Non-Conference Wins

Not all non-conference wins are created equal. Today on PTI, Michael Wilbon applauded the Big East for 6 non-conference road wins against BCS conference teams, while the Big 12 doesn't have any and the SEC has one.

I don't know what Wilbon is thinking. Maybe he wants to defend the Big East and that is his way of doing it. However, as I've documented, the Big East hasn't beaten any big-time BCS conference teams in non-conference play, much less on the road (although I didn't separate home and away in my post). Would Texas going to North Carolina and stomping on the Tar Heels impress you, Wilbon?

Nebraska played at USC. They lost. Would you rather they play at Stanford and kick the crap out of the tree? Oklahoma got jobbed at Oregon. Maybe OU should have gone on the road to Mississippi State to pick up a road win against a BCS team from another conference. And, those SEC teams need to be knocking down the door to get games at Duke, Illinois, and Baylor.

Records are important, but you have to consider who you play against. What's more impressive, a 4.0 for a communications major or a 4.0 for a physics major? Two lifters can each do a set of 10 reps on the bench press, but I'm saying the guy putting up 315 lbs. is doing a little better than the guy struggling with 135 lbs. What's 2 - 2? What's the derivative of (sin(x))^2+(cos(x))^2? The answer is the same ... I'll let you convince yourself of that.

Teams, even in the power conferences, need to play tougher non-conference schedules. The Big East didn't play a tough non-conference schedule, despite Wilbon's stupid, irrelevant stat. I'd like to think I could expect more from a contributor to PTI. Give me some worthwhile information, not stupid, contrived crap to try to trick people into believing that road non-conference wins against BCS schools mean anything at all.