Iggy's college football rankings for 11/14/04

[iggymcfly 0]

By the way, it looks like the Associated Press is more diplomatic than we are, as they have Auburn and Oklahoma tied at number two this week. The coaches poll still has Oklahoma at #2, but only by two points.

 

So I guess after all the fuss about focusing on the polls, it's going to come back down to the computer rankings when all is said and done.

[iggymcfly 0]

He's got Tennessee in the top 10, that's alls I care about.

 

It's crap to drop Boise State and not Texas though. One team is supposed to be a preseason national title contender each year. Clue: It's not the team that plays on blue turf.

 

Texas is just so horribly overrated each year.

Just one more quick response here. I did move Michigan over Texas, but I couldn't really justify putting them behind Louisville or any of the two-loss teams.

 

As for Boise State, they didn't just almost lose to a bad team, they almost lost to a terrible team. The Sagarin rankings do 1-A and 1-AA teams together, and they have San Jose State ranked 152. Also, the Broncos have done this before with teams like Tulsa and BYU, and at this point, I just can't justify keeping them in the Top 15, when they have this many bad performances, week in and week out.

 

Florida State lets up once, and they lose to Maryland by three. Boise State's let up badly three times, but they just haven't been playing good enough teams to get punished for it.

[Damaramu 0]

OU's schedule is ranked as the toughest and that's what I'm going off of Igg. They have beaten 4 Top 25 teams and 3 of those were away from home.

And whatever you say they handled Texas pretty solidly.

OU deserves to be in the National Title game.....it's that simple. Do Auburn and USC? Yes. Does OU deserve to be bounced? No.

Plus I don't believe any of you are giving the Big XII south the credit it deserves. It's got 5 very good teams in it and OU has beaten all of them. And only one of them they beat at home(Tech).

So no OU doesn't deserve to be bounced. They've got the best QB out their aside from maybe Alex Smith and they have the best recieving core. I'm jumping at the chance to see what they can do against that Auburn defense b/c I think it'll be interesting.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Just devise a way to have a one-off three way title game. Make a football field shaped like a Y or something. Stick the stadium in a spot as equidistant from the three teams' home bases as possible without having to build an island for it.

[Damaramu 0]

And on top of that OU's proven that they're a more complete football team than they were last year.

Down on the road against a good team last year? They got beat.

Down against a great team on the road this year? They came back and won.

 

And how do we know Auburn isn't suffering from 2004 OU syndrom? Where they lead every game all year and aren't challenged and when they are finally challenged they fold? We'll see if they get challenged.

 

I just think OU's proven that they're a more complete football team and are good enough to win the national title and I DO think they can beat USC and Auburn.

[Art Sandusky 0]

To be fair, Oklahoma still has yet to reach the same point at which they faltered last year. After the Big XII Title Game you can say that they're more complete down the stretch. That teams have been staying close with them shows more that other teams are learning more than any fluctuation on OU's part.

[Damaramu 0]

And I think Kotz the reason OU hasn't dominated the Big XII like they have in the past is

 

A) they're a different offense. It's easy to score 70 when all you do is throw. But when AD running the ball is 80% of your offense you don't put up those huge numbers. But you eat the clock which is what OU is very good at. Just b/c the score is gigantic doesn't mean they didn't take care of business.

B) The Big XII South is just plain better than it has been in the past. Plus KSU has something going on that allows them to just play OU close no matter what. I think it's purple....like kryptonite to OU or something.

They did get beat by Northwestern in the 90's. Granted OU sucked in the 90's but it's still something to think about. OU is playing TCU next season I believe. Look for the upset b/c of the color purple.

 

But that's why they haven't been handling people like they have in the past.

The reason the defense gave up 70 in 2 games is that they were playing good offenses that can do both pass and run. And their best corner was injured! Nebraska had no shot last night with Perkins back out there. People seem to forget their best secondary player went down against Texas.

Oh and on top of that their best secondary player probably ever, Derrick Strait, moved on to the NFL this year! It's hard to replace someone like that.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Hey, they're an undefeated I-A team in one of the major conferences. No one needs to convince me they're good.

[Damaramu 0]

Well according to Brad Edwards on ESPN.com OU is a solid #1 in ALL of the computer rankings and will not budge for the rest of the season. Which means that they may just be able to hold Auburn off even if Auburn becomes #2 in both polls.

[iggymcfly 0]

Oklahoma is still a solid No. 2 in the BCS this week, only because the Sooners are currently considered the best team in the country by the computers. But a predominant factor in those computer ratings is schedule strength, which will be more favorable to Auburn the rest of the way, because the Tigers face tougher opposition than the Sooners on both Nov. 20 and in the conference championship games on Dec. 4.

