Seriously screwed up Top 25 / rankings...

[rjsuperfly66]

Strength of schedule can have a different interpretation though.

Lets say your team has an A+ SOS.

You are undefeated, but have struggled through your games. You played the #3 team in the country, which you beat 17-14 at home. You beat three other teams in conference, ranked between #15-25, and again, you struggled against these teams, playing two at home, and won by between 3-7 in all of those games. Now you have you cupcake conference teams, whose SOS is only high because they play other teams in conference, raising their SOS, making it respectable for you. You beat these teams by 14 points, with a tough 3 point win in between.

Now lets say another team has a B SOS.

They are also undefeated. They played the #12 team in the country on the road, and won 21-10. They played the #22 team in the country on the road, and won 27-7. Now, they played a bunch of mid-level teams, who they beat on average by 35 points.

However, they both trail the preseason #1 in Alabama.

Both beat some good teams, but one just beat a few more of them, albeit at home. Who had the better season? Who plays Alabama in the BCS Championship game?

My Choice:

Spoiler

Team 2 ... They didn't play the quantity of teams, but won on the road, and won convincingly. The other team, similar to Iowa of last year (for a while anyway), played several close games that they just could barely squeak out. Take nothing away from that team, but I just can't say they are better.

The point is, SOS can be just as overrated as other statistical misnomers in this game. To me, SOS means nothing if you struggled through it.

[Pogo27]

Quote: Originally Posted by thedudedominick

This game treats 6* teams like they can do no wrong with the rankings. It seems as if it uses the prestige of teams to make the rankings. First game of the season our Cincy user who was ranked 14th beat 1st Alabama, Bama moved to 8, Cincy to 11. If both teams win out, 'Bama will still be ahead of them. How ridiculous.

This is not inherently true, and in real life, if #14 Cincy beat #1 Bama, I could easily see #11 Cincy and #8 Bama. I'm assuming it's Bama's first loss, and Cincy is yet to be beaten...but the season is not over. This poll reflects the thought that the voters don't see Cincinnati as a strong enough team to win all of their games. They think they'll lose one of the remaining games. Alabama plays in the SEC, tougher schedule than Cincy, so therefore a 1-loss Bama team should be ranked higher than a 1-loss Cincy team, however if Cincinnati goes undefeated with a win over Alabama, Cincinnati will, by the end of the season, have leapfrogged Bama.

Quote: Originally Posted by rjsuperfly66

MWC >>>>>>> Big East TCU and Utah/Boise St. would dominate everyone in that conference. The talent of those teams alone trump Big East, which usually has one team make BCS easily because rest of conference is a joke.

How would Air Force, Colorado State, U of New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, or Wyoming do against the Big East? How would they do if they played all 8 Big East teams?

And for that matter, how would Boise State, Utah, or TCU do if they had to play Big East teams week-in week-out.

The strength of your conference is not determined entirely by how good the best team in the conference does. After Virginia Tech and Oregon State, who does Boise State play that's even going to make a bowl game? Who does Boise State play that will even have a winning record in out of conference games?

It's easy to beat a top 25 team once a year if the rest of your schedule is in the bottom half of division 1. The bottom end of the BCS conferences are a lot tougher teams. Your players have to play a lot more physical for 60 minutes for their entire conference schedule, not to mention some tough non-conference games.

If these non-BCS schools REALLY want to be taken seriously and REALLY want a shot at a national title, they need to schedule their entire out of conference games against BCS opponents, and at least two of those need to be perennial top 25 teams.

