Contrary to lazy generalizations, bowl season didn't 'expose' B1G

When Stanford’s Kyle Murphy said that the B1G was “exposed” during bowl season, I couldn’t help but question his word choice.

I get that his team just completely dismantled Iowa. I get that Michigan State was throttled by Alabama. I get that Northwestern laid an egg against Tennessee. Because of those three losses, the B1G was an easy punching bag for those that like to hammer home sweeping generalizations. After all, they’re easy and they don’t require any in-depth thinking.

Go figure that I would accuse a Stanford student of being lazy.

So let’s take a closer look at Murphy’s point, which was actually made to show why an eight-team playoff is necessary. In case he forgot, the B1G would’ve actually had three teams in an eight-team playoff while the Pac-12 would’ve only had one.

Just sayin’.

But Iowa and Michigan State were both worthy of top-eight spots, and frankly, nobody in America would’ve rightly argued otherwise.

In a Power Five conference, you can get lucky with the schedule every once in a while. Iowa did. There’s no doubt about that. Did they have the talent of a typical 12-0 team? Certainly not. But when you play in a Power Five conference, you’re bound to run into at least one matchup that gives you fits. Just ask Alabama, who saw its vaunted defense get gashed by Ole Miss’ up-tempo attack.

Iowa never so much as trailed in the fourth quarter until the B1G Championship. You’re a top-eight team in the country if you do that for 12 straight games. No question.

Stanford should know as well as anyone that everyone can have a bad day. It did against Northwestern in the opener, which proved to be the the main thing that held the Cardinal outside of the College Football Playoff.

Football always has and always will be decided by matchups. Whichever team can exploit a matchup is going to be successful. Tennessee was able to exploit the fact that Northwestern looks like a cellar-dweller when it plays from behind. Iowa did that to Northwestern, as did Michigan.

Does that mean Northwestern loaded up on B1G cupcakes and had no business being on the same field as Tennessee? No. Even B1G doubters could point to the Wildcats’ non-conference wins against Stanford and at Duke and realize that they belonged.

Three individual B1G teams were dominated by their individual matchups on one individual day. The most noteworthy, of course, was Michigan State against Alabama. With the nation watching, conference arguments are weighted heavily on best vs. best. I’m not saying that’s the only determining factor for conference strength, but it’s a big one.

Still, blowout loss aside, Michigan State wasn’t “exposed” by Alabama or the SEC. Teams that play Michigan State’s loaded schedule don’t get “exposed” by one game against a national title contender. The Spartans weren’t on Alabama’s level. They might not have won if they played 10 straight weeks at a neutral site. The matchup obviously wasn’t a good one.

But that doesn’t mean every B1G team would’ve put up that kind of effort. Maybe Ohio State could’ve beaten Alabama. Maybe nobody could’ve beaten Alabama on December 31, 2015. We’ll never know.

But this idea of scrapping an entire regular season and writing off a conference because of how it performed in bowl season is foolish.

Why can’t we just treat the facts as facts? The B1G had a better regular season than the SEC and Pac-12, and the SEC and Pac-12 had better bowl seasons than the B1G. Last year, it was the other way around.

If the B1G was overhyped, then why did Michigan and Ohio State light up the scoreboard against defenses loaded with NFL draft picks. Why did Nebraska and Wisconsin use blue-collar, midwest football to beat a couple of high-flying Pac-12 teams?

Matchups. It’s all about matchups.

So let’s put an end to the notion that the conference with five top-14 teams was “exposed” because of the way three of them played on one day in a four-month season.

What Murphy and others forget is that college football is not a black and white business. Nothing was exposed except our constant desire to feel like we have everything figured out.