What do you think of the East Coast bias in college football?

Question

Do you think it exists? It certainly looks like western conferences are more underrated then eastern conferences.

http://preseason.stassen.com/over-under/conferences.html

Answer 1

The media seems to cover the same teams all the time and ignore those out-of-the-blue teams that are having one of a kind years. The Big 10 will always be Michigan, Ohio State and Penn St. to the media. I swear you heard more about Penn St. when they were losing then you did about Iowa when they were winning. Miami will always be in the spotlight as will the traditional top tier of the SEC. Good luck to you if you're a Mississippi or a Purdue having a great year; you're still going to be covered just below the 'Bamas and the Buckeyes.

Louisville has come into its own over the last five or so years, but how long did it take for the media to start covering them as contenders? Notre Dame, on the other hand, has been out of it for a decade until last year and yet they've never been out of the news.

The problem with the west coast is that few teams out here (I'm in L.A.) have any of that traditional powerhouse cachet with the media. USC, sure. Washington had some for a while, and UCLA has a certain allure regardless of how they're doing. But otherwise, there are no "traditional" powers -- and that leads to a big media vacuum. Boise St. and, until this year, Fresno St. have had some great teams but saying Boise St. is undefeated (are they? I don't know, frankly) doesn't do as much for the media as saying [powerhouse and media favorite] Miami lost another game.

(By the way, college basketball is, in my opinion, covered pretty much the same way. And unfortunately a lot of this excessive coverage of the "big" teams is a self-fulfilling prophecy: because college hoop turns on getting only a handful of big name recruits -- as opposed to football where a single recruit rarely makes any difference -- featuring the "traditional" teams in the media tends to make them more visible to blue chippers who then, strangely enough, tend to choose to attend them.)

Answer 2

Basically there is a lot more talent and high quality teams in the east. Plus a lot of the games are on later. Keep in mind if there was a real east coast bias would USC still be 2/3 in the country after losing all that talent. I personally say that its pretty level anymore. College football Saturday is an all day event now. Start at noon est and go until 11pm or later if you want too. The main reason that you hear more about the east is that most of the big teams are in the east and most of the population of the country is east. Right now the best football is in the Midwest.

Answer 3

No, the team that gets the main exposure is USC, a west coast team. in actual actuality that different then Oregon and USCs wins, not one of the different %10 wins have been against astonishing high quality warring parties. As for Utah, its no longer a east coast bias, its a BCS convention bias. Plus, its no longer particularly trustworthy beacuse virtually all the non BCS conferences are interior the middle or western area of the country. Dont even attempt to argue that. USC gets a a million/2 an hour on sportscenter everytime Pete Carrol sneezes. provide me a injury.

Answer 4

Break up the PAC 10! Let's put USC in the SEC and see them hang with Florida or Tennessee. Bring UCLA to the Big 12 and let Bevo dance on them. Put Washington in the Big 12 and let them make one trip to The Big House or The Shoe. What was that you asked about East Coast bias?

Answer 5

There's a natural bias to the traditional powers most of whom are in the East.

Notre Dame is another story. That comes down to sportswriter's religion man.

Answer 6

its not a bias its just that nobody stays up late to watch the west coast games... the teams that are good in the west are ranked and the ones that arent very good arent... plain and simple

Answer 7

games are on too late, and most teams out west do suck, the ones that don't, get their props. look at cal, a few years ago. they got passed by for a bcs game by texas. cal then got the beat down by texas tech, and texas won the rose bowl