Originally Posted by (v2)ROVPitViper
Uh...didn't you hear? Bama' could take on lesser NFL teams....
Don't forget they would be getting 24 points. I think I would take Bama maybe even K state and Oregon getting 24 to the Jags or the Chief.
I wouldn't bet alot, but I would bet
Aaaaand this is my point:
Florida plays like SHjT, pulls of an absolute miracle with :02 seconds to go by blocking a punt and running it in for a TD as time expired . . . against an unranked D-2 school, and they REMAIN #6 in the nation.
So dispite some pretty shoddy outings, some losses, and some dumb-luck wins over . . . let's be honest: really, really shjtty teams, the SEC still has 6 teams in the top 10. This is why I'm hot.
Its very frustrating. They all remain highly ranked because they only lose to each other and beat each other, thus the losses are mitigated as quality losses and the wins are all over emphasized.
Obviously the SEC has a lot of talent and great teams, but the gap over the Big 12 and Pac 12 just isn't there. I wish someone could fcking admit it in the college football media.
Follow-up question: what would happen if OU beat an unranked, D2 team on a fluke last second play? Maintain current ranking or drop a few spots?
Oklahoma dropped 11 spots losing to undefeated Notre Dame.
USC drops 11 spots losing to then undefeated Stanford. Albeit both these games are early.
Florida dropped 5 spots losing to a one loss Georgia team.
LSU loses to an undefeated Florida and drops 5 spots.
You can't climb over the SEC if you have an equal record to them. 2 loss SEC teams are ranked higher than 1 loss Florida State and Clemson. Maybe that's deserved or maybe not, but the system for ranking teams sucks.
BTW - Does anyone realize Ohio State is undefeated at 10-0? They are not bowl eligible but imagine if they were - we would have a larger controvery on our hands with still 4 undefeated, high profile programs.
Yeah the rankings are dumb. And a big reason why I didn't watch college football for years. I'm so excited about the 4 team playoffs next year.
No I didn't realize Ohio st was undefeated. But I don't pay much attention to Ohio.
for FSU look at their schedule a 3 loss florida would be ranked higher. they have beat no ranked teams this year.
I watched them play V-Tech and agree they are not great, but I don't like how its a subjective guess. They are winning their games. Florida struggles against Louisiana Lafayette and while maybe they deserve a pass as they didn't care about the game, the SEC gets a collective pass as a conference.
How many people thought A&M would be immediately competitive in the SEC? Not many.
Anyway, I guess we'll see how it pans out in the bowls. One day hopefully we get to an 8 team playoff and then everything will be decided on the field.
Weird development for #24 Ok State (6-3).
Caught the injury bug this year. Lost top 2 recievers for season. Lost #2 running back. Lost starting QB. Then back-up QB. Now on 3rd string. Holy shjt. Pretty sure the bus driver is on the DL, too. Goddamn.
Crazy thing is, though, that with all of this they've managed to eek out a decent season. Decent? Hell, they've got the 3rd best offense in the country with some nice wins and in terms of bad losses . . . well, after dropping a 97-pt shootout at Airzona early on, they've only lost by 5 to #12 Texas on a last second TD, and to current #1 Kansat St on the road and they still managed to score 30 pts or more in both games.
LA-Layfette, who just had Florida by the balls -- yeah, beat that ass by 41 pts. WTF, Florida?
Beat Iowa St., TCU, and WV all handily and all with back-up QBs. Back-up QBs that siezed the moment and looked surprisingly good. Like, bewilderingly good. Wow. So, now, here's the issue: the original starter (great arm), the original back-up (decent arm, fantastic mobility), and the 3rd string (dencent arm, decent mobility, good versatility) are all suddenly healthy and eager to play in what will be a vital final stretch of the season -- vs. #23 Texas Tech, @ #12 OU, and @ Baylor.
Winning out here shoots you from a #24 bowl bubble team up into the low teens and secures a very nice bid and all the payouts and recruiting that goes along with it. It'll also mean, I think, some real job security for the staff to salvage such a rocky season and end up in a good spot.
I was thinking a week ago that if the QB gets hurt they'll have to pull someone out of the stands to take snaps and now, here we are with an embarrassment of QBs.
19 and 20 year old kids, man. They do some of the most amazing and stupidest shjt you can imagine, and then they crush a knee cap and come back to play D-1 football 4 or 5 weeks later. Jesus.
Would not want to be Gundy right now. You've got 3 kids looking at you saying put me in, coach. 3 kids who overcame injuries, stepped up when their number was called, carried the team in times of high pressure and uncertainty, and rose to the occasion, and now you've got to tell two of them to go sit down.
