SWC75
Bored Historian
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Again this year I’m going to keep track of how teams have done against ranked teams. And again I’ll remind the reader that this is not itself an attempt to rank teams, although I will have cumulative standings: it’s intended just as a stat to look at in determining where teams should rank. Also, as with all stats, the early results are hardly definitive but they will become more meaningful as the season progresses.
Another issue is that I’m using a team’s ranking at the time the game is played, not their final ranking. When we played Northwestern last year, they were ranked 19th in the writer’s poll, (the one I use for this). They wound up 5-7 and unranked. Auburn, coming off a 3-9 season, was unranked. They wound up playing for the national title. But I’d have to wait to the end of the season to compute this using the final rankings, by which time no one would care about a breakdown of some of a team’s games. I’m trying to maintain a running tally of how teams are doing in their biggest games. Besides, a teams ranking at the time you played them may truly reflect how good the team was at that time. Northwestern played like a top ten team against us and went on to a 4-0 start before losing a series of close games. Auburn was not as great early in the season as they later became.
Also I’m not making any allowances for home vs. road, (which I think affects the top teams less than the mediocre teams), or injured players, the impact of which is impossible to compute, (and top teams can usually replace guys).
So here we go. I’ll stick to the writer’s poll for the rankings for consistency, (I need one #1 team, one #2 team, etc.) and because they have a poll each week from preseason to post season. The formula is pretty simple, although there are two parts to it. First you compute the “schedule points”. A team gets 25 points for playing the #1 ranked team, 24 points for playing the #2 ranked team, 23 points for playing the #3 ranked team, etc. down to getting 1 point for playing the #25 ranked team. Then you add or subtract to/from that the margin of victory or defeat. If they have any positive points left, I’ll record it here and add them up as the season goes along. I’m not going to record any net negatives or I would be documenting the season of Louisiana-Lafayette or somebody like that. That’s not what we are interested in here. We want to know about teams likely to wind up ranked and in consideration for the playoffs or the bowls.
WEEK TEN
FLORIDA beat #11 Georgia by 18 = 33 points
AUBURN beat #4 Mississippi by 4 = 26 points
UCLA beat #12 Arizona by 10 = 24 points
MISSISSIPPI lost to #3 Auburn by 4 = 19 points
ARKANSAS lost to #1 Mississippi State by 7 = 18 points
WEST VIRGINIA lost to #20Texas Christian by 1 = 18 points
TEMPLE beat #21 East Carolina by 10 = 15 points
LOUISVILLE lost to #2 Florida State by 11 = 13 points
ARIZONA STATE beat #17 Utah by 3 = 12 points
FLORIDA STATE beat #25 Louisville by 11 = 12 points
UTAH lost to #14 Arizona State by 3 = 9 points
TEXAS CHRISTIAN beat #20 West Virginia by 1 = 7 points
NAVY lost to #10 Notre Dame by 10 = 6 points
There weren’t any earth-shaking results this week but a lot of games earned points for someone, including six losses to highly rated teams. Texas Christian’s resume is looking better and better. Auburn picked up a lot of points, thanks in part to that awful play where the Mississippi receiver thought he had won the game but lost the ball and the rest of his season right at the goal line. That eliminated the Rebels. The Florida Gators really got up off the mat to eliminate Georgia from the race for the Final Four. UCLA is having a better season than people realize but their two losses knock them out as well. West Virginia is another team that ahs accomplished a lot but their 6-3 record won’t cut it.
