Red Meat Monday: WWL's shot across the bow

Penn State football camp opened today, but let's first get a little blood pumping in today's Red Meat Monday. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the World Wide Leader in all its Big Ten-disparaging glory.

Mark Schlabach ranks the conferences, and as you would expect, the SEC leads the way.

1. SEC - "Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss are potential top-10 teams along with the Gators."
2. Big XII - "Oklahoma and Texas are national title contenders, and Oklahoma State is a dark horse to be in the BCS mix. Kansas and Nebraska are slowly closing the gap in the Big 12 North."
3. ACC - "The league has been ridiculed in recent seasons for not being very good, but there might not be a more balanced conference in 2009."
4. Pac-10 - "Despite losing a boatload of talent to the NFL, it would be a big surprise if USC didn't win at least a share of the Pac-10 championship for the eighth season in a row."
5. Big Ten - "Illinois, Iowa and Michigan State will be tough outs, but the Big Ten simply isn't as strong when Michigan isn't very good."
6. Mountain West - "The Utes aren't going away, and neither are TCU, BYU and Air Force."
7. Big East - "After proving it was BCS-worthy with a few key bowl victories in recent seasons, the Big East again needs a jolt of energy in 2009."
8. Western Athletic - "In 2008, Boise State came within two points of finishing unbeaten for the second time in three seasons, but the Broncos could use some help."

Adam Rittenberg counters with typical grounded logic.

"The SEC has become the nation's preeminent conference, but how many other leagues separate the Big Ten from the top?

I put the Big 12 at No. 2 in my conference power rankings, but well behind the SEC and not far in front of the Pac-10 and Big Ten. The Big 12's quarterback play is superb and the offensive innovation... is fun to watch. But the Big 12 was less than impressive during the postseason. Though the Big Ten went 0-3 against the Big 12 in bowls, two of those games (Fiesta and Alamo) easily could have gone the other way.

Still, the Big Ten's putrid postseason performances can't be overlooked."

I swear, you wouldn't know from his writing that Rittenberg is the WWL's resident Big Ten blogger. He's supposed to be a homer, but unlike pretty much all the others on that site, he's most definitely not.

I was thinking about writing my own counter to Schlabach's rankings, but unless I want to pump out 3,000 words on the double standard applied to the Big Ten, I'll leave this for your own thought.

Up later

Penn State camp opened today!