Your Top 25?

Submitted by Vasav on

I think this is a fun exercise this week what with all the madness:

1)LSU 2)Bama...huge gap...3)Arkansas 4)Stanford 5)VT

6)Houston 7)Oregon 8)OK St 9)Sparty 10)Boise

11)USC 12)OU 13)UGA 14)USC 15)Wiscy

16)K St 17)Mich 18)Baylor 19)TCU 20)Penn St

21)Clemson 22)Neb 23)ND 24)UVA 25)Tulsa

and the difference between 3 and 24 is not so great

Wouldn't it just be right for UVA to knock off VT next weekend? AND NW to knock off Sparty? Along with SEC drama? But alas, this isn't 2007. I feel like this was the weekend for all the craziness, and from here on out things will remain somewhat sensible. But then again, I thought the offense would have to carry us this season. So what do I know?

koolaid

November 20th, 2011 at 3:52 AM ^

LSU and Bama are good, but are they THAT good?  Alabama wasn't too great yesterday and the SEC is starting to look suspect as quality this year.  LSU beat Oregon by a couple of TDs at the beginning of the year.  Bama beat PSU.  Both of those teams are not the top of their conferences.

Swazi

November 20th, 2011 at 4:22 AM ^

LSU this year faced and beat six ranked teams(ranked at the time they faced them).  Three of those were on the road.  They've beaten teams that were ranked no. 3 and no. 2 in the country, and will face Arkansas when they are ranked probably no. 3.  If you don't think they're "that good" then I don't know what you need to see.

Vasav

November 20th, 2011 at 4:28 AM ^

Oregon is still in 1st in the Pac12 North, and will likely be hosting the title game (barring a complete meltdown in Corvalis). Penn St is weaker but will be playing Wiscy for the B1G East title next weekend. They're both contenders in 2 of the top 5 conferences in the country.

B12 and ACC haven't taken on the top of the SEC, although that partially gets remedied next weekend with the in-state rivalries. Which is why I still hope to see a B12 or ACC team take on LSU, just because more data is the only fair way to determine a champ.

maizedandconfused

November 20th, 2011 at 9:05 AM ^

1997 begs to disagree...

#7 Colorado 

# 15 Iowa

@#15 MSU 

@#2 PSU

@#23 Wiscy

#4 OSU

#8 Washington St.

Thats 4 teams in the top 8... seems eerily similiar to LSUs march this year except they only beat #3 Oregon at a neutral andincludes a Florida Gators club that almost lost to Furman

coastal blue

November 20th, 2011 at 9:13 AM ^

But where did those teams end up? 

WSU was 9th

OSU 12

Penn State 16th

Everyone else lost enough games to go unranked. 

LSU - should they win out - would have a much more impressive resume. 

coastal blue

November 20th, 2011 at 11:13 AM ^

If LSU was to win out they would have ranked wins over:

Oregon (N)

Alabama (A)

Arkansas

Georgia (N)

Possibly:

Auburn

West Virginia (A)

Then to top it off, they might have to beat Alabama again. 

Potentially, they could end up beating 4 teams inside the top 10 by the end of the year. 

Anyone claiming the 1997 Michigan schedule as superior is more homer than the Simpsons. 

MI Expat NY

November 20th, 2011 at 12:45 PM ^

They're obviously a very good team and deserve to be #1, and would in most seasons, but I'm not nearly as enamoured with their schedule as you are.  Obviously the wins over Oregon and Alabama are unassailable.  But after that, meh.  Yes, they won at WVU, but so did Louisville, and Syracuse smacked them.  Mississippi State?  Best win, Louisiana Tech, at home, in overtime.  Florida?  Best win, Tennessee, struggled with Furman at home.  Auburn?  "Good" win over South Carolina, but also needed a miracle to beet Utah St. at home and struggled with Samford.

This is a season where pollsters considered the SEC as being as good as previous years when it clearly isn't.  Has made LSU's, Alabama's and Arkansas' schedules seem much, much better than they were.

 

 

Swazi

November 20th, 2011 at 4:16 AM ^

Sparty up to 9th?  They won't jump South Carolina, and they wont jump a Kansas State that just beat a ranked team.  And Clemson down to 21 from 7?  Really?  And I also doubt Houston makes the big leap either.

Vasav

November 20th, 2011 at 4:32 AM ^

their loss was pretty bad though. I guess I just don't havem uch respect for USC. K St jumping was a bit strange on my part, but I'm thinking since they're in the B1G Title game they may get a bump into the top ten.

Also I wasn't looking at the BCS rankings when i did this, but instead last week's AP rankings.

turtleboy

November 20th, 2011 at 4:45 AM ^

I have it broken down not by when anybody won what game, but number of wins and losses, then quality of losses, and quality of wins, then games played.