CUMULATIVE POINTS
99 Mississippi St.
95 Texas Christian
91 Georgia
90 Auburn
78 West Virginia
75 Mississippi
73 Alabama
72 UCLA
53 Arkansas
49 Texas A& M
47 Florida State
45 Arizona State
42 Louisiana St.
40 So. California
38 Oregon and Utah
37 South Carolina
35 Notre Dame
34 Florida
32 Virginia Tech
31 Arizona and Kansas St.
3 Boston College, Stanford and Utah State
21 Texas
20 Baylor
19 Clemson, Oklahoma St. and Tennessee
18 Virginia
17 Washington St.
16 East Carolina and Michigan St.
15 Northwestern and Temple
14 Missouri
13 Louisville and North Carolina
12 Indiana
11 Kentucky, Nebraska and Oklahoma
10 Duke, Navy and NC State
9 Syracuse and Wisconsin
8 Memphis
6 Penn State
4 Navy and Purdue
3 Kansas and Washington
2 California and Iowa St.
1 San Diego St.
Another issue is that I’m using a team’s ranking at the time the game is played, not their final ranking. When we played Northwestern last year, they were ranked 19th in the writer’s poll, (the one I use for this). They wound up 5-7 and unranked. Auburn, coming off a 3-9 season, was unranked. They wound up playing for the national title. But I’d have to wait to the end of the season to compute this using the final rankings, by which time no one would care about a breakdown of some of a team’s games. I’m trying to maintain a running tally of how teams are doing in their biggest games. Besides, a teams ranking at the time you played them may truly reflect how good the team was at that time. Northwestern played like a top ten team against us and went on to a 4-0 start before losing a series of close games. Auburn was not as great early in the season as they later became.
Also I’m not making any allowances for home vs. road, (which I think affects the top teams less than the mediocre teams), or injured players, the impact of which is impossible to compute, (and top teams can usually replace guys).
So here we go. I’ll stick to the writer’s poll for the rankings for consistency, (I need one #1 team, one #2 team, etc.) and because they have a poll each week from preseason to post season. The formula is pretty simple, although there are two parts to it. First you compute the “schedule points”. A team gets 25 points for playing the #1 ranked team, 24 points for playing the #2 ranked team, 23 points for playing the #3 ranked team, etc. down to getting 1 point for playing the #25 ranked team. Then you add or subtract to/from that the margin of victory or defeat. If they have any positive points left, I’ll record it here and add them up as the season goes along. I’m not going to record any net negatives or I would be documenting the season of Louisiana-Lafayette or somebody like that. That’s not what we are interested in here. We want to know about teams likely to wind up ranked and in consideration for the playoffs or the bowls.
WEEK TEN
FLORIDA beat #11 Georgia by 18 = 33 points
AUBURN beat #4 Mississippi by 4 = 26 points
UCLA beat #12 Arizona by 10 = 24 points
MISSISSIPPI lost to #3 Auburn by 4 = 19 points
ARKANSAS lost to #1 Mississippi State by 7 = 18 points
WEST VIRGINIA lost to #20Texas Christian by 1 = 18 points
TEMPLE beat #21 East Carolina by 10 = 15 points
LOUISVILLE lost to #2 Florida State by 11 = 13 points
ARIZONA STATE beat #17 Utah by 3 = 12 points
FLORIDA STATE beat #25 Louisville by 11 = 12 points
UTAH lost to #14 Arizona State by 3 = 9 points
TEXAS CHRISTIAN beat #20 West Virginia by 1 = 7 points
NAVY lost to #10 Notre Dame by 10 = 6 points
There weren’t any earth-shaking results this week but a lot of games earned points for someone, including six losses to highly rated teams. Texas Christian’s resume is looking better and better. Auburn picked up a lot of points, thanks in part to that awful play where the Mississippi receiver thought he had won the game but lost the ball and the rest of his season right at the goal line. That eliminated the Rebels. The Florida Gators really got up off the mat to eliminate Georgia from the race for the Final Four. UCLA is having a better season than people realize but their two losses knock them out as well. West Virginia is another team that ahs accomplished a lot but their 6-3 record won’t cut it.
CUMULATIVE POINTS
99 Mississippi St.
95 Texas Christian
91 Georgia
90 Auburn
78 West Virginia
75 Mississippi
73 Alabama
72 UCLA
53 Arkansas
49 Texas A& M
47 Florida State
45 Arizona State
42 Louisiana St.
40 So. California
38 Oregon and Utah
37 South Carolina
35 Notre Dame
34 Florida
32 Virginia Tech
31 Arizona and Kansas St.
3 Boston College, Stanford and Utah State
21 Texas
20 Baylor
19 Clemson, Oklahoma St. and Tennessee
18 Virginia
17 Washington St.
16 East Carolina and Michigan St.
15 Northwestern and Temple
14 Missouri
13 Louisville and North Carolina
12 Indiana
11 Kentucky, Nebraska and Oklahoma
10 Duke, Navy and NC State
9 Syracuse and Wisconsin
8 Memphis
6 Penn State
4 Navy and Purdue
3 Kansas and Washington
2 California and Iowa St.
1 San Diego St.
