Iggy's Week 8 College Football Rankings

[iggymcfly 0]

I had the actual rankings done last night, and I just waited because I was going to do them up all fancy with commentary. However, then I went out and got wasted, and I'm just too damn hung over right now to do the commentary. Once again though, questions are always welcome.

 

Anyway,

(previous week's ranking in parenthesis)

 

1. USC 8-0 (1)

2. Texas 8-0 (2)

3. Virginia Tech 8-0 (3)

4. Alabama 8-0 (4)

5. Florida State 7-1 (7)

6. Miami 6-1 (6)

7. Ohio State 6-2 (8)

8. UCLA 8-0 (10)

9. LSU 6-1 (9)

10. Notre Dame 5-2 (11)

11. Penn State 8-1 (12)

12. Wisconsin 8-1 (13)

13. Florida 6-2 (15)

14. Georgia 7-1 (5)

15. Oregon 7-1 (16)

16. West Virginia (17)

17. Michigan (19)

18. Boston College (14)

19. Auburn 6-2 (22)

20. Texas Tech 7-1 (23)

21. Northwestern 5-3 (18)

22. Minnesota 5-3 (20)

23. TCU 8-1 (24)

24. Louisville 5-2 (25)

25. Georgia Tech 5-2 (NR)

[LooseCannon25 0]

Not bad, but why would you have Florida St as high as #5?

[iggymcfly 0]

Why not? They only have one loss and they beat Miami at home, and Boston College on the road. And while the win over Maryland this week may not have been earth shattering, it's still better than any win Miami has this year outside of Colorado. Miami and FSU were in a virtual dead heat going in, so just a little thing like beating the Terps while Miami struggled against a slightly worse team in Carolina was enough to tip the scales.

 

The next one loss team is LSU, and in their "big wins", they turned it over five times against Florida, and only survived Auburn at home due to four missed field goals. Of course, there's always UCLA, but until they beat someone I consider a Top 30 team, I'm not putting them in the Top 5.

 

Really, I don't get why the Noles don't get more love elsewhere, as they look like the most solid of the one loss teams. OK, actually, I do understand why. It's because they lost to Virginia in October instead of September, and it's still fresh in everyone's minds. Still though, if you weigh the whole season, I think they deserve the spot.

[teke184 0]

The next one loss team is LSU, and in their "big wins", they turned it over five times against Florida, and only survived Auburn at home due to four missed field goals. Of course, there's always UCLA, but until they beat someone I consider a Top 30 team, I'm not putting them in the Top 5.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Iggy,

 

Ever consider that the reason that kickers miss so many kicks against LSU is that the defense scares the shit out of them?

 

This year, Vaughn at Auburn blew 5 field goal attempts.

 

The year before, Serna at Oregon State blew 3 PATs and Vaughn HAD blown a PAT before a bullshit leaping penalty gave him a second chance.

 

In the national title season, Georgia and Ole Miss both had All-World kickers that missed multiple field goals against LSU.

 

 

Let's just say that kickers blowing a lot of kicks happens *A LOT* when they play LSU.

[iggymcfly 0]

You're really reaching there. I'll grant you that Death Valley might be a tough place to kick, but there's no excuse for missing five field goals in one game.

 

The fact is that LSU gave Auburn the chance to win the game, and one of their players didn't execute. You could take the kickers from about 110 I-A teams, put them on Auburn for that one game, and voila, LSU's got two losses.

 

I'm not treating it like a loss or anything, but the fact is that there's been a lot of sloppy football in the SEC this year, and when you're trying to compare teams that don't play each other a lot, you have to weigh that in. LSU's got quite a few wins that look good on paper, but came from sloppy error-filled games where they would have lost against a better team.

 

Honestly, watching SEC games this year kind of reminds me of watching Pac-Ten games two years ago when USC got "screwed" out of the national title despite having the weakest schedule of the three unbeatens.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I'd put Penn State in Ohio State's place. Their only loss was on a freak "we're gonna see this on ESPN Classic for a while" highlight play, after they'd thought they'd secured the win with less than a minute left (I think). C'mon, man.