1 LSU (Zero losses, wins over #2, #3, #16, #17, #20, & #25) (#16, 17, 20, now unranked)

2 Alabama (1 loss to #1, 3 wins over #12, #14, & #23)

3 Arkansas (1 loss to #3, 3 wins over #9, #14, & #15) (#14 now unranked)

4 Stanford (1 loss to #7, 2 wins over #20, & #25) (#25 now unranked)

5 Virginia Tech (1 loss to #13, 1 win over #21) (#21 now unranked)

6 Oklahoma State (1 loss @ unranked, 3 wins over #8, #14 & #22) (#8 &#22 now unranked)

7 Boise St (1 loss to unranked (now #19), 1 win over #19)

8 Oregon (2 losses to #4 and to disqualified, 2 wins over #4 and #18) (#18 now unranked)

9 KState (2 losses @ #3 & to #9, 2 wins over #15 and #23) (#23 now unranked)

10 Michigan State (2 losses @ #14 and @ unranked, 2 wins over #6 and #11)

11Wisconsin (2 losses @ #16 and @ unranked, 1win over #8)

12 Michigan (2 losses @ #23 and @ unranked, 1 win over #16)

13 Penn State (2 losses to #3 and #18, no ranked wins) 

14 Baylor (3 losses @ #3, @ #21, & @ unranked (now #9), wins over #14 & #5, one fewer game played, also beating current #15 prevents Baylor from 1 spot lower)

15 Oklahoma (2 losses @ #22 and to unranked, 3 wins over #5, #8, & #11) (#5, & #11 now unranked, one fewer game played than any other 2 loss)

16 Nebraska (3 losses @ #7, @ #18, & to unranked,  2 wins over #11, & @ #12)

17 Georgia (2 losses to #5, & #12, 1 win over #20)  

18 Houston (Zero losses, 1 win over unranked PAC-12)

19 TCU (2 losses @ unranked and to unranked OT (C-USA), 1 win @ #5)

20 South Carolina (2 losses @ #7 and to unranked, no ranked wins)

21 Clemson (2 losses @ unranked, 3 wins @ #11, over#11, & #21) (#11 & #21 no longer ranked)

22 Notre Dame (3 losses @ unranked (now #13), to disqualified, and to unranked, 1 win over #15)

23 Auburn (4 losses @ #1, @ #10, @ #15, & @ unranked (now #21), 2 wins @ #10, & over #16) (#16 now unranked)

24 Georgia Tech (3 losses to #10, @ unranked (could be#26), & @ unranked, 1 win over #5) 

25 West Virginia (3 losses to #1, @ unranked, & to unranked, 1 win over #23) (#23 now unraked)

turtleboy

November 20th, 2011 at 5:32 AM ^

with #'s 20-24 you can flip a coin, not much difference between their quality of losses and quality of wins to me

Also: on second thought one of Baylors losses was to a now unranked team, as things stand Nebraska has better quality losses than Baylor, and 2 quality wins versus Oklahomas 1 quality win to date so even with 3 losses I'd put Nebraska over Baylor at #14, and (for obvious reasons) Baylor over Oklahoma right now.

Also also: South Carolina in retrospect has a quality ranked win of Georgia who I put at #17, but I don't think that beats TCU's win over Boise since Boise beat Georgia as well.

MI Expat NY

November 20th, 2011 at 12:18 PM ^

I think it's sketchy to use poll rankings to determine who has faced a better schedule.  I mean, Mississippi State, Florida and Auburn are ranked teams for most of those SEC schools.  Does anyone think that any of those schools are really top-25 caliber teams?  Or maybe they were just overrated because ESSS-EEE-CEEE SPEEEEED.

I think this method hurts all of the Big 12 teams.  They all play an extra conference game and with non-conference scheduling, they play an average of 10 BCS opponents, a number that blows everyone but the Pac-12 out of the water.  Plus, Kansas is the only bad team in the league.  This gives every team in the league more losses and makes it more difficult for them to be ranked.  I know this is anectdotal, but I think it demonstrates my point: Texas A&M, arguably the sixth best team in the Big 12 took your number three overall team to the wire on a neutral field.  

steviebrownfor…

November 20th, 2011 at 6:32 AM ^

Am I supposed to be impressed that they beat a UCLA team who lost to Arizona by 36?

Very unimpressed with Keenum and Houston.  Sorry, but hanging 73 on Tulane just doesn't do it for me.  Probably because there are about 70 teams in FBS that could do the same. Similarly, are we to believe that the SEC has the 3 best teams in the country?

If 3 teams can go through the same conference season with one loss... that's probably not much of a conference is it?  Maybe I'm just a hater but the top 25 rankings are and always have been a joke.

mGrowOld

November 20th, 2011 at 7:45 AM ^

1. LSU

2. Alabama

3. Michigan

4. Michigan

5. Michigan

6. Michigan

7. Michigan

8. Michigan

9. Michigan

10. Michigan State (well they did beat us afterall.....)

11. Michigan

12. MIchigan

13. Michigan

14. Michigan

15. Oregon (wierd game yesterday that somehow Holtz predicted)

16. Michigan

17. Michigan

18. Michigan

19. Michigan

20. Michigan

21. Wisconsin (losing back to back games in final seconds - ouch)

22. Michigan

23. Michigan

24. Stanford (name a second player after Luck.........)

25. Michigan

Spar-Dan

November 20th, 2011 at 11:00 AM ^

lol.  I'll give you that.

