B1G vs. SEC for Miami: Realignment Reality Check - Poll

[OBLIVION]

Weather - Miami has an 8-13 record in games played under 50 degrees, dating back to 2006. That’s a wonderful 39% winning percentage.

From 2006 through 2023, Miami went 130–97 overall, which is a .573 winning percentage. In the 21 games that supposedly qualify as being played under 50°F, Miami went 8–13, or .381.

Yes, that's a worse winning percentage, but 21 games spread across 18 seasons is an extremely small sample size. And when you put it into the context of Miami's overall performance during that same period, it says at least as much about the fact that Miami had some pretty bad football teams during those years as it does about the temperature.

There’s another piece of context being left out. When you look back at those schedules, Miami generally wasn't playing a ton of November road games in cold-weather environments. At most, we had three November road games in a season, but more commonly it was two and sometimes only one.

So if the argument is that Miami is somehow incapable of playing in cold weather, the actual schedule history doesn't provide a very large sample to support that conclusion. We're talking about 21 games over 18 seasons, during a period when Miami was .573 overall. That's not enough data to separate "Miami struggles in cold weather" from "Miami had a lot of mediocre-to-bad teams during that stretch."

And there are even examples that directly push back on the idea that Miami simply can't win in the cold. Miami has beaten Pittsburgh in cold-weather games, including a 2003 road game at Heinz Field when temperatures were in the 20s. Then in 2013, Miami beat Pitt at home in temperatures in the 30s.

So this isn't some hypothetical argument about whether Miami could win in cold weather. We've literally done it. If we're going to use an 8–13 record as evidence that Miami can't handle cold weather, then we also need to acknowledge the small sample size, the quality of the Miami teams during that period, how infrequently Miami actually played these games, and the fact that there are documented examples of Miami winning when it was genuinely cold.

The numbers are worth discussing, but they don't prove what some people are trying to make them prove.

 

[OBLIVION]

We've been a dog**** program since 2006. What were the teams we lost to in that span?

Does than include the meathead yankee stadium grunt bowl against Rutgers? We lost that game because we sucked and our coaching sucked, not because we could not acclimate to the weather?

Does it include the half-back pass in the snow?

Losing to Pitt in 2017 was not weather related.

We might need to create an all Florida league or make sure we don’t leave the state after September.

November 7th is getting scary.

 

[GladeCane]

True, but who did we play above the Mason Dixon line in the Big East?

Syracuse was indoors.

So that leaves Pitt, Temple, BC, Rutgers, and W. Virginia. Not exactly a Murderers row.

We were 5-1 at Morgantown during the BE days.

1 win was an absolute miracle (Tremain Mack game) and two games we won by 3 points.

Before the Big East, Miami played home/away almost yearly against ND and PSU, and i don't recall weather ever being an issue for Miami. In fact, the game that started the UM dynasty, was Jim Kelly's first start, where he led UM to an upset at Happy Valley in low 40 degree weather.

 

[RVACane]

You kind of just made his point for him.

You were in shorts in 54*, South Floridians were in winter coats.
Where do you think the majority of our players come from?

And it doesn’t matter how good of shape you’re in. UM didn’t just set the record for home wins because they were good, they were, but northern teams came down here and couldn’t handle the heat, especially when we made our schedules and didn’t waste September/October games at 7:30pm.

The Big 10 isn’t going to help us. They are run by OSU and Michigan. You can guarantee our schedule will suck donkey balls, every year.

They are not going to schedule us to our advantages. We will play at Minnesota, OSU, Michigan, Notre Dame most likely, Iowa, Rutgers, Illinois, Indiana etc., in November games guaranteed.

Our home games early in the season will be at night or against OOC teams.

“It’s not like it used to be”. Weather is cyclical. I’ve been in Minnesota at Thanksgiving when they had a three day blizzard of -32* and 2’ of snow.

****, I used to have Faculty season tickets at Vanderbilt and went to a game in early November and it snowed. Spurrier was the HC of SCarolina and Vanderbilt beat them. And that’s just Nashville.

