NCAA College Football Week 11 -- Rank'em

[JaredL]

pvn,

The number 1 ranking should go to the team that is currently the best team in football and similarly with the #2 ranking. Kansas has not shown that they are this team based on the games they have played to date. I would not expect them to be favored by a fair line on a neutral field if they played LSU or Oregon.

If they beat Missouri and Oklahoma then we will have to adjust how good we think they are. With that extra info I think one could probably put them at #2 or #1 but that doesn't mean that they deserve it now.

A similar point is that if LSU loses this week to Ole Miss then we will have to update how good we think they are and they will of course drop down.

[Semtex]

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Not ranking Hawai'i is absolute BS! I hope they beat Boise St and we can stop this BS. I know they play a weak schedule but they are undefeated. I am not saying they should be number one but when teams in front of them lose they should move up. They can't help that they play in a suck ass conference. True theeir out of conference schedule could be better but who knew when they made the schedule 2-3 yrs ago that the Huskies would suck ass. BSU is a good one loss team. So if they beat BSU will they get any respect. I hope everyone in the top 10 loses this week and causes one big clusterfuck. God I love chaos!

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So if you think Hawai'i should be ranked just because they're undefeated, then why shouldn't Northern Iowa be ranked too? The AP allows voters to vote for I-AA teams now and NIU's actually played a tougher schedule. (#147 in D-I compared to #157 for Hawai'i according to Sagarin.)

Also, forget about Boise State. You have to get by Nevada first. They're better than either of the teams Hawaii went to OT with and I think they're good enough to get the win. I'd say Hawaii's more likely to go 9-3 than they are to go 12-0 at this point.

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If they went 12-0, do you think they deserve a BCS game?

[Billy Bibbit]

Given that Kansas is a pretty big underdog to run the table, I would think it makes sense to rank them below LSU and Oregon and plan to move them up if they win, rather than ranking them above those teams planning to move them down if they lose.

[BigSoonerFan]

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If you really think it's KU's championship bid to lose, then WHY NOT put them #1 right now?

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Because they're not as good as Oregon and their resume is worse. Realistically, most BCS conference schools would win the NC by going undefeated,

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Except Auburn. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Cheap shot, but we take what we can get.

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so the "its their championship to lose" line applies to most of DI-A at the beginning of the season.

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I'm not sure if you've noticed, but it's not the beginning of the season.

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But his comment follows your line of reasoning. If it's valid with 3 games to go, it's valid with 12.

[BigSoonerFan]

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pvn,

The number 1 ranking should go to the team that is currently the best team in football and similarly with the #2 ranking. Kansas has not shown that they are this team based on the games they have played to date. I would not expect them to be favored by a fair line on a neutral field if they played LSU or Oregon.

If they beat Missouri and Oklahoma then we will have to adjust how good we think they are. With that extra info I think one could probably put them at #2 or #1 but that doesn't mean that they deserve it now.

A similar point is that if LSU loses this week to Ole Miss then we will have to update how good we think they are and they will of course drop down.

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That was well said. (something that I'm not usually able to do!)

[pvn]

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With 12 games left, how many teams can you say "it's their championship to lose" about?

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Hint: the answer is NOT "all of them".

[pvn]

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pvn,

The number 1 ranking should go to the team that is currently the best team in football and similarly with the #2 ranking. Kansas has not shown that they are this team based on the games they have played to date.

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"Shown that they are the best team" =/= "are the best team"

Basically, this is the same results-oriented, ignore that-which-is-unseen thinking that dominates the AP voters.

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I would not expect them to be favored by a fair line on a neutral field if they played LSU or Oregon.

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Me either. But if that's your thinking, LSU shouldn't have been dropped from #1 even after they lost to UK.

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If they beat Missouri and Oklahoma then we will have to adjust how good we think they are.

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Some of us already have adjusted.

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With that extra info I think one could probably put them at #2 or #1 but that doesn't mean that they deserve it now.

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The flipside fo this is that the fact that the teams they've played so far aren't incredibly touggh doesn't mean that they DON'T deserve it. Playing a weaker schedule doesn't inherently make a worse team. A team that's played mediocre teams all year doesn't suddenly get better just because they get to a decent team on their schedule.

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A similar point is that if LSU loses this week to Ole Miss then we will have to update how good we think they are and they will of course drop down.

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After LSU lost to UK, do you think they would have been a neutral-field dog against, say, BC?

1 and 2 are no longer just about "who is the best team". They are about who goes to the BCS championship game. Anyone who thinks these are the same (or thinks that these SHOULD be the same) is way, way off the mark.

[iggymcfly]

The point is that people don't think Kansas is good enough to beat Missouri or Oklahoma. Most people think that if they'd played say LSU's schedule, they'd have multiple losses whereas if LSU played Kansas's schedule, they'd be undefeated.

If Kansas does beat two Top 5 teams, then they'll have proved all of us wrong and we'll have to readjust our ranking. The idea that Kansas should be given a good ranking now because of their remaining schedule is just silly though. What if Hawaii was playing Oklahoma and Oregon the last two games of the season? Would they have to be Top 2 since "that's where they'd be if they won out"?

[ND MOI]

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Craig James ballot normally sucks, but I give him credit for not listing Hawai'i period

actually, that is really bad, but most overrank them IMO

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[Billy Bibbit]

pvn,

After Week 1, Tennessee was 0-1 and Northwestern was 1-0. Do you think Northwestern should have been ranked above Tennessee simply because Northwestern would be more deserving of a championship berth if both teams won the rest of their games?