BTW, as a Spartan, I congratulate you on your win yesterday.  A great game, and isn't it amazing what coaching can do?  Obviously, whatever UM is paying Mattison is well worth it.  It's nice to see Michigan back to being Michigan again, and, if you allow, it's nice to see "the same old Spartans" maybe aren't the same old Spartans, anymore. 

Hopefully, our football and basketball teams can finally compete and have some fun games for the foreseeable future.

bronxblue

November 20th, 2011 at 7:58 AM ^

I have not been that impressed with Bama this year.  They are probably #2 by default, but on a neutral field I think a focused Oklahoma, Oregon, or Wiscy could give them trouble. 

The funny thing is, Wiscy might have a stronger argument to play one of these teams than even some 1-loss squads like Stanford and VT just because of the flukiness of their losses.  I mean, two straight Hail Marys sandwiched by teeth-kickings shows a team with some bad luck, not the fundamental flaws you see with some other squads.

I'm sure we'll see a rematch, and I also think we'll see how over-exposed most of the SEC is during the bowl season.

Cope

November 20th, 2011 at 8:53 AM ^

I'm not the only one who thinks alabama is over-rated. Victories over un-impressive Arkansas (barely beat vandy, ole miss, and troy; signature wins auburn? scar? ta & m?) who has crept up the rankings quietly, and Penn st (you know). Only other win against a team with a winning record: Florida (6-5, ends season against fsu).

Defense barely prevented FCS Georgia Southern from putting up 28 points (ran for over 300).
Not a clear #2.

justingoblue

November 20th, 2011 at 9:56 AM ^

Well, going off of the likely AP poll/BCS standings, we were just ranked 20/18 and beat the snot out of 17/16 Nebraska. Baylor and Kansas State were the only ranked teams to beat another ranked team this weekend, and Michigan and Baylor should jump quite a bit, IMO. We're now sitting at seven two-loss teams and seven one-loss teams with two teams undefeated. The lowest anyone should plausably have us rated then is sixteenth.

Splitting the difference of the 9-2 teams would put us at 12/13. That's probably about right, maybe a place too high.

_DG7_goblue

November 20th, 2011 at 9:55 AM ^

By default should be 17 theoretically after beating a team in front of them. I do believe we jump Clemson and maybe OU, anyways were going to be 14 or lower no way k state will be ahead of us

DaBigDaddy

November 20th, 2011 at 10:40 AM ^

Houston and USC are ranked too high. Houston is like another Boise state, and USC have bowl ban so will not be in the top 15. Michigan will be aomewhere around 13-15.

joeyb

November 20th, 2011 at 11:28 AM ^

 

1. LSU  1.82304590647954
2. Oklahoma St. 2.17105252058039
3. Alabama      2.17542679421112
4. Boise St.    2.22585801998428
5. Houston      2.23776023713252
6. Oklahoma     2.31382971203665
7. Stanford     2.38463753143438
8. Southern California  2.46475030750476
9. Arkansas     2.47512141768086
10. Michigan    2.57978862069819
11. Kansas St.  2.63604342968252
12. Virginia Tech       2.66194326241065
13. Wisconsin   2.66619680717018
14. Notre Dame  2.81237129549416
15. Southern Miss.      2.84716005141005
16. Oregon      2.87517131431096
17. Michigan St.        2.95013147808685
18. Clemson     2.98521991461765
19. TCU 2.98588655694151
20. South Carolina      3.00650882908209
21. Penn St.    3.0498386384052
22. Georgia     3.06372932618842
23. Nebraska    3.22045373996848
24. Tulsa       3.27971127625622
25. Rutgers     3.31823876683329

Six Zero

November 20th, 2011 at 11:40 AM ^

Any system where a team can fail to qualify for its conference championship, rest on its laurels while said conference divisional winners face off against each other in a tough game, and then stroll into the national championship either against that conference champion or another team is a system that does not work.

At this point Alabama has a great situation.  All that's standing in their way is Auburn, while LSU still has to face off against what will be #3 Arkansas AND then Georgia in the SEC title game (in Atlanta no less).  Bama, meanwhile, has essentially been given a bye during the championship weekend for-- get this-- losing to LSU.

I know it's no secret that the system is flawed-- but it can be easily fixed:   NO team should be able to play for the national title if it can't win its own conference.

CompleteLunacy

November 20th, 2011 at 12:42 PM ^

Bama really has a questionable resume. Their two best wins are home against Arkansas, and at Penn State. Both which occurred in September (I think Penn State has improved defensively since then...heck they've even marginally improved on offense...at least they have a starting QB right now! They still thought Boldin was a viable option back then...).