PAC 10 more than Worthy

by Angelo Jones
(San Diego, Ca)

I have been having this debate for over 20 years.. PAC-10 or SEC.. where do I begin...

Let's start with the almighty SEC (chuckles). Why does a Conference need to split into two divisions North and South. We will take a by the numbers approach. 12 Team in the SEC. When you split 12 in half you have two groups of 6. Now the SEC is only playing 5 Conference games until SEC Title game. only three teams (at best) in each division can be called a quality or top tier team. That accounts for five games..

now the SEC schedules powder puff non-conference games to pad their stats and get style points for beating an Ivy League team or a Sunbelt Conference team. Who does that? The SEC that's who.

When was the last time anyone was scared to play Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Mississippi and Mississippi State or even Arkansas in a game of Football? I just wiped out half of the SEC power house Conference. Now these programs make up some of the elite basketball teams of America but Football... I don't think so.

Let's talk PAC-10.. when PAC-10 is mentioned people only think of USC Trojans. Now let's take a look at this conference. 10 teams they play everyone in the conference, USC has a yearly date with OHIO State and Notre Dame. Always facing a dangerous and usually ranked Cal, UCLA, Oregon a nd Oregon State team. That is already five games that will be played against nationally ranked teams year in and year out. They also play every team in their conference. Being a Conference Champion usually means you have beaten everyone in your conference, not half!

Since the late 1860s Ivy League Schools like Yale, Princeton and Harvard won NCAA National titles. In 1901 Michigan broke into the 'Ship with a win over Stanford. Pac-10 first 'ship was in 1920 five years before the SECs first 'ship.

Overall the PAC 10 has won 15 National Championships to spread over five teams and the SEC has won 17 spread over five teams also. The difference is that the PAC 10 does split it Conference to dilute the talent pool.