Big Ten/SEC

I was actually working on this post prior to Phil Fulmer's excoriation of the Big Ten's competitiveness. While discussing a potential college football playoff our Krispy Kreme-loving friend took a poke at the Big Ten and Michigan:

The regular-season conference schedules we play in the SEC are very difficult. Maybe some of the other conferences have teams like Michigan that play just two or three tough conference games a year. Maybe a plus-one playoff concept would make sense.

I have not looked at the SEC numbers yet and hope to do so soon. But here are the Big Ten intraconference overall standings since 1993 (Penn State's first year):

Overall standings since 1993

TEAM	Wins	Losses	Ties	Win %
Ohio State	85	26	1	76.34
Michigan	85	27	0	75.89
Penn State	69	43	0	61.61
Wisconsin	66	43	3	60.27
Iowa	56	55	1	50.45
Purdue	54	55	3	49.55
Michigan State	51	60	1	45.98
Northwestern	46	66	0	41.07
Minnesota	38	74	0	33.93
Illinois	34	77	1	30.80
Indiana	27	85	0	24.11

And here are the various teams records against each other during that time:

	IL	IN	IA	MI	MSU	MN	NU	OSU	PSU	PU	WI
IL	- - -	7-5	5-7	2-8	1-9	4-6	6-8	3-9	1-9	3-7	2-9-1
IN	5-7	- - -	6-6	0-10	2-10	5-5	3-7	0-12	0-10	4-10	2-8
IA	7-5	6-6	- - -	2-8	6-4	10-4	6-6	1-9	6-4	6-3-1	6-6
MI	8-2	10-0	8-2	- - -	10-4	11-1	7-3	7-7	9-3	8-2	7-3
MSU	9-1	10-2	4-6	4-10	- - -	5-5	6-4	2-8	3-11	4-7-1	4-6
MN	6-4	5-5	4-10	1-11	5-5	- - -	5-5	1-9	4-6	3-9	4-10
NU	8-6	7-3	6-6	3-7	4-6	5-5	- - -	1-9	3-9	4-8	5-7
OSU	9-3	12-0	9-1	7-7	8-2	9-1	9-1	- - -	9-5	8-2	5-4-1
PSU	9-1	10-0	4-6	3-9	11-3	6-4	9-3	5-9	- - -	8-2	4-6
PU.	7-3	10-4	3-6-1	2-8	7-4-1	9-3	8-4	2-8	2-8	- - -	4-7-1
WI	9-2-1	8-2	6-6	3-7	6-4	10-4	7-5	4-5-1	6-4	7-4-1	- - -

And here are the bowl results of SEC/Big 10 contests since 1993:

1993 season
Citrus: Penn State 31 Tennessee 13

1994 season
Citrus: Alabama 24 Ohio State 17

1995 season
Independence: LSU 45 Michigan State 26
Outback: Penn State 41 Auburn 14
Citrus: Tennessee 20 Ohio State 14

1996 season
Outback: Alabama 17 Michigan 14
Citrus: Tennessee 48 Northwestern 28

1997 season
Outback: Georgia 33 Wisconsin 6
Citrus: Florida 21 Penn State 6

1998 season
Outback: Penn State 26 Kentucky 14
Citrus: Michigan 45 Arkansas 31

1999 season
Outback: Georgia 28 Purdue 25
Citrus: Michigan State 37 Florida 34
Orange: Michigan 35 Alabama 34

2000 season
Outback: South Carolina 24 Ohio State 7
Citrus: Michigan 31 Auburn 28

2001 season
Outback: South Carolina 31 Ohio State 28
Citrus: Tennessee 45 Michigan 17 (OUCH)
Sugar: LSU 47 Illinois 34

2002 season
Music City: Minnesota 29 Arkansas 14
Outback: Michigan 38 Florida 30
Capital One (Citrus): Auburn 13 Penn State 9

2003 season
Music City: Auburn 28 Wisconsin 14
Outback: Iowa 34 Florida 17
Capital One (Citrus): Georgia 34 Purdue 27

2004 season
Music City: Minnesota 20 Alabama 16
Outback: Georgia 24 Wisconsin 21
Capital One (Citrus): Iowa 30 LSU 25

2005 season
Outback: Florida 31 Iowa 24
Capital One (Citrus): Wisconsin 24 Auburn 10

2006 season
Outback: Penn State 20 Tennessee 10
Capital One (Citrus): Wisconsin 17 Arkansas 14
BCS Championship: Florida 41 Ohio State 14

So, since 1993, the Big Ten is 15-18 (45.45%) versus the SEC in bowls and 1-2 in BCS bowls. If, as coach Fulmer suggests, Michigan's hard 2-3 games are eliminated (Wisconsin, OSU, and PSU according to the league standings not their results versus Michigan) and Michigan itself is eliminated, then the Big Ten is 5-6. Based on overall Big Ten standings, 5th place Iowa is 2-1, 6th place Purdue is 0-2, 7th place Michigan State is 1-1, 8th place Northwestern is 0-1, 9th place Minnesota (which only wins 34% of its Big Ten games) is 2-0, and 10th place Illinois is 0-1.

I would imagine that if Fulmer were correct over time the "dregs" of the Big 10 would be getting crushed by the SEC and its "superior" depth. But the facts don't show this. The "dregs" of the Big 10 seem to be doing just fine.

Perhaps Coach Fulmer should stick to arguing that Peyton Manning deserved the Heisman. That is a far more subjective argument and those annoying facts aren't as likely to make him look foolish.