NCAA Championships By Conference (2013-2014)

There is a lot of talk about which athletic conference is the best in the country. Usually, it defaults to the SEC because of their recent dominance in football. That conference sure has been successful, but as I have argued on here I believe that talk is inflated. Historically, the SEC has overrated their value in the sports landscape and their success. They also tend to take credit for things they don't deserve (like Ole Miss taking credit for an Alabama National Title because SEC!). Now, usually I do not try to indulge this talk, but sometimes I do. However, the SEC claimed 7 National Titles for the academic year (2013-2014) when they won 6 in NCAA sanctioned sports. They are claiming a title in the non-sanctioned sport of equestrian. That is like the Pac 12 counting a title in Ultimate Frisbee because Colorado won. I'd count Frisbee before I counted Equestrian, but that's just me. What's to be expected though when Auburn and Alabama claim national titles that don't exist all the time? Right?

Anyways, I decided to use the SEC's measuring stick since they are counting titles for the 2013-2014 academic year. However, I am only counting sports that are sanctioned by the NCAA. In order to save you time, I have separated these titles by conference. Additionally, I have only counted the traditional power (BCS) conferences.

ACC (5 Championships)
Women's Golf - Duke
Men's Lacrosse - Duke
Women's Lacrosse - Maryland (Leaving for the Big 10)
Football - Florida State
Men's Soccer - Notre Dame

The ACC had a strong showing during this past academic year with 5 championships. Eventhough one of those championships was by a team that is leaving the conference for the Big 10 with 14 teams. Louisville, will be taking Maryland's spot in the ACC and has just as good a shot to compete for titles next season. More importantly though, Louisville is much more competitive than Maryland in revenue sports adding to the conferences overall profile.

Florida State's win in the biggest money generating sport was huge for the ACC. However, I must admit that the win alone did not meet my expectations for Florida State overall. I thought that FSU would deliver two National Championships and they were very competitive in several, but not champions. The closest team was the Women's Soccer team that lost the championship to UCLA. Close doesn't count though and FSU fell short of my prediction. Can't complain about being champs in the greatest sport though.

Finally, Duke was huge this past year. They won the most championships in the conference with 2 and got much better in football. The Blue Devils took Johnny Football to the limit in the bowl game and reached the ACC Championship in Football for the 1st time in school history. Solid, but not spectacular year from the ACC as a whole.

American Athletic Conference (3 Championships)
Men's Basketball - UCONN
Women's Basketball - UCONN
Field Hockey - UCONN

The American Athletic Conference actually did pretty well on the championship front. This conference actually outperformed another power conference in the number of championships obtained. You will find that out later, but you will notice a trend in the national titles for the AAC. Every AAC title was won by UCONN. That's right, the UCONN Huskies won 3 National Titles in the 2013-2014 academic year. This school did a fantastic job in carrying the banner for the AAC. They owned the basketball world and showed up as big as possible in several sports. With UCONN tying a few other schools with 3 championships, the AAC should not be any more proud of UCONN. The question is whether UCONN will remain in the AAC much longer.

Big 10 (5 Championships)
Rowing - Ohio State
Fencing - Penn State
Men's Gymnastics - Michigan
Wrestling - Penn State
Women's Volleyball - Penn State

The Big 10 had a great year with 5 championships. They were led by a resurgent Penn State program that seems to have risen from the ashes of the scandal in a few sports. The Nittany Lions won 3 championships across their sports programs which is tied for tops in the country. Pretty amazing for a program that looked to be in shambles in the recent past. Their dominant volleyball team won another title and they were joined by Fencing and Wrestling on the championship front. A terrific season from Penn State.
The two other power programs from the conference (Michigan and Ohio State) also picked up a national title. Ohio State looks to be one of the favorites to play in the upcoming football playoff as well. The Big 10 is healthy as a conference on the championship front.

Big 12 (2 Championships)
Women's Gymnastics - Oklahoma (Co-Champion)
Rifle - West Virginia

The Big 12 struggled more than any other conference to get championships. These guys only picked up two championships for the entire conference and one of them was a split title. The other title was in rifle which many people didn't even know was a sanctioned sport. The Big 12 has got to pick it up. However, the Oklahoma football team is looking quite strong heading into the fall behind a big Sugar Bowl win over Alabama.

Pac 12 (10 Championships)
Men's Tennis - Southern California
Women's Tennis - UCLA
Outdoor Men's Track - Oregon
Women's Water Polo - Stanford
Men's Swimming and Diving - California
Men's Indoor Track - Oregon
Women's Indoor Track - Oregon
Women's Soccer - UCLA
Men's Water Polo - Southern California
Men's Cross Country - Colorado

The Pac 12 had a dominant 2013-2014 Academic Year. These guys won 10 championships for the conference during the year which was the most out of any conference. Three programs won multiple national titles out of the Pac 12. One of those programs tied for the most in the nation by winning 3 separate national championships. Absolutely tremendous year for the Pac 12 from top to bottom.

When most people think of the Oregon Ducks, they think of all the crazy uniform combinations that the football team wears. However, Oregon is the birthplace of Nike and it was born and breed because of track. It is one of the many reasons that Oregon's track team is consistently near the top. This year the track program was beyond awesome. Oregon track won three national championships this past academic year. The men won in both indoor and outdoor, while the women won indoor. Absolutely amazing year from Oregon track.
USC and UCLA were no slouches in the past academic year when it came to sports. Each of these programs picked up a pair of national championships. Seven national championships between three schools is absolutely an incredible feat. Those three schools won more national championships than any conference just by themselves. Don't look for them to stop either. Oregon and UCLA are both strong contenders for the newly created college football playoff.

