The "Power" Conferences

[John McClain]

All this debate is why a playoff is needed. The BYU that played FSU was not the BYU that played Oregon State. The Oregon that played BSU is not the Oregon that played Oregon State. Some teams get better over the season, others do not. A playoff would sort that out. And I will go on record that if there were a playoff this year, TCU would probably win out. They are the best team I have seen this year and I watch alot of college football. Anyone who thinks Alabama or Texas or Cincinnati would handle TCU is BCS blind.

[BlueHair]

All this debate is why a playoff is needed. The BYU that played FSU was not the BYU that played Oregon State. The Oregon that played BSU is not the Oregon that played Oregon State. Some teams get better over the season, others do not. A playoff would sort that out. And I will go on record that if there were a playoff this year, TCU would probably win out. They are the best team I have seen this year and I watch alot of college football. Anyone who thinks Alabama or Texas or Cincinnati would handle TCU is BCS blind.

I couldn't agree more. It sucks that a team can win every game and not be a champion.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Of course it does. Inter-league play is not uniform. Neither is home v away scheduling. Assumptions have to be made - yes, even in "unbiased computer models" (a completely ridiculous phrase, btw). To truly rank the leagues without assumptions about the power of the conferences in the equations would require a couple decades of only inter-conference play (basically, you'd have to have every team play every other team both home and away)...

This is an interesting thought, here are the last 20 years of stats for the MWC vs the 6 BCS conferences. 1988-2008, as available on Stassen.

AFA- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...Force&limit=50

BYU- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...Young&limit=50

CSU- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...State&limit=50

New Mexico- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...exico&limit=50

SDSU- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...State&limit=50

TCU- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...stian&limit=50

UNLV- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...Vegas&limit=50

Utah- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...=Utah&limit=50

Wyoming- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...oming&limit=50

MWC vs. ACC 7-13 or .350 winning pct,
MWC vs. Big East 3-8 or .273 winning pct,
MWC vs. Big 10 17-27 or .386 winning pct,
MWC vs. Big 12 36-63 or .363 winning pct,
MWC vs. Pac 10 47-93 or .336 winning pct,
MWC vs. SEC 7-15 or .328 winning pct.

So it would appear when comparing to the MWC the best conferences would go
Big East
SEC
Pac 10
ACC
Big 12
Big 10

[Coastal Ute]

This is an interesting thought, here are the last 20 years of stats for the MWC vs the 6 BCS conferences. 1988-2008, as available on Stassen.

AFA- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...Force&limit=50

BYU- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...Young&limit=50

CSU- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...State&limit=50

New Mexico- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...exico&limit=50

SDSU- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...State&limit=50

TCU- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...stian&limit=50

UNLV- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...Vegas&limit=50

Utah- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...=Utah&limit=50

Wyoming- http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/...oming&limit=50

MWC vs. ACC 7-13 or .350 winning pct,
MWC vs. Big East 3-8 or .273 winning pct,
MWC vs. Big 10 17-27 or .386 winning pct,
MWC vs. Big 12 36-63 or .363 winning pct,
MWC vs. Pac 10 47-93 or .336 winning pct,
MWC vs. SEC 7-15 or .328 winning pct.

So it would appear when comparing to the MWC the best conferences would go
Big East
SEC
Pac 10
ACC
Big 12
Big 10

Well, this thread certainly wasn't meant to be a comparison. In fact, I really didn't even intend to include the MWC originally. I wanted to get clearer on the "rankings" (if you will) of the conferences from a fans perspective. Thanks for the insight and statistics though.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Well, this thread certainly wasn't meant to be a comparison. In fact, I really didn't even intend to include the MWC originally. I wanted to get clearer on the "rankings" (if you will) of the conferences from a fans perspective. Thanks for the insight and statistics though.

I realize that wasn't really your intent, when it was suggested that you need to look at a longer period of time to compare conferences I wonder how the MWC compared over the last 20 years to the 6 BCS conferences.

[Coastal Ute]

Ah, that's what I forgot to mention. Thanks for the reminder. I should have made it more clear that I was talking more about recent history than all time. It would be foolish to make it about anything else.