I've never understood that argument.
That's because:
1) You're smart
2) The argument itself is dumb beyond words.
Does it make you any less of a team if you play an FCS team on November 15th versus September 15th? Alabama plays FSU, Wisconsin and UGA before September is over while most of the Big 10 will play 1, maybe 2 power 5 games in that time period, yet no one gripes about that.
It's the backdoor way to criticize another team's schedule without having the stones to just come right out and say the words, "Alabama doesn't play nobody. Ever." Because ALL of the evidence shows Alabama has played BY FAR more tough games - and won more of them - from 2008-20 than any team in history.
Some of the rhetoric that has come from the Big 10 and its base over the last six months is like something from pro wrestling.
Well, four B1G schools - Ohio State (Gym Jordan), Penn State (Sandusky), Sparty U (Nassar), and Steal Signal U (Bo covering for Dr. Anderson) - have all had sexual abuse scandals in the last 30 years while (now former) WWE head Vince McMahon has engaged in sex trafficking so there's that.
For many years the cry was "no SEC team has played up north on the road since Florida lost to Syracuse in 1991," the insinuation being that the reason the SEC teams won't play "up north" is that they're somehow chicken.
And for many other years, the SEC would lay a huge egg in the bowl games after a season of hype. I mean, so did the B1G (who once went 6-22 in the Rose Bowl from 1966-87), but it never mattered. But the moment the SEC began WINNING bowl games left and right, they pivoted to making the weather argument, which says, "SEC teams are afraid to play 'up north in December,'" a laughable objection coming from a conference of teams that plays their December championship game INDOORS and always has. And also laughable when you watch them cry real tears over getting to play in Pasadena on January 1 (avg annual temp 74 degrees on that day).
Just think of it like this: the average Big 10 apologist has the IQ of an Auburn fan, always carefully cutting out certain years to make themselves feel better.
Their premier programs won back-to-back titles
One with some of the most flagrant cheating ever, but you're correct.
and it has somehow emboldened the entire conference into thinking they are far superior to the SEC and that the SEC must bow down to its wishes. Luckily, Sankey and the coaches have not taken the bait and have maintained the higher ground.
I don't think we will go to 9 games. Instead, I think we will see a Big10/SEC challenge in the not too distant future.
It'll go on without me.
The day we started rewarding the mediocrity of two-loss teams in national championship playoffs is the day rearranging my sock drawer become a more enjoyable thing.
Ohio State MIGHT have been the best team in the country last year. They still had no damned business in even competing for much less winning a college football national championship.
