MWC

For a few weeks now the football world has been abuzz with the idea that the MWC might be better than some of the BCS conferences this year. The Big East and the ACC are the top candidates, with a few people even willing to take shots at the Pac-10, given the numerous head-to-head matchups that have gone the way of the MWC. Good arguments can be made either way, and strength of conferences is always tough to pin down in a sport with so little overlap of scheduling. Not surprisingly, people in UT tend to be big MWC supporters. But as these things always go, the rest of the country is a bit more skeptical . . . or so I thought. This surprising poll is on ESPN today.


It might be a bit small to read, but 59% of the country thinks the MWC is stronger this season than either the ACC (26%) or the Big East (15%). As expected the MWC is getting huge results from the west where they are polling at 90%. But Pac-10 states are voting for them at about 80%, Big 12 states are at about 70%, SEC states are about 60% and Big 10 states at about 50%. The MWC is even winning in states that have ACC and Big East schools. Further, the MWC is second in every state except North Dakota, Vermont and New Hampshire, but those 3 have only combined for 14 votes, so that's a very small sample to make conclusions on. (Maine is the only other state with under 10 respondants.) (Also, MWC is tied with the ACC in Mass.)