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Is There SEC Bias In College Football Polling? | Charlie Marlow Show · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Is there an SEC bias in the college football polling?
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  We're going to compare SEC and Big 10.
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  I apologize to all of you. If you're a fan of a different
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  conference, Notre Dame, whatever it is, we're going to compare
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  SEC. We're going to compare Big 10.
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  Latest poll, week 13. All right, let's start at the
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  top. Now, my argument is more for the
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  middle part of these conferences, but let's be fair.
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  Let's talk about all the teams. OK, let's start with the first
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  two teams in the poll. Ohio State undefeated 10 and O
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  Indiana undefeated 11 and O, both obviously Big 10 teams one
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  and two. OK then #3 the only undefeated
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  team out of the SEC, Texas A and M10 and O.
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  So let's just start there 123. Now, if you think there is a an
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  SEC bias in the polling and there could be slightly, we'll,
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  we'll break it down. But look at look at the teams I
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  just mentioned, right? The, the pollsters believe that
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  the, the undefeated teams, the three undefeated teams that we
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  care about here, Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M, they feel
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  like the Big 10 teams are better than the one undefeated SEC team
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  in Texas A&M. And we're going to kind of go
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  over this superficially at first.
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  So there you go. Let's move on then to the one
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  loss teams. OK, so after Texas A&M, you have
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  the one loss teams, so Georgia nine and one, Ole Miss 10 and 1.
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  So in terms of the top tier, pollsters think that the best of
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  the best teams, that the Big 10 teams are the best.
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  And then if you want to drop, I don't even think it's fair to
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  call this the second tier. I would still call these elite
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  teams. We're talking about one loss
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  teams here. So pollsters think that the SEC
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  teams are better than the Big 10 team with one loss.
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  So we're talking Georgia at #4 they're nine and one.
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  We're talking about Ole Miss at #5 they're 10 and one, both
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  ranked higher than Oregon. Oregon nine and one on the
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  season, and their only loss at home to Indiana.
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  Indiana's obviously the number two team in the country, 10
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  point loss, but still. So again, if you're talking
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  about any type of bias, that seems pretty fair to me.
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  With the undefeated nod going to the Big 10 teams, the one loss
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  nods going to the SEC teams over Oregon.
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  We'll skip Texas Tech at what I guess it's technically tied for
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  6th in the AP poll. Texas Tech tied for 6th with
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  Oregon. So go down.
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  Now we'll talk about two lost teams, 2 lost teams, and again,
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  we're not going to include Notre Dame and all that.
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  For this particular video, we're comparing the SEC in the Big 10.
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  OK, so you have two lost teams. Highest ranked is Oklahoma at
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  8:00 and 2:00. Then you got Notre Dame, but
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  then you have Alabama at 10, also eight and two on the
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  season. So when you're looking at the
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  SEC, this is where I think the argument really gets interesting
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  that the the depth of the SEC, the middle tiers of the SEC.
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  I mean, look, if if you're talking about Alabama and
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  Oklahoma in a middle tier, which again, it's not fair to call it
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  middle tier, but we're talking about two lost teams here.
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  And you also have Vanderbilt in that category.
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  So when you're looking at two loss teams, you have Oklahoma,
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  you have Alabama, and you have Vanderbilt all again ranked
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  ahead of the two loss teams in the Big 10, two loss teams in
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  the Big 10. You got to go down to what USC
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  is ranked 16th at 8:00 and 2:00 on the season and Michigan is
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  ranked 18th at 8:00 and 2:00 on the season.
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  There's actually a three loss SEC team in Texas ranked above a
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  two loss Michigan team right now.
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  Texas is #17. So any type of bias, which I'll
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  be honest with you, I don't want to give away the the point of
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  this video. If there's any bias, I don't
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  think it's anything egregious in 2025 at least.
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  Maybe, maybe back in the day you can make that argument.
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  I'm not even trying to do that, but I have kind of done my
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  research and it started with a, a tweet I put out last night and
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  I was really focusing on the three loss teams because this
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  kind of stood out to me. The fact that all three, three
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  loss teams in the Big 10 are unranked.