[sowerss]

Obviously I move to #3 and about to play Michigan and they lose after being #1 all year ... lol yet another year undefeated with no national championship ? I Will kill the xbox... if that happens

[thedudedominick]

The argument saying the non-BCS schools need to play perennial top 25 teams non-conference is a tough one. What team in the top 25 is going to play a Boise, or TCU, or Utah, or BYU? There is no incentive to play them for the big schools. You win? Good for you, you were supposed to. You lose? Your shot at a national championship is done no matter what you do from there on out. Plus the biggest scheduling problem right now? The big school refuse to go play these teams on the road. They wont schedule a home and home with the teams, of course they will let them come to their place, but who wants to go play on the smurf turf. Any major program that does schedule a home and home with these "power" mid-majors, has gained a ton of respect in my mind. Look at FSU, they went to BYU last season to play. Oregon went to Boise. Those are games neither of those teams needed to do, but they did. Look what happened with Oklahoma vs BYU last season? That game was a great showing of why these schools do not want to play a small school. The small school plays outside their minds for the game sometimes leading to injuries and losses that effect the rest of your season.

[sowerss]

Its a joke , beat michigan by 20 at home, played 5 top 25 teams, 2 top 10 teams including 1 #1 at time and another former #1 and they have me ranked behind PSU and USC (PSU played 1 top 25 team. ) I'm forced to beat usc with ohio state to play in the natl championship.

[Pogo27]

The least Boise State could do is schedule all BCS schools for their non-conference games.

They may have Oregon State and Virginia Tech on their schedule, but they also have Wyoming and Toledo. Their non-conference schedule isn't THAT much tougher than a lot of BCS conference teams, and their conference schedule is significantly easier.

Alabama plays Penn State and 8 SEC teams.
Texas plays UCLA and 8 Big 12 teams.
Florida plays Florida State and 8 SEC teams.
Oregon plays Tennessee and 9 Pac-10 teams.
USC plays Virginia, Minnesota, Notre Dame and 9 Pac-10 teams (and Hawai'i).
Iowa plays Iowa State, Arizona, and 8 Big Ten teams.
LSU plays North Carolina, West Virginia, and 8 SEC teams.

I mean, do I need to go on, or has the point been made? The "weak teams" that the BCS schools get criticized for scheduling? Those are the teams that Boise State plays for their conference schedule...and then they play Toledo and Wyoming? Boise State has a 2-game schedule.

[thedudedominick]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pogo27

The least Boise State could do is schedule all BCS schools for their non-conference games. They may have Oregon State and Virginia Tech on their schedule, but they also have Wyoming and Toledo. Their non-conference schedule isn't THAT much tougher than a lot of BCS conference teams, and their conference schedule is significantly easier. Alabama plays Penn State and 8 SEC teams. Texas plays UCLA and 8 Big 12 teams. Florida plays Florida State and 8 SEC teams. Oregon plays Tennessee and 9 Pac-10 teams. USC plays Virginia, Minnesota, Notre Dame and 9 Pac-10 teams (and Hawai'i). Iowa plays Iowa State, Arizona, and 8 Big Ten teams. LSU plays North Carolina, West Virginia, and 8 SEC teams. I mean, do I need to go on, or has the point been made? The "weak teams" that the BCS schools get criticized for scheduling? Those are the teams that Boise State plays for their conference schedule...and then they play Toledo and Wyoming? Boise State has a 2-game schedule.

The thing is, it is impossible for Boise to schedule all BCS teams for non-conference. They probably can't find 4 a season to play them. I have read numerous times of teams turning down offers to play Boise because they can't afford to play them when they have conference games coming up after.

[12]

Quote: Originally Posted by sowerss

So I went 14-0 last yr with an A+ schedule as Miami and got 3rd at the end of the year (played and won Orange bowl vs #8 Notre Dame. ) Alabama won national championship vs someone else. So this year I say guess what I'll schedule Alabama and keep a tough schedule (A+) again... Well I beat alabama in week 2 and was ranked #2 for a while, now Michigan who has beat no one ranked is ranked higher than me, and started the season below me. This is baffling...and pretty frustrating after putting as much time as I have into this game (year 3 now...) It shouldn't matter as I will play michigan towards the end of the year and hopefully win. But it seems like I'm being cheated in rankings no one has near as tough schedule as me and I am not getting respect in the polls...

Yeah, the poll logic has always been... Well, an oxymoron for NCAA games... It sucks but just take care of business when you play Michigan.