Last edited by Baphomet3; 11-14-2012 at 11:24 AM.
Am late to the thread; Good to see there are a few here who can step back and relatively impartially analyze the sec, both good and bad
They've had a great run. 6 straight titles, and have not lost a bcs title game. It's also remarkable that of their wins since 98, 3 schools have been repeat winners . Success breeds success. The cycle is hyped by the media which can't help but appropriately point out the titles won, which results in more recruits interested in playing in the sec as an nfl pathway, and more great coaches joining, which leads to more tv $$ and hype, which feeds the cycle more.
As such, this trend of sec BCS title dominance may continue for many more years. Who knows....
I do see the Big 10 improving more w Meyer at OSU and steady programs in Neb, Mich, MSU, and Wiscy. PSU also will not be down forever. The Pac 12 has done innovative things w scheduling/tv packages, and Oregon is showing that it is an elite program. USC will always threaten due to its talent, and Stanford is showing that it's a program to consistently be top 10-15 ish; having survived a coaching change without much of a dropoff. ND is also showing a return to prominence with a very good coach, and has a great young qb and another possibly great QB (Kheil) waiting in the wings. The Big 12 is usually holding the banner of best top to bottom conference, but its flagship programs have come up short for the most part in the BCS era.
I don't think that anyone would argue that year in/year out the sec has the best topheavy flagship programs with the best talent and chance of winning a title. No other conference has consistently fielded two teams at their top end each year with legit chances of winning a BCS title.
But that's where the polls and media factors get carried away. There is a flawed assumption that the conference is <EM>strong top to bottom every year</EM> Such is not the case in most years, with this year standing as a blaring example. For all the talking head hype of how great a conference it is and how tough it is to win in the sec, any idiot can critically look at the conference this year and see that easy wins are indeed able to be had against Vandy, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Auburn, Mississippi, and Missouri. Neiuhisel on satellite radio quoted a stat that the sec in past few years is 6-10 versus ranked non conf opponents during the regular season. Hardly unrivaled dominance. The same flawed logic follows by some that a 1-loss Bama or Georgia should overstep an undefeated KSU, Oregon, or ND;despite the fact that those 3 teams will have played in some cases tougher regular season schedules and have not lost.
It starts with the inordinate amount of sec schools each year in the top 10-25 rankings preseason (7 in this year's usa top 25 preseason). Much of this hype is based upon the names on the front of the jerseys not the names on the backs. Despite the trend of winning their championships, I think that the media and voters fail to do their homework and critically evaluate teams in preseason rankings. (I would do away w any preseason rankings, or at least only rank 10)...
Currently, the sec teams can hold their preseason rankings well, and have little chance of dropping during the early 4 weeks of play. This is because, as a whole, none of the major conferences schedule a weaker non conf schedule than does the sec...exceptions being Bama who has made an effort to play Michigan this year, and who did a home and home w PSU recently and Oklahoma in the mid 2000s, LSU in 2011, and Georgia, who usually plays two decent non conf opponents each year, including past home and homes w OSU.
sec teams thus usually enter league play with several teams highly ranked but rather untested due to lack of true tests out of conference. Then, when league play starts (<EM>prior to the first bcs rankings</EM>), the polls will still have several teams in the top 10, and thus when they lose in conference, they lose against fellow highly ranked conference members in this "greatest of all conferences" ----- where according to the talking heads, there are "no easy wins." So when they lose, they are given a pass and don't fall much. Then, when the BCS rankings kick in during week 8, there still are several sec teams in the top 10/15, and the dye is cast.
A good example of this is Mississippi State this year. They won their bowl last year (by 6 points over Wake Forest) and have shown a bit of promise of late. They start the season ranked 25 in the Harris Poll. They get easy wins against Jackson State, Auburn, Troy State, South Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Middle Tennessee. They wind up being #11!!! by the time they play their first real test (Bama) in Week 8. They lose by 20 points, but they drop to only 15!!! Since then, they have had double digit losses to LSU and Tx A&M, but because of their inflated preseason ranking and ****ty non conf schedule, they remain 25th in the Harris poll, and remained in the top 25 bcs until last week.
The Harris poll must have a ****load of voters in Stark Vegas. The question for those voters has become not "what significant wins does this team have", but rather, "damn, this here team lost to "only" LSU, Bama and A/M.... and they play in that 'brutal sec'....so they've gotta be damn good, don't they??"
I like the idea that the selection committee for the upcoming 4 team playoff will take into account most prominently the factors of: 1) who did you beat? 2) where did you beat them? and 3) who did you play? (especially out of conference) It seems the best way to decide based upon the current situation.
Last edited by sooner2; 11-14-2012 at 12:45 PM.
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