DCBucky
Feb 13 2007, 10:02 AM
Yep -- Commissioner Delaney issued a written response to
this article in the Chicago Sun Times: "Big Ten needs to find new talent pool -- fast" -- the league has failed to bring in top talent from the South, from Texas, from California. And, more importantly, it was the high academic standards which prevented this recruitment from happening.
Here's Delaney's response: QUOTE
... it seems premature for us to lower our admission standards or give up on the tremendous talent pool in the Midwest. No doubt national programs must recruit nationally wherever the talented students and athletes live. Hats off to Florida and the SEC -- they had a great year. We believe that both the Big Ten and the SEC have been and remain two of the greatest college football conferences in the country. But you may want to keep in mind the following as you review the various recruiting services, listen to talking heads and reflect the blogosphere out there as they compare these two fine conferences.
I think most people would agree that head-to-head competition is an effective method to compare relative strengths between competitive entities:
* The Big Ten was 2-1 vs. the SEC in this past season's bowl games. (edited to add: ON WISCONSIN!)
* The Big Ten is 8-6 vs. the SEC in bowl games over the last five years
* The Big Ten is 13-13 vs. the SEC in bowl games over the last decade.
* Over the last nine years of Bowl Championship Series games, the Big Ten leads all conferences with 15 berths while ranking second with eight victories. The SEC tops all leagues with nine wins and ranks second to the Big Ten with 13 appearances.
* In the last 10 years the Big Ten has produced two national champions compared to three for the SEC.
* In the last 15 years the Big Ten has produced five Heisman Trophy winners, more than any other conference. Over that same time span, the SEC has claimed one Heisman.
* While the SEC ranked first among various recruiting rankings, the Big Ten ranked second or third nationally with four to five programs rated among the top 25 recruiting classes.
* The Big Ten has a history of developing players - the most recent Heisman Trophy winner, Troy Smith, was one of the last players to receive a scholarship from Ohio State.
* The Big Ten has slightly less than 300 players in the NFL while the SEC has slightly more than 300; Sixteen former Big Ten players earned Super Bowl rings with the Indianapolis Colts earlier this month.
theodoresdaddy
Feb 14 2007, 03:39 PM
if the alumni of the various schools start putting pressure on their respective schools to be more competitive in recruiting, those high standards will go the way of the University of Chicago's membership in the Big Ten
learnnew
Feb 14 2007, 09:36 PM
I know there are SEC programs (read Auburn, Tennessee and the like) compromise on academic standards but Florida has been one school where academic standards have been held fairly high, especially in the past decade and a half. Using higher academic standards as an excuse to not winning as much is really a cop out. Sure, Big Ten had a bit of a let down this year, but I don't think it's as bad as it's made out to be and I really don't think the Big Ten athletes are that much slower than those from SEC. I'm a huge Gator fan and I'd say this: If OSU and the Gators played 10 times, 8 out of 10 times the game would be fairly close. (And I wouldn't say that the Gators would win each time.)
On the other hand, seeing this year's recruiting classes, it's obvious that Big Ten coaches better get their acts together. They lost too many top players to SEC teams, USC and Texas. No excuses again about academic standards. It isn't like they didn't really recruit the top players and it definitely isn't like they didn't offer scholarships to the top players. So they have their work cut out.
SteelResolve
Feb 15 2007, 11:22 AM
I agree that not all SEC teams have lax admission standards (see Vanderbilt), but the general perception is that the Southern schools are more likely to make admission exceptions.
As far as recruiting, I would expect the southern schools to have a natural edge -- I mean, don't states like Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia have the highest per capita production of NFL players? There is some inclination for players to play close to home and if the south is producing more players, then the southern schools would also have an advantage in recruiting.
theodoresdaddy
Feb 16 2007, 12:07 AM
QUOTE(SteelResolve @ Feb 15 2007, 08:22 AM)
I agree that not all SEC teams have lax admission standards (see Vanderbilt), but the general perception is that the Southern schools are more likely to make admission exceptions.
As far as recruiting, I would expect the southern schools to have a natural edge -- I mean, don't states like Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia have the highest per capita production of NFL players? There is some inclination for players to play close to home and if the south is producing more players, then the southern schools would also have an advantage in recruiting.
but would it stand to reason that Rutgers would have a natural edge since they're the only team that covers the NYC metro area and that part of the country and wouldn't Temple have a natural edge being in the Philly area?
the best public school in the nation is Cal and we've seen what they've done over the past few seasons
how many schools in the SEC have been on probation in football over the past few years-all of them except for Vandy?
learnnew
Mar 3 2007, 02:07 AM
well i'd say rutgers is starting to cash in on that pile of diamonds they have in high schools and ball players. yes, there have been recruiting violations with SEC. that's documented history. but that doesn't mean all SEC schools compromise on academic standards, not florida, georgia and the like. if on the other hand commissioner delaney is accusing SEC of recruiting violations the past couple seasons, he better show up with proof.
SoFlaSpartan
Mar 3 2007, 11:41 AM
There is a BIG, BIG difference between the conferences academically. There isn't an academically weak school in the Big Ten. Minnesota had a problem with scandal a few years ago, but they're the exception. Most of the rest of the schools in the Big Ten are VERY, VERY difficult to even get into. Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State are all considered amongst the top public universities in the country. Michigan State, Indiana, and Iowa, and Illinois are all very strong as well. And you have two VERY tough private universities in Northwestern and Purdue.
Then you have the SEC. Vanderbilt is, of course, the most academically stringent university in the SEC, and Florida has become very difficult to get into. South Carolina, Kentucky, and Georgia aren't bad. The universities in Alabama are just ridiculous. Tennessee has seriously compromised its academic standards for its academic teams. I don't know about the unis in Mississippi or Arkansas to comment.
Academically, no doubt, the Big Ten is the stronger conference. The SEC falls below the ACC, the Big Ten, the Pac Ten, and a LOT of the Big Twelve. And as Jim Delaney points out, the Big Ten's athletic programs compete at least comparatively to the SEC. And isn't it interesting that the SEC team that's done all the winning most recently, Florida, is also one of the stronger academic SEC schools?
Purdue Fan
Mar 3 2007, 02:54 PM
QUOTE(SoFlaSpartan @ Mar 3 2007, 08:41 AM)
And you have two VERY tough private universities in Northwestern and Purdue.
Ummm, Purdue is a state school....
learnnew
Mar 7 2007, 04:13 PM
Precisely SoFlaSpartan. Compromising academically or otherwise may be easier to build a winning program in athletics but one can build winning programs with high academic standards. Too many schools have done that in the past and continue to do so even now. This is why reactions like Commissioner Delaney's are usually merely knee jerk expressions of frustrations. I think we should leave it at that.
theodoresdaddy
Mar 9 2007, 01:21 AM
one thing that I forgot about was the missions of each school
WVU is the flagship school of the WV higher education system but has a very different mission than a Michigan or Ohio State
in both of those states, as well as California, there are a good number of second tier schools that admit the majority of students that apply; Ohio State and Michigan are allowed to be more selective than WVU or Mississippi or even Tennessee
WVU will never be on the same level academically as Ohio State and it shouldn't be because that's not its mission; WVU admits a large number of kids who apply because for the longest time, it was the ONLY university in the state. Alabama has two major universities as does Mississippi; I can only think of one major state university in Tennessee; most of the south is the same way as is the western US, excluding the Pac-10 schools
let's take a look at the Pac-10; I doubt that anyone would compare Arizona State to any school in the UC system.
the same with the majority of schools in the Big 12-Oklahoma-a hotbed of educational standards; Nebraska?
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