Saturday, November 1, 2008

SEC vs. Big 12

It seems that depth-wise the Big 12 is stronger as a football conference than the SEC this year. This year, mind you.

But the only aspect about the Big 12 that makes me use "seems" in the previous sentence is that most of the teams in that league have weak defenses. Even a team like Ole Miss this year--mediocre offense but a decent defense--could give trouble to an offensive powerhouse, such as Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, et al. 

But, wow, what a finish in Lubbock. Crabtree is a pass-catching freak.

6 comments:

Seddy said...

Do they have "weak" defenses or are they trying to defend superior offenses? Peruse a quick list of Big XII QBs: McCoy, Harrell, Reesing, Bradford, Daniel, Robinson, and even Baylor frosh Robert Griffin. Easily the best collection of QBs in the country. I wonder how the SEC defenses would do against a lot of these Big XII "spread" offenses?

Quintilian B. Nasty said...

Ole Miss did pretty well versus Tebow and Florida's spread.

Hopefully a SEC team will meet a Big 12 in the BS Championship game.

Penn State needs to beware of the Hawkeyes and Spartans.

Quintilian B. Nasty said...

In addition, OK State and Texas Tech seem to have the best defenses in the Big 12 although Texas Tech's kind of faltered in the second half last night.

The OK State and Texas Tech should be a good one.

Cowboys by 3.

I suspect SEC defenses would hold their own against those QBs.

Quintilian B. Nasty said...

I also remember when Alabama played a highly esteemed Texas Tech offense (some called it "unstoppable") in the Cotton Bowl a few years back. The Tide won by a field goal, but they pretty much solved that offense.

Seddy said...

Quintilian, are you really going back to THREE years ago to support your argument? You're talking pre-Harrell and pre-Crabtree! Let's see? Since we're talking Cotton Bowl, how 'bout Mizzou's 35-7 thrashing of Darren McFadden and Arkansas LAST YEAR?

As for Ole Miss vs. Florida a few weeks ago, you're considering giving up 30 points doing "pretty well"? Furthermore, Florida's Tebow threw 13 passes yesterday. Not quite the kind of "spread" you're going to get in the Big XII, where most QBs will exceed that number before the end of the 1st quarter.

In all seriousness, I'm a fan of the SEC. I enjoy watching their conference games. To support that, I'm one that believes a 1-loss Big XII or SEC team is more tested and better equipped to play in a National Championship Game than an undefeated Penn State team.

Quintilian B. Nasty said...

Good points, seddy. With the Alabama-Texas Tech reference, it was simply the first example I could think of. Mizzou also put up big points on Ole Miss last year, or was it two years ago?

I'm sure part of my bias is that I don't care for spread offenses where running backs sort of become gimmicks. Steve "The Evil Genius" Spurrier was way ahead of his time. Now that's he's coaching the 'cocks, however, he can't seem to get the QB he needs to have.

The Big Ten needs another team. Heck, if Notre Dame isn't willing to give up its NBC money, why not pick up Miami of Ohio? It's a good academic school as are most Big Ten schools. They could beat up on Indiana and Purdue.