November 2nd, 2022 at 12:15 PM ^
And Syracuse...
November 2nd, 2022 at 12:15 PM ^
And Syracuse...
November 2nd, 2022 at 8:32 AM ^
Tennessee's worst three non-conference opponents are: Ball State, Akron and UT Martin. That is no better than UM's non-conference schedule. UT's "quality" non-conference game was against Pitt which they barely won in OT. That Pitt game is UT's ninth game against a Power 5 opponent, UM plays in a conference where they always play nine games against Power 5 opponents.
Should an SEC team benefit from the fact that their conference only plays eight conference games as opposed to the Big Ten which plays nine conference games?
I am very tired of hearing how bad UM's non-conference schedule is when most teams in the SEC and ACC (which only play eight conference games) play three baby seals and one Power 5 team which means they are just playing the same number of non-cupcakes as the Big 10, Pac 10 and Big 12.
/rant
November 1st, 2022 at 11:53 PM ^
Just because the offense is run based doesn't make it boring. What about our offense makes it boring?
November 1st, 2022 at 8:21 PM ^
So many of you get so worked up about this, every year. There was a year the initial top 4 had Bama, Mississippi State and another SEC team (I want to say Auburn?). Pretty sure Bama was the only one that made it.
November 1st, 2022 at 8:53 PM ^
Miss St, Ole Miss & Auburn were all in the initial 2014 rankings, and none of them finished in the top 4.
November 1st, 2022 at 8:32 PM ^
Clemson over Michigan is fine, they’ve played a harder schedule. But Alabama over tcu is stupid and ridiculous. Which is the problem everyone has with the committee, a complete lack of consistency
November 1st, 2022 at 8:35 PM ^
They were consistent though, Georgia's schedule is weak and they put them 3rd among the consensus top 3.
Also, Clemson's schedule is terrible the rest of the way. Michigan will jump them with a win over Illinois...assuming they don't lose before we play.
November 2nd, 2022 at 2:28 AM ^
Um, Georgia beat Oregon... by a lot. Only Tennessee has a win over a higher ranked team, and it was a very narrow victory.
November 2nd, 2022 at 12:17 PM ^
That's why they were ranked ahead of Clemson despite an inferior Strength of Record but make no mistake, UGA's schedule right now is weak overall.
November 1st, 2022 at 11:32 PM ^
How have they played a harder schedule?
You think Penn State wouldn't destroy Syracuse?
November 2nd, 2022 at 2:25 AM ^
You’re looking at one game, Wake & NC State are also ranked. They play 2 power 5 teams out of conference as well. That’s the difference! We can be upset all we want but CSU, UConn & Hawaii didnt do us any favors.
November 1st, 2022 at 8:33 PM ^
I am not riled up by this. Why? Because the road has always been through C-Bus. You win in the shoe, you go to the playoffs. You think Harbaugh doesn’t know this? You think the team has not heard this all season?
Beat the Bucknuts. The rest sorts itself out.
November 1st, 2022 at 9:20 PM ^
Biggest ranking mistake? How about LSU way above PSU. Both have two losses but Penn State’s losses were to 2 undefeated top five teams. LSU and Penn State also have a common opponent in Auburn. Penn State blew them out and LSU barely won. So why is LSU ranked so much higher. Does anybody have any worse comparisons?
November 2nd, 2022 at 6:35 AM ^
I hear you, but LSU beat Ole Miss (by 25). Penn State’s best win is Purdue.
November 2nd, 2022 at 9:24 AM ^
That is what I have a problem with a 2 loss LSU team ranked at #10 just so that they can pad the Gump's resume with a top 10 team.
November 1st, 2022 at 9:51 PM ^
Clemson has 3 wins over current top 25 teams. We have Penn State. Nothing more to see here
November 1st, 2022 at 7:17 PM ^
Outside the Covid year no one ranked #3 in the first ranking has ever finished in the top four in the final ranking.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:22 PM ^
Bad news for Georgia. What's the track record of #2?
November 1st, 2022 at 7:47 PM ^
Sometimes solid. Sometimes bloody. Mostly watery.
Source:Yak
November 1st, 2022 at 7:59 PM ^
In other words, none of these initial rankings carry much weight right now.
November 1st, 2022 at 8:55 PM ^
No, he's saying you can flush the rankings down the toilet.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:18 PM ^
I guess strength of schedule so far is the reasoning as to why the rankings are what they are at this point. EXCEPT FOR ALABAMA. Clearly some historical bias with Alabama.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:19 PM ^
Clemson is getting the same historical bias. They just aren't a good football team.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:26 PM ^
I agree and I would rank them behind Michigan too but clearly the committee thinks they have more quality wins to this point in the season than Michigan. I can agree with that as well. I still wouldn't rank them higher than Michigan though.
Unfortunately I think Clemson's toughest game left on the schedule is this week @ Notre Dame. I think the chances are high they remain unbeaten until the ACC Championship and I doubt they lose that game either.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:42 PM ^
Personally thought Clemson caught some breaks with inconsistent officiating on personal foul calls vs. Syracuse. One sideline hit gave them a first down when they were stopped in second half on third and long, however an as bad or worse hit on the Syracuse qb out of bounds was overlooked ten minutes later.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:45 PM ^
I dont agree that clemson has more quality wins. Wake Forest and Syracuse just lost to Louisville and Notre Dame, and each by about 20 points. Those were Clemsons "Best" opponents. It doesn't appear to me that Clemson has played a better team, and destroyed them the way Michigan handled PSU.
