College Football Thread v5.0

[bicranium]

Also, a solid burn from UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel with regards to the SEC's ridiculous overranking...

 

"I know how to become a top 5 team. Just play Texas A&M."

 

I've already explained the bullshit ranking disaster that is the SEC and how it all began with A&M's thrashing of South Carolina in week 1 but it's funny to hear a coach come out and say it.

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

Hopefully USC can beat Notre Dame. I personally think if you don't play in a conference championsihp game, you shouldn't be allowed in the playoffs. It is an unfair advantage to those teams that don't have to play 1 extra game (Big12 and independents).

[bicranium]

ND once again finagled their way into a special agreement with regards to this playoff thing just like they had with the BCS. My friend just asked me what the deal was with ND/ACC yesterday so I found this for clarification... http://espn.go.com/blog/notre-dame-football/post/_/id/14424/clarifying-the-acc-arrangement

 

It doesn't really have any bearing on the playoff I guess but it's still annoying that they get ACC-like benefits while only having to play 5 of their teams a year.

[o0n8]

Also, a solid burn from UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel with regards to the SEC's ridiculous overranking...

 

"I know how to become a top 5 team. Just play Texas A&M."

 

I've already explained the bullshit ranking disaster that is the SEC and how it all began with A&M's thrashing of South Carolina in week 1 but it's funny to hear a coach come out and say it.

I thought that was great.

 

And the best sign at Game Day

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

The Southeastern Conference has reached a new milestone in The Associated Press college football poll, becoming the first league to place four teams in the top five -- all from the western division.

 

Alabama is #4, LOL! Last week people were saying they weren't a good team, suddenly because they beat a bad A&M team they are world beaters.

 

OSU as I predicted remains at 13, behind Baylor. Coaches poll has OSU at 12 and MSU at #5 ahead of Auburn.

 

One team to watch that no one is really talking about is 7-0 Marshall. If they do undefeated, I don't know how they wouldn't have a case to make the playoffs over a 1 loss team. Wasn't the reason for the playoffs to give everyone an equal chance?

[Lauren]

Well they were #7 before. You have two teams above them lose and then they put a thrashing on A&M. There one loss was to Ole Miss. It's not like bama was #20 and jumped to #4.

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

They shouldn't have been #7 to begin with in my opinion. Must be nice to be in the SEC and lose, you only drop a couple spots, still able to crawl back into top 5 in a week or two.

[Lauren]

I know you are a OSU nutswinger, but do you honestly think they are a better team then any of the top sec west teams( ole miss, miss at, bama or auburn),Michigan st or Oregon even?

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

Haha i've been called an OSU hater and now a nutswinger, I am so confused!!! Yes I would put the current OSU team (not the one that played Va Tech) up against any one of those 4 you mentioned. I do not think the Mississippi teams are as good as their billing, Bama on offense does not scare me at all and Auburn isn't the same Auburn team as last year. I think Michigan State, Notre Dame, Florida State and Kansas St are as good as those 4 SEC west schools as well, does that make me a nutswinger of 5 or so teams?

 

We will find out if they are better than Michigan State in a couple weeks and Oregon is Oregon. On paper in the pre-season they look like the best in the world, and then they pull an Oregon and lose to some shithole team, the same with Oklahoma.

[Dr. Pomade]

Had Arkansas beat Georgia yesterday, they would have been vaulted to #2, thus making the SEC West coup complete. But don't fret, there's still time to move LSU back up, just wait and see.

 

Polls are so stupid. Yet, we continue to use them. One day, I swear, we'll look back and be like, "How fucking dumb were we that we actually used this shit to figure out who the champion was?" Can you imagine if the NFL did something similar? It would be anarchy. Yet, oddly, CFB is fine with it.

 

Because we use them - and I firmly believe the committee will use the polls to help guide their selections (which is stupid, but they'll do it) - then they matter. And, if they matter, then it matters when they aren't fair. Right now, they aren't fair, and they have never been fair. Why? Because the polls are established before a single snap if even played. For instance, Ohio State was the #5 team in all of America the first week of the year, but we had just lost our Heisman-candidate QB. How the fuck does that make any sense? It doesn't, yet, there we were, #5 in the country. The insanity is magnified with the SEC: bias dictates that a bunch of SEC teams be ranked before the year even starts, and, because of that, whoever does well in SEC benefits in the end.

[Dr. Pomade]

PS - I think there's a lot more parity in CFB than there was. For that reason, I think just about anyone is capable of beating anyone else.

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

Lets see if I can go 3 weeks in a row with upset picks (I picked the Bama and Baylor upsets for those not keeping track) haha.

 

LSU over Ole Miss

 

I almost took Texas over KSU, but I just couldn't pull the trigger

[Versluis]

 

One team to watch that no one is really talking about is 7-0 Marshall. If they do undefeated, I don't know how they wouldn't have a case to make the playoffs over a 1 loss team. Wasn't the reason for the playoffs to give everyone an equal chance?

 

I 100% agree with this. Too bad it won't happen because of $$$

[1fast5gp]

I know you are a OSU nutswinger' date=' but do you honestly think they are a better team then any of the top sec west teams( ole miss, miss at, bama or auburn),Michigan st or Oregon even?[/quote']

 

Toss up between Ole Miss or Miss State, but they are better than overrated Alabama and Auburn for sure.

[1fast5gp]

Lets see if I can go 3 weeks in a row with upset picks (I picked the Bama and Baylor upsets for those not keeping track) haha.

