Journalists attacking the Big Ten

[knapplc]

I'll state first and foremost that the following is a result of my own error - I typically do not read columns by Dennis Dodd and/or Paul Finebaum. I find them both to be more interested in manufacturing controversy so you'll read their articles rather than producing accurate, objective journalism. So it's my own fault that I have read both of their columns just now, and it's my fault that I'm providing them press by responding to them - even linking to them.

 

Having said that, I do not understand the purpose of either article these two gentlemen have produced in advance of this weekend's historic game - the first game of Nebraska's entry into the Big Ten Conference. Finebaum's article, As Big Ten welcomes Nebraska, conference struggling for relevancy, states in part:

 

 

Even with a storied program like Nebraska joining the fold, the Big Ten is on life support. Gasping, wheezing and nearly choking to death. It has no swag. No buzz.

 

 

 

We will all be force-fed endless spin this weekend about how important and historic this first game with Nebraska will be for the league and for college football. No argument here, as the first time for anything is memorable. But this is just a normal Saturday night in the SEC.

 

The Big Bore Conference just doesn't do it for me anymore. I'll be in Gainesville Saturday night doing what any sane college football fan should be doing -- watching real football when Alabama visits the Swamp to take on Florida. You'll have two schools who own three of the last five BCS titles fighting for spots in the SEC championship game, the winner of which usually plays for the BCS title. Finebaum also takes pains to point out several of the Big Ten's losses this year - losses by Ohio State, Purdue, Indiana, Penn State and Minnesota, to be exact, then contrasts that with great games offered weekly by the SEC. He takes jabs at the BTN. He ends with an avowed preference for the SEC, stating that because the SEC is the superior football conference, the Big Ten is irrelevant.

 

Segue over to Dodd's column, As Huskers make debut, Big Ten football has lost uniqueness, and you almost wonder if these two weren't sitting across the table at the same cafe as they wrote these stories. Dodd gripes that the Big Ten is no longer unique because, basically, it no longer fits his preconceived notion of what the "Big Ten brand" should be. For evidence he cites the fact that Michigan with Dennard Robinson is no longer a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust team, and the fact that Nebraska's Taylor Martinez slides rather than enduring impact (as dictated by Pelini, because Martinez's backup is not game-ready yet). Dodd says these things as if they are bad, as if they lessen the brand of the Big Ten. Ignoring, like Finebaum, the fact that the teams he's talking about (Michigan, Nebraska and Wisconsin) are all 4-0. And this is despite the fact that the conference's SOS ranking, according to Sagarin, is currently #3 ahead of the ACC and Pac-12, and trailing the SEC/Big XII.

 

Both Dodd and Finebaum appear to want to denounce the Big Ten, cast it aside, and prop up the SEC. But why? What benefit does this give?

 

This is what baffles me. Everyone, both journalist and fan, agrees that the SEC has ruled college football over the past decade. This is an undeniable truth.

 

But for journalists to actively denounce other conferences - especially on the eve of such a historic event as Nebraska beginning play in the Big Ten - is astounding. It is entirely counterproductive to what they should be doing - propping up college football as a whole. The SEC alone cannot carry college football. It is not capable of commanding the attention of all of the nation's football fans, simply because there are so many teams - and fans of teams - out there. The overall health of college football should be what these guys want. They don't have to be the reason the Big Ten is popular, or the Pac-12 is at the forefront. They don't have to actively support Conference X - all they have to do is not actively tear it down.

 

Go read the articles if you want. Give them clicks if you like. I already did, much to my chagrin. If nothing else, it'll give you yet another example of the myopic nature of today's sports journalism.

[NebHusker72]

Made the same mistake myself...10 minutes i'll never get back!

[irafreak]

I'll take your word for it. Wouldn't surprise me if these two did get together to release stories like this for the sole purpose of traffic. A great way to gain credibility is to have others in your profession agreeing with your sentiments.

 

I think some of this is spilling off onto Huskerboard posters. We've had plenty of posts talking about how the B1G is really down this year. We haven't even started conference play. What are we basing this on? That Penn State, a team everyone figured would be middle of the pack, had trouble with Alabama, one of the top teams in the nation? That the cellar dwellers of the conference are losing to the Army's of the college football world? That Nebraska's defense looks less than impressive (ignoring how surprisingly good our offense has looked)?

 

The season is still early and to declare a conference irrelevent at this point is at best poor journalism and at worst a deliberate attempt to discredit the B1G. Personally....PERSONALLY...I've never been that interested in SEC games. I enjoy the conference that we are apart of. I still follow the Big12 a little because that's all I have known. SEC...who cares. Football is football but that doesn't mean the arena leagues get me excited. If I move to SEC country I'd follow it more. It's what would be shoved in my face all season. These journalists probably get the SEC shoved in their face so much they can't appreciate anything but...

[default_28]

I have never understood the thinking that the SEC is the only good football on saturdays. Everyone or close to it acknowledges the fact that the best conference is the SEC, but the gap isn't as big as the media wants you to believe. I've watched really good football games this year involving teams from Arizona State to Connecticut. I'll admit I'm a college football fan, I have never gotten into the NFL, so maybe to a casual fan a Friday night game between Central Florida and BYU is boring. Two teams by the way that beat SEC schools in their last five games. It just doesn't make sense to diminish the football that gets played around the country. SEC equals best football it does not equal only quality football.