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  All three, three loss teams in the ICC are all ranked.
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  Now you're kind of splitting hairs here, but but here's where
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  I think you could see a, a a bit of bias where it's just assumed
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  that the wins in the SEC mean more.
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  And the three loss teams in the SEC, there's just the, the idea
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  that those teams are just better than the Big 10 teams.
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  So in the SEC, I mentioned you have Texas, Texas is ranked 17th
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  in the country. They're seven and three.
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  Tennessee is ranked 20th in the country.
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  They're seven and three. And Mizzou is ranked 23rd in the
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  country. They are also seven and three.
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  And then go to the Big 10 teams. I was mentioned.
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  I was mentioning all seven and three, none of them ranked.
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  So we're talking about Nebraska, we're talking about Illinois,
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  and we're talking about Washington.
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  Now, this is where I think the debate really gets interesting.
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  And so far, if we want to do a quick recap though, according to
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  the polls, Big 10 teams are better at the top, Ohio State,
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  Indiana over Texas A&M, that's the undefeateds according to the
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  polls. The SEC teams then get the nod
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  with the one loss teams, George and Ole Miss Over in Oregon, SEC
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  again gets the nod with the two loss teams, Oklahoma, Alabama,
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  Vanderbilt, There you go. And so they're they're ranked
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  ahead of USC and Michigan. And as I said, I'm repeating
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  myself, but even Texas with three losses is ranked ahead of
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  Michigan at 8:00 and 2:00. So I didn't dive into every part
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  of all of these schedules here, but I did with the seven and
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  three teams. And I just find it interesting.
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  I can't really be mad at Texas being ranked.
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  Texas, look, their losses, they obviously lost to Ohio State,
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  first game of the season, Ohio State number one in the country.
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  They just lose to Georgia. But Texas has some some good
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  wins. Texas beats, don't quote me on
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  this. I believe it's Oklahoma and
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  Vanderbilt. So they have some some good
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  wins. I have no problem with Texas
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  being ranked. On the flip side, also Nebraska
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  at 7 and three. I'm not saying Nebraska should
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  be ranked. Nebraska doesn't have an
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  impressive resume at all. But I think where it gets
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  interesting is and I'll even I'll even take Washington right
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  now. So Washington beat Illinois, but
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  I don't think you can make a case necessarily for Washington
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  being ranked. I think Washington's actually
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  pretty good. I watched them play Ohio State
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  and they kept it pretty close. I think it was like a 24/7 or
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  6-8 game, something like that. It was right around the the
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  spread. I think Washington's pretty
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  tough, but I think the real argument here comes down to
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  looking at Tennessee, Mizzou and Illinois.
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  So both Tennessee and Mizzou have what you'd call good
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  losses, right? But they haven't beaten anybody.
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  They haven't beaten anybody that's ranked.
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  I think Mizzou's best win just came to versus Mississippi
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  State. Now Mizzou has some good close
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  losses, obviously, I think 3 points to Alabama, 7 points to
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  Vandy. But it could have been tied
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  basically down to the last play where if they get in the end
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  zone, it's a tie game. Then they had a a bit of a
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  clunker obviously versus Texas A&M, but also Tennessee has some
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  of those close losses, but no real good wins, no ranked wins
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  for either of those teams where if you then bring up Illinois.
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  So here's the real battle. Illinois to me versus Tennessee
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  and Mizzou. So Illinois, they lose to Ohio
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  State by whatever it was 18 or so.
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  Can't remember the exact score, but that's around the spread.
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  Illinois gets absolutely destroyed though.
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  Here's the problem. Illinois gets destroyed by
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  Indiana, now Indiana's number two team in the country.
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  They lose like what, 63 to 10, whatever it was?
