Maybe the ACC is better than the SEC in football after all, at least this year. That’s the belief of alert fan Max Daniel, who sent me a pile of statistics to back his opinion.
He uses the Sagarin ratings, which rank college teams, to make his points. Start with those rankings, which show every ACC team among the nation’s top 51 squads. And all 12 ranked above six SEC teams: Vanderbilt (52), Kentucky (63), Tennessee (67), Auburn (71), Arkansas (75) and Mississippi State (102).
The ACC’s lowest is Duke at 51.
The SEC has the top-end teams (Florida at No .3, Alabama at No. 6) but Daniel’s point is that top to bottom the ACC is stronger. The ACC’s top-rated teams are Boston College at 14, Florida State at 15, Georgia Tech at 17 and Clemson at 19.
The ACC’s overall strength of schedule is also far better than the SEC’s.
The nation’s four most difficult schedules all belong to the ACC (Virginia, Duke, N.C. State, Wake Forest) and no league team is below 34th.
The SEC’s toughest schedules belong to Georgia (7th) and South Carolina (10th), but seven teams are 38th or lower, meaning that each has an easier schedule than any ACC team.
Looking at the leagues as a whole, that’s a pretty good case for the ACC.
—Stan Olson
Friday, December 5, 2008
Is ACC better than SEC in 2008?
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12 comments:
Stan Olsen almost as dumb as your son
He was reporting another person's research just to provide a different perspective. How is that dumb? You also misspelled his last name while trying to call him dumb. That is dumb
Thanks Andrew, you hit it on the head. And they can say what they want about me as long as they spell my name right...
Stan, I'm glad you are reporting someone else's ridiculous data. I am a Wake Forest season ticket holder who went to Tennessee. Going through the conference season in the SEC is a COMPLETELY different animal than the ACC.
Yeah playing in the SEC you get to play powerhouses like Tenn, Ky, Vandy, Auburn, Miss State and Ark. All with records of .500 or lower.
Tough I tell you Tough
Are you kidding? Look at what the ACC has done to poor Miami & Fl St. It has turned two powerhouse programs into, well, ACC teams.
The ACC is considerably stronger top to bottom this year that the SEC. But most meat heads who post on sports message boards can't respond to things like "data". Sports is all touchy feelie to them. The SEC feels like a different animal to them. And even if data says it isn't it still is
Stan,
Upon first glance of the article, I found the headline almost comical. However, I guess you could statistically make a case that overall the ACC is a more balanced league this year instead of the SEC....but comparing the worst teams in the ACC against the worst teams in the SEC is a real stretch to successfully argue to point. The SEC competes on a completely different level than the ACC in football. As well, to gain an idea of how the rest of the country would view this question, I encourage you to read the article which appeared today (12/5/2008)in the Wall Street Journal titled "The Rise of Southern Football". It speaks solely about SEC; the ACC isn't even mentioned in the article other than to compare university endowments. It will be also interesting to compare and contrast both the game attendance and the media coverage of the SEC Championship game this weekend against the ACC Championship game. I guess you write these articles to encourage controversy and sell papers.
I am a Wolfpack fan as well as an ACC fan. That said I personally do think the ACC is a better conference for football, WHEN PLAYED ON THE FIELD.
I absolutely agree that the stats are compelling, but wins and losses are what matters. Clemson lost to Bama, Miami lost to Florida, FSU lost to Florida, and (it pains me to say) State lost to USC.
However, GaTech beat Ga, GaTech beat Miss St, Duke beat Vandy, Wake beat Vandy, and Clemson beat USC. I'm not sure USC beats the Wolfpack now and the other wins came from Florida and Bama.
It is a good argument, but I may have changed my mind and say that top-bottom the ACC is better.
These statistics only prove that these ACC teams have better records than those said SEC teams. Let's have the ACC play SEC teams all year and we will see how the rankings differ...
ACC is a joke. The conference champion of the ACC lost to the conference champion of the CUSA on a neutral field. If the best team in the ACC can not get by the best team in conference USA, then how could you even think that ACC is better than the confernce that is sending a team to the national championship.
This IS NOT just a comparison of the worst SEC teams against the worst ACC teams.
Look at what ACC third-place Georgia Tech did AT SEC third-place Georgia.
Look at what middle-tier Clemson did to South Carolina.
Look at what bottom-feeder Duke did to bowl-bound Vanderbilt.
Look at what middle-tier Wake Forest did to that Cotton Bowl-bound Ole Miss team, the team that won AT Florida.
The fact that the SEC has more drunken rednecks screaming at their games doesn't mean that it is a better league. Let's not forget that it's the ACC, not the SEC, that has sent the most players into the NFL over the past five years
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