College Football – If You Thought SEC Was the Toughest NCAA Conference, Think Again
There is so much buzz and hype about the Southeast Conference-better known as the SEC-you would think there are no other NCAA football conferences that can compare.
Even Jeff Sagarin in his Sagarin Ratings lists the SEC as the top conference with a central mean (that is Sagarin math talk) of 79.89 with the Pacific 10-better known as the Pac 10-second at 79.19. On a scale of 100 the difference is 70/100ths of 1, or close enough to not make a difference in my mind.
Ranked 11th among Division 1A conferences is Conference USA at 58.88. Three 1AA conferences are then rated above the last 1A conference-the Sun Belt-at 58.26.
Sagarin rates all of the 242 individual 1A and 1AA teams and then combines them among conferences to arrive at these figures.
I read other factors into his mathematical formula for deciding which conference is the toughest (best) conference.
Knowing that the SEC is legion for scheduling Division 1AA teams in its non-conference schedule, I suspect that the SEC’s strength of schedule (the quality of its opponents) may not be as strong. Turns out that I am right.
The “tough” SEC played exactly 10 Division 1AA opponents this season, more than any other conference in the country. By comparison, the Big 12 played 10, the ACC and Big Ten played 7 games, the Big East 6, and the Pac 10 only 2.
When I add up the strength of schedule for the 12 SEC teams I get an average of 30 compared to an average strength of schedule of 14 for the Pac 10. Who plays the tougher schedule between the top two dogs? It is easily the Pac 10.
If you are wondering, the team that has played the toughest schedule during the first 12 weeks of the 2007 college football season is the Washington Huskies, and that is why they are ranked No. 1 among the 242 Division 1A and 1AA schools.
For the record, Nebraska is No. 2, Stanford No. 3, California No. 4 and Colorado No. 5, so 3 of Top 5 teams in strength of schedule are from the Pac 10.
Please, do not give me this garbage about the SEC playing the toughest schedule. The facts and statistics say otherwise.
Another interesting fact of note is this: Since the NCAA established the Division 1A and 1AA separation in 1978, only 5 Division 1A schools have not played a Division 1AA school: Washington, Southern California, UCLA, Michigan State and Notre Dame. Again 3 of the 5 teams come from the Pac 10.
The SEC already has 7 of its 12 teams with 7 or more wins and bowl eligible by NCCA standards, and now you know one of the reasons why.
It is the same reason why Hawaii is unbeaten at 10-0, having defeated two 1AA schools in fattening up its impressive win record while racking up the 153rd toughest schedule against the other 119 Division 1A schools.
Sometimes a 1AA school can beat a 1A school (like Appalachian State beating Michigan at home 34-32), not because they are necessarily better but because the 1A school did not take them seriously.
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How to Setup an Internet Conference Call
It seems with the invention of the internet, everything is changing. The way we send information has been changed dramatically. People use to write a letter, stick it in an envelope, place the stamp on it, and mail it away. Now that letter has been turned into an instant telegram, compliments of your computer and the internet. Photos that took an hour or 2 to get developed, can now be transfered to you computer, digitally enhanced, and then printed with high quality, in a matter of minutes. It is no surprise that conference calls that were done over the phone, can now be done online.
An internet conference call is done via your computer. Luckily for you, you do not need a college “how to setup an internet conference call” course. Then again, you can’t jump right in and be a professional at it either. First you are going to need software that allows you to conduct a conference call over the internet. This part is not very hard considering that there are a number of companies that have software that let you host a conference call at little or no cost to you. The software you have setup will have a different overall view, and may be more complicated or less complicated then others.
Here is a basic example of creating a conference call on the Skype software.
Bring up the skype user window and find the tools area and click on it.
Find “Create Conference”
Click on it a new box will open.
A new box has just appeared, titled “Start a Skype Conference Call” Type in the topic of the Call, in the box.
Select up to 4 people who you wish to participate in the conference call.
After having them selected click the add button.
Once all names are listed in the “conference Participants” box click the start button. The participants will join in a few seconds.
Discuss what ever you need to during the call.
If finished press end call button.
Confirm that you want to end the call.