 

Which team will be ranked higher by the computers at the end of the season, when it truly matters? Oklahoma seems to have a very comfortable lead in a couple of ratings, but a few others indicate that Auburn is close enough to make a move. The answer is that it's too close to call now.

 

Damaramu, is this the article you're mentioning? Because it really doesn't look to me that it agrees with what you said at all. A lot of the computer rankings count facing a Top 5 team and a bottom 5 team the same as facing two .500 teams, so Auburn's getting killed for their weak non-conference schedule. That, along with no margin of victory component is the reason that Auburn is currently low in the computer rankings.

 

However, as the article says, Alabama and Tennessee will help Auburn's schedule a lot more than Baylor and Nebraska will for Oklahoma, so there's still plenty of time to play catchup. Remember, LSU didn't pass USC last year until the very end of the season.

 

One last thing, Damaramu, no one's really convinced by your comparisons that unconvincingly try to show this year's third place OU team is better than last year's third place OU team.

 

You can try to say that Oklahoma shouldn't be punished for playing teams close, but there has to be some means of comparison. When there are three undefeated teams that have all beaten three top 25 teams, you have to start looking at how they did it. When you do that, the teams that managed to blow out championship contenders at halftime are going to be looked at more favorably than a team that's been within one or two possessions of losing against every decent team they've played this year..

[Damaramu 0]

Yes and USC and Auburn played some of those Top 25 teams at home.

OU did them all on the road in front of hostile crowds.

 

OU is #2 and should stay that way. Plain and simple.

 

I think that OU could beat Auburn and USC. And I want to find out and I hope that we are going to find out. The voters are unfairly punishing OU for what happened last year and that's a bunch of crap.

If a team like OU, one of the biggest college FB programs in history, is left out of the title game while still being undefeated then there should be big changes b/c it's just not right for an undefeated OU to not have a shot at the national title.

Hopefully they remain solid in the computer rankings.

 

And this year's OU team IS better than last years OU team. If they go undefeated that proves it. Last year's OU team was one dimensional on offense. It relied on Jason White. This year's isn't. Sure the defense isn't as good but as a whole they're better and they should play for the national title.

[Damaramu 0]

And I'm tired of arguing with you all about it. Most of you are bias against OU b/c of me anyways and will find any reason to put them down and say they're undeserving.

Fact is that they're the #2 team in the country and if they get dropped from #2 then it's a travesty. An undefeated OU should always play for the national title.

Hell there's probably people on this board that'd say a 1 loss Auburn team should be in over OU.

[iggymcfly 0]

God damn it. OU did not play Texas on the road. They played in Austin which is halfway between the two campuses, and the crowd was evenly split.

 

Just because they played one more tough road game doesn't mean that you should totally discount that the other teams were dominant, whereas OU's been playing teams close all year.

 

Auburn was even dominant when they played on the road against Tennessee, and when USC played at VT, they did better than OU did at A&M or OSU.

[Damaramu 0]

God damn it. OU did not play Texas on the road. They played in Austin which is halfway between the two campuses, and the crowd was evenly split.

 

Just because they played one more tough road game doesn't mean that you should totally discount that the other teams were dominant, whereas OU's been playing teams close all year.

 

Auburn was even dominant when they played on the road against Tennessee, and when USC played at VT, they did better than OU did at A&M or OSU.

Yet A&M is a really good team and have one of the toughest crowds in the country. And they're better than VT.

OSU is also better than VT and that is a heated rivalry and the crowd is really hostile.

 

I won't discount what Auburn did against Tennessee though.

 

Fact is that someone is going to get bounced and OU isn't the one that should get bounced. They play the toughest schedule and are still undefeated through it all. They've fought from behind against good teams.

 

USC has looked less than impressive more times than OU. OU would never trail at the half against freaking Stanford nor would they ever trail against Oregon State.

 

Put USC in the Big XII south. I bet they either lose one or have more close games. Put OU in the Pac 10 and they clean up.

 

It's that simple. The voters are bias and the people on this board are bias. OU deserves a shot at the national title and it's complete bullshit if they don't get it.

[iggymcfly 0]

And if OU goes undefeated, it's either because they're better or because the Big XII sucks dick this year and they won't make the national championship where they have to play a team like LSU. Although I have to say, I'm not totally convinced that a let down Oklahoma team that was mad it didn't get to the national championship would be able to beat a jacked-up Utah squad.

[Damaramu 0]

Umm........OU is better than Utah. They would win that game.

