Champion of Texas - Perfect Zero's Blog

Perfect Zero's Blog

Champion of Texas

Posted on July 19, 2015 at 08:17 PM.

As I was perusing through the magazine aisle at the local supermarket, I noticed that Dave Campbell's Texas Football had it's annual edition out on the shelves. Now, I love Baseball with all of my heart, but I recognize that in Texas, football is king. DCTF has a breakdown of every single team from the professional level down to six man football in the-middle-of-nowhere Texas. It is a treasure of information for every single team in the State of Texas.

On the cover of the magazine is usually a top rated player or a group of players that lead into a big story of either recruiting or who is going to dominate in the coming year. However, this year's edition has an illustration two players at the line of scrimmage, both hands on the football, one in Texas burnt orange and the other in Aggie maroon. The headline simply reads "Play The Game", and it is probably the most demanded statement in Texas football today.

The purpose of this post is not to discuss Texas vs. Texas A&M, although I would say that this game means more to both schools than they will both let on. The purpose is that when I picked up the magazine, I thought about all the FBS in Texas and how cool it would be to have a "Champion of Texas." Now, while my idea of having all of those teams play in one conference will never happen (outside of NCAA Football 14), I think that there could be a way to measure up every team against each other and have a champion at the end of the year.

The only way this could happen is if there were a table like fantasy football where wins, losses, and other events would have points assigned to them. I have been trying to come up with a points table that would satisfy these requirements, and this is what I have come up with:

Home Win - 6 pts.
Neutral Win - 6 pts.
Road Win - 7 pts.
Overtime Loss - 2 pts.
Win Against Top 25 Team - 2 pts.
Facing An FCS Team - (-3) pts.
Part of Power Five Conference - 5 pts.
Earning A Non-Playoff Bowl Spot - 5 pts.
Earning A Playoff Bowl Spot - 10 pts.
Winning the National Championship - 20 pts.

This point system seems a bit womperjawed, but is how I would best weigh the importance of individual games during a season. Obviously if you make the bowls, you should go further up because you at least have (hopefully) a winning record. If you make the playoffs, you are one of the top four teams in the nation, and if you are a National Champion, then you should be Champion of Texas in any right.

I also feel that if you waste people's time by facing an FCS team, then you should be punished for it. Sure, a win is worth six points, but against an FCS team it's only worth three. I also get that teams could pull in competition like Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan, but that's at least better than Baylor scheduling Incarnate Word. In that same breath, I believe that teams in a Power Five Conference should have a bonus because of the competition.

For an example of how the standings would have been for last year, consider the following

Texas Christian - 93 pts.
Baylor - 83 pts.
Texas A&M - 62 pts.
Houston - 58 pts.
Rice - 55 pts.
Texas - 51 pts.
Texas-El Paso - 48 pts.
Texas State - 45 pts.
Texas-San Antonio - 25 pts.
Texas Tech - 23 pts.
North Texas - 21 pts.
Southern Methodist - 7 pts.

Now, it was pretty easy to see last year that Texas Christian and Baylor were one and two, but it helped that TCU beat their opponent in the bowls. TCU also beat more top 25 teams at the time that they played each other. It's also easy to see that Texas has fallen a bit more than what might be first seen, and that while UTSA, Texas Tech, and North Texas were bad, Southern Methodist was just God awful...

I intend to keep up with the race this year and have a weekly update. It might not be the best method, but I think it's a fun exercise.