# 2015 College Football Omnibus Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 30, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398 "2015-08-30T16:01:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/181 "2015-10-05T20:12:30Z")
**The Thing Fish Rankings – Week 5** Arizona State’s romp at UCLA not only gets them into the top 25, but also keeps USC (which beat them last week) ranked coming off a bye week and lifts the Aggies (who beat them in the opener) all the way to the peak. Thus far, my master plan to demonstrate that the SEC is overrated doesn’t seem to be working out too well. 1. Texas A & M (3-0 against P5 teams, 1-0 against my top 25) 2. Stanford! (3-1, 1-1) 3. Florida (3-0, 1-0) 4. Northwestern! (3-0, 1-0) 5. Utah (2-0, 1-0) 6. LSU (3-0, 0-0) 7. Alabama (3-0, 1-1) 8. TCU (3-0, 0-0) 9. Cal! (3-0, 0-0) 10. UCLA (3-0, 0-1) 11. Iowa (3-0, 0-0) 12. Ohio State (2-0, 0-0) 13. Bowling Green (2-1, 0-1) 14. Memphis (1-0, 0-0) 15. USC (1-1, 1-1) 16. Michigan (2-1, 0-1) 17. Florida State (2-0, 0-0) 18. Georgia (2-1, 0-1) 19. Ole Miss (2-1, 1-1) 20. Notre Dame (3-1, 0-1) 21. Toledo (2-0, 0-0) 22. Arizona State (1-2, 1-2) 23. Clemson (2-0, 1-0) 24. Oklahoma (2-0, 0-0) 25. Oklahoma State (2-0, 0-0) Now with a bit more than a third of the season gone, the contrast between this list and the AP is getting more interesting. The big outliers are Baylor and Michigan State, who are playoff teams per the AP but not quite good enough to make this list. Baylor has been blowing everyone out, but has only played one Power 5 team. Sparty is 2-0 against P5 teams, but both wins were close and at home and neither opponent seems much good so far (sob!). Clemson’s win was impressive, and they are 4-0, but two of the wins were over Wofford and Appalachian State. For once, the AP and I approximately agree about Alabama, which enters these ratings after its second decent win of the season. Toledo is hanging around the bottom of both lists. I am kind of shocked that Bowling Green isn’t getting a single vote in the AP poll; sure, they are 3-2, but they have two road wins against Big Ten teams (albeit crappy ones). I am really looking forward to the BCS title game between Stanford and Northwestern! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/182 "2015-10-05T21:54:28Z")
How can one-loss Stanford be #2? Yes, they’ve got some road wins, but they lost already and struggled to beat a UCF team that lost to _Furman_ and FIU in the preceding games (and not incidentally, leads the nation in games lost to injury and defense not played - as in, they are the worst defense in the NCAA statistically). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/183 "2015-10-05T23:58:16Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > But the sacred chart!!! It said go for 2 and Kelly’s staff agreed. I don’t fault him for the first 2 point try. Robinson should have caught the ball. I think they went to the chart too early. ND scored with 14:13 left to make it a 21-9 game. True, going for two puts you within 10 pts of a tie if you succeed. But if you don’t, you need two TDs. Or if they get a FG you need 2 TDs. It only makes sense if you can keep them from scoring and if you make it. So at 10:56, Clemson makes it 24-9. Now you’re screwed, you need 2 TDs plus a PAT plus a 2 pt conversion plus keep them from scoring. Sorry, but I think that the correct move is to kick and make it 21-10. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/184 "2015-10-06T01:46:05Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > How can one-loss Stanford be #2? Yes, they’ve got some road wins, but they lost already and struggled to beat a UCF team that lost to _Furman_ and FIU in the preceding games (and not incidentally, leads the nation in games lost to injury and defense not played - as in, they are the worst defense in the NCAA statistically). Well, after further review, I have discovered an error, and have revised the rankings accordingly! 