College Football- Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 2014

[Maithanet]

To me the biggest cause for controversy is really the TCU vs Baylor thing. I see the arguments from both sides of that one.

I think it may come down to how impressive Baylor looks vs KState. If they win ugly, I think it's TCU. If it's comparable to TCU's 21 point win, it'll be Baylor.

[Ixodes]

NCAA football and major league baseball playoffs are a poor comparison. There are two MLB leagues and both are well represented. The NCAAF playoff is deliberately exclusive to the current conferences. The only way a 4 team NCAA playoff makes sense is if you don't want to alter the bowl game cash cow.

ETA: Personally, I am not opposed to the current playoff system. I love the speculation, controversy, chaos, and drama. I've never really put much stock in national ranking since it is so subjective. However, the fan base consistently rants for a better system. I just don't see how exactly the 4 team playoff is that much better to what came before. I guess fan base rants aren't that important, as long as stadiums get filled.

[Rhom]

Saturday Down South has this headline: Florida releases statement via twitter regarding Jim McElwain.

Which immediately prompted me to ask: Who the hell is Jim McElwain?!!?

My first thoughts actually went toJason McElwain the boy with autism who had a shining moment in basketball.

It was only after reading the article that I realized he was the head coach at Colorado State. I still didn't know anything about him. West coast gametimes and such making it difficult for me to ever see them play. Looking over teh intranetz, I see that he has a pretty good reputation and SEC ties from his time at Bama; but I find it hard to believe that this is the earth shaking hire Gator fans are looking for. :dunno:

[Corvinus85]

Apparently Nebraska is "in serious talks" with Bret Bielema. That would be hilarious if he went to Lincoln, and the rivalry with Wisconsin would really kick off.

[Switchback the Second]

Like I said up thread, it won't be the "sexy" hire some may have wanted, but I'm really happy about the McElwain hire (assuming it happens). He's by most accounts an offensive genius, he turned CSU into a winner real quick, he's improved the record each year he's been there, he has ties to the SEC and a couple of shiny rings to show recruits, and he's youngish and still on the way up, where names like Stoops and Patterson didn't interest me since it seems like they're on the downward slope of the hill in terms of tenure as the head man.

I like everything I'm reading and have loved watching his offense via YouTube the last couple days. If he can retain some of our current defensive staff and implement his offense, I'd be thrilled.

Go Gators!

[Rhom]

Like I said up thread, it won't be the "sexy" hire some may have wanted, but I'm really happy about the McElwain hire (assuming it happens). He's by most accounts an offensive genius, he turned CSU into a winner real quick, he's improved the record each year he's been there, he has ties to the SEC and a couple of shiny rings to show recruits, and he's youngish and still on the way up, where names like Stoops and Patterson didn't interest me since it seems like they're on the downward slope of the hill in terms of tenure as the head man.

I like everything I'm reading and have loved watching his offense via YouTube the last couple days. If he can retain some of our current defensive staff and implement his offense, I'd be thrilled.

Go Gators!

Well, it did turn out okay the last time Florida went out west to hire a coach. :thumbsup:

[Ferrum Aeternum]

Apparently Nebraska is "in serious talks" with Bret Bielema. That would be hilarious if he went to Lincoln, and the rivalry with Wisconsin would really kick off.

That one's a false alarm from what I've seen.

Scott Frost is bound to be a serious candidate for Nebraska. Greg Schiano's name is also being thrown around, which would make sense if you want to keep the asshole streak going.

[S John]

That one's a false alarm from what I've seen.

Scott Frost is bound to be a serious candidate for Nebraska. Greg Schiano's name is also being thrown around, which would make sense if you want to keep the asshole streak going.

One of my best fans is a Rutgers fan (so apparently some kind of masochist) and wants Rutgers to fire Kyle Flood and get Schiano back. He'd shit if Nebraska got him.

[Howdyphillip]

There are many reasons tcu should be ahead of Baylor.

Strength of schedule

Better ooc games

Better games against the same opponents

Better loss

You might not agree with those reasons, but they exist.

The first two reasons you list are exactly the same. These teams played the exact same teams except for two games. TCU played Samford and Minnesota while Baylor played Northwestern State and Buffalo. So, essentially, TCU is ranked ahead of Baylor for beating the unstoppable Golden Gophers.

Striking those games, and just looking at what each team did against the exact same competition, TCU scored 429 points and gave up 220 points while Baylor scored the exact same 429 points and gave up a whopping 16 points more. So, where is this better games against the same opponents you are mentioning? It certainly isn't three ranks away is it?

Also, you are saying that TCU has a better loss because Baylor beat them? Lets examine that statement for a second... Baylor beat TCU, they have the same record, they have a higher ranked offense, they have a higher ranked defense. They scored the exact same amount of points against 9 common opponents, They allowed essentially the same amount of points against these same common opponents, and now people are saying that the "eyeball" test has TCU a better team and should be ranked three positions higher than the team that beat them.

Well, this is just one example of why "playoffs" just can't work in college football. They can't even make correct decisions when they have two teams with over 90% of the same schedule, much less compare teams that play completely different competition. You are right, a four team playoff race worked in MLB because every team played the same schedule and their wins and losses could be used to accurately compare their seasons. This is just random bullshit hyped up by the media.

