2014 Preseason and Regular Season Polls

[JXC]

Arizona State ahead of tOSU is bull[Mark May]. They lost to UCLA by 40. Arizona is another team that shouldn't be ahead for that matter.

I don't think it's bullshit. I think it's close. Wins against USC, Stanford, and Washington seem to maybe shine slightly more than wins against Maryland, Penn State and Rutgers. The loss is by many more points, But also to a much better team than VaTech. So...tough to argue Arizona State has a worse resume...maybe equal.

There's a point where they need to quit holding that loss against us to that degree...JFC, it was the second game of the season.

Agreed, but they aren't holding it against us more than another teams two losses. So are they really unfairly holding it against us? Even if you still lessen how bad a loss it is because it was early.


Look at the losses for teams above us.

Nebraska lost to 7-1 Michigan State
Arizona State lost to 6-2 UCLA
Baylor lost to 6-2 West Virginia
Arizona lost to 5-3 USC
Georgia lost to 4-4 South Carolina
Notre Dame lost to 7-0 Florida State
Kansas State lost to 6-1 Auburn
Michigan State lost to 7-1 Oregon
TCU lost to 6-1 Baylor
Alabama lost to 7-1 Mississippi
Oregon lost to 6-1 Arizona
Mississippi lost to 7-2 LSU
Auburn lost to 7-0 Mississippi State

Hard to argue any of these teams being worse than Virginia Tech except maybe South Carolina, and that was also early. And you can see at 11, the committee has Georgia lower than the other polls as well.

Then when you factor in that our best wins are Maryland and Rutgers. Doesn't really compare better than any of the other teams save maybe Baylor, but their one good win was a really good win.

For me I would have us ahead of Baylor at this point, just because Baylor has only played two teams with a pulse and gone 1-1, and even though the win was huge, it's hard not to wonder if they would still have one loss of they played anybody else halfway good. But we will see soon.

The one thing I liked was that their ranking was undefeated, all 1 loss, all 2 loss. No 1-loss teams jumped an undefeated, and no 2-loss jumped a 1-loss.
I'm interested to see if that holds after Miss & Auburn play this week, and one of them will have 2 losses. Will they drop them under 15? I have serious doubts.

I doubt it will. I'm surprised LSU isn't already ahead. They may have two losses, but wins against Mississippi and Wisconsin are way better than anything we have. And the two losses were against teams way better than we have played too.

Honestly I think the team they screwed up the most on was Nebraska. They have a resume similar to Notre Dame in my opinion. Their one loss was on the road to Michigan State. I would put Michigan State above TCU and Alabama at 6 and have Nebraska just after Notre Dame at 11.

Sure the only thing that matters is the end, but these first rankings may be what determines how the committee perceives the rest of the season, even if they say they will start fresh.

 

[bukIpower]

Do they need to scrap them in the SEC as well?

Frankly I'd rather have OSU guaranteed to face the powers in the conference instead of West-division Sparty getting in on a tiebreaker when Wisc & MSU both have 1 loss.

JW I think in all conferences. .. there would be nothing worse than this example

# 3 Mississippi State goes to the CCG with 1 loss because of a tie breaker with Alabama who is #7 lets say. MSU plays #22 Georgia (the winner of the toilet east division) and Georgia ends up winning securing their playoff bid with a huge upset. Now Georgia and Alabama go to the playoffs. ALABAMA gets in on the benefit of not playing and letting other teams knock themselves out of the playoff.

If you don't WIN your conference then IMO you should not get in. Sooner rather then later PSU is going to be good (dare i say great) again and if you add that with OSU, sparty, and possible scUM if they get it together. I promise you the top two teams will not play in the championship game. Instead some team like Wisky or Nebraska takes our spot in the championship game because they had a much easier schedule in conference play

 

[Bucky32]

If you don't WIN your conference then IMO you should not get in. Sooner rather then later PSU is going to be good (dare i say great) again and if you add that with OSU, sparty, and possible scUM if they get it together. I promise you the top two teams will not play in the championship game. Instead some team like Wisky or Nebraska takes our spot in the championship game because they had a much easier schedule in conference play

People wanted divisions - and conference expansion required them - and this is the result. I recall bitching about how unbalanced the East/West split was at the time (it still is). It's akin to the old Big 12 North and South or the current SEC East and West. The difference here is that the SEC West can cannibalize itself and people will still fawn over how tough it is; the Big Ten East can cannibalize itself and it's chided as being mediocre. Maybe over time things will even out, but until then, you're not necessarily going to see the top two teams in the CCG.

