[Goose]

I think that's giving voters too much credit.  Mostly the move up comes from a) not losing and b) having teams ahead of us lose.  Never mind that the bare win over Oregon State should have made most voters adjust their view of Stanford downward.

BC

It seems to me that even voters who are fully aware of how close the result was and how "bad" OSU was pretty much de-rate the final score. Alabama usually has one or more "near-misses" to other SEC teams that don't affect their ranking at all. The close result is treated as an anomaly, especially when the result matches an earlier bias/decision. As long as you win, you will probably get a pass.

[Goose]

I think that's giving voters too much credit.  Mostly the move up comes from a) not losing and b) having teams ahead of us lose.  Never mind that the bare win over Oregon State should have made most voters adjust their view of Stanford downward.

BC

It seems to me that even voters who are fully aware of how close the result was and how "bad" OSU was pretty much de-rate the final score. Alabama usually has one or more "near-misses" to other SEC teams that don't affect their ranking at all. The close result is treated as an anomaly, especially when the result matches an earlier bias/decision. As long as you win, you will probably get a pass.