2014 NCAA Football Thread

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by nik-

We hear this every year pretty much. Every year other than last year it's all "SEC is overrated, they get rewarded in rankings too much" and then in the big game they just win again and again. The best way for the high rating to stop is to beat them.

The only reason FSU is even in 4th place is because they're the reigning National Champs. If they weren't they'd be out of it. Undefeated is great and all, but when you see their games, they're not a top team. Too many late comebacks needed against teams that have no business in a game against an actual top team.

FSU beat the best SEC team last year, though. The ACC was 4-0 against the SEC last week. Clemson won their BCS game. Alabama lost theirs. Who has an SEC team beat this year or last year in a big game that is so special?

How you win games is ok as a tie breaker, but kind of lame as the primary differentiator.

FSU's schedule stands up to any of the other top 4s IMO. I don't really see how you can make the case that any are that great. I think statistically FSU's schedule is the 2nd toughest out of the contenders.

[nik-]

FSU beat the luckiest SEC team last year.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

FSU beat the best SEC team last year, though. The ACC was 4-0 against the SEC last week. Clemson won their BCS game. Alabama lost theirs. Who has an SEC team beat this year or last year in a big game that is so special?

How you win games is ok as a tie breaker, but kind of lame as the primary differentiator.

FSU's schedule stands up to any of the other top 4s IMO. I don't really see how you can make the case that any are that great. I think statistically FSU's schedule is the 2nd toughest out of the contenders.

yeah I agree

FSU had a really good non-conference schedule lined up that went to ####. Oklahoma St., Notre Dame and Florida most years is going to be among the top 5 toughest non-conference schedules in the country. You can't control your conference sucking and can't control what should be a tough non-conference schedule that goes sideways, so they've done what they needed to do

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

yeah I agree

FSU had a really good non-conference schedule lined up that went to ####. Oklahoma St., Notre Dame and Florida most years is going to be among the top 5 toughest non-conference schedules in the country. You can't control your conference sucking and can't control what should be a tough non-conference schedule that goes sideways, so they've done what they needed to do

Come on, I'm sure Alabama and Miss St thought Western Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Southern Miss and UT Martin were all going to have strong years!

[nik-]

SEC west teams don't have to book strong out of conference schedules because their conferences aren't crap.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by nik-

SEC west teams don't have to book strong out of conference schedules because their conferences aren't crap.

How can you state that as fact when you can't name a game since 2012 where someone from the SEC west has beaten anyone significant?

[nik-]

significant or significant out of conference?

The SEC doesn't schedule a strong out of conference schedule. This isn't really debated. The SEC is also the toughest conference in college football ... still. This isn't really debated successfully. The SEC is the closest to the NFL game in college.

[DiracSpike]

I think people are making too much of FSU being number 4, bottom line they're still in the playoff and will be next week if they beat Georgia Tech. The exact seeding for the playoff doesn't really make a difference, Alabama is almost guaranteed to be the number one seed so for FSU their path is either against Oregon at the rose bowl or against bama at the sugar. Both are tough tests.
Most likely I think their number four ranking is a message from the committee that even though they're undefeated they haven't been overly impressive this year, pretty much 2012 Notre Dame.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

FSU beat the best SEC team last year, though. The ACC was 4-0 against the SEC last week. Clemson won their BCS game. Alabama lost theirs. Who has an SEC team beat this year or last year in a big game that is so special?

How you win games is ok as a tie breaker, but kind of lame as the primary differentiator.

FSU's schedule stands up to any of the other top 4s IMO. I don't really see how you can make the case that any are that great. I think statistically FSU's schedule is the 2nd toughest out of the contenders.

This is very stale, dated thinking that I'm glad the committee doesn't have. For generations there have been two massive problems with polls.

The first is pre season rankings, which legitimize teams based on absolutely nothing. I'm glad the first of the rankings don't come out till half way through the year. Tied to that is people talking about last year. 2013 doesn't matter. Not even a little.

The second is that humans do a terrible job of valuing strength of schedule. Just rolling through a mediocre schedule, where you are dependent on horrific 2nd half coaching vs Clemson, a questionable call (at best) vs what has turned out to be a dumpster fire of a Notre Dame team and squeaking by an irrelevant BC matters. Yes they are winning, and if they win the ACC, fine put them in the playoff nobody can say with a straight face they'd have the same success as Alabama has with their schedule or even a PAC12 schedule for that matter. ACC is basically a football mid major at this point.

I have no idea what statistics you read to say that they have the 2nd toughest schedule but in any credible measure I doubt it. One credible measure I read today is that ranking teams vs each other Vegas has FSU at #7. If they played MSU on a neutral field they'd be the dog. Vegas is a function of a few retail fans but a bunch of professional gamblers as well. Those sports books weren't built up to what they are by screwing up point spreads.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Florida has worked out the buyout clause in Jim McElwain's contract and he will be the next Gators coach.

[GirlySports]

Is #7 Arizona in if they beat #2 Oregon? They would have beaten Oregon twice!

[Senator Clay Davis]

Rumours floating Nebraska may hire Jim Tressel. Now that would be interesting.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Rumours floating Nebraska may hire Jim Tressel. Now that would be interesting.

must be some bad sources

BECAUSE

Nebraska hires Oregon St. HC Mike Riley. Universal response is WTF. He's 61, he's not really done much the last 5 or 6 seasons in Corvallis (with limited resources, granted). About as uninspiring hire as you can imagine if you're a Nebraska fan.

[Senator Clay Davis]

That's ummm....??? I mean if you're going to fire Pelini you should probably actually hire someone better. All this tells everyone is Nebraska is done as an upper echelon program. This used to be one of the 5 or 10 most wanted jobs in college. Now they need mid-tied Pac 12 coaches to come? Yeesh.

[MRCboicgy]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

That's ummm....??? I mean if you're going to fire Pelini you should probably actually hire someone better. All this tells everyone is Nebraska is done as an upper echelon program. This used to be one of the 5 or 10 most wanted jobs in college. Now they need mid-tied Pac 12 coaches to come? Yeesh.

I actually think this is a great hire for them. I mean the guy made Ore. St respectable and reportedly turned down the USC job before they gave it to that goof Lane Kiffen.
A quick twitter scan shows the fans are angry and the analysts think its a steal, time will tell who is right.

[Josh]

Originally Posted by MRCboicgy

I actually think this is a great hire for them. I mean the guy made Ore. St respectable and reportedly turned down the USC job before they gave it to that goof Lane Kiffen.
A quick twitter scan shows the fans are angry and the analysts think its a steal, time will tell who is right.

I'm an Oregon State alum and season ticket holder. I can tell you that down here we're in complete shock that riley left. He was a great coach and will be missed. We're not even to the "oh crap we don't have a football coach" stage yet

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Is #7 Arizona in if they beat #2 Oregon? They would have beaten Oregon twice!

FiveThirtyEight gives them a 37% chance of making the playoff if they win.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/c...hakes-up-odds/

[nik-]

plz 2 win Bama

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Florida has worked out the buyout clause in Jim McElwain's contract and he will be the next Gators coach.

McElwain is paying about 2 million of that buyout too..

I wasn't really happy with the hire at first but the more I read into him the more and more I feel better about the man.

oh and Roll Tide! game just started

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by MRCboicgy

I actually think this is a great hire for them. I mean the guy made Ore. St respectable and reportedly turned down the USC job before they gave it to that goof Lane Kiffen.
A quick twitter scan shows the fans are angry and the analysts think its a steal, time will tell who is right.

He also turned down Bama before Saban came. He is an Alabama Alumni