November 2nd, 2022 at 6:23 AM ^
Yep. Fuckin eyeball test goes along way and for some reason it was left out of Michigan's assessment. Clemson should be behind TCU and Alabama. They are not a great football team.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:37 PM ^
Agreed. Computers have them way behind Michigan. Some SOS metrics have Michigan's schedule tougher. Clemson has almost lost 3 times already while Michigan has beaten every team by 2+ scores except the prevent TD vs. Maryland. If you are putting Clemson 4 because they beat a few fringe top 25 teams, then TCU should be right behind them or ahead of them. Putting Bama 6 is a disgrace
November 1st, 2022 at 7:34 PM ^
unclear what you're saying. Bama has BY FAR the most difficult schedule so far of anyone in the top 10. EDIT SoS is not a subjective thing. Bama has the 10th most difficult schedule, Tennessee the 19th and no one else in the top 7 has a top 50 schedule per FPI. These are not my opinions they're unbiased statistical metrics.
It's so strong that their Strength of Record is 6th (better than Michigan despite having a loss). So yes, these rankings were very much in line with SoR (which is heavily influenced by SoS) as they usually are.
The big exception being TCU at #7 instead of their #3 rank in SoR, probably because while they've played a tough schedule on paper, most of the good teams were without their starting Qbs.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:43 PM ^
You clearly don't watch the games. Bama almost lost to THAT texas team by 1 point and THAT A/M team. Both unranked just fyi.
They have a chance to prove themselves with future matchups but these rankings are based on what you’ve done. Not what you COULD have done.
Horrible take.
Edit: Texas was without their starting qb for more than half the game. Only mentioning it because you knocked TCU for it.
November 2nd, 2022 at 1:55 AM ^
What do close wins have to do with Strength of Schedule? Bama has BY FAR the best SoS of anyone in the top 10 by every metric that tracks these things. Objectively.
I do watch the games. I saw that Bama played AT the #1 team in the country. They played AT the #24 team in the country (per the committee). They played AT 5-3 Arkansas. They hosted 5-3 Miss St. The difficultly of the schedule is not debatable.
You can argue the eye test but that's not what the thread is about.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:56 PM ^
It's always going to be that way given the sec shitty teams are always ranked too high
November 1st, 2022 at 7:18 PM ^
Doesn't matter, but Clemson/ACC are super overrated. Definitely punishing us for the creampuffs we opened with.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:28 PM ^
Agreed. Put UCLA back on the schedule and I think Michigan goes as high as number 2.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:39 PM ^
Yes, assuming that would have been a comfortable win, and I'm sure it would have been at home, they'd be #2 with a good chance of punching their ticket on 11/19. As it is, they have to win on 11/26 and 12/3
November 1st, 2022 at 7:54 PM ^
Yeah. But clemson’s non-conference schedule is Furman and Louisiana Tech. Not any better.
November 1st, 2022 at 8:37 PM ^
Leaving off a ranked south Carolina is a choice
November 1st, 2022 at 8:55 PM ^
Rather than including them? When they have yet to play? Also, SC is 5-3 and unranked. I’d say Michigan and Clemson currently have comparable schedule strength, but would absolutely lean Michigan with the thorough dismantling of the committee’s #15 team.
November 2nd, 2022 at 2:06 AM ^
But the fact they've yet to play matters. That means Clemson has already played more conference games than Michigan. Only two cupcakes to Michigan's three, so yeah the schedule has been more difficult. Not by much though. Clemson has SoS of 72 and Michigan 79 so it's very close. That said, Michigan's is only going to get relatively worse over the next two games.
None of it matters. Beat Ohio and win the conference and they're in (even if they lose a game before that).
November 1st, 2022 at 9:06 PM ^
A choice because the committee is supposed to rank based on what's happened not what will happen in the future.
November 1st, 2022 at 8:36 PM ^
They did the same to Georgia, so at least they were consistent about the creampuffs.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:18 PM ^
Can't imagine anyone can still defend our piece of crap OOC schedule anymore. It's awful for the fans that enjoy/live for huge matchups. And now it's clearly awful for our playoff rankings.
2023 is just as bad, completely disappointing to me.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:22 PM ^
They’ve beaten everyone in put in front of them. The out of conference BS was hashed up by Herbstreit slappie Fowler. Never hear any of that when sec teams are scheduling fcs opponents or oHIO state scheduling Youngstown. National media doesn’t like Michigan.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:44 PM ^
This is 100% false. The committee time and time again does these rankings pretty much in line with the Strength of Record metric which is heavily influenced by SoS because it's a resume metric that doesn't consider margin of victory. Teams outside the SEC that don't have brutal conference schedules should schedule accordingly.
The SEC doesn't have to schedule tough OOC opponents because the SEC (well, certainly the West) plays a very difficult schedule by default. The numbers don't lie on SoS metrics.
That's the consequence of having IU and Rutgers and Maryland (usually) in your division. You're just not going to end up with a super difficult conference schedule. So play someone in the non-conference.
And before anyone cries SEC bias, Georgia is sitting at #3 for the same reason Michigan is at #5. Weak schedule.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:24 PM ^
Right, so much worse than Alabama scheduling Utah, LA-Monroe and Austin Peay. I had to look up Austin Peay, I don't think I have ever heard of them.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:31 PM ^
They made a splash in the tourney years ago. The chants of “Let’s go Peay” still ring in my ears.
November 1st, 2022 at 7:33 PM ^
I live near the school in Clarksville TN.
their banned motto: “show your Peay-ness!”
November 1st, 2022 at 7:40 PM ^
Not only had I not heard of them, my sister lived in Clarksville for a short time. Didn't help, still haven't heard of them.
November 1st, 2022 at 8:38 PM ^
You leaving out Texas because you think they are already in the sec or because it doesn’t support your point?