College Postseason: The Miseducation Of Lisa Horne

Lisa Horne wrote an article expressing that the dominant conferences were weaker than the Big XII Conference. Then people wanted to know what she was basing this off of. Was it because they didn't have enough BCS NC possible teams in the show? Was it in regards to the Heisman? Or is it because there wasn't as much controversy in those conferences as there is in the Big XII Conference?

After watching her try to defend her defense of the Big XII Conference, I wanted to let the B/R Nation decide. But I did some quick research on this season's bowl games and found something interesting.

ACC: 10 Postseason Representatives

• Wake Forest (Eagle Bank Bowl vs. Navy)
• North Carolina (Meineke Car Care Bowl vs. West Virginia)
• Florida State (Champs Sports Bowl vs. Wisconsin)
• Miami (Emerald Bowl vs. Cal)
• NC State (PapaJohns.com Bowl vs. Rutgers)
• Maryland (Roady's Humanitarian Bowl vs. Nevada)
• Boston College (Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl vs. Vanderbilt)
• Georgia Tech (Chick-Fil-A Bowl vs. LSU)
• Clemson (Konica Minolta Gator Bowl vs. Nebraska)
• Virginia Tech (Orange Bowl vs. Cincinnati)

SEC: 8 Postseason Representatives

• Vanderbilt (Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl vs. Boston College)
• LSU (Chick-Fil-A Bowl vs. Georgia Tech)
• South Carolina (Outback Bowl vs. Iowa)
• Georgia (Capital One Bowl vs. Michigan State)
• Ole Miss (AT&T Cotton Bowl vs. Texas Tech)
• Kentucky (AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs. East Carolina)
• Alabama (Sugar Bowl vs. Utah)
• Florida (BCS National Championship vs. Oklahoma)

Big XII: 7 Postseason Representatives

• Missouri (Valero Alamo vs. Northwestern)
• Oklahoma State (Pacific Life Holiday Bowl vs. Oregon)
• Kansas (Insight Bowl vs. Minnesota)
• Nebraska (Konica Minolta Gator Bowl vs. Clemson)
• Texas Tech (AT&T Cotton Bowl vs. Ole Miss)
• Texas (Fiesta Bowl vs. Ohio State)
• Oklahoma (BCS National Championship vs. Florida)

Big Ten: 7 Postseason Representatives

• Wisconsin (Champs Sports Bowl vs. Florida State)
• Northwestern (Valero Alamo Bowl vs. Missouri)
• Minnesota (Insight Bowl vs. Kansas)
• Iowa (Outback Bowl vs. South Carolina)
• Michigan State (Capitol One Bowl vs. Georgia)
• Penn State (Rose Bowl vs. USC)
• Ohio State (Fiesta Bowl vs. Texas)

Big East: 6 Postseason Representatives

• South Florida (St. Petersburg Bowl vs. Memphis)
• West Virginia (Meineke Car Care Bowl vs. North Carolina)
• Rutgers (PapaJohns.com Bowl vs. N.C. State)
• Pitt (Brut Sun Bowl vs. Oregon State)
• UConn (International Bowl vs. Buffalo)
• Cincinnati (Orange Bowl vs. Virginia Tech)

Pac 10: 5 Postseason Representatives

• Arizona (Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl vs. BYU)
• Cal (Emerald Bowl vs. Miami (FL))
• Oregon (Pacific Life Holiday Bowl vs. Oklahoma State)
• Oregon State (Brut Sun Bowl vs. Pitt)
• USC (Rose Bowl vs. Penn State)

And this is just the main conferences. How do you think the smaller conferences did this seaason?

Mountain West: 5 Postseason Representatives

• Colorado State (New Mexico Bowl vs. Fresno State)
• BYU (Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl vs. Arizona)
• TCU (SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl vs. Boise State)
• Air Force (Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl vs. Houston) 
• Utah (Sugar Bowl vs. Alabama)

WAC: 5 Postseason Representatives 

• Fresno State (New Mexico Bowl vs. Colorado State) 
• Hawaii (Sheraton Hawaii Bowl vs. Notre Dame)
• Louisiana Tech (Independence Bowl vs. Northern Illinois)
• Nevada (Roady's Humanitarian Bowl vs. Maryland)
• Boise State (SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl vs. TCU)

So when you do the simple mathematics of who is in the bowl games, the Big XII is not as dominating as Lisa wants them to be. She gave so much credit to Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford and Graham Harrell (who royally got the shaft in the Heisman) but none to Mack Brown, Mike Leach or Bob Stoops. It's always good to be the quarterback, but you can't be a great QB without a great coach to teach you the fundamental basics.

But it was a team effort that got a majority of these teams into their respective bowl games. But to just single out one player or position as the reason of their success is downright dumb. In regards to the SEC being dominant, I'm surprised no one threw former Tennessee Quarterback Peyton Manning's name in the mix if you're going to do name dropping.

Regardless, the Big XII is in as much trouble this bowl season as everyone else. And even though no one has flat out said that Oklahoma will slaughter Florida or vice versa, you have to know that someone wants to start the fireworks.

It's good that you know stats and everything, Lisa, but the facts do not support your main argument. You called the SEC weak this season, but really didn't give a reason to their weakness. You just went on about how great the quarterbacks of the Big XII look in their uniforms. But the numbers aren't the only thing that people look at. They look at who has proven themselves to be a leader.

In all honesty, all four quarterbacks involved in the Heisman Chase have proven themselves to be leaders. But after tonight, only one will hold up the Heisman...and Tebow would much rather have a National Championship. And we all know about the Heisman Curse.

So here's a better poll question: Who has been the stronger conference and who has been the weaker conference this year?