Systems_id;1855953; said:
Herbie and Fowler's tOSU ranking [#9 in the AP poll] makes no sense at all. If you're going to base our ranking on our loss to Wisconsin then how the hell do you justify ranking Wisconsin ahead of us when A) MSU was smoked by Alabama and B) they LOST their BCS bowl while we won ours? Thankfully the rest of the media isn't as dumb.
Here is a list of all AQ teams that finished with a 12-1 record and a BCS bowl victory, along with their final poll rankings (AP/CP):
1993 Florida State... 1 / 1
1996 Florida......... 1 / 1
2003 Southern Cal.... 1 / 2
1978 Southern Cal.... 2 / 1
1989 Notre Dame...... 2 / 3
2008 Southern Cal.... 3 / 2
1999 Nebraska........ 3 / 2
1982 Nebraska........ 3 / 3
2008 Texas........... 4 / 3
2010 Ohio State...... 5 / 5
2006 Louisville...... 6 / 7
2007 Kansas.......... 7 / 7
So on four separate occasions, a 12-1 record and a BCS bowl victory was good enough to earn a team a national championship, and the lowest AP ranking for such a team was 7th. The average AP ranking was 3.2
Now here is a list of all AQ teams that finished with a 12-1 record and a non-BCS bowl victory, along with their final poll rankings (AP/CP):
1998 Arizona......... 4 / 4
1994 Alabama......... 5 / 4
2006 Wisconsin....... 7 / 5
Finally here is a list of all AQ teams that finished with a 12-1 record and a bowl loss, along with their final poll rankings (AP/CP):
1983 Nebraska........ 2 / 2
2002 Miami........... 2 / 2
2006 Ohio State...... 2 / 2
1995 Florida......... 2 / 3
2004 Oklahoma........ 3 / 3
2010 Oregon.......... 3 / 3
2009 Texas Christian. 6 / 6 (non-AQ team)
1992 Texas A+M....... 7 / 6
2009 Cincinnati...... 8 / 9
So, in the entire history of the AP poll (1936-present), no AQ team with a 12-1 record has finished below 8th place in the final poll ... and the team that did finish 8th (2009 Cincinnati) was an overrated Big East team that got hammered in their bowl game. The average AP ranking for all 12-1 teams was 3.7
But Fowler and Herbstreit think that Ohio State (12-1, Sugar Bowl winner) deserved to be ranked 9th? Worse than that joke of a Cincinnati team from last year? Six spots lower than the average 12-1 BCS bowl winner? That the 2010 Ohio State Buckeyes were essentially the worst 12-1 AQ team of all time?
Granted, every year is different, and not all 12-1 teams are created equal, but simply put, there is no historical basis or justification for their rankings. None. It was purely a "political" vote, nothing more, nothing less.