SEC, Big 12 Prepare for Marquee Matchups

Conferences Are Unquestioned Best of 2008 Season

With his No. 4 Louisiana State football team idle last weekend, Coach Les Miles found himself with a relatively free Saturday, so he flipped on the television and tuned in for a look at a familiar conference. Five Big 12 quarterbacks threw for more than 250 yards and at least two touchdowns en route to wins. Half of the Big 12 teams reside in the top 25, and the conference owns six of the top 10 scoring offenses in the nation.

"It appears to me that there are more quarterbacks in that conference than there have been in years," said Miles, who coached at Oklahoma State from 2001-04 before joining the Tigers in the Southeastern Conference. "And so it appears, in terms of throwing the football and the success that Kansas and Missouri are having, just looking at that style of football, it's much improved on offense."

The Big 12 and the SEC will feature several marquee matchups Saturday, and while most view the latter as college football's top conference, the gap this season might be negligible. College football relies on perception unlike any other sport, a theory fortified by the fact that the two teams that play for its national championship are chosen almost arbitrarily.

Despite the involvement of mathematical formulas, a team's early-season placement in human-decided polls ultimately determines whether that team has a chance to play for the Bowl Championship Series title in January. Start out low, and there's simply too much ground to make up. Start out high, and a team can afford a slip-up -- maybe even two.

"Like it or not, there's kind of this gray area in college football cause we don't have a playoff," ESPN College GameDay analyst Lee Corso said. "So what they've tried to do with the BCS is take a little bit of [perception] out by using the computers. So they're trying to get the best of both worlds. The perception-wise would be the human votes, and the specifics with the computers."

According to Wes Colley, creator of the Colley Matrix, one of the mathematical formulas used to decide the BCS rankings, the only elements that affect his system are wins, losses and strength of schedule. Rather than trying to predict who will win the national championship, Colley said his formula merely attempts to decide which two teams most deserve to play for the title based on their records.

"You know, a lot of times, the perceptions coming in [to a season] are based on the history and tradition and whatnot," Colley said. "And so, in my system, that, by definition, cannot play a role."

While the Colley Matrix might be perception-proof, the basis on which the human voters make their decisions is not. For examples, take the SEC and the Big 12. Popular opinion long has held that the SEC is the most powerful football conference in the country, with superior speed and defense. Offensive drives were little more than showcases for bulldozing ball-carriers. Passing was optional.

The Big 12, on the other hand, developed a reputation that mirrored the makeup of its Midwestern surroundings. The quarterback play was adequate, but far from spectacular. The offenses were tough, yet devoid of flash. Teams weren't going to wow an audience, but they would find a way to get the job done.

However, in recent seasons, both conferences have outgrown their reputations. The SEC has seen an influx of spread offenses, which has forced its teams to rely even more on its oft-heralded defensive speed. Attempting to provide offensive balance has not gone smoothly in all cases (See: Franklin, Tony, the recently-fired first-year offensive coordinator at Auburn), but the effort to evolve remains, nonetheless.

The Big 12 is home to five of the top quarterbacks in the country, three of whom (Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, Missouri's Chase Daniel and Texas's Colt McCoy) have legitimate shots to win the Heisman Trophy. The offenses are dynamic; the play is swift. And, as more Big 12 teams rise to national prominence, the conference is reaching a level platform with the SEC, in reality if not in perception.

"Both deserve a lot of respect, but I'm in the Big 12 now, so I think that's the toughest conference," said Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach, who was the offensive coordinator at Kentucky from 1997-98. "I think there was a time when the SEC definitely would have had the edge. Of course, the Big 12's a relatively new conference, and I think after a couple of years as everything got adjusted, I think not just teams have identities, but conferences have identities. And I think as the Big 12 developed theirs, that helped them get stronger."