People from up north are used to cold weather and diminish what it’s like to play at noon in Miami in September.
People from South Florida, are used to hot weather and think the cold weather won’t be an issue.

Most of the people voting for the Big 10, have probably never lived in and played football in both extremes, to even comment intelligently on the issue.

You adapt, you just don’t adapt in 2 days.

What have you done to earn a “” from Tony Facepalms???

@Tony4Canes, where has he sinned against thee?

 

[TboneJones]

Weather was an issue for us because we weren't fielding good teams back then. Get over this SEC stuff. They don't want Miami b/c Miami would outshine all their other institutions.

 

[Tony4Canes]

What have you done to earn a “” from Tony Facepalms???

@Tony4Canes, where has he sinned against thee?

Pretty much all of his ****** post

 

[RVACane]

Pretty much all of his ****** post

 

[RVACane]

 

[RF-4CCane]

Before the Big East, Miami played home/away almost yearly against ND and PSU, and i don't recall weather ever being an issue for Miami. In fact, the game that started the UM dynasty, was Jim Kelly's first start, where he led UM to an upset at Happy Valley in low 40 degree weather.

Every game we played against ND from 1980 forward, at South Bend was in October. Generally early October. The latest we ever played at South Bend was October 29th and we lost.

We’ve played PSU three times at State College from 1980 forward.
Once in September, once in early October and once on November 1st.
We lost the November 1st game.

Jim Kelly lost the only game he played at PSU in 1980.
His win was in 1981 at the OB.

Kelly’s wins in 1981 against PSU and ND are the exact reason I became a Canes fan, in 1981.

 

[RVACane]

Weather was an issue for us because we weren't fielding good teams back then. Get over this SEC stuff. They don't want Miami b/c Miami would outshine all their other institutions.

We don’t fit in with their schools and student bodies culturally.

 

[futurecane]

Every game we played against ND from 1980 forward, at South Bend was in October. Generally early October. The latest we ever played at South Bend was October 29th and we lost.

We’ve played PSU three times at State College from 1980 forward.
Once in September, once in early October and once on November 1st.
We lost the November 1st game.

Jim Kelly lost the only game he played at PSU in 1980.
His win was in 1981 at the OB.

Kelly’s wins in 1981 against PSU and ND are the exact reason I became a Canes fan, in 1981.

How dare you bring facts into this discussion! The hurricanes are cold weather machines, our 38% percent cold weather win rate will lay waste to the B1G.

Zero chance we lose to Wisconsin in cold weather.

 

[Brooklyndee]

Everyone keeps debating where Miami should end up when the inevitable happens and it’s time to go to a Power 2 conference. Please vote below, and explain why (especially if you prefer the B1G)…

For the purposes of this, I added FSU, Clemson and NC to the SEC, and Notre Dame to the B1G.

I vote for the SEC, and here is why:

1. Roster Footprint

• SEC Territory (~79% of current roster): Nearly 80% of the entire locker room comes from SEC country (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina). That means families can actually drive or catch quick 1-2 hour flights to almost every single road game.
• B1G Territory (~17% of current roster): We pull some talent out of California, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Nebraska, but that's still under a fifth of the team. Sending South Florida kids to Eugene, East Lansing, or Iowa City is a much tougher sell for local families, especially in November!
• Other (~4%): Nevada, Virginia, Idaho, and international roots.

2. Travel Math

If Miami visits every road venue in each league:

• SEC: ~26,900 total round-trip miles (~1,790 miles per trip)
• Big Ten: ~48,820 total round-trip miles (~2,870 miles per trip)

Joining the Big Ten adds nearly 22,000 extra flight miles (+81%). In fact, just four West Coast trips (USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington) equal almost half of an entire SEC schedule.

3. Culture & Non-Revenue Sports

B1G travel would butcher baseball, soccer, and volleyball schedules with 5-hour midweek flights. Plus, regional SEC matchups (Florida, FSU, Clemson, UNC, LSU, Georgia) match our fan culture far better than cold November trips to Minneapolis or Madison.

