Why do you defend your conference?

LMAO - Now this is a guy that truly understands the meaning of a Rivalry!

5 Stars - We Buckeye fans KNOW what it is like to be on the losing end of a game against our bitter rivals that costs us a shot at a National Championship - been there - done that - and TRUST ME when I say - having gotten the better of that team from up North for the last few years - including a win in the #1 vs. #2 match up... hmmm how many days has it been since Ohio State last lost to that team from up north?

1689 days since M*ch*g*n beat Ohio State and counting.  And since Adam Sandlar and the water boy aren't available to run RR's spread offense, sorry, you can't fit a square peg into a round hole - OSU dominance over M*ch*g*n is looking like it might stretch to over 2000 days.  But yes, nay sayers, I know that we still need to play the game.  But c'mon, really, does anyone expect RR to have a great first season out of the gate without the type of athletes he had at WVU?  I just don't see it.  I am thinking 9-4 and that is probably being generous.

Go Bucks!  BEAT M*CH*G*N!

I think you are being WAY too generous, when Rich "I plan to retire here" Fraudriguez came to WVU, he played his offense with Nehlen's (read B11 style) players and ended the year 3-8.

I have despised Pitt from the time I was in diapers, They payed us back last year for 1975. Conference team or not, football or syncronized swimming, my two favorite teams are WVU and whoever Pitt happens to be playing that week.

I usually don't defend anyone including my own team because normally actions speak louder than words--yeah I know that's trite but if your team is winning consistantly, not all the victories can be considered luck or flukes.  The only time I usually speak out (on my team) is if there is some misguided miscreant that's trying to make bad & they really don't know what they are talking about.

In so far as defending a conference--last year even after Kansas was 8-0 very few people wanted to recongnize they were a pretty decent team.  Everytime rankings were being discussed regardless where Kansas was ranked people would go Kansas?   And at some point the bulb in the brain should go on, but sometimes a little nudge goes a long way.

Now, the SOS issue is going to be problematic with $4.00 a gallon gas.  Even if team A would like to schedule a team from the northwest- regional- backwater conference & said team is 1800 miles away, they are probably going to sitck with the 1-AA school twenty miles donw the road.  So, the non-conference SOS may become sort of a moot point.

"Conference is like family.  You can complain about your brothers/sisters all you want, but you won't hear of anyone else doing it.  Also, I think it has something to do with regional pride.  Being from the South, I will always have a bias toward the SEC.    I don't like all of the teams in the league, but will always root for them when they play OOC."

Family that for the right price will change families, uh conferences.

Miami, BC, VT, TCU, Lousiville, USF, Cincinnati, Marshall, UTEP, Idaho, Temple, Idaho, New Mexico State, Rice, SMU, Tulsa all in the last few years.