OU could beat USC and Auburn to. You're obviously bias if you're denying how good they really are.

 

The Big XII North sucks dick. The Big XII south is the toughest division in college fb.

OU won the South and are going to win the Big XII. If the North didn't suck so bad the Big XII would be one of the top conference b/c it has 5 Top 25 teams and two of them are Top 10 teams.

 

OU is undefeated because THEY ARE GOOD. They are the #2 team in the country and good enough to be #2. It's complete bullshit that they're in the position to be left out.

 

If they go to the Fiesta Bowl and eat Utah for lunch(which would assuredly happen) and USC or Auburn barely beats the other the voters are going to have to say: What the hell did we do?

Because they left out an undefeated OU team. And hopefully the AP voters would see their folly and split the national title. If OU goes undefeated they deserve to be in the national title game. If you don't think so then you're blind.

[iggymcfly 0]

USC has looked less than impressive more times than OU. OU would never trail at the half against freaking Stanford nor would they ever trail against Oregon State.

 

Well then how come they trailed in the third quarter against 4-6 Kansas State who's much worse than OSU, and is probably worse than Stanford as well.

 

Also, how do you get off saying that OSU and Texas A&M are better than Virginia Tech. Va. Tech's in first right now in the ACC, and if they win out, they'll play in the Sugar Bowl. Compare this to the team that lost to BAYLOR, and the OSU who's only decent win all year is the UCLA game.

[Damaramu 0]

Well first of all A&M lost to Baylor for a reason. B/c they overlooked Baylor. Not b/c Baylor was better. A&M was wanting to get ahold of OU.

Second of all I really think that you put OSU and A&M against VT and they would win.

 

Second of all OU trailed for a little bit against KSU and with KSU it's a different story. They always play OU tough and always keep it close. If you don't know that and you're just using KSU's record against them then you aren't thinking about it very clearly and are being moronic. KSU always plays OU close no matter what.

 

Now if OU went into Stanford they would eat them for lunch. Not trail at the half which is what USC did.

Hell USC isn't even the best team in their conference. I still think Cal's better. Let them play that game again and I bet Cal takes them out.

 

Fact is USC is only #1 b/c they started the season #1. If they did it correctly OU and Auburn would be 1 and 2 in whichever order you see fit. USC wouldn't even be in the picture.

 

You aren't changing my mind. OU deserves a shot at the national title. And it'll be a travesty if they don't get it.

[iggymcfly 0]

Umm........OU is better than Utah. They would win that game.

OU could beat USC and Auburn to. You're obviously bias if you're denying how good they really are.

 

The Big XII North sucks dick. The Big XII south is the toughest division in college fb.

OU won the South and are going to win the Big XII. If the North didn't suck so bad the Big XII would be one of the top conference b/c it has 5 Top 25 teams and two of them are Top 10 teams.

 

OU is undefeated because THEY ARE GOOD. They are the #2 team in the country and good enough to be #2. It's complete bullshit that they're in the position to be left out.

 

If they go to the Fiesta Bowl and eat Utah for lunch(which would assuredly happen) and USC or Auburn barely beats the other the voters are going to have to say: What the hell did we do?

Because they left out an undefeated OU team. And hopefully the AP voters would see their folly and split the national title. If OU goes undefeated they deserve to be in the national title game. If you don't think so then you're blind.

Texas Tech's not in the Top 25, nor do they deserve to be. They've coasted through the shitty Big XII to a few wins, but they still lost to New Mexico early in the year.

 

As for that toughest division comment you always throw out there, that's an utterly pointless statement. There are only 6 divisions in college football, and two of them are in the MAC. And the Big XII South didn't even do well in non-conference play as A&M, Tech, and Baylor all lost to mid-majors. The only reason they look good is that the top five teams are 13-0 against the shitty North.

 

If you really want a vaild comparison, take the teams Oklahoma played and make them a "conference." It wouldn't be as tough as the Pac-10 or the portion of the SEC that Auburn played.

[Damaramu 0]

Yes it would. You're against them igg. That's all there is to it. The Big XII south is tough. The Big XII north sucks.

That's all there is to it. OU is hurt by the fact that the north exists.

 

I'm not changing my mind. They're just as good as Auburn and USC. And they deserve to play for the national title.

 

You're talking to a brick wall. My mind is made up and I see nothing wrong with my logic. If you think OU doesn't deserve to be in the title game then you're bias against them.

[Damaramu 0]

And on top of that all these people nationally that are saying that OU doesn't belong in the game have been conditioned to hate OU by ESPN and the national media b/c they have some kind of vendetta. Just b/c we're the only team that's consistently good EVERY year ESPN jumps on us at the first chance they get.

