POLL: BCS Final Four Picks, What teams would they be?

[jsc1953]

@Munch

And Notre Dame was unranked in the AP last year, and just #24 in the coaches’ poll. And had Missouri won the SEC game, they likely would be playing in the NCG, having also started the season out of the rankings.

Of course this whole conversation would be moot, if the powers that be just did the common-sense rational thing, and held off their first poll until 2 or 3 weeks into the season. I can’t see any point in pre-season rankings. They provide no fact-based insight, and impede the progress of deserving teams.

[Zakalwe]

@BobLibDem

The SEC schools by and large play only creampuff OOC schools and only play them at home. So the big guns of the SEC only have to play a few tough games a year and they play them early, the writers only move them down a notch or two, which they promptly regain by playing Whackahatchee State the next week.

Might want to check this site. They ranked each team’s OOC SoS:

FSU: 13
Auburn: 65
Alabama: 22
Michigan St: 37
Stanford: 26
Baylor: 48
Ohio St: 84
Missouri: 46
South Carolina: 7
Oregon: 54

Combine this with the fact that the SEC had a better conference winning % OOC then the Big1$ (83% to 77%).

You still want to make the OOC SoS argument?

[Munch]

@jsc1953

I can’t see any point in pre-season rankings. They provide no fact-based insight, and impede the progress of deserving teams.

Clearly you’ve never tried to sell magazines in July, and didn’t come with “preseason rankings” as a sure fire way to print money.

[USCDiver]

@BobLibDem

The SEC schools by and large play only creampuff OOC schools and only play them at home. So the big guns of the SEC only have to play a few tough games a year and they play them early, the writers only move them down a notch or two, which they promptly regain by playing Whackahatchee State the next week.

Cal is not normally a 1-win team. They’re normally pretty decent. And to play them on the road is a plus for OSU. Just like MSU played ND on the road this year and will play at Oregon next year. Put Auburn in Maryland’s spot in the Big Ten East next year- I guarantee they don’t run the gauntlet of Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State unbeaten.

Jesus, Bob, at least look at the schedules before you start spouting off this crap.

Here’s a list of notable out of conference games for the SEC teams. Granted they aren’t all against Top 10 teams but if we’re using Cal as a guide…

Missouri: @Indiana
USC: @UCF, vs Clemson
UGA: @Clemson, @GaTech
Vandy: vs Wake Forest
UF: @Miami, vs Florida State
Tennessee: @Oregon
Kentucky: vs Louisville

Auburn: vs Washington State
Alabama: vs Virginia Tech
LSU: vs TCU
TAMU: vs Rice, vs SMU
MissState: vs Oklahoma State
Ole Miss: vs Texas
Arkansas: at Rutgers

[Spoke]

What a bunch of pushovers!

[Spoke]

Anyhow, we have enough head-to-head matchups to draw some conclusions. The Big 10 is 24-32 in matchups against the SEC in the BCS era.

[That_Don_Guy]

FSU, Auburn, Alabama, and Michigan State.

That last one was a little tough - don’t both MSU and Baylor have a win against an FCS team? - but Stanford’s two losses knock it out of contention.

Good thing the “playoff” doesn’t start this year - otherwise there would be calls for an 8-team tournament to prevent the “problem” of having to choose between MSU and Baylor in the future. Then again, even a 16-team tournament could have a similar problems; it is thought that Notre Dame was the “last team in” to the 2010 NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament, but it made it to the championship game.

[Zeldar]

Because I had gotten into the habit of building arrays from poll results in other similar threads this season, I went ahead and built this one.

After 38 Voters:

==========================================================================================================

                          Florida State  Auburn  Baylor  Michigan State  Ohio State  Alabama  Other teams
                          ===============================================================================

armedmonkey           4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State                       Other teams
basset hound          4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama 
BobLibDem             4   Florida State                  Michigan State  Ohio State           Other teams
borschevsky           4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama
Darth Sensitive       4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor  Michigan State

dogbutler             4   Florida State  Auburn                          Ohio State  Alabama
Duckster              4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama
ElvisL1ves            4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State                       Other teams
Fact of the Matter    4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama
jacobsta811           4   Florida State  Auburn                          Ohio State  Alabama

Jas09                 4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama
jsc1953               4   Florida State  Auburn                                      Alabama  Other teams
Kiros                 4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor                              Alabama
markdash              4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor  Michigan State
Mean Mr. Mustard      1                                  Michigan State

Munch                 4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama
Nauplius              4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor                              Alabama
NoClueBoy             4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor  Michigan State
notfrommensa          4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama
Oakminster            4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor                              Alabama

OldGuy                4   Florida State  Auburn                          Ohio State  Alabama
Parthol               4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor                              Alabama
picker                4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor  Michigan State
pulykamell            4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor  Michigan State
R. P. McMurphy        4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama

RikWriter             4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama          
Snowboarder Bo        4   Florida State  Auburn                          Ohio State  Alabama
Snupzilla             4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor                              Alabama
Spoke                 4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor                              Alabama
Sterling Archer       4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama 

tim-n-va              4   Florida State  Auburn                                      Alabama  Other teams
tonyfop               4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama 
USCDiver              4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor                              Alabama
Wolverine             4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama
Zakalwe               4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama

zamboniracer          4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor  Michigan State
Zeldar                4   Florida State  Auburn  Baylor  Michigan State
ZenBeam               4   Florida State  Auburn          Michigan State              Alabama
=======================   ================================================================================
   38               149         37         36      14         25             5          27        5       /149
 
==========================================================================================================

[notfrommensa]

Thanks ,

Four of the 5 people who picked tOSU did not pick Michigan State.

Can someone shed any logic of that phenomena?

[JohnT]

I’m a bit confused - I aped the picks of Sterling Archer, and

a) I’m not listed,
b) Sterling Archer’s picks are listed incorrectly (the spreadsheet has Alabama picked, but SA/myself went for Baylor)

[Carmady]

FSU
Auburn
Michigan State
Baylor

If it’s close, stick with major conference winners with 1 or fewer losses. Stanford (2 losses, loss to Utah) isn’t so far ahead to overlook an extra loss.

Alabama isn’t either. Keep in mind that Alabama didn’t play any of the top 3 teams in the SEC East: Missouri, South Carolina, or Georgia (actually they didn’t play anyone in the top 5 of the SEC East). Their schedule isn’t good enough to overcome losing their division and conference.

[Zeldar]

@JohnT

I’m a bit confused - I aped the picks of Sterling Archer, and

a) I’m not listed,
b) Sterling Archer’s picks are listed incorrectly (the spreadsheet has Alabama picked, but SA/myself went for Baylor)

The array was manually constructed by me from the poll results after 38 voters. That now stands at 41. I must assume you voted within the last three. I will update the array later, or anyone else can at their own convenience. As this thread was started by notfrommensa and not by me, I was just contributing to the thread, not trying to manage its outcome. I apologize to anyone voting after the 38th voter if they were omitted.

You can click on any number in the poll’s output and see things for yourself.

[treis]

There’s no way Baylor should be in this. They got the crap kicked out of them in their biggest game of the year. It’s one thing to lose. It’s quite another to be down 35-3 heading into the 4th.