As you can see, it is quite simple to set a call up over the internet. During the call you can share information, files, video, and audio. Each program is different. Some may restrict the amount of information you send, while others may have no barriers on such things. It is true that these types of programs are similar to chat rooms and such, but they offer many more features and the ability to share sound and video. The best thing to do is try a few, before settling down with a specific type. Although you may be happy with your current internet conference call setup, one may be just around the corner that could be even better.
Are Free Conference Call Services Really Free?
We have all heard the expression “there is no such thing as a free lunch” but with so many companies purporting to offer free conference call services is the famous idiom outdated?
The answer depends on how you define the term “free”. After much research into this subject I have managed to come to some interesting conclusions. I have looked at the following available options to assess their effectiveness for business conference calls.
1. Free conference calls using Skype
2. Free telephone conferencing using non-geographic numbers (NGN’s)
Free conference calls using Skype
Many of you reading this will have heard of Skype which allows you to make free voice calls over the internet (Voice over Internet Protocol or VOIP for short). If have a PC or laptop and a good quality headset connected to a broadband internet service with sufficient bandwidth then you can hold a conference call with a limited number of participants without paying a thing.
The incremental cost of the conference call is zero, but the setup costs are considerable unless you already have the equipment described above. As the cost of computer equipment falls and bandwidths get better, more people than ever now have the required platform and hence Skype is an ideal solution for some people.
Our experiences with in call quality with Skype vary considerably. During quiet times when our internet connection is not busy we get excellent results in call quality, however it can be somewhat unreliable so we don’t consider it robust enough for important business calls or ones where there are a large number of people.
Skype summary: The actual conference calls are free, but you need to have invested in the computer equipment and internet connection first. Limited number of participants and lack of reliability make it unsuitable for key business conference calls, where reliability is a must. There are other VOIP services that may be more reliable and economical then Skype, here are some other VOIP services compared
Free telephone conferencing using non-geographic numbers (NGN’s)
This type of free telephone conferencing allows audio conferencing participants to dial into a non-geographic telephone number to hold their conference call. It’s important that you understand what a non-geographic number is and how telephone operators – or “telcos” – charge for calls to them.
As the name suggests, a non-geographic telephone number (NGN) is a telephone number that does not terminate at any fixed location. Instead, when you call an NGN, the telco redirects the call to a “real” telephone number. In the USA the most famous type of NGN is the 1-800 free phone number. When you call a 1-800 number you have no idea where the operator who takes your call is located, they could be anywhere in the world.
Of course, telcos are not in the business of giving away free calls, so someone somewhere has to pay. In the case of the 1-800 number, the company you are calling pays the telco for the cost of the call.
Another type of NGN is a premium rate number. In the UK there are an array of different number ranges some of which cost callers as much as 1.50GBP (nearly 3.00USD!) per minute per call, such as this service. These are often used for “adult” services and chat lines. Companies wishing to promote a premium rate service hire a premium rate number from the telco and advertise their services with the intention of generating large numbers of calls to that number.
When customers call the premium NGN, the telco bills the customer for the call and gives a percentage of the call revenue back to the company who rents the NGN from them. In effect the telco and the company renting the NGN are sharing the revenue from the call. The important point to note here is that customers pay the telco not the company who is renting the premium NGN.
Teleconferencing companies who offer free telephone conference call services use this mode. The commission which the telco pays the audio conference service provider is used to pay for running the conference bridge, advertise the service and (sometimes) to make a profit.
Some telephone conferencing companies advertise this type of audio conference as being a totally free service. But there is almost certainly a charge for the call taking place. Therefore, to benefit from this type of conference call service you need to find an operator who can host a call at an affordable rate with a reliable connection.
This is the closest thing you can get to a truly free telephone conferencing, as they use the cheapest type of revenue generating NGN available in the UK. Namely, one that begins with the dialling code 0844. Some other companies use 0870 or 0871 numbers which are more expensive.
NGN summary: NGN based free teleconferencing services can be useful for small companies and individuals with moderate audio conferencing requirements, however these type of services are usually very basic and not suitable for larger organisations. For larger businesses, supporting greater numbers of participants, teleconferencing services tend to be a better option. As they are more likely to offer the support needed to make the call run uninterrupted on a clear line.