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  And then Illinois also loses to Washington, which I think
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  Washington is a good team. And, and maybe if hey, obviously
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  if Washington is ranked, if they're ranked 24th or 23rd,
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  Illinois schedule looks better. And hey, we have another ranked
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  win. But Illinois did beat USC and,
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  and here's my point, it's kind of what you focus on, but
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  Illinois by far is the best win of any of those teams.
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  I'm mentioning between Mizzou, Tennessee and Illinois.
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  Illinois has beaten USC and US CS ranked 16th in the country
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  and no ranked wins for Mizzou and for for Tennessee.
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  And so Illinois, look, you lose Ohio State, credible loss.
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  You get absolutely boat race though by Indiana.
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  That's the one that's a real stinker.
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  I mean, it looks terrible on your resume when you lose by 53,
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  whatever the whatever the final score was.
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  So I guess it's also kind of look, there's an eye test here.
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  I'm not even saying that Illinois necessarily would beat
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  Mizzou on a neutral field. Would would Illinois beat
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  Tennessee on a neutral playing field?
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  I'm not sure I understand. You should.
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  You should go to the eye test also.
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  But in terms of resume, it's hard to make the case, it's hard
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  to make the case for me that Mizzou and Tennessee should be
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  ranked over Illinois right now at this point in the season in
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  terms of their resumes. Because again, Illinois has the
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  best win by far against USC. And their losses came to really
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  good teams to Ohio State, ranked number one to Indiana.
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  But that was a blowout. So I get it.
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  And then also Washington, which is a pretty good team.
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  Washington receiving votes in both polls in the, in the
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  coaches poll, Washington is technically what, the 2620720820
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  9th team in the country in the coaches poll and Illinois is
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  actually the what, the 28th ranked team in the coaches poll.
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  And look, Illinois is the 27th ranked team in the AP poll, so
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  it's not like they're that far off from being ranked.
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  But I just, I, I find the argument kind of interesting.
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  So there you go. I'm not going to go too long,
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  but look, I think people know I'm an Ohio State fan.
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  I grew up in Big 10 country. I like to poke fun at the SEC.
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  We know the SEC has been great for years and years and years.
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  Still maybe the the best conference in terms of depth.
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  The Big 10 has kind of taken over winning national
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  championships the last couple years, Michigan and Ohio State.
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  Even last year Oregon was ranked number one for a huge part of
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  the season. Indiana has taken a step, but I
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  think it's fair to say that there's, look, I'm not going to
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  complain too much. I don't think there's really
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  that much SEC bias. I can nitpick an Illinois versus
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  a Mizzou, but it's really not that big of a deal.
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  Look, we'll, we'll be able to find out hopefully.
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  And don't tell me about bowl games.
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  I don't care about these bowl games if they're not in the
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  College Football Playoff where we don't have guys playing
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  because of opt outs. The transfer portal is open.
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  I mean, it'd be great if I could see all these seven and three
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  teams play each other. If you could see seven and
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  three, Mizzou versus 7 and three, Illinois.
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  If you could see, you know, 8 and two, USC versus 8 and two,
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  Vandy or at the end of the year, you know, 10 and two, nine and
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  three. You know what I'm talking about.
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  Whatever they end up with, you know, if they have 4 losses, 3
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  losses, 2 losses, that's where we can really see, you know,
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  who's better, Big 10 or SEC? If we see some of these teams
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  match up, I do think we're going to see some of these match ups
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  in the College Football Playoff. But it won't always be
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  undefeated versus undefeated. It won't always be one loss
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  versus one loss. It might be a A2 loss SEC team
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  versus A1 loss Big 10 or vice versa.
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  So it's not exactly apples to apples.
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  But anyway, some food for thought there.
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  So there you go. If you're one of my Saint Louis
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  mentioned you heard about it from me, Charlie Marlow.
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  So there you go, about a 15 minute video.
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  And yeah, I'd love to say there's this huge SEC bias in
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  the polling, maybe slightly, maybe slightly, but I can't be
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  too mad about it to be honest with you.
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  Eye test also matters. We shall see.
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  But there you go. Thanks for watching, guys.
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  Peace out.