SWC75
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This year I will be again charting how teams have done “against ranked teams”, which is something that always comes up at the end of the year when the arguments over who should be in the 4 team national championship playoff takes place. As usual, this is not meant to end those arguments, just to give those making them something to look at in forming their opinions.
I’m going to do it using the procedure I started last year. The original procedure was that I would first grant teams playing ranked teams a certain number of points based on who they are playing. If you played the #1 team, (I use the AP- writer’s poll for continuity), you get 25 points. If you are playing the #2 team, you get 24 points, etc. down to getting 1 point for playing the #25 team. I call these “schedule points”. Here’s a chart to make it simple:
1-25, 2-24, 3-23, 4-22, 5-21, 6-20, 7-19, 8-18, 9-17, 10-16, 11-15, 12-14, 13-13, 14-12, 15-11, 16-10, 17-9, 18-8, 19-7, 20-6, 21-5, 22-4, 23-3, 24-2, 25-1.
(Of course you can always just subtract the ranking from 26. That will work every time.)
Then I look at the point differential in the actual game. If you defeated the ranked team, you add the number of points you won by to the schedule points. If you lost to that team, you subtract the margin you lost by from the schedule points. (I call these ‘game’ points.) The difference between this procedure and the original one if that I didn’t count any deficit: if you got to zero, you got zero. This year I’m going to try to record negative points, too, so a team can get full ‘credit’ for a really bad performance.
WEEK TWO
Georgia beat #24 South Carolina 41-17 so they get 2 schedule points for playing the #24 team and 24 game points for beating them by that margin = +26 points
Stanford beat #17 Southern California 17-3 = +23 points
Texas A&M lost to #2 Clemson 26-28 = +22 points
Arizona State beat #15 Michigan State 16-13 = +14 points
Kentucky beat #25 Florida 27-16 = +12 points
Ball State lost to #8 Notre Dame 16-24 = +10 points
Southern California lost to #10 Stanford 3-17 = +2 points
South Carolina lost to #3 Georgia 17-41 = -1 point
UCLA lost to #6 Oklahoma 21-49 = -8 points
New Mexico lost to #5 Wisconsin 14-45 = -10 points
Kansas State lost to #18 Mississippi State 10-31 = -13 points
Southeastern Louisiana lost to #11 Louisiana State 0-31 = -16 points
Southern Methodist lost to #16 Texas Christian 12-42 = -20 points
Youngstown State lost to #14 West Virginia 17-52 = -23 points
Arkansas State lost to #1 Alabama 7-57 = -25 points
North Dakota lost to #9 Washington 3-45 = -25 points
Rutgers lost to #4 Ohio State 3-52 = -27 points
South Carolina State lost to #19 Central Florida 0-38 = -31 points
William & Mary lost to #12 Virginia Tech 17-62 = -31 points
Pittsburgh lost to #13 Penn State 6-51 = -32 points
Alabama State lost to #7 Auburn 9-63 = -35 points
Western Michigan lost to #21 Michigan 3-49 = -41 points
Portland State lost to #23 Oregon 14-62 = -45 points
Connecticut lost to #20 Boise State 7-62 = -49 points
Savannah State lost to #22 U of Miami 0-77 = -73 points
Comment: Most of these teams will not be appearing on these lists the rest of the season. After some first-week match-ups between top teams to get ratings, most teams scheduled Wagner-like opponents. The only team to play a ranked opponent in each of the first two weeks was Connecticut who got blown out by second-tier powers Central Florida and Boise State and are thus last in the standings with -83 points. Hopefully they’ll get blown out by another ranked team in two weeks so they may build up quite a negative record. Last year’s worst team, Savannah State scored -73 points from their first appearance on the list this year. But’s also likely to be their last. They’ve lightened up their schedule and won’t be playing another FBS team at all. Good for them. I hate it when a school sells out it’s players as college football’s version of boxing’s “tomato cans”.
TOP 25 against ranked teams after week #1
Louisiana State +34 points
Virginia Tech +28 points
Georgia +26 points
Auburn +25 points
Stanford +23 points
Texas A&M +22 points
Notre Dame +19 points
Arizona State +14 points
Kentucky +12 points
Washington +12 points
Ball State +10 points
Appalachian State +9 points
Maryland +8 points
Utah State +8 points
Michigan +7 points
Southern California +2 points
South Carolina -1 point
San Diego State -8 points
UCLA -8 points
Western Kentucky -9 points
New Mexico -10 points
Nevada-Las Vegas -11 points
Louisville -12 points
Kansas State -13 points
Florida State -15 points
Connecticut -83 points is the worst
Syracuse Hasn’t played a ranked team yet – and won’t until Clemson.