 

[kujirakira]

If we can't beat this hypothetical 8-4 Wisconsin... then we didn't deserve to go anyway. And chances are very low that 8-4 team is going to last 3 post season games either.

Regardless, in this 4-conferences of 16 team setup... everyone would have to add 2. The B12 is the obvious conference that'd be getting divided into the other 4. Maybe B1G would get stuck with KSU and ISU, or maybe hit a homerun with UT and OU, that'd shore up the Western division.
I think eventually we'll be down to 4 conferences (B12 is too unstable and surrounded by sharks), but I don't think it'll be so neat and organized as 4 conf / 16 schools. Nor would I be surprised if a conglomerate of leftovers - buffeted by ex-members of B12 that didn't make the cut elsewhere - consistently put out half decent teams that'd be upset at not being included.

Still it's an attractive scenario were 4 mega-conferences to break away from DIA. Rose Bowl becomes semifinal for PAC and B1G champs. Sugar Bowl becomes semifinal for SEC and ACC champs.
NCG at "neutral" location (including places not exclusively in the Bible Belt, and greatly preferring regions separate from the perma-semifinals)

 

[kippy1040]

So if we are fortunate enough to beat MSU in 2 weeks, do we have a shot at getting into the playoffs at all? And can anyone tell me who is responsible for scheduling the BIG out of conference games? Is it a committee at Ohio State, or is it an NCAA thing that we have no control over. How can we get better teams to play in our out of conference schedule.

 

[jwinslow]

JW I think in all conferences. .. there would be nothing worse than this example

# 3 Mississippi State goes to the CCG with 1 loss because of a tie breaker with Alabama who is #7 lets say. MSU plays #22 Georgia (the winner of the toilet east division) and Georgia ends up winning securing their playoff bid with a huge upset. Now Georgia and Alabama go to the playoffs. ALABAMA gets in on the benefit of not playing and letting other teams knock themselves out of the playoff.

If you don't WIN your conference then IMO you should not get in. Sooner rather then later PSU is going to be good (dare i say great) again and if you add that with OSU, sparty, and possible scUM if they get it together. I promise you the top two teams will not play in the championship game. Instead some team like Wisky or Nebraska takes our spot in the championship game because they had a much easier schedule in conference play

I would like a system that requires you to win your conference. I just disagree with balancing the divisions because I think that is a misguided effort.

1) you can't predict the future. PSU & UM were going to distort the divisions. Until Michigan Men get out of the way, that will not be the case.

2) To balance the leagues today, you toss MSU in the west. Now you've cancelled a great annual matchup between OSU-MSU in order to increase the prowess of a hypothetical and infrequent CCG matchup involving those two teams. It also requires them to both keep playing great football and for Jim Harbaugh to not return them to little brother status.

 

[kujirakira]

So if we are fortunate enough to beat MSU in 2 weeks, do we have a shot at getting into the playoffs at all? And can anyone tell me who is responsible for scheduling the BIG out of conference games? Is it a committee at Ohio State, or is it an NCAA thing that we have no control over. How can we get better teams to play in our out of conference schedule.

At all? Yes. But definitely dark horse status. The only "peer" (1-loss teams) that we're ahead of is Utah. And like JXC, I'll be surprised if the Auburn-Miss loser isn't ranked ahead of us next week. So.... heh, we basically need everyone to lose.

I'm more worried about whether Ohio State can even make one of the 4 non-playoff bowls if we lose at Sparty.

 

[matcar]

At all? Yes. But definitely dark horse status. The only "peer" (1-loss teams) that we're ahead of is Utah. And like JXC, I'll be surprised if the Auburn-Miss loser isn't ranked ahead of us next week. So.... heh, we basically need everyone to lose.

I'm more worried about whether Ohio State can even make one of the 4 non-playoff bowls if we lose at Sparty.

