The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- October 12, 1998

Association-wide -- SEC continues trend of dominating nonconference foes

League ranks first among I-A conferences for 11th time in 14 years; Big 12, Pac-10 gaining

BY GARY K. JOHNSON
STAFF WRITER

The Southeastern Conference once again is atop the nation's best when playing Division I-A football opponents from other conferences. The Big 12 and Pacific-10 confer-

ences, however, are gaining ground.

The SEC has posted the nation's best nonconference winning percentage 11 times in the last 14 years, including five straight times from 1991 through 1995. Last year, the

SEC easily finished on top with a record .889 (32-4) winning percentage, well ahead of the Pac-10's .767 (23-7).

This year, the SEC is at an .800 clip while the Big 12 is at .781 and the Pac-10 is .778.

Three conferences already have at least 20 nonconference wins. They are the Big 12 (25-7), the Big Ten Conference (22-12) and the Pac-10 (21-6). While the SEC leads in winning percentage, it has played fewer games against other conferences and holds a 16-4 record.

In the winning-percentage race, the Big Ten is fourth at .647, the Atlantic Coast Conference is fifth at .588 (10-7) and the Big East Conference is sixth at .556 (10-8). No other conference is above the .500 mark.

Of the 12 teams in the SEC, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi and Tennessee all have 2-0 records against nonconference I-A opponents. None of the 12 SEC teams has played more than two nonconference I-A games thus far.

The conference is 2-0 against I-AA competition this year.

The Pac-10 is the only conference so far this season to play all its games against I-A competition.

Last season, the SEC's .889 nonconference winning percentage demolished the record high for the past two decades, which had been held jointly by the SEC and the Pac-10. The highest nonconference winning percentage in the 1980s was posted by the Pac-10 in 1988 when it compiled a .794 (27-7) winning percentage. The SEC equaled that mark in 1995 for the previous best in the 1990s.

Last year, five conferences finished above the .500 mark in nonconference competition. Besides the SEC and Pac-10, the other I-A conferences finishing above .500 were the Big Ten (.694, 25-11), the Atlantic Coast (.680, 17-8) and the Big 12 (.639, 23-13).

Division I-A independent teams were 22-43 for a .338 winning percentage last season, while this season they are slightly better at 9-17 (.346).

1998 I-A Conference Records vs. Division I-A Nonconference Opponents (through October 3)*

Conference -- W -- L -- Pct.

Southeastern -- 16 -- 4 -- .800

Big 12 -- 25 -- 7 -- .781

Pacific-10 -- 21 -- 6 -- .778

Big Ten -- 22 -- 12 -- .647

Atlantic Coast -- 10 -- 7 -- .588

Big East -- 10 -- 8 -- .556

Independents -- 9 -- 17 -- .346

Western Athletic -- 12 -- 31 -- .279

Conference USA -- 6 -- 16 -- .273

Big West -- 6 -- 17 -- .261

Mid-American -- 6 -- 18 -- .250

*Games against Division I-AA opponents are deleted due to the high winning percentage of the Division I-A teams and the wide variation in the number of such games among conferences.

Atlantic 10 on top in I-AA

Last season, Division I-AA crowned a new nonconference champion after four consecutive titles for the Big Sky Conference. The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference took last year's crown, but this year there is another conference atop the standings.

The Atlantic 10 Conference, formerly known as the Yankee Conference, currently is on top with a 10-1 record and a .909 winning percentage against nonconference competition. The Big Sky, in pursuit of regaining the title, is close behind at 7-1 (.875).

Five other conferences are playing above .500 so far this season in nonconference competition. They are the Southern Conference at 6-3 (.667), the Patriot League at 12-8 (.600), the Southland Conference at 9-6 (.600), the Mid-Eastern Athletic at 6-4 (.600) and the Gateway Conference at 4-3 (.571). The Pioneer Conference is 5-5 (.500).

The independents, a group of 15 teams, have played 38 games against I-AA teams this season and have won 14 for a winning percentage of .368.

Last season, the Mid-Eastern led the division at .688 (11-5), followed by the Atlantic 10 (.636, 14-8) and the Ivy Group (.625, 15-9).

While the SEC has been dominating the I-A nonconference title through the years, several conferences were at the top in the I-AA conference before the Big Sky's recent domination. Six years ago, the Gateway won by a landslide with an .810 winning percentage (15-2-2), while in 1992 the Yankee (.700) just edged the Southern Conference (.688).

1998 I-AA Conference Records vs. Division I-AA Nonconference Opponents (through October 3)*

Conference -- W -- L -- Pct.

Atlantic 10 -- 10 -- 1 -- .909

Big Sky -- 7 -- 1 -- .875

Southern -- 6 -- 3 -- .667

Mid-Eastern -- 6 -- 4 -- .600

Patriot -- 12 -- 8 -- .600

Southland -- 9 -- 6 -- .600

Gateway -- 4 -- 3 -- .571

Pioneer -- 5 -- 5 -- .500

Ohio Valley -- 4 -- 5 -- .444

Metro Atlantic -- 3 -- 4 -- .429

Ivy -- 6 -- 10 -- .375

Independents -- 4 -- 24 -- .368

Northeast -- 2 -- 7 -- .222

Southwestern -- 1 -- 8 -- .111

*Games against Division I-A opponents are deleted because some I-AA conferences play several such games, some play few and still others none. Games against teams in Divisions II and III or the NAIA also are deleted for the same reasons.