SEC (6 Championships)
Baseball - Vanderbilt
Men's Golf - Alabama
Softball - Florida
Women's Track Outdoor - Texas A&M
Women's Gymnastics - Florida (Co-Champion)
Women's Swimming and Diving - Georgia

So, we see that the SEC won the 2nd highest number of championships as a conference. An absolutely amazing job by the SEC, but not the level that their fans are promoting. They should be thrilled that they won 6 championships and proud of the conference. Everyone should be celebrating the incredible season that Vanderbilt baseball had, but that is not how they roll in the SEC. This conference has to justify that it pummels the rest of the country. It is a strong conference and better than the competition most years, but let's take a chill pill.
The SEC's championship total was boosted by the ladies of the University of Florida. They won two national titles and did so in impressive fashion. (Side Note: Interesting how when FSU girls dominate Florida it is because they were a girl school and UF doesn't care, but when UF wins its parade time). Florida had a very strong year from their women's athletic program.
The biggest win for the SEC had to be Vanderbilt's baseball championship. That championship put the SEC total at 6 and allowed them to finish in second place ahead of the ACC. Had Vanderbilt lost to the Cavaliers, the ACC would have had 6 to the SEC's 5. That awesome series victory for Vanderbilt was the banner moment of the season for the SEC.

This conference will again be strong in the 2014-2015 school year. It has several championship contenders in several sports. Next year they may pass the Pac 12 in championships, but for this year the Pac 12 reigns supreme.

-Noland

Penn State Transfers So Far

A lot of people said in the wake of the Penn State Scandal that any punishment is not fair because it only punishes players and coaches who had nothing to do with the scandal. I said that argument was bogus for a couple of reasons. One of those reasons is that Bill O'Brien knew it was a mess when he took over. Sure, he didn't know to the degrees that the scandal took place, but after seeing a legendary coach fired for not coming forward when a child rapist was around, he couldn't have thought everything was perfect in Happy Valley. The other argument was about the players being punished. Well, as I argued then, the players could transfer without penalty. It may be much better for some of them who would otherwise have to sit out a year. This gives them a free out if the disagreed with what their university did. You would have to assume that many would appreciate that free out. Some players took advantage of it.
Today, former backup QB Rob Bolden jumped ship. He went to a better conference and better team in LSU. Coach Les Miles said that Bolden would have every oppurtunity to compete. Can you imagine if Bolden somehow wins the job and is in the national championship picture at LSU. Penn State had 0 chance of being in the national picture this year, scandal or no scandal. Bolden made out like a bandit. He now gets to use his final two years @ LSU and go for the glory.

Junior linebacker Khairi Fortt also jumped ship. Fortt was scheduled to be a starter at middle linebacker for the Nittany Lions. He is headed to California to play for Jed Tedford and the Bears. Fortt should make an immediate impact on the Cal defense.

Redshirt freshman safety Tim Buckley has also left Penn State. Buckley was the 1st player to transfer from Penn State. This guy couldn't wait to leave that program. He wasn't really committed to Penn State and hadn't played in a game yet, so he wanted to go home. The Raleigh native will do just that as he has transferred to NC State. Buckley played runningback, safety, and linebacker at high school in Raleigh. He has 4 years of eligibility remaining and is like a blue-chip recruit for the Wolfpack.

Another freshman who was not redshirted is heading to Rutgers instead of Penn State. True freshman DT Jamil Pollard is on his way to Rutgers. Pollard was one of the prizes of Bill O'Brien's first recruiting class.

2013 commitment Ross Douglas, a 4 star prospect, has decommitted and is headed to Michigan next year now. Now he'll get to beat Penn State up to 4 times in his college career.

Ryan Nowicki a tackle who is not listed on Penn State's depth chart has announced that he will transfer, but not to which school yet. Nowicki is not expected to be a big loss for the Nittany Lions.

There are two more transfers that are even more important to me. Both could help their respective teams compete for a national championship.

First, we will go with who is considered the best player to leave Penn State so far. Silas Redd, Penn State's leading rusher, is leaving Penn State for the USC Trojans. The Trojans already considered a top title contender now have a dynamic runningback to add to their backfield. Redd has 2 years of eligibility remaining and will try to deliver a championship to the Trojans. USC fans have to be ecstatic. Redd had 1241 yards and 7 touchdowns last season for Penn State.

Finally, comes the news that affects all of us Seminole fans. We got one of the transfers as well. Penn State tight end Kevin Haplea is coming to FSU. Haplea played in every game and is a blocking specialist. He helped Redd reach his outstanding rushing totals. He caught 3 passes last year and had a touchdown as well. Expect Haplea in on many goal line situations. We had to move Dan Hicks over from defense to tight end after losing two last season and now we got a great blocking tight end. Haplea and Nick O'Leary should form an excellent tight end combo. The pieces are in place for a big season from the Seminoles.

 Expect more transfers from Penn State in the near future. The exodus does not look finished, especially with Redd out of the picture.

In a slightly related and highly idiotic story, the NCAA has picked George Mitchell to serve as Penn State's athletic integrity monitor. Really, George Mitchell? Mitchell is the same guy that named David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez as player A and player B on his report because he was a Red Sox fan and didn't want them exposed. How can you possibly expect him to be fair and impartial? The guy basically was crucifying Petite and Clemens and let Ortiz walk scott free. It took years until Ortiz was exposed. Mitchell is a joke. Horrible decision NCAA.

-Noland