and those clowns at TOSU didn't fall like Michigan State did.
It's a joke, man. Big (and Slow) Ten folk do amazing psychological contortions rationalizing their supposed ascendance to superiority, and the related idea of a "tough, talented, bigger and faster than everyone now" conference. This goes hand in hand with the current popular backlash-argument of a supposedly "weak and long-overrated Southeastern Conference" who are still grabbing unwarranted Top 25 rankings from a much-moaned about "SEC-biased media". These folks aren't alone in this sentiment, obviously--but they're leading the anti-cheer.
The fact that most of the very losses they cite have come at the hands of OTHER SEC TEAMS is conveniently ignored in all of this: We aren't just knocking each OTHER off, proving that our league is strong DEEP into the lineup of programs now--and exactly how and WHY an SEC schedule is by definition EVERY bit as difficult as any supposed "boldly scheduled independent", in most cases tougher than ANYONE'S.
So my response now is the same one I had for fellow grad-students at USC when we played Southern Cal for the first time, just weeks after I (then a recent Gator grad) happened to arrive there for the start of my grad-fellowship...They were SO arrogantly confident, and my answer, then and now, is (preferably in my then still-strong N Fla drawl), "Walll, we play a purty good branda ball down in the SEC..."
(We beat the Trojans convincingly then in a national telecast of what in those pre-ESPN days really WAS the "NCAA Game of the Week", btw. Unless you manage to basically BUILD an SEC-style and quality team up THERE, as Meyer himself has proceeded to in fact DO, one of our teams will eventually do that to ANY of them, in the playoff.)
