Big debate from SEC to Big Ten By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008
With the start of the college football season, which thankfully begins Thursday, and preseason polls (you know, the ones that mean little to nothing), a familiar refrain has started to play: The Southeastern Conference is better than the Big Ten.
Yada, yada, yada.
Georgia sits atop the USA Today/Coaches Poll (OSU is No. 3), USC leads the AP poll and, naturally, the debate rages on.
ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, a former Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback, is willing to concede a point or two when it comes to this never-ending story. In a recent teleconference, he said the conferences are much closer than they have appeared since the 2006 season, when some things began to unravel during the great debate over which team ? Michigan or Florida ? should play in the BCS National Championship Game against the Buckeyes.
''The reality is from the '06 season and beyond, in my opinion, the Big Ten has never hit such an identity crisis as they're hitting right now,'' he said, ''and I think it has everything to do with the debate at the end of the '06 season.''
While Herbstreit doesn't accuse SEC fans of arrogance, he does believe recent history has given them a false impression.
''The perception at this point is the champion from the Big Ten is the sixth- or seventh-best team in the SEC. That perception has become reality at this point for many college football fans around the country,'' he said. ''In my opinion, the reality is that I think it's cyclical. I do think that the Big Ten is a better conference than most people have as a knee-jerk reaction.''
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