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As much of a college football guy as I am, there is one thing the NFL has on it and thats the comparative strength of schedule.  Even a team like the Colts this year who played in arguably the worst division ever didnt win 11 or 12 games by accident.  They are a legitimately good team.  College football has so much more disparity, even within a conference sometimes.  While FSU is a good team, to no fault of their own, their schedule was cupcake.  Take Bama, Auburn, A&M, LSU, Mizzou, SCarolina... all of those teams would have the chance to run the table against FSU's schedule this year and I bet 4 or 5 of them would have.  However if you replace FSU with Auburn in the SEC West, would FSU have gone undefeated?  Last night's team wouldnt have, no chance.  Maybe they navigate the schedule, only lose once and still end up in title game but then you have to rely on losing to the right team to get there.  Its the same reason Big10 teams historically keep getting rolled in big games.  Their regular season schedule is crap and when they finally have to play a big opponent they get exposed.  I've always joked a team like LSU or Bama needs to leave the SEC, join the Sun Belt, play one or two strong out of conference games to get their name on the map and they'd be a lock for the national title game every year.  Strength of schedule only matters for smaller programs.  They dont matter for a big name team though.

 

I'm glad you posted this because I've wanted to address the idea of SEC superiority for quite some time.

 

Yes, they had won the past seven BCS championships prior to last night.  But is that necessarily reflective of the strength of the conference overall, or just the top?

 

Consider the SEC just expanded by two teams-Texas A&M and Missouri-within the last two years.

 

Now neither school was exactly known as perennial national football powers when they arrived in the SEC. 

 

Starting from 2007, Texas A & M finished  7-6, 4-8, 6-7, 9-4 & 7-6 in the years immediately preceding their joining the SEC.

 

Missouri was considered even less than a football power than Texas A&M.

 

Yet in their first year in the SEC, Texas A & M, playing an SEC schedule, finished 11-1, beating Alabama.

 

Within two years of joining the conference, Missouri played for the SEC championship.

 

I think either the concept is widely overrated, or the superiority is coming to a close.

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