kingfin66
11-01-2016, 10:39 PM
First, let me say that I understand that these rankings are meaningless on November 1st. With that out of the way, I have to wonder what the committee was thinking. The elephant in the room is Texas A&M. They are certainly not a bad team, but there is no way that they should be ranked ahead of either Washington or Ohio State.
The first issue is that they have a loss. At this point in the season a team with a loss should not be in the top 4. Period. Their loss is particularly bad for them as it very likely means that they will not have the opportunity to play for the SEC championship. That is, unless Alabama loses one of its last four games. Look out for that Chattanooga team. There is no way that a team who cannot even get to its conference championship game is going to the playoff.
So, why did Washington get screwed. Two reasons. First, their non-conference schedule is pathetically weak as they played and beat Rutgers, Portland State, and Idaho. These teams are bad even by the standards of weak teams. It should be noted that Texas A&M did not exactly schedule a great non-conference schedule. So far they have played and beat UCLA - okay, they are decent - New Mexico State, and Prairie View A&M. They still have the mighty UT San Antonio staring them in the face.
Reason two. In any other year the Huskies wins against Stanford and Oregon would make the world say "WHOA!" Not so much this year as Stanford is 5-3 (3-3 conf) and Oregon is a woeful 3-5 (1-4 bye bye Helfrich). Washington's other wins are against Arizona (losing record), Oregon State (dreadful), and Utah (finally some street cred). Their remaining schedule will be much more difficult than the first half with games upcoming against USC, Arizona St., Cal, and my personal favs, Washington State (GO COUGS!).
This brings me to another point. The SEC non-conference vs. conference games schedule in comparison to the Pac-12 system definitely favors the SEC who plays just 8 conference games compared to 9 for the Pac-12. This allows the SEC to schedule those late season games against patsies.
Where do we go from here? A lot is going to happen between now and the final selections are made. Duh! Clemson should win out. I actually think that they are the worst team from among 'Bama, Michigan, Washington, Ohio St, A&M and themselves. They then have to play either North Carolina or Va Tech in the ACC championship game. If they run the table, they are obviously in.
'Bama - The Tide will keep rolling like they always do and should run the table. They should have an easy time in the SEC title game. They will be in.
Michigan - This is the most interesting team to me. Harbaugh has done an amazing job getting them back to old school ass kicking Michigan. They have that one team - THE Ohio State University - standing in their way. JustRalph has said that it is all about beating Michigan. I think he's right, and wait a minute, the game is in Columbus. I will take Ohio State to win and throw a wrench into the machine. Either one of them should beat the west division champ. That would give Ohio State 1 loss and a Big Ten title. I don't think you can keep them out.
Texas A&M - See above. The fact is, they do not control their own destiny like the other teams. They cannot play in their league championship game. Forgot to mention, that even if Bama were to lose, which is highly unlikely, guess what? Bama beat A&M! Sorry A&M, your consolation prize is a nice bowl game.
Washington - The Huskies have not been here for a long time. If they are legit, they will run the table and win the Pac-12 and go into the playoffs. This is a tremendous scenario that is simply not likely to happen. They have Cal and WSU on the road, and USC and Arizona State at home. WSU is currently 5-0 in Pac-12 play after a slow start (losses against E.Washington and Boise St) and has also beaten Oregon and Stanford along with a live Ariz St team. I think the Cougs can win the Apple Cup this year. Washington could actually end up with two losses as I believe the USC game will also give them a hard time. Sorry UW...
So here is my question to all of you. I see it as:
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. ????
What say the rest of you?
The first issue is that they have a loss. At this point in the season a team with a loss should not be in the top 4. Period. Their loss is particularly bad for them as it very likely means that they will not have the opportunity to play for the SEC championship. That is, unless Alabama loses one of its last four games. Look out for that Chattanooga team. There is no way that a team who cannot even get to its conference championship game is going to the playoff.
So, why did Washington get screwed. Two reasons. First, their non-conference schedule is pathetically weak as they played and beat Rutgers, Portland State, and Idaho. These teams are bad even by the standards of weak teams. It should be noted that Texas A&M did not exactly schedule a great non-conference schedule. So far they have played and beat UCLA - okay, they are decent - New Mexico State, and Prairie View A&M. They still have the mighty UT San Antonio staring them in the face.
Reason two. In any other year the Huskies wins against Stanford and Oregon would make the world say "WHOA!" Not so much this year as Stanford is 5-3 (3-3 conf) and Oregon is a woeful 3-5 (1-4 bye bye Helfrich). Washington's other wins are against Arizona (losing record), Oregon State (dreadful), and Utah (finally some street cred). Their remaining schedule will be much more difficult than the first half with games upcoming against USC, Arizona St., Cal, and my personal favs, Washington State (GO COUGS!).
This brings me to another point. The SEC non-conference vs. conference games schedule in comparison to the Pac-12 system definitely favors the SEC who plays just 8 conference games compared to 9 for the Pac-12. This allows the SEC to schedule those late season games against patsies.
Where do we go from here? A lot is going to happen between now and the final selections are made. Duh! Clemson should win out. I actually think that they are the worst team from among 'Bama, Michigan, Washington, Ohio St, A&M and themselves. They then have to play either North Carolina or Va Tech in the ACC championship game. If they run the table, they are obviously in.
'Bama - The Tide will keep rolling like they always do and should run the table. They should have an easy time in the SEC title game. They will be in.
Michigan - This is the most interesting team to me. Harbaugh has done an amazing job getting them back to old school ass kicking Michigan. They have that one team - THE Ohio State University - standing in their way. JustRalph has said that it is all about beating Michigan. I think he's right, and wait a minute, the game is in Columbus. I will take Ohio State to win and throw a wrench into the machine. Either one of them should beat the west division champ. That would give Ohio State 1 loss and a Big Ten title. I don't think you can keep them out.
Texas A&M - See above. The fact is, they do not control their own destiny like the other teams. They cannot play in their league championship game. Forgot to mention, that even if Bama were to lose, which is highly unlikely, guess what? Bama beat A&M! Sorry A&M, your consolation prize is a nice bowl game.
Washington - The Huskies have not been here for a long time. If they are legit, they will run the table and win the Pac-12 and go into the playoffs. This is a tremendous scenario that is simply not likely to happen. They have Cal and WSU on the road, and USC and Arizona State at home. WSU is currently 5-0 in Pac-12 play after a slow start (losses against E.Washington and Boise St) and has also beaten Oregon and Stanford along with a live Ariz St team. I think the Cougs can win the Apple Cup this year. Washington could actually end up with two losses as I believe the USC game will also give them a hard time. Sorry UW...
So here is my question to all of you. I see it as:
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. ????
What say the rest of you?