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 TWELVE
WISCONSIN beat #16 Nebraska by 35 = 45 points
GEORGIA beat #9 Auburn by 27 = 44 points
ALABAMA beat #1 Mississippi State by 5 = 30 points
GEORGIA TECH beat Clemson by 22 = 29 points
OREGON STATE beat #6 Arizona State by 8 = 28 points
ARKANSAS beat #17 Louisiana State by 17 = 26 points
NORTHWESTERN beat Notre Dame by 3 = 21 points
MIAMI lost to #3 Florida State by 4 = 19 points
KANSAS lost to #4 Texas Christian by 4 = 18 points
MISSISSIPPI STATE lost to #5 Alabama by 5 = 16 points
MINNESOTA lost to #8 Ohio State by 7 = 11 points
WASHINGTON lost to #14 Arizona by 1 = 11 points
MISSOURI beat #24 Texas A&M by 7 = 9 points
OHIO STATE beat #25 Minnesota by 7 = 8 points
VIRGINIA TECH beat #21 Duke by 1 = 6 points
Comment: Lots of big games this time of year with lots of points being thrown around. Wisconsin’s program was originally built up by Barry Alvarez, a former Nebraska linebacker who built the Badger’s program in the image of what his mentor, Bob Devaney had done at Nebraska . The Cornhuskers are trying to return to what they used to be and they are in the same division as their clone. Since they joined the Big 10, they have lost to the Badgers 17-48 and 31-70, beaten them 30-27 in Lincoln. They started their game in Madison up 17-3. Then they gave up eight unanswered touchdowns and a record 408 yards to Melvin Gordon. Back to the drawing board.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s 34-7 whipping of sagging Auburn ties them with TCU for the most points against ranked teams. Unfortunately, their inconsistency will keep them out of the playoff with 2 losses. You wonder what they might do in an 8 team playoffs. Alabama moved up to the second line behind Georgia and TCU with their win over Mississippi State and will play two more ranked teams in Auburn and whoever wins the SEC west so they have a chance to be #1 in points vs. ranked teams going into the tournament.
CUMULATIVE POINTS
135 Georgia and Texas Christian
120 Alabama
115 Mississippi State
91 Oregon
90 Auburn
85 Arizona State
81 Oregon
79 Arkansas
78 West Virginia
75 Mississippi and Texas A& M
72 UCLA
65 Baylor
56 Louisiana State
54 Wisconsin
47 Florida State
41 Texas
40 So. California
38 Ohio State, Utah and Virginia Tech
37 South Carolina
36 Northwestern
35 Notre Dame
34 Florida
31 Arizona and Kansas State
29 Georgia Tech
28 Oregon State and Virginia
23 Boston College, Stanford and Utah State
21 Kansas
20 Missouri
19 Clemson, Miami, Oklahoma State and Tennessee
17 Washington State
16 East Carolina and Michigan State
15 Temple
14 Washington
13 Louisville and North Carolina
12 Indiana
11 Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska and Oklahoma
10 Duke, Navy and North Carolina State
9 Syracuse
8 Memphis
6 Penn State
4 Navy and Purdue
2 California and Iowa State
1 San Diego State
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 TWELVE
WISCONSIN beat #16 Nebraska by 35 = 45 points
GEORGIA beat #9 Auburn by 27 = 44 points
ALABAMA beat #1 Mississippi State by 5 = 30 points
GEORGIA TECH beat Clemson by 22 = 29 points
OREGON STATE beat #6 Arizona State by 8 = 28 points
ARKANSAS beat #17 Louisiana State by 17 = 26 points
NORTHWESTERN beat Notre Dame by 3 = 21 points
MIAMI lost to #3 Florida State by 4 = 19 points
KANSAS lost to #4 Texas Christian by 4 = 18 points
MISSISSIPPI STATE lost to #5 Alabama by 5 = 16 points
MINNESOTA lost to #8 Ohio State by 7 = 11 points
WASHINGTON lost to #14 Arizona by 1 = 11 points
MISSOURI beat #24 Texas A&M by 7 = 9 points
OHIO STATE beat #25 Minnesota by 7 = 8 points
VIRGINIA TECH beat #21 Duke by 1 = 6 points
Comment: Lots of big games this time of year with lots of points being thrown around. Wisconsin’s program was originally built up by Barry Alvarez, a former Nebraska linebacker who built the Badger’s program in the image of what his mentor, Bob Devaney had done at Nebraska . The Cornhuskers are trying to return to what they used to be and they are in the same division as their clone. Since they joined the Big 10, they have lost to the Badgers 17-48 and 31-70, beaten them 30-27 in Lincoln. They started their game in Madison up 17-3. Then they gave up eight unanswered touchdowns and a record 408 yards to Melvin Gordon. Back to the drawing board.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s 34-7 whipping of sagging Auburn ties them with TCU for the most points against ranked teams. Unfortunately, their inconsistency will keep them out of the playoff with 2 losses. You wonder what they might do in an 8 team playoffs. Alabama moved up to the second line behind Georgia and TCU with their win over Mississippi State and will play two more ranked teams in Auburn and whoever wins the SEC west so they have a chance to be #1 in points vs. ranked teams going into the tournament.
CUMULATIVE POINTS
135 Georgia and Texas Christian
120 Alabama
115 Mississippi State
91 Oregon
90 Auburn
85 Arizona State
81 Oregon
79 Arkansas
78 West Virginia
75 Mississippi and Texas A& M
72 UCLA
65 Baylor
56 Louisiana State
54 Wisconsin
47 Florida State
41 Texas
40 So. California
38 Ohio State, Utah and Virginia Tech
37 South Carolina
36 Northwestern
35 Notre Dame
34 Florida
31 Arizona and Kansas State
29 Georgia Tech
28 Oregon State and Virginia
23 Boston College, Stanford and Utah State
21 Kansas
20 Missouri
19 Clemson, Miami, Oklahoma State and Tennessee
17 Washington State
16 East Carolina and Michigan State
15 Temple
14 Washington
13 Louisville and North Carolina
12 Indiana
11 Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska and Oklahoma
10 Duke, Navy and North Carolina State
9 Syracuse
8 Memphis
6 Penn State
4 Navy and Purdue
2 California and Iowa State
1 San Diego State