[S John]

I know it has been said by myself and others many times but 8 teams would solve this dilemma. Baylor would get an auto bid for winning the Big 12 (assuming they beat KSU which is not a gimme by any stretch) and TCU would get one of the at-large for being (likely) the best team out there that is not a conference winner. All in all though, I think this playoff is going to shape up to be relatively drama free and that they'll more or less get it right. Nobody is really arguing that neither TCU or Baylor deserves a playoff spot if both win out, I think it's widely felt that they both are good enough to deserve a spot but that in a 4-team system you really don't want to see two teams from the same conference (and there is only one spot available between them at this time anyway). Setting that aside, I don't think many people would argue that Oregon, Alabama, and FSU are not correct picks for this moment in time. There is a bit of controversy right now over which Big 12 team it should be, so maybe you could say that they get a 3.5 out of 4 for now and that ain't too bad. Still a week to play.

That said, as a fan of a Big 12 team I'm not really cool with the spinelessness of the conference in naming them 'co-champions'. In a round robin the first tie-breaker is head to head and Baylor really should be named official champ by the Big 12 conference even if they allow TCU to be 'co-champ'. If the playoff committee chooses to disregard that Baylor has been recognized as Big 12 champ and decides to take TCU anyway, then so be it. But I wouldn't want to see WVU in Baylor's shoes one day and have the conference pussy out on us like it looks like they're gonna do to Baylor.

[Kalbear]

Clearly Baylor and Tcu don't have the same schedule. They play different home and away games.

But yes, a big factor is that tcu lost to Baylor while Baylor lost to wv. Another big factor is that tcu crushed Minnesota while Baylor had buffalo. You can downplay it all you like, but that's why tcu is up.

Another deal is that Baylor hasn't played ksu yet.

[S John]

It gets even less fun for Baylor when you look at them vs. Ohio State, who is also ranked ahead of Baylor.

From Pat Forde:

Ohio State's position ahead of Baylor is even more mystifying. In fact, it's flatly indefensible by any rational argument other than one team is The Ohio State University, and the other is merely Baylor.

Using the Sagarin ratings for comparison, here's what we have between the lordly Buckeyes and the up-and-coming Bears:

Best win for Baylor: No. 3 TCU. Best win for Ohio State: No. 10 Michigan State.

Second-best win for Baylor: No. 9 Oklahoma. Second-best win for Ohio State: No. 34 Minnesota.

Third-best win for Baylor: No. 38 Texas. Third-best win for Ohio State: No. 46 Maryland.

Loss for Baylor: No. 28 West Virginia. Loss for Ohio State: No. 50 Virginia Tech.

Advantage Baylor across the board. Yet somehow, the committee doesn't see that.

[Kalbear]

Because it's not just about who you beat - it's how you beat them. And from their view OSU has beaten more teams more heavily than Baylor has. Especially given how Baylor struggled against Texas Tech.

Furthermore, Baylor's loss to WV isn't really explainable the way OSU's loss to VTech is. They see the Baylor loss as worse because it was with a full contingent, instead of a QB's first game starting. More importantly, they believe (or believed) that the game was an abberation and would not represent when OSU was playing like. The same can't be said for Baylor.

[Andriy Czarchenko]

The first two reasons you list are exactly the same. These teams played the exact same teams except for two games. TCU played Samford and Minnesota while Baylor played Northwestern State and Buffalo. So, essentially, TCU is ranked ahead of Baylor for beating the unstoppable Golden Gophers.

Striking those games, and just looking at what each team did against the exact same competition, TCU scored 429 points and gave up 220 points while Baylor scored the exact same 429 points and gave up a whopping 16 points more. So, where is this better games against the same opponents you are mentioning? It certainly isn't three ranks away is it?

You´ve managed to both count the points wrong and read the schedules wrong.

[Lord Hyrule]

Friday and Saturday is going to be freaking awesome for college football.

Do you guys agree with the rankings that were posted on Tuesday?

I'm still shocked that Florida State is 4.. They are the only undefeated team, no? Doesn't that deserve the #1 spot?

Also, Oregon? Really? That's hype.

I'm really rooting for TCU. Boykin is just too freaking awesome IMO. Versatile and fast, he's deadly as a QB. Either they win it this year or he gets injured.

[lokisnow]

Missouri should have moved up a few spots more to uhh, say thirteen, but otherwise no major quibbles. I kinda love Florida states ranking, it's not uncommon earlier in the season to see a one loss team ranked ahead of an undefeated, they're just avoiding the cowardly herding behavior and pollster risk aversion that prevents the same from happening at the end of the season

[Maithanet]

These teams played the exact same teams except for two games. TCU played Samford and Minnesota while Baylor played Northwestern State and Buffalo. So, essentially, TCU is ranked ahead of Baylor for beating the unstoppable Golden Gophers.

This is not even close to true. TCU has beaten KSU, who are currently ranked #9. Baylor has not played them. So that means that TCU has a 21 point win over a top 10 team that Baylor does not have.

Fortunately for them, they are playing KSU this weekend and have a good chance to impress. But until that happens, the wins over KSU and Minnesota are actually a really big deal, totally worthy of being ranked higher than Baylor.

[Howdyphillip]

You´ve managed to both count the points wrong and read the schedules wrong.

No, I did not...

Both TCU and Baylor played the same schedule except for two teams... Striking those four games, that is the point total.

[sperry]

Nebraska hires Mike Riley. How incredibly underwhelming. They've had a winning regular season record exactly once in the last 5 seasons.

[Kalbear]

I was confused about it too but my wife was on fire today. Mike Riley is about as talented as bo pelini. He is however the nicest guy. She said it simply: they liked him.