Ohio State vs. Florida

Really? UM plays ND whether they are good or bad. OSU played a not so good Texas team... in a home and home series that was scheduled before either team rose to the elite.

Arkansas was beaten by, but played, SC. Vandy played UM and was competitve for most of the game with a brand new QB. USC plays Clemson. It isn't UF's fault that FSU stinks this year.... Auburn spanked WSU who was competitive in the Pac10. UGA beat GT far worse more impressively than ND did. LSU played Arizona who turned out to be a dud but entered the season with high expectations.

You nicely avoided the crux of the issue though. The B10 is down this year badly. Three teams are competitive at the top. In any other year, a PSU team of this quality would not be the 4th seed out of the conference. Iowa who was predicted to compete for the championship laid a complete egg... UM and OSU ran over a conference that is as weak as I've ever seen it. While the Pac10, SEC, and even Big East and ACC appear to be moving toward parity... the B10 and B12 appear to be headed in the opposite direction with a vast chasm between the "haves" and "have nots".

Actually "more athletic" might not be accurate but "as athletic" certainly is... and alot more of them. Troy Smith would be great on any team in the country if he had quality receivers to throw to. Ginn would be just another WR for UF or LSU... and maybe even UT.

Ginn is known as a burner in the B10... in the SEC he'd be just another fast guy. LSU for instance has a whole WR corps that runs 4.4 or better. Meachem has 4.4 speed and is 6'3" 215.

I have alot of respect for the Big 10 in a typical year. Up until now, I'd say they were year in, year out the best conference from top to bottom. But that isn't what they've shown this year and it isn't the trend.

NW is worse. PSU is worse. Wisconsin hasn't played anyone for us to know how good they really are. Minn is worse. MSU is worse. Iowa is worse. Purdue, Illinois, and Indiana are treading water at best.

two things. I haven't said that UF will win. I have given reasons why the should AND... I'll remember you said this.

 

BTW, Manningham should have been your guy to compare to the SEC. He's better than Ginn.

 

OSU 35 Florida 14. Michigan 28 USC 17. What a joke for Wake and L'Ville to be meeting in a BCS bowl. And Girlsie State again. Anyone in the 10, 12, or SEC has played a tougher schedule than all three of these teams.
Go Badgers!

 

A Badgers fan calling someone else overrated!!!!???? Leaving all opinions aside let's go to the facts. Here are some for you.... http://www.gberatings.com/sos/ now if you take a look at the schedule strength you will see there is a Big 10 team ranked at 102. Those would be your Badgers! Somewhere behind Miami of Ohio, FIU, Houston, and oh yes Wake, the Cardinals, and Boise State. Now I'm a huge SEC fan, but your across the board statement is false.

 

Won't even be close. The BCS system rewarded Florida for being in a conference with a championship game, even though the SEC turned out not to be as strong as everyone thought at the beginning.

OSU's offense put up all those points against a Michigan defense that ranks way above Florida, and has a defense that matches up well with the kind of offense that Florida runs.

OSU 49 Florida 10, and it may be worse than that. This game is a mismatch.

 

If I was betting man you could make me some serious money with that crazy prediction... No way FL gets blown out like that.

 

You're right...Jim Tressel will probably let up in the 3rd quarter and put Zwick in...

 

Florida hasn't played anyone with an offense as potent as OSU. Arkansas put up 28 points on them.

Arkansas, unfortunately for the Gators, is no Ohio State.

 

Arkansas would probably tear up Wisconsin and Michigan... But, we shall see when the game is finally played...

 

:BangHead: You mean the offense that put up 17 against Illinois? See anyone can pick one game and make a case. At least UF's game was against a team with more then 2 wins. Find one other game that UF let up more than 20. If I remember right there isn't one.

 

I'm not sure this if this is true. I suspect the Badger's could be decent and Michigan looks like a good team, but we don't know yet. That's why I'm excited about the games. I think, for some reason, the SEC is getting no respect.

 

Based on exactly what? What could any rational person present in a claim that the SEC wasn't the strongest conference this year and every bit as good as it was supposed to be.

The Big10 OTOH was an abject disappointment. PSU, Iowa, MSU, and Purdue ALL fell off significantly. NW and Minn weren't even close to as strong as they've been. You could claim that Indiana and Illinois improved... but that would be proof of the overall weakness of the Big 10 instead.

Ranks above? Well let's see.... UF played UT, LSU, Auburn, Arkansas, and 6 other bowl teams... Who did Michigan play that proved they have a great defense? Ball State? ND who managed only 14 pts against the only other real defense they played besides UM and SC?

