Brainwashed & Corrupted: College Football 2013

Imagine being told that you won’t have the opportunity to reach your ultimate goal in life because you’re told that the competition to reach that goal is not good enough.  Not only that, but if your competition IS good enough, you still can’t reach your goal because the reputation of that competition is still weak.  It’s a quintessential no-win situation. 

I’m speaking about this myriad of corruption that is better known as Division One College Football.  Each year we witness this corruption which I like to call modern day brainwashing. 

Before every season, the public is fed a pre-season poll that basically dictates the entire year’s rankings and National Championship participants.  How you may ask? It starts with reputation.  For the past 7 years, the reputation is that the SEC is above and beyond every other BCS conference in College Football.  To the conference’s credit, they do own the National Championship Trophy for the past 7 years. I personally think the SEC is a great conference and would even say it’s the nation’s best, but to discredit other schools in major conferences and not judge them in the same manner is corruption at its finest. 

Let’s take a look at the pre-season rankings for the 2013 season: 

College Football Preseason AP Top 25
Ranking	Team
1	Alabama
2	Ohio State
3	Oregon
4	Stanford
5	Georgia
6	South Carolina
7	Texas A&M
8	Clemson
9	Louisville
10	Florida
11	Florida State
12	LSU
13	Oklahoma State
14	Notre Dame
15	Texas
16	Oklahoma
17	Michigan
18	Nebraska
19	Boise State
20	TCU
21	UCLA
22	Northwestern
23	Wisconsin
24	USC
25	Oregon State

Six of the Top 12 teams are from the SEC.  On the other hand, only one team in the Top 12 is from the Big Ten.  As of Week 10, there are 5 teams from the SEC in the AP Top 25 and still only 1 team from the Big Ten.  That lonely Big Ten team in the Top 12 just happens to be the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes, who are currently on a twenty-one game winning streak.  The Buckeyes are ranked #4 in the AP poll, Coaches Poll and BCS.  This is where the brainwashing really comes into play. 

The SEC is a great conference but is highly overrated.  The Big Ten is not as good as the SEC from top to bottom, but is vastly underrated.  Other conferences such as the ACC, Pac-10 and Big 12 are victims of this corruption as well, but not one team is being punished more than the Buckeyes.

 

Ohio State started the year ranked #2 in the pre-season poll and has yet to lose.  They’re 5^th in scoring, 9^th in points allowed and 7^th in rushing.  Their average margin of victory is thirty-one points.  After twenty-one consecutive victories, including an undefeated 2012 campaign, the Buckeyes have fallen in the polls and may not get the opportunity to play for a National Championship. 

Why you may ask? It’s simple… brainwashing. 

Voters do not want to give the Big Ten any credit, therefore any and all Big Ten conference wins are somewhat weightless.  Look at the top teams in SEC and the top teams in the Big Ten.  Alabama and Ohio State are at the top of their respective conferences.  So let’s compare the rest --

Auburn is ranked #7 in the AP poll and their biggest win is against Texas A&M (conference game).  Their one loss came against LSU (conference game).  Missouri is 8-1 with their lone loss being against South Carolina (conference game) in a thriller.  Their biggest win is against Georgia (conference game) who was ranked #5 in the pre-season poll but has since lost 3 games and is not currently ranked.  Other top teams in the conference include LSU who is ranked #10, Texas A&M ranked #11 and South Carolina who is ranked #13.  The three aforementioned teams each have 2 losses, yet maintain a Top 15 ranking in the polls.

Every team in the SEC plays roughly 8-9 conference games a year..  Since the SEC is consistently perceived to be the “dominant” conference, then not only will their conference wins be valued significantly higher than every other non-SEC team, but their losses will be as well. 

How is this not corruption? If a conference is “considered” better and the teams in that conference pre-determined to be better than the rest of the nation, how can the NCAA consider their system/league to be legit?

   

Now let’s take a look at the rest of the Big Ten.  In the pre-season polls, Michigan was ranked #17, Nebraska #18, Northwestern #22 and Wisconsin opened the season ranked #23.  Northwestern is a perfect example of this corruption.  With their victory over another overrated SEC team (Mississippi State) in last year’s Gator Bowl, they opened the season in the Top 25. 

Fast forward to week 10 and you’ll only find one of the previously mentioned teams in the Top 25. That would be the Wisconsin Badgers who are currently ranked #21 in the AP Poll and display a 6-2 record.  One of those losses was a 2 point loss in overtime to #22 Arizona State.   The other loss was a 7 point loss on the road to #2 Ohio State.  So please tell me, what’s the difference between Wisconsin and Texas A&M? or LSU? or South Carolina?  All four teams lost twice, with Texas A&M and Wisconsin having the “best” losses (Alabama and Ohio State).  Brainwashing at its best!

It gets better… Let’s look at a few other Big 10 teams.

 

Michigan was ranked #17 in the preseason poll and Nebraska was ranked #18.  Both teams are currently 6-2 and both are NOT in the top 25 anymore.  Michigan lost to Penn State (conference game) in 4 overtimes and #17 Michigan State (more on them later) who is currently 8-1.  Nebraska lost to UCLA who is ranked #16 and Minnesota (conference game). Then there’s Michigan State whose only loss is on the road to #24 Notre Dame and happens to have one of the best defenses in the nation.  With Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State, how can anyone justify the validity of the conference? It’s easy to fall into the hypothetical “Well if they played against Texas A&M/LSU/INPUT YOUR FAVORITE SEC TEAM  HERE…” garbage.  The point is they DON’T play each other, so the hypothetical match-up is a facade that’s determined by brainwashing.

  

The perception is that the Big Ten is weak and futile… therefore their wins against each other don’t mean much and their losses in conference are devastating. 

The perception is that the “almighty” SEC is incredibly strong… therefore their wins and losses against each other hold more weight, which in turn means higher rankings, better bowls and a continued quality reputation. 

It’s a cycle that puts a team like Ohio State in a no-win situation.  If wins against Wisconsin, Michigan and Michigan State are minimal due to a pre-determined ranking and a perception that is not credible, then the system is beyond broken, it’s corrupted.  On top of that, the validity of the school’s victories are scrutinized and dissected.  Not only does a team like Ohio State have to win, they must DESTROY the teams in their conference in order to gain respect.  Beating a quality Wisconsin team by seven points hurt the Buckeyes.  Yet, when Alabama barely beats Texas A&M, it only strengthens their position as the best team in the nation.

 

How about the LSU Tigers? They lost to the un-ranked Georgia Bulldogs and un-ranked Ole Miss, yet they are somehow ranked #10 in the AP Top 25.  So when Alabama destroys them in tonight’s match-up, it’ll just be another “quality” win on Alabama’s resume.

 

It’s corruption… brainwashing… and a cycle that needs to be broken. 

There’s a very good chance that the 2013 Ohio State Buckeyes will be on the outside looking in and despite winning twenty-four games in a row, will not a not have a chance to accomplish their ultimate goal of winning a National Championship.  A team that was perceived as the #2 team in the country before the season started, yet fell in the polls despite never losing a game.