05-20-2014, 09:56 AM
I'm pretty sure that the NCAA will not use 2013 SOS to determine playoff participants for the 2014 season :P
But take a look at the upcoming schedule for Arkansas, #1 in projected SOS:
Auburn, 12-2
Nicholls State, 4-8
Texas Tech, 8-5
Northern Illinois, 12-2
Texas A&M, 9-4
Alabama, 11-2
Georgia, 8-5
UAB, 2-10
Mississippi State, 7-6
LSU, 10-3
Mississippi--I refuse to call it Ole M**s, 8-5
Missouri, 12-2
A few observations:
1. As FarmBoy ("as you wish") noted, the schools that play eight conference games are given an advantage, because they replace a tougher opponent with a creampuff that, in its league, is competitive and might have a decent overall record, such as...
2. Nicholls State, which is an FCS school. They have no business being included in the calculation. So Stanford gets penalized for playing 1-11 C.al, which would have no trouble beating Nicholls...nevermind.
3. Some teams that had great records last year, e.g. Northern Illinois, will not have as great a record this year.
4. Teams that win conference championship games will have an advantage over those that don't.
So, in my analysis, the conference that gets screwed the most by this formula is the Big 12. Like stupac2 said, this is a ludicrous way to determine SOS, and Texas, sitting at #26, and many others will scream bloody murder if the committee says that it will use it.
But take a look at the upcoming schedule for Arkansas, #1 in projected SOS:
Auburn, 12-2
Nicholls State, 4-8
Texas Tech, 8-5
Northern Illinois, 12-2
Texas A&M, 9-4
Alabama, 11-2
Georgia, 8-5
UAB, 2-10
Mississippi State, 7-6
LSU, 10-3
Mississippi--I refuse to call it Ole M**s, 8-5
Missouri, 12-2
A few observations:
1. As FarmBoy ("as you wish") noted, the schools that play eight conference games are given an advantage, because they replace a tougher opponent with a creampuff that, in its league, is competitive and might have a decent overall record, such as...
2. Nicholls State, which is an FCS school. They have no business being included in the calculation. So Stanford gets penalized for playing 1-11 C.al, which would have no trouble beating Nicholls...nevermind.
3. Some teams that had great records last year, e.g. Northern Illinois, will not have as great a record this year.
4. Teams that win conference championship games will have an advantage over those that don't.
So, in my analysis, the conference that gets screwed the most by this formula is the Big 12. Like stupac2 said, this is a ludicrous way to determine SOS, and Texas, sitting at #26, and many others will scream bloody murder if the committee says that it will use it.
If there's one thing people have learned in Berkeley, it's that you can't put "Cal football" and "Rose Bowl" in the same sentence. The words just don't fit. You'd be better off linking "covered wagons" with "Mars travel." (Bruce Jenkins, Cal '70, SF Chronicle, Nov. 11, 2017)