I’m going to do it using the procedure I started last year. The original procedure was that I would first grant teams playing ranked teams a certain number of points based on who they are playing. If you played the #1 team, (I use the AP- writer’s poll for continuity), you get 25 points. If you are playing the #2 team, you get 24 points, etc. down to getting 1 point for playing the #25 team. I call these “schedule points”. Here’s a chart to make it simple:
1-25, 2-24, 3-23, 4-22, 5-21, 6-20, 7-19, 8-18, 9-17, 10-16, 11-15, 12-14, 13-13, 14-12, 15-11, 16-10, 17-9, 18-8, 19-7, 20-6, 21-5, 22-4, 23-3, 24-2, 25-1.
(Of course you can always just subtract the ranking from 26. That will work every time.)
Then I look at the point differential in the actual game. If you defeated the ranked team, you add the number of points you won by to the schedule points. If you lost to that team, you subtract the margin you lost by from the schedule points. (I call these ‘game’ points.) The difference between this procedure and the original one if that I didn’t count any deficit: if you got to zero, you got zero. This year I’m going to try to record negative points, too, so a team can get full ‘credit’ for a really bad performance.
WEEK TWO
Georgia beat #24 South Carolina 41-17 so they get 2 schedule points for playing the #24 team and 24 game points for beating them by that margin = +26 points
Stanford beat #17 Southern California 17-3 = +23 points
Texas A&M lost to #2 Clemson 26-28 = +22 points
Arizona State beat #15 Michigan State 16-13 = +14 points
Kentucky beat #25 Florida 27-16 = +12 points
Ball State lost to #8 Notre Dame 16-24 = +10 points
Southern California lost to #10 Stanford 3-17 = +2 points
South Carolina lost to #3 Georgia 17-41 = -1 point
UCLA lost to #6 Oklahoma 21-49 = -8 points
New Mexico lost to #5 Wisconsin 14-45 = -10 points
Kansas State lost to #18 Mississippi State 10-31 = -13 points
Southeastern Louisiana lost to #11 Louisiana State 0-31 = -16 points
Southern Methodist lost to #16 Texas Christian 12-42 = -20 points
Youngstown State lost to #14 West Virginia 17-52 = -23 points
Arkansas State lost to #1 Alabama 7-57 = -25 points
North Dakota lost to #9 Washington 3-45 = -25 points
Rutgers lost to #4 Ohio State 3-52 = -27 points
South Carolina State lost to #19 Central Florida 0-38 = -31 points
William & Mary lost to #12 Virginia Tech 17-62 = -31 points
Pittsburgh lost to #13 Penn State 6-51 = -32 points
Alabama State lost to #7 Auburn 9-63 = -35 points
Western Michigan lost to #21 Michigan 3-49 = -41 points
Portland State lost to #23 Oregon 14-62 = -45 points
Connecticut lost to #20 Boise State 7-62 = -49 points
Savannah State lost to #22 U of Miami 0-77 = -73 points
Comment: Most of these teams will not be appearing on these lists the rest of the season. After some first-week match-ups between top teams to get ratings, most teams scheduled Wagner-like opponents. The only team to play a ranked opponent in each of the first two weeks was Connecticut who got blown out by second-tier powers Central Florida and Boise State and are thus last in the standings with -83 points. Hopefully they’ll get blown out by another ranked team in two weeks so they may build up quite a negative record. Last year’s worst team, Savannah State scored -73 points from their first appearance on the list this year. But’s also likely to be their last. They’ve lightened up their schedule and won’t be playing another FBS team at all. Good for them. I hate it when a school sells out it’s players as college football’s version of boxing’s “tomato cans”.
TOP 25 against ranked teams after week #1
Louisiana State +34 points
Virginia Tech +28 points
Georgia +26 points
Auburn +25 points
Stanford +23 points
Texas A&M +22 points
Notre Dame +19 points
Arizona State +14 points
Kentucky +12 points
Washington +12 points
Ball State +10 points
Appalachian State +9 points
Maryland +8 points
Utah State +8 points
Michigan +7 points
Southern California +2 points
South Carolina -1 point
San Diego State -8 points
UCLA -8 points
Western Kentucky -9 points
New Mexico -10 points
Nevada-Las Vegas -11 points
Louisville -12 points
Kansas State -13 points
Florida State -15 points
Connecticut -83 points is the worst
Syracuse Hasn’t played a ranked team yet – and won’t until Clemson.
