Why I hate the 'Conference Wars'

A big group of people on the internet, even if they aren’t in the MSM, seems to be coming around the idea that games are played between teams and not conferences, and that nothing more than a W for one team and a L for another can really be drawn from a loss.

The only bad loss really was ASU. Oregon won on the road against a BCS team. Cal lost on the road against a BCS team that beat two Top 10 teams last year. Washington was a massive underdog and played like it. UCLA’s ineptitude against BYU is balanced by their win over Tennessee. Arizona sucks. Washington State sucks. Stanford sucks. And all three of those teams were playing non-conference games on the road.

Yes, it is a bad day for the conference, but in the end, that is pretty much a coincidence of the fact that the Pac-10 isn’t afraid to play good competition.

Fortunately for the Pac-10, we play nine real conference games. Everyone can prove our worth by going out and beating USC. Everyone should be a Pac-10 football fan by enjoying Pac-10 football, not by arguing the relative worth as a conference.

But compared to losses like Texas A&M losing to Arkansas State, it isn’t remotely in the same ballpark.

Losing to Maryland looks bad now, but my suspicion (and I could be proven totally wrong) is that when we look back on it at the end of the year, it won’t look nearly as bad.

I agree. Perception is reality here. But it doesnt matter. As long as Cal takes care of its own bizness, the perception will change over time. Moreover, perception on 9.15.08 is meaningless. So, let’s stop worrying about whether the SEC is #1 or whatever.

It used to matter more, because the BCS didn’t exist with its generally by the book rankings. Now, it does exist and so if you win, generally, you are in. It’s not perfect. But it’s improved.

We let a very small and oftentime meaningless sample size highjack the college football narrative every single year.

You are correct. We have let this insignificant sample size dictate our respect for our team and our conference. We know how we play, and the small but innumerable differences between this game and others (if not, this blog would be a lot less interesting…), but we let a big W or a big L determine the rest of it.

Unfortunately, Friday night I was in a bar in DC and was arguing — with quite articulate drunken arguments — with an SEC-is-best fan. All I was trying to do was get some respect to the Pac-10. We parted with agree-to-disagree, and then Saturday happened, and I felt like a jackass because some guy, somewhere, who I’ll never see again, seemed to win the argument. Well, that’s my burden and I won’t let it keep me from visiting the East Coast in the future.