 

LSU over Ole Miss

 

 

LOL then LSU will be vaulted to the top 10 again and Ole miss will drop to no. 5 right behind Alabama. So SEC can get 1 more team in the top 10.

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

Hahaha you're most likely correct. I am still waiting on S. Carolina to sneak back in the top 25 even with 3 losses.

 

The polls are such a joke that the AP has 6 teams with 2 losses in it, but 1 loss Minnesota isn't.

[Jeffrey]

Do away with the polls and go based on conference. If you win your conference championship then you go to the playoff. So the ACC, Big12, Big 10, PAC-12, and SEC. Maybe throw in the Mountain West to make it even. Can't win your conference then I guess you are sitting out, this eliminates all bias and is purely performance based.

 

Oh and sorry Notre Dame, don't want to join a major conference then I guess you get to sit on the sidelines too.

[Lauren]

I agree with this ^

 

That's how the playoff should have been structured

[bicranium]

Just take the champions from the P5 conferences, 3 at-large teams and have an 8-team playoff. Pretty simple.

 

As for your upset special for this week, Josh... I have to be with you. Because I guaranteed my friend that old school Bo Wallace would show up either this week or next and cost them a game. They beat Tennessee so now it's on to LSU. 3-4 picks for Bo and a loss for Ole Miss.

 

As for Marshall... before this season even started I saw a lot of people predicting them to go undefeated. I can't see them sniffing the playoff regardless. If they win out their best win may very well end up being @ Akron. I don't know how the bowl selections work outside of the playoff but maybe they'll get a nice spot in an "access bowl" like Hawaii did several years ago and get trampled by someone.

 

On the topic of the SEC... I think the top teams are worse this year and the bad teams are better which leads to a lot of average to slightly above average teams taking turns getting wins, trading places in the rankings and creating the illusion that all these SEC teams are worthy of top 5-10 rankings. Seriously just take a look at some of the things that have happened in the SEC this season. Florida competed with Bama for a half. Missouri lost to Indiana. Missouri beat Florida 42-13 without even gaining 120 total yards. A&M destroyed South Carolina. South Carolina beat Georgia. Georgia destroyed Arkansas. Arkansas stayed within a point of both A&M and Bama. Bama beat A&M 59-0. There's no rhyme or reason to that conference right now. The top teams (Bama, LSU, Auburn) are down and the usual bottom teams (Ole Miss, Mississippi State) are up and it's created this shit soup in the middle that a bunch of people are eating up.

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

Ole Miss will drop to #6 and LSU will be in the top 15 once they win.

 

I have been saying from the get go that a 4 team playoff was a joke. You have 5 power conferences to begin with, plus teams like ND and the Mountain West as already mentioned. There is going to be so much controversy come December that people will be begging for the BCS to come back haha.

[1fast5gp]

On the topic of the SEC... I think the top teams are worse this year and the bad teams are better which leads to a lot of average to slightly above average teams taking turns getting wins, trading places in the rankings and creating the illusion that all these SEC teams are worthy of top 5-10 rankings. Seriously just take a look at some of the things that have happened in the SEC this season. Florida competed with Bama for a half. Missouri lost to Indiana. Missouri beat Florida 42-13 without even gaining 120 total yards. A&M destroyed South Carolina. South Carolina beat Georgia. Georgia destroyed Arkansas. Arkansas stayed within a point of both A&M and Bama. Bama beat A&M 59-0. There's no rhyme or reason to that conference right now. The top teams (Bama, LSU, Auburn) are down and the usual bottom teams (Ole Miss, Mississippi State) are up and it's created this shit soup in the middle that a bunch of people are eating up.

 

Couldn't have said it any better!

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

I was looking at the statistical leaders so far this season and stumbled upon something that surprised me. Four of the top five rushers in the country are from the Big10.

 

1. Indiana Tevin Coleman 1192

2. Wisconsin Melvin Gordon 1046

3. Nebraska Ameer Abdullah 1024

4. Minnesota David Cobb 1013

[o0n8]

You guys might think I'm crazy but both Ole Miss & Miss St. go down on the road next week. Even though Kentucky was blown out last week by LSU, I think they're better than people give them credit.

[BStowers023]

PS - I think there's a lot more parity in CFB than there was. For that reason, I think just about anyone is capable of beating anyone else.

 

There is...here is a quick stat I decided to look up out of curiosity.

 

After week 9 in CFB the past 5 years. (top 25 only)

 

2010

undefeated - 7

1 loss - 11

 

2011

undefeated - 8

1 loss - 10

 

2012

undefeated teams - 10

1 loss teams - 8

 

2013

undefeated teams - 10

1 loss teams - 12

 

2014

undefeated teams - 4

1 loss teams - 15

 

As you can see here, the parody is far greater than it has been...and about this time every year everyone on the outside looking in starts to freak out, "OMG how are all of the teams ahead of going to lose?!" Well guess what, it happens...every single year. Only difference is, instead of fighting for 2 spots, now there are 4.

[bicranium]

I was looking at the statistical leaders so far this season and stumbled upon something that surprised me. Four of the top five rushers in the country are from the Big10.

 

1. Indiana Tevin Coleman 1192

2. Wisconsin Melvin Gordon 1046

3. Nebraska Ameer Abdullah 1024

4. Minnesota David Cobb 1013

 

Was all over Twitter/reddit yesterday. The typical response... "looks like rush defense in the B1G is garbage!" To which the fact that there are 7 B1G rush defenses in the top 50 and 3 in the top 10 had to be pointed out.