Phil Steele's Daily Blog - Thursday July 2nd

Today we will go back to college football and go over the teams of the decade for 3 BCS conferences. I will go over who the current teams of the decade are for each and if anyone can catch them with a big year this year. This will be in 3 parts with the Big 10, Big East and ACC today. I will do the other 3 BCS conferences on another blog and then the non BCS conferences on a 3rd blog. Finally I will add in final AP rankings, BCS bowl wins and National Championships and come up with who the current leader is for team of the decade and if anyone can catch them this final year.

I will start with the Big Ten. Here are the current conference records in the Big Ten for this decade.

Big Ten Titles or co-titles this decade. Ohio State 5, Michigan 3, Penn St 2, Iowa 2, Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois all tied with 1.

Ohio State clearly looks like the winner of the Big Tens team of the decade. About the only way they could not win it is if Michigan goes 8-0 in Big Ten play this year and Ohio St goes 2-6 or worse than the Wolverines would have the best overall record and only be one behind in titles.

The only teams not to win at least a share of the title this decade are Indiana, Minnesota, Mich St and very surprisingly Wisconsin. The Badgers won the Big Ten in 1999 and have played in 4 Jan 1 bowl games but not once did they even tie for the title!

Iowa and Penn St will be battling it out for 3rd place behind the Big 2. It will be interesting to see if Purdue can hang onto a winning record this decade as they are 37-35 and need a 4-4 record to stay above .500.

Now lets look at the Big East. This one was not as easy for me to research. At the start of the decade it was Miami Florida, Virginia Tech, Pitt, Syracuse, BC, WV, Temple and Rutgers. Temple was kicked out of the league in favor of Connecticut. Miami and Virginia Tech bolted the league for the ACC after the 2004 season and Boston College won the title in 2004 (7 team league) and left for the ACC in 2005. They added in USF, Cincinnati and Louisville in 2005. Here are the Big East records for this decade.

Here are the Big East titles or co titles won this decade. Miami Florida 4, West Virginia 4, Boston College 1, Pitt 1, Syracuse 1, Louisville 1, Connecticut 1, and Cincinnati 1.

Clearly this is a two horse race and while the numbers point to Miami Florida which opened up the decade at 27-1 with 3 outright and 1 shared title in 4 years, they left the league for the ACC. Their 27 total wins in the Big East are STILL 3rd best this decade. My team of the decade regardless of this years results will be West Virginia. They tie Miami for 4 titles and their 42 wins are 6 more than Pitt. I guess if Pitt went 7-0 and WV went 0-7 Pitt would have more wins this decade so I will hold the door open a crack for them but I cant envision WV even having a losing season in the Big East. Look at the job Schiano has done at Rutgers as they are just 20-42 in the league this decade but are now a perrinial bowl team.

Now lets look at the ACC. The ACC began the decade as a 9 team league then they added Virginia Tech and Miami Florida in 2004 and Boston College in 2005. Here are the standings for the ACC for this decade.

Here are the ACC titles or co titles won this decade. In 2006 Georgia Tech had the best record in the regular season but did not win the ACC title game so I awarded them a co-title. I did the same in 2005 when Virginia Tech was 7-1 with the best record in the ACC but lost the title game to Florida St.
Florida St and Virginia Tech 4 each. Maryland, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest 1 each.

At the start of the decade it looked like it would be a slam dunk for Florida St as from 1992 to 2000 they were an amazing 70-2 in ACC play over the 9 years! Virginia Tech has taken the conference by storm since arriving in 2004 as they won the league title their 1st year and have won 3 outright titles and had the best record in '05. Since joining they have the best winning % at 34-9 79% but Florida St has the most wins this decade at 52-21. These two teams will be the preseason favorites to meet in the ACC title game and if they do, the winner deserves the crown of ACC team of the decade! Look at how poorly Duke has finished with just 4 ACC wins over 9 years!

63 DAYS UNTIL THE FIRST COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME!!