The mighty SE...err...ACC

Submitted by trueblueintexas on
Great day for the ACC vs the SEC in rivalry games today. 4-0. FSU over Florida, Clemson over South Carolina, Georgia Tech over Georgia, and Louisville over Kentucky. In fairness, those games matched up well for the ACC, but still, this has to take a little of the shine off of the SEC. Throw in Indana's win over Missouri who one the SEC East, and you really have to question the inflated records of SEC teams due to poor out of conference scheduling. This is not to promote the B1G, because, well, yeah. But this along with the Miss St vs. Ole Miss outcome should address any thought of the SEC getting two teams into the playoff.
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Wolverine Devotee

November 29th, 2014 at 7:55 PM ^

Danielson said Mizzou should get in if they beat Bama because the SEC needs a team. I'm not sure that's how it works, G.

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vablue

November 29th, 2014 at 10:23 PM ^

I would hope that is exactly how it works, G.  If Mizzou wins the SEC championship game and is left out of the playoff for another SEC team, that would mean the conference championships are essentially worthless.  My understanding is that the committee is looking for the most accomplished teams, not necessarily the best four teams (this is from ESPN's Mike and Mike show for what it is worth).  Thus conference championships should mean everything.

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Gulogulo37

November 29th, 2014 at 11:35 PM ^

No, the criterion is simply the "best" team. At least that's what Stewart Mandel has continuously said, and I trust his handle on the situation moren than Mike and Mike.

Conference championships are actually really stupid. We'd be so much better off with smaller conferences with round-robins. Yes, I know the Big 12 might have a bit of a mess right now, but it wouldn't necessarily be saved by a conference championship. Conferences aren't balanced and neither are their championship games. Imagine what would happen if Missouri, Arizona, Georgia Tech, and Wisconsin all win next week?

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Blue Mike

November 29th, 2014 at 9:04 PM ^

Except that the SEC East played more power conference apponents today than the SEC West has played out of conference all season.  The SEC West has played Wisconsin (LSU), West Virginia (Alabama) and K-State (Auburn).  Of those, only the K-State/Auburn was a road game.

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funkywolve

November 29th, 2014 at 10:38 PM ^

were neutral field games.  Arkansas beat Texas Tech on the road.  Not that these are power conference opponents but:

Arkansas beat Norther Illinois 52-14. N Illinois is 10-2, won their MAC division and beat Northwestern.

Auburn also beat Louisiana Tech who won their division in Conference USA.

Ole Miss beat Memphis who won the AAC and Boise St, who if they win tonight will win their division in the Mountain West.

Depending on what happens tonight and next weekend, the SEC West might end up beating all these conference champions:  Wisconsin, Kansas St, Memphis, Boise St, Northern Illinois and Louisiana Tech.  Considering there are only 9 other conferences besides the SEC in the FBS division, having victories over 6 of the other 9 conference champions would be pretty impressive.

 

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MI Expat NY

November 29th, 2014 at 10:55 PM ^

That's a nice little factoid, but at the end of the day, four of those possible champions have beaten exactly nobody. SEC west basically has two wins to its credit, Wisconsin (without their QB and with only a half of Gordon) and KSU. If you're comfortable calling a division great based on that resume, good for you. I'm not.

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MI Expat NY

November 30th, 2014 at 8:13 AM ^

Nobody plays anyone these days. But because the SEC West has two pretty good non conference wins doesn't necessarily make the whole division great. The division is so highly thought of because the SEC had highly ranked teams in the preseason. That's it. When you try to argue how deep the division is based on two games, all you are really doing is buying a narrative. Instead you should recognize that we have very little information for which to compare conferences. If someone says one division or conference is the best, its an opinion based on assumptions.

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Gulogulo37

November 29th, 2014 at 11:42 PM ^

The reason those teams haven't beaten anyone out of conference is because they lost their premier non-conference games...to the SEC West!

I hate the SEC too, and certainly as a whole it's not a juggernaut as the difference between the divisions is huge this year, but anyone arguing the SEC West isn't extremely good and deep is just in denial.

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ESNY

November 29th, 2014 at 10:12 PM ^

There is no way they would hold the Barrett injury against OSU if they won the B1G title.  I see the injury thing as more excusing a loss rather than holding it against a team.

If they beat a 2-loss Wiscy in the championship, you couldn't hold an injury against them because they would've just proven they could survive it.  

