>>>Wisconsin has beaten good teams in bowls, too. But even as a Big 10 partisan I don't think there is any comparison between the conferences.
>>>
>>Over the past 6 bowl seasons there have been 16 Big 10/SEC matchups. Each conference has won eight games.
>
>Thanks largely to Wisconsin. I am a Big 10 partisan but there is no doubt in my mind which conference is better.
Big 10 Wins
Year Big 10 Score SEC Score
2007 Penn St 20 Tenn 10
Wisc 17 Ark 14
2006 Wisc 24 Aub 14
2005 Minn 20 Ala 16
Iowa 30 LSU 25
2004 Iowa 37 Fla 17
2003 Minn 29 Ark 14
Mich 38 Fla 30
The wins were pretty evenly spread. There is no doubt in my mind which conference plays more interesting football, but better?????? Not necessarily based on these numbers.
It would be interesting if one week of pre-conference play could be set aside as "Conference Tourney Week." That week you would have Big 10 vs SEC, Big East vs ACC, Big 12 vs Pac 10, etc. Each year the conference matchups would vary. The games would be based on conference position the previous year (not necessarily fair, but at least practical) and 1 would play 1, 2-2 etc. It might prove interesting and each 1-1 matchup would have a potential impact on the national championship.
It would be hard to schedule, obviously, but I think it would provide a very interesting weekend of football guaranteed to have several interesting and important games.