Dropped Out: South Florida (#18).
I had such a hard time with this ballot that the only think left to do is
channel Top Gun:
Michael: Colt, you just did an incredibly brave thing. You beat Oklahoma for the second year in a row. What you should have done was kick their tails back to the Dust Bowl! Backup quarterback, suspect line, no receivers, five turnovers, and you only managed 16 points against that wilting opponent? You don't own that uniform, the boosters do! Son, your ego is writing checks your average arm can't cash. You've been sacked, you've lost your qualifications as the Heisman front-runner three times, put in the second day of the Draft twice by me, with a history of high speed passes over five receivers' heads - and one sideline reporter!Jordan: Lisa Salters? [Colt shrugs]Michael: [to Jordan] And you, asshole, you're a Caucasian receiver! You're lucky to be here!Jordan: Thank you, sir.Michael: And let's not bullshit, Colt. Your program's name ain't the best in the Big XII. Generations of fans are used to watching Oklahoma win the conference and you plying your trade through the back door. You need to be doing it better and cleaner than that twerp with a visor. Now what is it with you?Colt: Just want to serve Burnt Orange Nation and make them forget about everything that Vince Young has done since the Rose Bowl, sir!Michael: Don't screw around with me, Colt. You're one hell of a faux Drew Brees. Maybe too faux. I'd like to bust your butt down behind Matt Barkley and his Trojan hordes, but I can't because they forgot to play defense for a quarter. I got another problem here. I gotta send somebody from this mangy group of contenders to Pasadena. I gotta do something here, I still can't believe it. I gotta give you your dream shot if you keep winning! I'm gonna send you up against the best. You two characters, are going to the National Title Game, provided that you fit on Gary Danielson's magic board. For four hours (give or take an interminable halftime show), you'll be flying against SEC Speedz. You guys are number three, Bama and Florida are numbers one and two. Oddly enough, they're going to play. One of them will lose it and turn in their wings. You guys could be number one. But you remember one thing: if you screw up, just this much, you'll be flying coach to San Diego! To end your careers in a meaningless December bowl! Right near Miramar!Colt: Yes sir!
Cue Kenny Loggins.
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15 comments:
Why do you still have Va Tech ranked above Ga Tech? If both teams had the same record I could understand it, but they don't because of Va Tech's loss to Alabama. The Va Tech win against Nebraska doesn't look very good now that they got beat by an ok Texas Tech team, especially when you could arguably say Va Tech got lucky to in the game in the first place. GT's win against Clemson is arguably just as good as the Nebraska win.
VaTech, Miami, and GaTech complete a perfect circle, with each beating the other on their home fields. Someone has to be below the other. Subjectively, I think that GaTech is the least complete of the three teams because of their defense. Sagarin agrees, as he has VT as being seven points better than GT.
VPI may be the more complete team, but remember they have two losses. if anything, it should be Miami, GT, VPI.
They have two losses because they played the best team in the country. If GT or Miami played Alabama, they too would have two losses.
Just remember, Sagarin thinks that the Big 10 is better than the SEC this week.....
In general, I think it is close. Had the round robin gone the other way (GT beating Miami, Miami beating VT, VT beating GT) and all else being the same I'd agree. However, with the extra loss and the loss head to head I can't agree.
And this is coming from someone who thinks GT is overrated to begin with. I don't think their D is good enough nor do I think their offense is diverse enough. Look at the first half against VT or the Miami game. Slow down their running game and Nesbitt definitely won't help the offense.
Meh, personally they probably all belong right next to each other for now. Make them all 10-12 or 11-13 and just about any way you drop them you wouldn't be wrong. If GT is overrated, then you must really think that VPI was ridiculously overrated, as well as Miami currently. This year there will be no clear answers to ranking because we are going to end up with a plethora or one and two-loss teams. Common opponents might be the only viable way to look at the teams objectively.
However, I do find it interesting that GT is less complete than VPI, yet they just soundly beat VPI. Exactly what logic was used to determine this? GT was two bad pitches away from having an additional 14 points on that final score. GT ran for over 300 yards on VPI and GT has shown that it is a second half team. The Miami game is turning out to be more of a fluke than anything, because as of yet, the only team Miami has beaten of note is GT. That Oklahoma win won't look as good at the end of the year.
Also, claiming that Miami and GT would lose to Alabama in Week 1 is highly subjective and there is very little to no logic that could objectively support this. If Alabama > VPI > Miami is your only means, then sure, maybe Miami would have lost to Alabama. But if Alabama > VPI < GT, then I fail to see how one can reason that GT would have lost to Alabama in week one when the only common opponent is VPI.