Member Teams:

SEC (19): Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt.

Big Ten (19): Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Washington, Wisconsin.

I know about the AAU status, media rights, etc - but looking at it from a pure football standpoint, the SEC makes sense. We’ve played and won National Championships and huge games against Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, FSU, Clemson, Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, Georgia, Texas A&M… I couldn’t say that for 80% of the B1G, except Ohio State, Notre Dame, and maybe a Michigan/UCLA.

Do you really want to go to a game in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Maryland or Ohio in November? Seriously?

It's irrelevant a preference as a fan or even as a university. Reality is ufag has made it known they're VERY against us joining the sec as well as uga. They have controlling votes for acceptance. We will be going to the big 10. Not debatable unless some wild **** occurs that changes at the least ufag & uga minds on us.



Common sense is also our footprint isn't residing in the sec. The sec is basically all made up of backwood, hic, in breeder towns that live and die for foosball. Our demographic and our alumni base doesn't come from moonshine smugglers and their relatives. It comes from large cities and their neighboring towns. That's the big10 ladies and gents. One step further would also be the logic of why in the **** would we wanna expose more of our recruits that much more so to the game day experiences and fanbases of sec football... People can say what they want about we go hard for big games etc. ALL OF THE SEC goes hard the entire weekend for their games. Tailgating in sec country is the equivalent of NASCAR basically. ***** wild. We don't want to live in that world

 

[RVACane]

How dare you bring facts into this discussion! The hurricanes are cold weather machines, our 38% percent cold weather win rate will lay waste to the B1G.

Zero chance we lose to Wisconsin in cold weather.

The school’s not making the decision based on the same basis as you. They’re looking at the institutional cooperation in research and funding opportunities as part of the B1G which are significant.

Sure the SEC is a more attractive football conference. That’s just one part of it though, notwithstanding that the B1G has had more success lately.

Additionally, I never expected the SEC to invite us to join and still don’t so I don’t think this goes anywhere. I don’t think they want us in there with an SEC patch, recruiting in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and similar.

 

[jvpoctober]

SEC because a 3000 mile trip to play Washington sounds horrible.

 

[futurecane]

Good thing we are talking about this on a message board, and expressing preference - either way, we will make a decision in the coming years, and the Hurricanes will be better or worse as a result.

As to horrible cities in the South, I think there are worse places to be - such as East Lansing, wherever the **** Iowa plays, etc.

We shall see. If the Hurricanes end up in the B1G, I never want to hear any complaining about SEC favoritism; you made your bed, enjoy the smell.

 

[cookies]

If we had the SEC on our mind, there’d be no need to ask for an expansion from 20 to 22 in this letter considering the SEC has 16 schools. Not to even mention the whole fact that ESPN backs both the ACC and SEC & they have a billion dollar financial interest in not seeing one of its 2 exclusive partners have its arms, legs, and head cutoff.

 

[RVACane]

If the Hurricanes end up in the B1G, I never want to hear any complaining about SEC favoritism; you made your bed, enjoy the smell.

No one here has a choice, the school does, and that choice likely doesn’t not include the option to join the SEC so what are you even going on about with this in here???

 

[MiamisMoperiestMopes]

Purely game and atmosphere give me SEC.

Travel wise being in the west, I’ll take B10 (even without the west coast teams).

Not overly concerned about weather. Kind of a luck of the draw but end of November skews pretty pretty crappy in B10.

this is based on last two years. Not scientific and put Together by ChatGPT. Median temps of b10 and sec by week and the avg of the below median temps. Game time could skew as well.

 

[futurecane]

Common sense is also our footprint isn't residing in the sec. The sec is basically all made up of backwood, hic, in breeder towns that live and die for foosball.

What schools, besides BC/UCLA/USC, would match our footprint? Every university is basically in a backwoods inbreeder town, no matter the conference. Have you ever been to some of these “towns”?