Rankings are relative to competition and UM hasn't played as strong a schedule as UF... nor has OSU.

The only time OSU saw athletes that compared with UF was when they played Texas... and UF doesn't have a Freshman QB.

I will make a note that you said so.

BTW, I despise UF... did I mention that? Simply put however, OSU hasn't faced a team as good as Florida... and yes that includes Michigan.

 

Arkansas happens to have the best running back in the country... yes better than A Peterson or whoever else you want to run out there.

But for the record, Arkansas' offense didn't score 28 pts. One of their scores was an INT return for TD and another was a 32 yard short field.

I would be very surprised to see OSU's offense score more than 21 points on UF's defense.

 

BTW Jack... Aren't you the guy who thought Bama belonged in the conversation about the "elite" football teams?

 

First look tonight at the quality of the OSU schedule...

NIU was beat down by TCU. Garrett Wolfe who lit OSU up for 170 yards rushing and a 6.6 ypc was held to 28 yards on 20 rushes by that mighty Frog Mtn West Conf defense.

The same NIU team that put up 343 yards against OSU's defense... managed 58 (that's right, 58) yards against TCU.

That tells us about one of OSU's bowl going opponents.

 

Southern Miss, Central Florida, Western Carolina and Florida State were the non-conference opponents of the Gators, not exactly an array of strength. Within the conference, they struggled at both South Carolina ( a joke of a team that doesn't even deserve the third rate bowl game they got) and Vanderbilt. Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama were not nearly the powers that they've been in the past, Tennessee was hot early and faded. Florida State is also a joke, finishing what, fifth in a conference won by Wake Forest?

I just don't see that Florida is all that. If they'd played in the Big 10 or Big 12, they'd be an 8 or 9 win team at best.

The biggest factor in this game will be the long wait from the last time they played to the present, but that will be an issue for both teams. I stand by my prediction. Ohio State will completely dominate Florida.

 

Ohio State beat some people that aren't as good as they normally are. That doesn't say anything other than at the end of the day, OSU is 12-0.

I don't see the Big 12 being the powerhouse conference you do, Jack. I think Florida would fare much better in the Big 12 than you give them credit for. Sure, Florida eeked out some wins (they played SC at home, not at SC as you said), but Cincinnati played OSU tough and Illinois had a good chance to beat the Bucks, too. Florida had the nation's toughest schedule statistically speaking. Florida played the toughest teams in its conference while Ohio State didn't have to play Wisconsin (which would tell us a lot about both the Bucks and the Badgers). I'm not sure where OSU's strength-of-schedule ended up, but it is what it is for both teams regardless.

Ohio State has a much longer layoff than Florida. It will be 7 weeks from Ohio State's last game to the title game. That is going to hurt them greatly. I still think OSU is the favorite, but Florida is not being given the respect they deserve.

 

You bet. USC beat a very good Clemson team and was in every game they played.

Vandy was competitive for much of the game with Michigan in their first game after losing Jay Cutler.

... is one of the most talented teams in the country and didn't play up to their potential.

Surely you jest. UT was possibly one QB draw away from being 11-1 and a BCS contender. At the point Ainge went down, they were the best offense in the SEC and one of the best in the country- scoring about 35 per game. They beat Cal badly... who is probably better than Texas this year and definitely better than any other team that OSU played except for Mich.

Bama followed the same pattern I told you about at the beginning of the year when you identified them as "elite".

As mentioned, with Ainge healthy they more than likely beat LSU and Arkansas is an entirely different game. Press coverage wouldn't have been nearly as effective with an experienced QB.

Do you actually watch football?

Again, underachievers... but more talented than at least 10 of the 12 teams OSU played.

None of the top 5 teams in the SEC this year would finish any lower than third or have any more than two losses in either of those conferences. The Big 10 had two good teams. The Big 12 didn't even have that.

I have said here before that the Big 10 is usually the best conference top to bottom. I would even say that the bottom half of the Pac10 is very often better than the bottom half of the SEC with less of an edge going to the SEC in the top half... so I guess could call them better most years in that respect.

This year however the SEC is hands down the best conference.... and it isn't close.

And you can count on me to remember you said that like I remembered your saying this... while also predicting the NC would come out of the BE:

The SEC was the deepest and strongest conference in CFB this year. Bar none.

And this...

We all of course make mistakes. I missed Arkansas by a mile. However as long as Florida HS keep pumping out NFL prospects and alot of them stay in state... The Florida schools won't be overrated. They'll slump but Miami and FSU are still premier programs that will be back next year.

You said Bama was an elite program.