opponent.

The other opportunity is the non-league portion of your schedule. Which league did the best? Which league did the worst? Here are the answers. With the help of my Happy Hour co-hosts Matt Markus and Mike Mreczko, we developed a point system for non-league games.

I’ll be the first to admit it’s not perfect. I took every FBS conference and scored their results. It’s nice to challenge yourself with tough games, but if you don’t win, how much credibility did you actually bring your conference. So, a loss was worth nothing.

Here is how we broke it down this year…

A win over a ranked team = 5 points (Rankings are based on the time of the game. Since the early polls are based on what was predicted for teams, any wins in September used the first Coaches poll of October.)

A win over a BCS conference team (or Notre Dame) that finished over .500 = 4 points

A win over a BCS conference team that finished .500 = 3.5 points

A win over a BCS conference team that did NOT finish bowl eligible = 3 points

A win over a non-BCS conference team (or Navy) that finished over .500 = 2 points

A win over a non-BCS conference team (or Army) that finished .500 = 1.5 points

A win over a non-BCS conference team that did NOT finish bowl eligible = 1 point

A win over an FCS school = no points

A loss to an FCS school = minus 2 points

A win over a 4 or 5 point team on the road earned an additional bonus of 1 point

A win over a 3.5 point (or lower) team on the road earned a bonus of a half point

If the win came at a neutral site, cut the bonus point (or half point) in half.

Finally, divide the conference’s point total by the number of non-league games played by that conference (since some leagues play 4, some 5 and the Pac 10 plays 3 each) to get a final score.

Here’s what we learned…

1) Pac 10 – 1.5161 – Top scores = USC, Stanford, Arizona, Worst scores = Arizona State, Washington State. Cal, Best wins = UCLA @ Texas, Arizona v. Iowa, Oregon @ Tennessee, Washington v. Syracuse & Stanford @ Notre Dame… League was 7-0 vs. FCS schools

2) SEC – 1.3698 – Top scores = LSU, Alabama, South Carolina, Worst scores = Vandy, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Best wins = LSU v. UNC and WVU, Arkansas v. Texas A&M, Florida v. USF, South Carolina v. Clemson, Alabama v. PSU… League was 10-1 vs. FCS schools

3) Big 12 – 1.3542 – Top scores = Oklahoma, Oklahoma State. Missouri/Colorado Worst Scores = Iowa State, Texas A&M, Kansas, Best wins = Oklahoma v. FSU, Nebraska @ Washington, Missouri v. Illinois, Colorado v. Georgia… League was 7-1 vs. FCS schools

4) Big Ten – 1.1648 – Top scores = Michigan, Ohio State Michigan State, Worst scores = Minnesota, Purdue, Illinois, Best wins = Michigan @ ND and v. UConn, Ohio State v. Miami, Michigan State v. ND… League was 9-1 vs. FCS schools

5) MWC – 0.8888 – Top scores = TCU, Utah and Air Force, Worst scores = UNLV, New Mexico, Colorado State, Best wins = TCU v. Baylor & Oregon State, Utah v. Pitt & @ Iowa State, BYU v. Washington… League was 4-0 vs. FCS schools

6) ACC – 0.8594 – Top scores = Boston College, FSU, NC State, Worst scores = Virginia Tech, Clemson, Virginia, Best wins = Miami @ Pitt, BC @ Syracuse, FSU v. Florida… League was 12-1 vs. FCS schools

7) WAC – 0.7875 – Top scores = Boise State, Nevada, Fresno State, Worst scores = San Jose State, New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech, Best wins = Boise State v. Va Tech & Oregon State, Nevada v. Cal, Fresno State v. Illinois & Cincinnati… League was 7-1 vs. FCS schools

8) Big East – 0.7125 – Top scores = South Florida, West Virginia, UConn, Worst scores = Pitt, Syracuse, Cincinnati, Best wins = South Florida @ Miami, WVU v. Maryland, UConn v. Vanderbilt… League was 9-0 vs. FCS schools

9) Conference USA – 0.6666 – Top scores = Tulsa, Southern Miss, East Carolina, Worst scores = Houston, Memphis/Rice/UCF, Best wins = Tulsa @ ND, ECU v. NC State, Tulane @ Rutgers… League was 6-0 vs. FCS schools

10) MAC – 0.2308 – Top scores – Temple, Toledo, Northern Illinois, Worst scores = Akron, Ball State, then 5 others with zero, Best wins = Temple v. UConn, Northern Illinois @ Minnesota, Toledo @ Purdue… League was 8-2 vs. FCS schools

11) Sun Belt – 0.0694 – Top scores = Florida Atlantic and Troy, Worst scores = Everyone else scored a zero, Best wins (or in this case, only wins over FBS competition) = FAU @ UAB, Troy v. Bowling Green… League was 2-0 vs. FCS schools

-The Big East scheduled tough but hardly won any marquee games… losing to Michigan, UNC, LSU, Florida, Miami, Utah, Kentucky and Washington.

-Oklahoma had the highest score having defeated Florida State, Air Force and Cincinnati at a neutral site.

-Once again the Pac 10 (the league that plays the fewest non-league games) makes the most of its non-league schedule. In addition to beating Texas, Iowa, ND and Tennessee, they lost to Boise State, TCU, Wisconsin and Nebraska.

-The Sun Belt played only TWO games against FCS competition. They schedule as tough as possible. They just don’t win.