1. Stanford!! (3-1, 1-1) 2. Texas A & M (3-0 against P5 teams, 1-0 against my top 25) 3. Florida (3-0, 1-0) 4. Northwestern! (3-0, 1-0) 5. Utah (2-0, 1-0) 6. LSU (3-0, 0-0) 7. Alabama (3-0, 1-1) 8. TCU (3-0, 0-0) 9. Cal! (3-0, 0-0) 10. UCLA (3-0, 0-1) 11. Iowa (3-0, 0-0) 12. Ohio State (2-0, 0-0) 13. Bowling Green (2-1, 0-1) 14. Memphis (1-0, 0-0) 15. USC (1-1, 1-1) 16. Michigan (2-1, 0-1) 17. Florida State (2-0, 0-0) 18. Georgia (2-1, 0-1) 19. Ole Miss (2-1, 1-1) 20. Notre Dame (3-1, 0-1) 21. Toledo (2-0, 0-0) 22. Arizona State (1-2, 1-2) 23. Clemson (2-0, 1-0) 24. Oklahoma (2-0, 0-0) 25. Oklahoma State (2-0, 0-0) In Week 2, I mistakenly thought (with apologies) that UCF was an FCS team rather than FBS, and failed to give Stanford its one point for that win (which I didn’t watch, but it was 31-7; how much of a struggle could it possibly have been?!). Stanford has three wins over power 5 teams, including a win at USC, and most P5 teams haven’t even played three P5 opponents yet; this will all even out in the end. For example, Stanford has a bye week coming up, so they certainly will fall in next week’s rankings.The system doesn’t penalize teams for losing (except insofar as losses represent wasted opportunities); I don’t see why Stanford should get LESS credit for losing to Northwestern than, say, Oregon got for beating Eastern Washington in that same week. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/185 "2015-10-06T01:53:03Z")
As a reminder: > [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > \*\* > > OK, here is the whole system: > > 2 points for beating a P5 team. > > 2 point bonus for beating a top 25 team (per these ratings) – this is retroactive, so teams will be gaining and losing points all season as their former opponents move in and out of the top 25. > > 1 point bonus for winning on the road. > > 1 point bonus for winning by 15 or more. > > No points for beating a non-P5 FBS team, and boy do we need a less clunky way of saying “FBS-but-not-really” – but 1 point bonuses for road and decisive wins still apply. > > No points ever for beating an FCS team, and losing to them incurs a four-point penalty, plus one-point bonuses for home and/or decisive losses. > > Exception: FBS minor league teams and FCS teams which win a total of at least 10 regular season games shall be treated as if they were the next level up. > > The Big 12 regular season champion gets a four point bonus to compensate for the lack of a championship game. > > The first and only tiebreaker is the whim of Thing Fish. So, for example, Stanford now has 13 points: 0 for losing to Northwestern 1 for blowing out UCF 5 for beating ranked USC on the road 4 for blowing out Oregon State on the road 3 for blowing out Arizona TAMU is the only team to have earned points in every week, but still totals only 12: 5 for blowing out ranked Arizona State 1 for blowing out Ball State 1 for blowing out Nevada 3 for beating Arkansas on the road 2 for beating Mississippi State ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/186 "2015-10-06T02:13:25Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > 1. Alabama (3-0, 1-1) Just gonna pretend that Ole Miss never happened? How can they be 3-0 against P5 teams, but 1-1 against your Top25? I think you have a serious flaw in your calculations here. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/187 "2015-10-06T03:51:08Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Just gonna pretend that Ole Miss never happened? How can they be 3-0 against P5 teams, but 1-1 against your Top25? I think you have a serious flaw in your calculations here. :smack:D’oh! Should be 2-1, 1-0, of course. That error doesn’t affect the actual ranking, but now I notice that I made the same mistake I made wrt UCF and failed to give Bama credit for thumping Middle Tennessee State, which will elevate them to #4. Tomorrow I am going to carefully recheck everything! Embarrassing, but nice to know that folks are paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/188 "2015-10-06T05:43:25Z")
OK, my conscience wouldn’t allow me to sleep until this was cleared up. I have double checked everything, and found no further errors. So here are the (please God) final week 5 rankings. 1. Stanford!! (3-1, 1-1) 2. Texas A & M (3-0 against P5 teams, 1-0 against my top 25) 3. Florida (3-0, 1-0) 4. Alabama (3-0, 1-1) 5. Northwestern! (3-0, 1-0) 6. Utah (2-0, 1-0) 7. LSU (3-0, 0-0) 8. TCU (3-0, 0-0) 9. Cal! (3-0, 0-0) 10. UCLA (2-1, 0-1) 11. Iowa (3-0, 0-0) 12. Ohio State (2-0, 0-0) 13. Bowling Green (2-1, 0-1) 14. Memphis (1-0, 1-0) 15. USC (1-1, 1-1) 16. Michigan (2-1, 0-1) 17. Florida State (2-0, 0-0) 18. Georgia (2-1, 0-1) 19. Ole Miss (2-1, 1-1) 20. Notre Dame (3-1, 0-1) 21. Toledo (2-0, 0-0) 22. Arizona State (1-2, 1-2) 23. Clemson (2-0, 1-0) 24. Oklahoma (2-0, 0-0) 25. Oklahoma State (2-0, 0-0) 3 of the top 4 from the SEC? Say it ain’t so! ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/189 "2015-10-06T05:51:58Z")
Although all 3 of them do have the traditional SEC late-season cupcake on their schedules, so that will hurt them down the road. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/190 "2015-10-06T06:26:08Z")