[Caven]

You get used to it. Ever since the formation of the BTN, the other sports media has gone out of their way to tear down the Big 10.

[HuskerShark]

I can't say I blame them. Defenses in the B1G have always been pretty stout, but when you have teams like Penn State almost losing to Temple because their offense is awful, and a team like Iowa that lost to Iowa State, a team that will go 7-5 or worse this year in the Big 12, it doesn't help from a national perspective. It also doesn't help that co-champion Michigan State got absolutely obliterated by Bama in their bowl game last year.

 

It's time for the B1G to follow the footsteps of Ohio State, Nebraska, and Wisconsin (also soon to be Michigan) and recruit athletes that will make big-time plays on the field. The B1G is the most prestigious conference in the NCAA, but when it comes to football, most everybody is stuck in the 1960s.

[nebraskapit]

Yeah -- sometimes media outlets do really have a jaded view about a team/conference/idea/etc. But occasionally I do think that sometimes it offers an "outsiders"/national view of something that we have a different perspective on.

 

Until this becomes a reoccurring problem (which I'm not sure it has?), I'd say it just means the conference needs to overcome a certain perception. Granted, I do think that the SEC has benefited from an impressively good perception. -- Have you watched that video about "what if a spelling bee was run like the BCS"? The SEC is just a more 'established' neighborhood.

[Nebula]

"But...but...but they told Miss State it would cost 200k for Cam Newton, for God's sake! And then Auburn BOUGHT the damn kid!"

 

Dear Concerned Football Fan,

 

We're quite sure that was just an anomaly down south, and everything else is on the up and up. They just have better coaches in the SEC, that's all.

 

Sincerely, The National Media.

[VectorVictor]

You get used to it. Ever since the formation of the BTN, the other sports media has gone out of their way to tear down the Big 10.

 

This, and the media is pandering to people in the south because of population shifts, to a degree--hence all the love for the SEC.

 

Problem is, these things are cyclical, and population will eventually move back up north, and the internet will be around to remind everyone what douchebags Dodd and Finebaum are.

[ShawnWatson]

You get used to it. Ever since the formation of the BTN, the other sports media has gone out of their way to tear down the Big 10.

 

This, and the media is pandering to people in the south because of population shifts, to a degree--hence all the love for the SEC.

 

Problem is, these things are cyclical, and population will eventually move back up north, and the internet will be around to remind everyone what douchebags Dodd and Finebaum are.

 

This has nothing to do with population. You do realize as well the most densely populated part of the nation is in the northeast region as well? This has to do with the SEC being the most succesful conference over the last decade, and the Big 10 being less than stellar in bowl games and as a league overall.

[badger79]

The guy who wrote the SI piece is an SEC shill. He has some ridiculous radio show in Alabama where Auburn and Bama fans snipe at each other all the time.

 

As for "struggling with relevancy," I'll buy it when half the programs in college football aren't on their knees begging for a Big Ten invite.

[Stumpy1]

There are maybe 3-5 teams that make the SEC relivant and are consistent at winning or beating other top teams. This has only been happening for the last decade. The deal that pisses me off about the SEC is the lack of control that these winning teams have over their programs and the fact that the NCAA turns a blind eye to them.

[WoodyHayes1951]

People can talk about weather all they want.

 

The facts is that Coaching is what matters.

 

 

The average SEC Coordinator makes more than the average Head Coach anywhere else.

 

Bucks and Huskers want to win and will pay for it.

 

PSU loves JoePA and will stink unless he leaves.

 

scUMbags want to win but when Les Miles wanted highly paid coordinators and they didn't want to pay them, he stayed in LSU.

 

UW & MSU are fine competing for conference titles and not BCS titles.

 

Iowa pays BCS championship money for Jan 1 bowl game results.

 

 

Illinois,Northwestern,Minnesota,Indiana and Purdue are not willing to pay.

[wideglide]

Finebaum went to school at Tennesee and is based in Birmingham = SEC schill

 

Dodd went to Missouri and was in KC and Texas before CBS = SEC wannabe

 

Perhaps there might be a little bit of a bias and/or an agenda.

[BlueInTheFace]

People can talk about weather all they want.

 

The facts is that Coaching is what matters.

 

 

The average SEC Coordinator makes more than the average Head Coach anywhere else.

 

Bucks and Huskers want to win and will pay for it.

 

PSU loves JoePA and will stink unless he leaves.

 

scUMbags want to win but when Les Miles wanted highly paid coordinators and they didn't want to pay them, he stayed in LSU.

 

UW & MSU are fine competing for conference titles and not BCS titles.

 

Iowa pays BCS championship money for Jan 1 bowl game results.

 

 

Illinois,Northwestern,Minnesota,Indiana and Purdue are not willing to pay.

 

 

What? Greg Mattison is one of the highest, if not THE highest, paid coordinators in the Big Ten.