Who is in the top four?  A Baylor team that has a terrible OOC but one really good win and a second good win (assuming they beat k-state.  TCU who lost to Baylor but at least beat a decent Minny OOC.   No other SEC team should even sniff at the top four.  

To be honest, the loss to VT isn't that much worse than a loss to West Virginia and I think the wins are comparable between OSU and Baylor.  OSU probably has the depth but Baylor has the best win.  

Lets hope Bama losses so no SEC team makes the playoffs

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MI Expat NY

November 29th, 2014 at 10:13 PM ^

A lot of the SEC West national superiority is built on beating those SEC East teams. A&M was only highly thought of because they smacked USCe. Wins over Florida were credited as well. Turns out the SEC West didn't have a win worth mentioning over their Easterly brethren. SEC west backers are hanging a lot on some ok non-conference wins. Hopefully the committee sees through it if the best the conference can do is a two-loss Bama.

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trueblueintexas

November 29th, 2014 at 8:04 PM ^

Of the seven teams in the SEC West, they have played four teams from Power Five conferences in their OOC schedules. Those teams: West Virginia, Kansas St, Wisconsin, and Texas Tech. When you look at the other 24 games, they were against teams like Presbyterian, UAB, Nicholls St., Florida Atlantic, Western Carolina, ect. That is poor.

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mi93

November 29th, 2014 at 7:58 PM ^

Didn't Indiana win at Mizzou?

SEC West is much better than SEC East (and it ain't close), but yeah.  The SEC shine is little dingy this year.  PAC-1X is closer to the class of college football from what I've seen - if we're talking top-to-bottom.

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LSAClassOf2000

November 29th, 2014 at 8:00 PM ^

Some of you who did not grow up in the 1980s might not get this, but I almost feel that this is one of the many episodes of "3-2-1 Contact" that should have been done, the one that answered the question "Is it possible that the SEC could completely blow it in four games in one day?". At last, there is an answer to this question. Granted, SEC East teams and all that, but still....

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gwkrlghl

November 29th, 2014 at 8:00 PM ^

Amusing because some actually viewed the ACC as being even weaker than the Big Ten. If ESPN wasn't so financially invested in the SEC, this would be a decent blow to the idea that the SEC is an another echelon above the other Big 5.

The only elite team I really see in the SEC this year is Bama. Everyone else is just good - like the top 25 teams from any other conference

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GVSUGoBlue

November 29th, 2014 at 8:01 PM ^

I think winning a conference championship should be a requirement to get into the playoff but that's just my opinion. if the team is an independent they have to be undefeated.

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gwkrlghl

November 29th, 2014 at 8:12 PM ^

but I think SOS needs to be taken into account more than just straight W/L.

Look at MSU. It was a mistake to schedule Oregon (though a mistake they couldn't have foreseen given how CFB was when this game was scheduled). They get essentially zero benefit for that game. They should've just scheduled another MAC school, then they would've been Top 3 for the OSU game and they'd probably still have a shot at sneaking into the playoff.

The cost-benefit of playing tough OOC teams is way in favor of just scheduling cupcakes and until proven otherwise, your record is all that counts for a Big 5 team

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ghost

November 29th, 2014 at 8:16 PM ^

MSU would not be in the top 3 without scheduling Oregon.  Without Oregon there schedule becomes worse than Baylor's because they play 4 non conference games.  Also MSU has no victories that come even close to Baylor beating TCU and Baylor potentially beating Kansas St.  

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Muttley

November 29th, 2014 at 8:30 PM ^

Baylor and TCU played all nine other members in the Big 12, each winning 8 and losing 1.

The Big 12 would award its best bowl slot to Baylor based on the Big 12 head-to-head first tie-breaker rule.
  http://www.big12sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=1546006

However, I believe both would be named Co-Champions, and in any event, the Committee isn't bound by the Big 12 rules.

For the sake of decent September College Football, I think there's a non-trivial chance that the committee goes to the OOC SOS first before head-to-head. Baylor scheduled three auto-wins. TCU schedule two and a Top 30ish Minnesota.

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alum96

November 29th, 2014 at 9:03 PM ^

The trick is not to go the Baylor route because you get zero respect.  Baylor would be ahead of Tcu if they had played say Boston College or Iowa in non conf.

The trick is to play those mid tier weak conference types.... find someone in the ACC or Big 10 who is average like BC and Iowa I just named.  Beat those "name" teams from middling conferences and people wont look at your non conf (like Baylor) and scoff. 

Unfortunately it is still a mistake in this era to play a major non conf game and risk a loss.  Alabama did it right with West virginia. 

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