\*Addicted to Quack \*blog reports: > [@](#): > > On Monday morning, Nike unveiled a special edition Oregon football uniform that is a salute to the Lewis and Clark expedition. It features everything from a topographical map of Oregon to a silhouette of Lewis and Clark. The Ducks will wear the uniforms this weekend against Washington State. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/191 "2015-10-06T08:17:00Z")
Alabama (2-1, 1-1), goddammit! But the rankings are right… ---
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/192 "2015-10-06T20:50:24Z")
::_Checks **Doctor Who** ’s thread title_:: **2015 College Football Omnibus Thread** Okay. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/193 "2015-10-06T20:56:39Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > In Week 2, I mistakenly thought (with apologies) that UCF was an FCS team rather than FBS, and failed to give Stanford its one point for that win (which I didn’t watch, but it was 31-7; how much of a struggle could it possibly have been?!). It was 10-0 Stanford at the half. The second half was basically the result of UCF’s true freshman backup quarterbacks going three and out nine straight times. By way of comparison, UCF lost to FCS Furman the following week, a team which had lost its only two games to that point (against FCS Coastal Carolina and VA Tech.) ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/194 "2015-10-07T02:58:55Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It was 10-0 Stanford at the half. The second half was basically the result of UCF’s true freshman backup quarterbacks going three and out nine straight times. By way of comparison, UCF lost to FCS Furman the following week, a team which had lost its only two games to that point (against FCS Coastal Carolina and VA Tech.) Well, that’s interesting, but I’m certainly not trying to analyze every single game at that level of detail; I’m just looking at results and trusting that the fluky ones will even out over the course of a season. And it’s not at all unusual for an inferior team to keep it close early on before their relative lack of talent and depth starts to show; I have gotten used in the last few years to Oregon games being close at the half and blowouts at the end. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/195 "2015-10-07T17:08:02Z")
The USC v LSU game has been moved from Columbia to Baton Rouge due to the flooding. Just as well really, no sense trying to push the limits of the already damaged infrastructure and public safety personnel for a football game. Plus it was going to be a blow out anyway; I suspect we’ll get the home field next time we meet in 2020 by which time we’ll have a new coach (Is Phil Fulmer available?) and a better team. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/196 "2015-10-08T01:47:41Z")
> [@jimbuff314](#): > > ::_Checks **Doctor Who** ’s thread title_:: > > **2015 College Football Omnibus Thread** > > Okay. Thanks? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/197 "2015-10-09T06:37:38Z")
Looks like maybe Southern Cal will be dropping off the radar after choking on Husky fur Thursday night. Sad state of affairs for them, that. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/198 "2015-10-09T14:41:51Z")
USC’s offense looked damn near unstoppable coming into that game and then they just laid a complete turd on the field. Calls for Sark’s job should be coming soon, if not already. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/199 "2015-10-09T15:09:33Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > USC’s offense looked damn near unstoppable coming into that game and then they just laid a complete turd on the field. Calls for Sark’s job should be coming soon, if not already. As a fan of a team that’s already beaten Washington and has USC coming up in 3 weeks, I view this development with a great deal of pleasant surprise and good cheer. Shoot, anytime USC loses is cause for celebration. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398/200 "2015-10-09T19:37:20Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > As a fan of a team that’s already beaten Washington and has USC coming up in 3 weeks, I view this development with a great deal of pleasant surprise and good cheer. > > Shoot, anytime USC loses is cause for celebration. So very true. OTOH, anytime Wash11ngton wins is cause for wailing, rending of garments, and penitential fasting, so I am kind of torn here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2015-college-football-omnibus-thread/729398.md?page=11)