Brady Hoke channels his inner Bob Stoops

by:Andrew McCarthy06/22/13
011211_UM FBC HOKE PRESS CONF. 22 LON   Anybody have a tiny violin that I can borrow? Brady Hoke's latest comments might sound a little better with sad, melancholic music playing in the background.   Hoke, like our own coach's elder brother, is sick and tired of the SEC being awesome. In an interview with a Cleveland radio station, the Michigan Man was a little sensitive about the (accurate) portrayal of the Big Ten as a middling conference in comparison to the SEC, saying: "I think people get a little overly zealous when they think the SEC is (the only conference) where they play football... I think when you look at the track record of the Big Ten, (we) play awfully good football."   Oh, Brady. No you don't.   As CBS college football writer Jerry Hinnen points out, if the Big Ten plays good football, it certainly doesn't carry over to the postseason (SEC teams are 7-2 in bowl games against the Big Ten the last 3 years).   That said though, Hoke's bitterness towards God's conference has surprisingly little to do with memories of Jadeveon Clowney decapitating his players. I'll let Hinnen explain:  
As Brian Cook of MGoBlog recently detailed, Kentucky's recruiting push into the Buckeye State under Ohio-connected Mark Stoops -- eight of the Wildcats' 18 current commitments in their seventh-ranked class hail from Ohio -- has meant several quality recruits that might otherwise have played for the Big Ten's middle class will instead play for one of the SEC's traditional doormats. Among the top 20 recruits in Ohio for 2014, Kentucky's commitments double the number for all Big Ten schools other than Michigan and Ohio State, four to two. Thanks to Butch Jones' Cincinnati connections, Tennessee's surprising class also includes two recruits from Ohio and one from Illinois.   If that trend continues, it will make the SEC East that much stronger, the Big Ten's rank and file that much weaker, and the schedules for Hoke and Meyer -- who also complained not so long ago about the Big Ten's recruiting -- that much more of a hindrance as they chase a playoff berth.   Why does Brady Hoke care about the college football world being "overly zealous" about the SEC? Because, most likely, that zealousness is making the "come play in the SEC" argument that much more effective -- and it's an argument that's tangibly damaging his league and his program.
  Get over it, Brady. Sometimes Stoops just happens.     @McCarthyKSR

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