We need to beat Sparty and Nebraska before getting worked up. Hopefully we do just that, but last week was such a mess offensively that it makes one wonder if we will handle Sparty at their place.

 

[SouthernBuck]

So if we are fortunate enough to beat MSU in 2 weeks, do we have a shot at getting into the playoffs at all? And can anyone tell me who is responsible for scheduling the BIG out of conference games? Is it a committee at Ohio State, or is it an NCAA thing that we have no control over. How can we get better teams to play in our out of conference schedule.

Definitely Dark Horse Contender. In the Power 5 Conferences for the past couple of years after Conference Championship Games, 4 one loss teams in 2013, 4 one loss teams in 2012, 3 one loss teams in 2011, 3 one loss teams in 2010, with 3 undefeateds in TCU, Oregon, and Auburn. So if this team can take one of those 4 one loss team spots, it SHOULD be very much in the conversation. It honestly comes down to how the Selection committee votes for 2 loss teams and whether or not they jump us. I firmly believe Ole Miss is going to be a 2 loss team, same with Bama and Auburn, so it comes down to, do they jump Ohio State if Ohio State is 12-1 at the end of the season. So now you are looking at 5 teams for 4 spots. Should be interesting to see what happens week 15.

And there is no way the NCAA would schedule out of conference games for teams. That would be ridiculous.

 

[kujirakira]

We need to beat Sparty and Nebraska before getting worked up. Hopefully we do just that, but last week was such a mess offensively that it makes one wonder if we will handle Sparty at their place.

Huh? Whose worked up?
I even posed the question about losing to MSU...

If you're going to incessantly play Devil's Advocate, at least read the post you're responding to first.

 

[matcar]

Huh? Whose worked up?
I even posed the question about losing to MSU...

If you're going to incessantly play Devil's Advocate, at least read the post you're responding to first.

Sorry, my post wasn't intended to suggest you were getting worked up, sorry if that's the way I worded it-my fault. I was merely stating that it's hard to be too concerned about our relative position until after we've proven something.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

How can we get better teams to play in our out of conference schedule.

Kips, you can't be serious. Have you seen our OOC over the last decade (Washington, Texas, USC, DaU, VaTech), all of whom were playing good to championship-level ball when we scheduled them. We also have home/away series with Notre Dame, Texas, Oklahoma, TCU, Oregon, and Boston College over the next decade (and a game with Oregon State thrown in to boot). Hell, in 2022 and 2023 we play both Notre Dame and Texas, and in 2023 we also play Boston College. That will definitely be the hardest OOC schedule in college football in 2023...

 

[matcar]

Kips, you can't be serious. Have you seen our OOC over the last decade (Washington, Texas, USC, DaU, VaTech), all of whom were playing good to championship-level ball when we scheduled them. We also have home/away series with Notre Dame, Texas, Oklahoma, TCU, Oregon, and Boston College over the next decade (and a game with Oregon State thrown in to boot). Hell, in 2022 and 2023 we play both Notre Dame and Texas, and in 2023 we also play Boston College. That will definitely be the hardest OOC schedule in college football in 2023...

No doubt. Sometimes the teams weren't as strong by the time we played them, but it's pretty clear we've attempted to schedule some really good teams.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

No doubt. Sometimes the teams weren't as strong by the time we played them, but it's pretty clear we've attempted to schedule some really good teams.

Case in point is Cal. They weren't all that great when we played them in 2012 and 2013, but they were a solid team back when we scheduled them...

 

[kippy1040]

Kips, you can't be serious. Have you seen our OOC over the last decade (Washington, Texas, USC, DaU, VaTech), all of whom were playing good to championship-level ball when we scheduled them. We also have home/away series with Notre Dame, Texas, Oklahoma, TCU, Oregon, and Boston College over the next decade (and a game with Oregon State thrown in to boot). Hell, in 2022 and 2023 we play both Notre Dame and Texas, and in 2023 we also play Boston College. That will definitely be the hardest OOC schedule in college football in 2023...

Yes u are right mili and I should have been a little more clearer in my post, about our OOC in the past decade. That is what I was referring to as you mentioned. But after that we have gotten away from that strength of schedule games. I was just trying to ask who is responsible for making up our scheduled games before we go into conference play.