Warp Speed, Scotty!

I’m already sick of hearing how the SEC is light-years (as in the top speed of SEC defensive linemen) better than the Big Ten because Florida beat Ohio State in the BCS Championship. The only thing that game proves is that Florida was better than Ohio State on January 8, 2007.

If people are going to point to the results of bowl games as an indicator of the relative strength of conferences, shouldn’t they include all the bowl games played between the two conferences? Including Florida’s victory, the SEC was 1-2 versus the Big 10. Yeah, they’re definitely a better conference.

It seems like the mainstream media would have us believe that kids in the South are genetically programmed to grow up faster than kids in the Midwest, and kids in the Midwest are genetically programmed to grow up bigger and stronger than kids in the South. Yes, I know that programs recruit countrywide, but these maps (HT: The Wizard of Odds) show that Florida and Ohio State, at least, get most of their talent regionally, just like the Trojans, who enroll a handful of recruits every year from across the country, but fill the vast majority of their roster with players from California and other western states. Maybe Urban Meyer is recruiting players from Alpha Centauri.

I am no partisan of either the Big 10 or the SEC. It just annoys me when the media delivers shoddy analysis and expects their audience to accept it without question.