They spent the first part of the season sucking OU's dick until something more appealing to them came along. Then they got to jump on Auburn's bandwagon and champion the cause for poor ole' Auburn.

 

I'm going to laugh my ass off if Auburn plays close with Alabama and Tennessee and people still go on about how great they are. It'd just prove the bias b/c people jumped on OU when they played two hated enemies close. But when Auburn or USC does it it just shows so much character.

If Auburn is close with Alabama hopefully the voters stuff them right back in their place.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

You're talking to a brick wall. My mind is made up and I see nothing wrong with my logic. If you think OU doesn't deserve to be in the title game then you're bias against them.

Let it be on record, then, and stop posting. When you proclaim yourself a brick wall and then wonder why nobody likes talking to you in these threads, it's time to give up.

[Damaramu 0]

You're talking to a brick wall. My mind is made up and I see nothing wrong with my logic. If you think OU doesn't deserve to be in the title game then you're bias against them.

Let it be on record, then, and stop posting. When you proclaim yourself a brick wall and then wonder why nobody likes talking to you in these threads, it's time to give up.

Because I don't see how I'm wrong and you people can't see how bias you are.

[iggymcfly 0]

I probably won't actually convince you that Oklahoma isn't in the Top 2. I don't really expect to. But I'm certainly not biased against them. I thought OU was #1 at the beginning of the year, and I was one of the only people who didn't complain when USC got left out of the title game last year.

 

I do have one more thing about this stupid "division" thing you talk about that's driving me crazy. The Pac Ten has 10 teams, and there's one of them that USC doesn't play. The Big Ten has 11 teams, and there are two of them that every team misses. The Big XII has 12 teams, and the teams from the south each miss three from the North. It's almost the same.

 

You never hear Cal complain that the conference gets dragged down by Washington State, and they're really better than the rest of the conference. You never hear Iowa say that their conference is getting dragged down by Indiana even though they don't have to play them. The fact is that the Big XII South plays 3/8 of their conference games against the North. It's almost as many as they play against each other and it's obviously grossly inflating their records.

 

If the Big XII North was even decent, and they could win 1/3 of their games against teams not named Baylor, there would only be two ranked teams in the South, and the conference as a whole would probably be even more recognized for shitty football.

[iggymcfly 0]

I like how the person who goes to OU, and focuses on them all the time is impartial, but everyone else is "bias."*

 

*= I'm pretty sure he was going for the adjective biased, and not the noun bias here.

[Damaramu 0]

If the North was decent and the teams spent all that time beating on each other then everyone would say the conference sucked b/c there wouldn't be any ranked teams b/c they all beat on each other!

And that would give everyone another reason to say OU is undeserving.

It's a non-win situation for OU.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Does it really matter? It's not the end of the season. I'd laugh if the Auburn supporters keep saying they're more deserving than OU or USC then they end up losing later on this year. Ditto with the USC fans (myself included) or the OU fans... Oh wait. I forgot, OU has just Baylor left. Umm... the conference title game then.

[Secret Agent 0]

Hell, I say Auburn and OU play each other for a chance to play the Orange Bowl against USC. I don't think anybody would mind seeing that.

[CanadianChris 0]

You're talking to a brick wall. My mind is made up and I see nothing wrong with my logic. If you think OU doesn't deserve to be in the title game then you're bias against them.

Let it be on record, then, and stop posting. When you proclaim yourself a brick wall and then wonder why nobody likes talking to you in these threads, it's time to give up.

Because I don't see how I'm wrong and you people can't see how bias you are.

And you wonder why people get on your case all the time? I can just picture you at your monitor with your fingers stuck in your ears, screaming "LALALALALA I'M NOT LISTENING I'M NOT LISTENING!!!!!!!"

 

Discussions are about, you know, DISCUSSING stuff, not making up your mind and proclaiming to everyone, "This is how it is, and if you disagree with me, you must be biased!!" Seriously, do you not see how absolutely ridiculous that sounds?

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

You're talking to a brick wall. My mind is made up and I see nothing wrong with my logic. If you think OU doesn't deserve to be in the title game then you're bias against them.

Let it be on record, then, and stop posting. When you proclaim yourself a brick wall and then wonder why nobody likes talking to you in these threads, it's time to give up.

Because I don't see how I'm wrong and you people can't see how bias you are.

How are we the biased ones when you can't even bring yourself to mention another team unless it's to say they aren't good enough to play in the National Championship?

 

You also can't even bring yourself to consider anyone else for the Heisman and even complained about people mentioning other players in another thread.