I want to see what they're going to do with Wazzu when they finish 11-2 Pac12 champs. 8) Kesley is going to kill me for "saying" that.
Bye bye Louisville. They got their ass kicked by a team who has zero chance of going to the playoffs, even though they've blown out Oklahoma and Louisville. KP, As you know, I've long been an advocate for the 8 team format. Once we're there, I'll shut up. I see what you're saying about Western Michigan's schedule not having a top 25 team. At the same time, Louisville, until tonight, was basically being rewarded for playing a lineup of stiffs and losing close to Clemson. Everyone has lost close to Clemson this year, well except Pitt. There are teams in the top 25 who are only there because of their conference membership. Scott, The other day I heard someone (Danny Kannel?) make a good point that the Pac12 is being punished this year because we're talking about Wazzu, Washington and Colorado instead of talking about Oregon, USC and Stanford. He went on to say 'hey, do you remember when Ole Miss and Miss State were both in the top 5?! He then went on to mention that Colorado and Washington, as programs, have more national title cred than anyone in the state of Mississippi... but due to conference affiliation, we were quick to pump them both up for having good records. He was basically calling the eastern section of pollsters ignorant, while being rather nice.
Corey, I hope you don't put too much stock in Kanell. It seems like everyone wants to use the polls to support their argument except when it doesn't and then the polls are wrong. I'm not a big fan of Louisville either they at least played Clemson and FSU (even though FSU is down this year) and Duke. I think the reason that Ole Miss and even Miss St. were ranked early is because of their past couple of years' performance. Look at USC, they lost 3 games and are in the top 15. WSU lost to EWU. Now apparently E. Washington is very good but they lost to NDSU. This could go around and around forever. I think Washington deserves to be in the discussion for the CFP, and I guess we'll find out about Colorado and WSU tomorrow. All I am saying is that strength of schedule has to figure into this and teams like W. Michigan and Boise State are going to be and should be at a disadvantage until they play some nationally recognized teams. By the way, I think that top to bottom, the Big 10 or whatever they are calling themselves now have established themselves this season as the strongest conference. Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State are all very good and the SEC East is a shambles. Alabama and Auburn are the only notables in the SEC right now and I'm not too sure about Auburn. 8) 8) 8)
If not for that loss to Eastern Washington, WASH State would be in a pretty good position right now. But they are #22 right now, behind several 3 loss teams. Even if they win out, I can't see them making up that much ..might get to the top 10 though. The rankings will be 1. Alabama 2. Ohio State 3. Mich 4. Clemson 5. Washington. But next week you can kick either Ohio State or Michigan out and that leaves the 4 slot open for Washington if they beat Wash State. If they lose to either Wash State or in the Pac12 champ game then you can bet on a 2 loss B1G Champion being the 4th team or Oklahoma if they win out.
When the Cougs beat Colorado I think they'll make a large jump. Their SOS right now is not good so the committee has them in the 20's. It ramps up a lot from here on out and if they can keep the win streak going they will be in the discussion at the end.
It will certainly be interesting if Wash State wins out, they will have finished beating a series of ranked teams including a top 5 Washington. But it's still a long way to rise. The potential battle if Ohio State beats Michigan will be between 2 loss Washington State Pac 12 Champ, 2 loss Wisc or 2 loss Penn State the B1G champ or OU the 2 loss B12 Champ.
KP, It's not so much about putting stock in the guy, as he actually had a good point. If this were the recent traditional powers in the Pac12, we'd be looking at this situation in a whole different light. I think he's right. Just look at the teams this year who have lost but not dropped much, or if at all. Meanwhile, other teams lose and plummet. BTW, I absolutely hate any poll taken before midseason. I really wish they'd just do away with pre-season polls as they serve no real service other than stirring up water cooler talk and establish false pretenses for teams that some may not overcome no matter how well they play.
Corey, I agree mostly. With a little research the early polls could be better. There are many teams that have a good team full of juniors that become a very good team as seniors then have a steep decline because there is no talent left after graduation (a la Miss St) but that research doesn't happen very often. Having said all of that like all of college football this is what we have and I agree that we need 8 teams in the playoff.
Boy USC is looking like your best win by far. They're a 3 loss team and ruining the P12's chances at playoff representation is just the most USC thing ever, but they are playing very well since switching QBs.
Yeah USC is our best win all year now. I thought Tennessee and LSU would be big SOS builders but that did not happen. Considering the way we played Chattanooga last night and Ohio State and Michigan having problems (and one of them loses next week) and we play Auburn, this could get real interesting. :?
Kp, I agree this last week of the regular schedule should be interesting. As Corey pointed out earlier, MSU always gives us a tough game. The Tide is a lock, but we are not at this point. We failed the eye test if I were on the committee. Michigan is not the same team without their QB. If the Spartans play like they did yesterday at Penn State, a lot could change in the Big Ten alone.
The SEC is a handful of good teams.... LSU, Tenn, UF, Aub, Ark, A&M and the one great team in Bama. Possibly Auburn could have taken Bama last night because this season every team seems vulnerable on any given week. But Bama has been the most consistently superior team in the nation so far and deserves their number 1 seeding.
You seem to think a whole lot of that conference that just doesn't seem to meet the eye test. The SEC East looks abysmal and the West looks like a top heavy slaughter house with Bama standing way above the others.
I think the handful of teams I listed are good teams... Not great by any means. And I think I tried to separate Bammer above all of them.