[iggymcfly 0]

I do kinda feel like Penn State's too low. I'll probably move them ahead of Notre Dame and LSU for sure if they beat Wisconsin. The thing about Ohio State is that if I don't punish them for the loss to Texas, they're pretty much even with Penn State.

 

Originally, Ohio State looked better because their win over Michigan State looked a lot better, and Penn State's win over Northwestern looked less impressive. Likewise, a couple weeks ago, I was more likely to punish Penn State for losing to Michigan, but as the Wolverines look better, Penn State looks better as well.

 

Actually, pending further analysis, and how they actually look on Saturday, a win over Wisconsin might be enough to boost Penn State over Ohio State (and a 2-loss Miami team), all the way to the number 6 spot.

[cabbageboy 0]

I'll explain why FSU isn't getting much love. They aren't all that good, it's that simple. They played Miami in a shitfest to begin the year when neither team had it together. FSU will win the next couple but then go down in the Swamp to end the regular season, and then Va Tech will assrape them in the ACC title game.

 

And there is no excuse for Ohio St. being that high considering they might finish 3rd in the Big 10. Not to mention Penn St. has 1 less loss and also beat OSU.

[iggymcfly 0]

If Virginia Tech loses to Miami, they might finish third in the ACC.

 

Alabama might lose to LSU and Auburn and finish third in the SEC West.

 

Honestly, I don't get what that has to do with anything.

 

And also, the idea that losing to a top ten team should automatically put you further down the pecking order than losing to a non-top ten team is just silly. Ohio State lost to Penn State because they're similar in talent and OSU had to go on the road, the same way Penn State lost to Michigan because they had to face a similarly talented team on the road.

 

The head-to-head matchup doesn't show that Penn State's better than Ohio State, anymore than it shows that Michigan's better than Penn State. The only way to compare the teams is to look at the balance of their schedules. If you want to say that Penn State has a better overall resume, I can't argue with you, as the two teams are very close, but the head-to-head matchup is far from a magic bullet at this point of the season.

 

Furthermore, the fact that Ohio State has two losses doesn't prove anything either, when you take into account the facts that one of those losses came against an elite Texas team, and that according to Sagarin, the Buckeyes have the absolute toughest schedule in the country.

 

Oh, and also, "the Miami game was sloppy" doesn't really count as in-depth analysis of why Florida State doesn't belong in the Top Ten. They also beat Boston College and Maryland on the road, and they haven't looked anywhere near as vulnerable as LSU this season. The way Florida's been playing this season, I'd be very surprised if they beat FSU, Swamp or no.

[LooseCannon25 0]

If Virginia Tech loses to Miami, they might finish third in the ACC.

 

Alabama might lose to LSU and Auburn and finish third in the SEC West.

 

Honestly, I don't get what that has to do with anything.

 

And also, the idea that losing to a top ten team should automatically put you further down the pecking order than losing to a non-top ten team is just silly. Ohio State lost to Penn State because they're similar in talent and OSU had to go on the road, the same way Penn State lost to Michigan because they had to face a similarly talented team on the road.

 

The head-to-head matchup doesn't show that Penn State's better than Ohio State, anymore than it shows that Michigan's better than Penn State. The only way to compare the teams is to look at the balance of their schedules. If you want to say that Penn State has a better overall resume, I can't argue with you, as the two teams are very close, but the head-to-head matchup is far from a magic bullet at this point of the season.

 

Furthermore, the fact that Ohio State has two losses doesn't prove anything either, when you take into account the facts that one of those losses came against an elite Texas team, and that according to Sagarin, the Buckeyes have the absolute toughest schedule in the country.

 

Oh, and also, "the Miami game was sloppy" doesn't really count as in-depth analysis of why Florida State doesn't belong in the Top Ten. They also beat Boston College and Maryland on the road, and they haven't looked anywhere near as vulnerable as LSU this season. The way Florida's been playing this season, I'd be very surprised if they beat FSU, Swamp or no.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Having FSU over Penn St. and LSU is crazy to me

[nogoodnick 0]

Well it doesn't matter anymore since FSU lost and Penn St. beat a good team.

[LooseCannon25 0]

And Miami just layed the hammer on Va Tech, in Blacksburg. Miami should move up to #3 over Alabama