Page 1 of 2

Les Miles Whines About SC, No One Cares

Posted: July 25 07, 2:03 pm
by GatewaySnayke
You gotta love the SEC. Their holier-than-thou attitude and perception that a spot in the Nat'l Championship game is their birthright makes them as lovable as Yankees Fan. It's one thing for their uppity fan base to do it, but even their coaches want a piece now.
"I can tell you this, that they have a much easier road to travel," Miles said of the Trojans. "They're going to play real knockdown drag-outs with UCLA and Washington, Cal-Berkley, Stanford -- some real juggernauts -- and they're going to end up, it would be my guess, in some position so if they win a game or two, that they'll end up in the title (game). I would like that path for us.
"I think the SEC provides much stiffer competition."

[...]Speaking later in the week with reporters in Baton Rouge, Miles continued the theme.

"The Big 12 is a conference that might have two really pretty good teams, maybe four," said Miles, who coached in the Big 12 while at Oklahoma State. "I think the Pac-10 may have one or two really good ones. The ACC certainly, arguably, has some quality teams.

"I don't think there's any conference out there that has as many quality teams as ours."
Then he back tracked on ESPN:
Rece Davis: Now you were quoted recently that you would Love to get a shot at USC for the national championship. You went on to say that "They're going to play real knockdown drag-outs with UCLA and Washington, Cal-Berkley, Stanford -- some real juggernauts. What led you to make those comments about USC's Schedule?
Les Miles: This...Hey, Hey this is a bad news time that's all there can be I can only tell you that we have great respect for the Pac 10 conference as a whole I can tell that USC has been a great team no matter what anybody says, for years.

Davis Laughing in the Background

and certainly We would love to be in the national championship game and we would play any comer and certainly if that happened to be USC that would be great with us. That's what I was in reference to...I can tell that it was more in the pride in the SEC and understanding the we play a pretty competitive schedule and we finish our season and our conference record with a championship game.

I think the championship game certainly throws another great opponent at a neutral site at the end of the season that maybe makes the hurdle of the SEC even a little higher and a little bit more difficult to finish a season undefeated or in a highly ranked position.

Rece Davis: Now I saw you laugh when I brought up your quotes. Now, obviously they were given at a very pro Tiger function. They gotten some play, a lot of national media you have just gotten some more here, have you talked to Pete Carroll about them?

Les Miles: I would only hope that Pete Carroll is not concerned with any of this conversation, its nothing but speculative so far away from a seasons end and so close to a beginning of a very important schedule for both he and I.
Blahblahblahblah SEC is hard blahblahblahblah USC plays no one blahblahblahblah Whoever wins the SEC should get special recognition. What makes me curious when guys like Les Miles complains about SC is, has he even watched them play? It's not like USC has squeaked by their opponents these past few years, or won ultra-interesting, ultra-fun 6-5 games against Washington. Today on the college football show on ESPN, a viewer sent in an e-mail asking how would SC fare in the SEC? Probably bad. They score more than 10 points, and that definitely hurts.

Re: Les Miles Whines About SC, No One Cares

Posted: July 25 07, 2:14 pm
by MrCrowesGarden
Actually, USC was in some very tight games this past season. They beat the Cougars by 6, the Huskies by 6, the Sun Devis by 7, lost to the Beavers by 2 and lost to the Bruins by 4.

Now, USC would still be a very good team in the SEC but he's right that it's the best conference and it's not even close.

Pac10- One-team conference
Big Ten- Two-team conference, Wisconsin trying to make it three
Big XII- We all know about this one. Oklahoma and Texas and that's it.
ACC- Miami and Florida State were both down last year, but even if they improve, you mix in VA Tech and the conversation stops there.
Big East- Please

No one can compete with the depth of the SEC.

Re: Les Miles Whines About SC, No One Cares

Posted: July 25 07, 2:18 pm
by GatewaySnayke
2006 was a transition year for USC though. It's pretty hard to still be the same dominant team after losing a tandem like Bush, White and Leinart. But the team draws the most elite talent in southern California, and they return 10 starters on the defense. I don't like it when people who are SEC fans act like they are taking on The Citadels of the college football world then getting crushed against good competition. Oklahoma still hasn't recovered from that rump kicking SC gave them 2.5 years ago, and Michigan State, who everyone claimed was robbed horribly lost by 14 in a down year for SC.

Re: Les Miles Whines About SC, No One Cares

Posted: July 25 07, 3:31 pm
by ndistops
What a load of crap. The SEC is filled with more overrated, supposedly super-tough 4-loss teams than any conference in America.

It IS probably the best conference (the ACC sucks, the Pac-10 not deep enough, the Big East not top-heavy enough, the Big Ten has only 4 teams a year that seem to be any good, and the Big 12 is mediocre), but it's not by nearly the margin everyone in the country seems to believe it to be.