1. Yes, beating VT by five is beating them "soundly." Right.
2. Oklahoma has lost three games by a total of five points, all to teams that are currently ranked. That win is still a good one for Miami. Other than VT, what's Tech's best win?
3. Thinking that Alabama would beat Tech is subjective in the same way that thinking they would beat Vandy is subjective. Bama outgained VT by 343 yards on a neutral field; GT outgained VT by 26 yards at home. Bama blew out Arkansas; GT hasn't beaten anybody of that quality decisively. Alabama outgains its opponents by 2.5 yards per play; Tech outgains their opponents by 0.1. Alabama is third in the nation in yards per play allowed; Tech is 105th. Sagarin would have Bama as a ten-point favorite on a neutral field.
Other than that, it looks like a pretty even matchup.
You're right, final score is the best indicator of an entire game. Did you even watch the game? Like I said, there could have easily been two more scores on top of GT's 28, and they only scored that late TD because GT switched to a crap prevent defense. Outside of the one big TD run, VT couldn't get it going on the ground and was forced to start throwing early just to keep up with GT in the second half, which happens to be the weakest part of the GT defense. That game was not as close as the final score looks. You can continue to ignore it if you want to, but GT has a good team that can score in bunches and can play sound defense when it has to.
According to your preseason hype, I assume Clemson would be GT's best win outside of VT. By the way, how's that one working out for you this year? Care to revise some of those preseason opinions? Oklahoma still has to play OK St, Texas Tech, and Nebraska. They will definitely lose one if not two of those. And, they lost to a BYU team that got trounced by a garbage FSU team, so are you seriously supporting that? Sorry, but a four or five loss Oklahoma win will not look as good in the end for Miami, not that it'll matter much.
As for Alabama, all I'm saying is that it was Week 1 and that teams are much different by this time in the season. It would not be definitive that Alabama would win. GT is not VPI and you can't reasonably project that the results would be the same. Which teams has Alabama played that runs the triple option the way GT does? None. If the question was who would win this Saturday, then I don't think I would contend Alabama winning, though I think it would be close.
I'm not debating your positioning of the teams in your poll, I just don't buy a lot of the things people say when comparing teams. I'll stick with my Clemson point as an example. You have a tendency to argue points for teams that you dismiss when they relate to GT. It's clear that we will continue to disagree on GT for now, but I wonder what it would take for you, and others, to recognize that GT is a legitimate team.
YOU GAVE UP 400 YARDS IN A HALF TO FLORIDA STATE! YOU ARE 105th IN THE NATION IN THE DEFENSIVE STAT THAT I THINK MATTERS! YOU'VE WON EVERY CLOSE GAME IN WHICH YOU'VE PLAYED, WHICH MEANS YOUR RECORD IS DECEIVING! STOP IT ALREADY!
Haha, wow dude, I'm just trying to have a conversation with you, calm down. How about this, you take down every GT picture you have on this site since it's clear you will never have anything positive to say about them, and I'll stop trying to break down that wall of yours. Sound fair?
I'm not sure how anyone with a working cerebral cortex can rank Oklahoma.
It's easy to still rank OU. They have lost 3 games by what 10 pts to 3 teams ranked in the top 16. None of which were at home and none of which had Sam Bradford playing the entire game. Just because a team looses to better teams, it doesn't mean that they aren't better than most teams in college football.
Btw, I am waiting for GT to beat a real team outside of the ACC before I give judgement. And no, UGA isn't a real team, not this year anyway.
With OU, I think it's just that whole BYU-FSU thing that throws a wrench in it. They are still better than some of the teams in the 20-25 range, but not by much. Plus they still have three tough games ahead to work through.
In a way I agree with you Mabee, it's time that GT branches away from the SEC slate we play and try scheduling some other BCS teams. Unfortunately, as I'm sure you are aware, these schedules are set years in advance, so I'm not sure we'll see much change for a few. But hey, while I know this doesn't really change much, it's not GT's fault that uga is falling apart at the seams.
How about this, GT will move back to the SEC in the East, move Kentucky to the West, send Arkansas to the Big 12, and move Iwoa St to the Big10? The Big10 will now have 12 teams and can have a proper championship game. Sounds like a win to me, haha.
You're right, Jesse, I never write anything nice about Tech:
http://bravesandbirds.blogspot.com/2008/11/seven-thoughts-on-techs-big-saturday.html
I get annoyed when smart people make bad arguments and you're making a raft of them. You've read me long enough to know that I put stock in:
1. Yards per play;
2. Records being deceiving when a team wins all of its close games; and
3. Computer rankings that account for MOV.
Tech is overrated by all three measures.
Jaybus, it's called sarcasm. This wouldn't sound or feel as bad if we were having this conversation in person. I still love you.
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