Do you even watch ESPN? FSU is the black hat. The hated team. And we didn’t lose a fucking game until Oregon waxed our ass (who also didn’t lose a game).
Like it or not, we were the undefeated defending National Champions (and argue with that 2013 win, I dare you). Until that team loses, they should be in. FWIW, I think this applies to OSU this year. They should be assumed in until and unless they lose.
Its not like FSU loaded on OOC Cremepuffs last year. They had one, the Citadel. The others:
Oklahoma State
Notre Dame
Florida
Continued.
However, This year FSU’s Non-con schedule is SEC-esque
Texas St, South Florida, Chattanooga, and Florida
Yeah, it is. Part of it is still fallout from WVU bailing on us. Part of it is just the recognition that you didn’t get as much credit from a quality loss as you did a shitty win. That is changing, but the schedules are set years in advance and take a bit to catch up.
Again, FWIW, FSU is actually shitty this year. Okay, not shitty, but we are down from last year. The defense is porous and, other than Dalvin Cook, the offense is shaky. Not gonna be a great year for the Garnet and Gold.
The other concern with the SOS metric is that it may very well push a number of mid and lower-tier teams to drop football altogether. Those guys count on the payday they get from taking the annual ass-whipping from a power team.
The main event of the college weekend is coming up. LSU @ MIssissippi State. LSU had to cancel their game last week, so this is the season opener for them. On the road against an SEC opponent. State did not look great last week @ Southern Mississippi, but at least they played a game and got the win.
I flipped around this afternoon. Ole Miss still putting up video game numbers on offense, and Kelly looks like the real deal at QB. Can’t wait to see them @ Bama next week. That one could decide the SEC West assuming the winner can run the table.
Football scheduling has changed greatly over the last 40-50 years.
OOC schedules from 1970 for some notable teams:
Nebraska: USC, Minnesota, Wake Forest and Army.
Michigan: Arizona, Washington, TAMU
Alabama: USC, Va Tech, Houston, Miami
UCLA: Pitt, Northwestern, Texas, Tennessee
Ducks not looking like worldbeaters in the first half but keeping it within reach. Go Big Green!
I wonder why?
I know the schedules were shorter then. Is it because there was less TV money then and the schools depended on ticket sales? I can remember as late as the the late 1980s, it was common to have college football shown on tape delay later at night by independent stations.
Was it the overtaking of the college game by the NFL that suddenly caused schools to have interesting inter regional match ups?
Or were there fewer directional and smaller schools with football programs back around 1970.
Holy Toledo!
Ugh, that was disappointing. Defense looks shaky, O-line is iffy and this QB doesn’t seem to be as good as the last guy. Still. A three-point loss away to this team shouldn’t do us too much harm. Congratulations, Sparty, and let’s have a tiebreaker on a neutral field in January.
Happy New Year, mensa!
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, Auburn got 2 points for a close win at home over a P5 opponent, and Baylor got 2 points for a blowout road win over a lesser opponent. Baylor then ended up a few spots higher in the rankings due to, as you surmised, pure anti-SEC malice, as per the tiebreaker rule. The tiebreaker is pretty crucial early in the season but will lose importance as we go on.
You think? I’m amazed he was able to function at all with just a short time to learn that system. Reminds me of the time I had only a couple of weeks to learn to fly the space shuttle to save the earth from an asteroid.
But geez, he had that guy wide open in the end zone for the win, and overthrew him badly. Pretty good showing for a team that lost so much talent to the pros, though.
LSU hangs on for a big road win to start their season. A crucial delay of game penalty made Mississippi State try a 51 yard FG for the win as time expired. Wide right. Sigh.
That said, both teams have some positives to take away from this game. State came back from 14-0 and had a chance to win the game as time expired. The defense and passing games show promise. LSU has a huge O-line, a stud RB, and a QB that looks good for only his 2nd career start.
Deal. In the meantime it gives us a chance to let our defense fully get it’s legs. Hopefully they can work out the kick coverage on special teams too. Two straight games giving up special teams touchdowns :smack:
In the meantime, it’s sparty time, East Lansing style. How many weeks till the big weasels are on the menu?
I told you Mariota’s game wouldn’t transfer to the pros. Maybe next time you’ll listen to me.
Heh—I felt pretty confident about starting Drew Brees over Mariota on my fantasy team today…oops.
An inelegant but good win over Oregon for the good guys last weekend. Got a bit lucky with an overthrown pass after the MSU defender slipped but to keep that offense out of the end zone for so long was a pretty good feat.
Punt coverage still needs work. But this makes me wonder- why does anyone punt the ball inbounds? I think the best option is to make sure it goes out of bounds and if it costs you 10 yards in the kick distance, so be it. Just avoid those long returns.
I’m pleasantly surprised at Auburn’s drop in the polls. It’s about time someone paid for a narrow win over a cupcake.
Auburn is going to drop even further after they get destroyed by LSU this week.
Conversely, MSU was rewarded for scheduling a tough opponent. It even got two first-place votes.
Thing Fish Rankings – Week 2
Notre Dame reaches the top spot for being the only team with two wins over P5 teams, one a blowout and one on the road. UCLA slips ahead of tOSU for at least going on the road to beat its cupcake. Kentucky has no votes at all in the AP poll, but is one of only two teams (along with Utah) to have a win over a P5 team which itself has a win over a P5 team; they get rewarded here. Beating Stanford didn’t quite get Northwestern into the AP poll, but beating Eastern Illinois does? I drop them several spots for aggravated cupcakery. And with eight SEC teams ranked, it does appear that that conference’s early season scheduling isn’t living down to its reputation this year. Looks like the ACC is the weak sister so far, but there is a lot of ball to be played.