Re: Les Miles Whines About SC, No One Cares

Posted: July 25 07, 4:05 pm
by Transmogrified Tiger
I was curious so I took a gander at the "knock-down, drag out" LSU schedule. Amongst the dynasties they face:

Mississippi State
Middle Tennessee
Tulane
Kentucky (Sorry UK)
Louisiana Tech
Ole Miss

They also play 7 home games to 5 road games, and coincidentally all but one of the road games(Alabama, of the 6-7 record last season) are against the juggernauts listed above.

Re: Les Miles Whines About SC, No One Cares

Posted: July 25 07, 7:11 pm
by GatewaySnayke
When Auburn cried a few years back about being held out of the BCS game because of their grueling schedule which included the likes of The Citadel, UMSL, SLU's flag football squad, College of the Ozarks, South Northwestern East State of Puerto Rico and Oxford, I laughed.

Re: Les Miles Whines About SC, No One Cares

Posted: July 25 07, 8:37 pm
by Popeye_Card
MrCrowesGarden wrote: Big Ten- Two-team conference, Wisconsin trying to make it three
I'm wondering what your criteria is. Those 3 teams you listed all finished in the top 8 in the final AP poll last year. Penn State finished in the top 25 (after beating Tennessee in the Outback Bowl, and after finishing 3rd overall in 2005). Iowa has become a perrenial threat. Purdue, Michigan State, Minnesota are always in-and-out of the top 25. The conference really has only 3 patsies (Northwestern, Indiana, Illinois), and the last of those is actually starting to recruit now. The Big Ten still has "the big two" that are always going to be top 10 squads, but it's far from a two-team conference.

The SEC and Big Ten play different styles of football. A top Big Ten team would struggle in a full season in the SEC. A top SEC team would struggle in the Big Ten.

--P--

Re: Les Miles Whines About SC, No One Cares

Posted: July 26 07, 8:59 am
by MrCrowesGarden
Popeye_Card wrote:
MrCrowesGarden wrote: Big Ten- Two-team conference, Wisconsin trying to make it three
I'm wondering what your criteria is. Those 3 teams you listed all finished in the top 8 in the final AP poll last year. Penn State finished in the top 25 (after beating Tennessee in the Outback Bowl, and after finishing 3rd overall in 2005). Iowa has become a perrenial threat. Purdue, Michigan State, Minnesota are always in-and-out of the top 25. The conference really has only 3 patsies (Northwestern, Indiana, Illinois), and the last of those is actually starting to recruit now. The Big Ten still has "the big two" that are always going to be top 10 squads, but it's far from a two-team conference.

The SEC and Big Ten play different styles of football. A top Big Ten team would struggle in a full season in the SEC. A top SEC team would struggle in the Big Ten.

--P--
What I meant is perennially strong teams. We know Michigan and Ohio State are always going to be at or near the top of college football. Wisconsin is getting a program that's almost that good on a consistent basis. I don't really consider Penn State on that level yet because they had prolonged struggles before the last two seasons. Iowa, to me, is on about the same level as Mizzou. The other teams, as you noted, have some good years but can't really put up anything consistent.

I just think the SEC has stronger teams and is the deeper conference. While I don't have anything to prove my opinion, it is my belief that the doormats of the SEC would whoop up on the doormats of the other conferences. They also, to me, have more perennial powers (LSU, Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, and maybe Georgia).

Re: Les Miles Whines About SC, No One Cares

Posted: July 26 07, 11:27 am
by GatewaySnayke
I dunno...is Tennesee really a perennial power anymore?

Re: Les Miles Whines About SC, No One Cares

Posted: July 26 07, 12:07 pm
by maddash
GatewaySnayke wrote:I dunno...is Tennesee really a perennial power anymore?
I'd still say so. Here are the AP ranking at the end of last year's season:
Final AP Division I Top 25 Football Rankings
(As of 01/09/2007)
Rank School W-L Points Prev
1 Florida (64) 13-1 1624 2
2 Ohio State 12-1 1492 1
3 LSU 11-2 1452 4
4 USC 11-2 1389 8
5 Boise State (1) 13-0 1383 9
6 Louisville 12-1 1338 5
7 Wisconsin 12-1 1288 6
8 Michigan 11-2 1145 3
9 Auburn 11-2 1112 10
10 West Virginia 11-2 1035 13
11 Oklahoma 11-3 933 7
12 Rutgers 11-2 884 16
13 Texas 10-3 772 18
14 Cal 10-3 697 20
15 Arkansas 10-4 677 12
16 BYU 11-2 673 19
17 Notre Dame 10-3 553 11
18 Wake Forest 11-3 551 15
19 Virginia Tech 10-3 407 14
20 BC 10-3 353 23
21 Oregon State 10-4 291 24
22 TCU 11-2 279 25
23 Georgia 9-4 204 NR
24 Penn State 9-4 183 NR
25 Tennessee 9-4 181 17
Kentucky's not bad either, and if Bama ever turns things around, they'll be a force in an already stacked SEC.