09-12-2018, 03:39 PM
When two teams on our schedule play each other, which team's win provides the greater boost to our strength of schedule and/or national perception?
When both opponents are within the Pac 12 conference, I'd argue that we usually want the better team to win. I assume that Stanford will beat the weaker team, and the win or loss against the stronger team will look better the stronger that team looks. Conferences and schedules seem to be measured based on the strength of the top 2-3 teams rather than the overall top-to-bottom strength.
What about when it's a Pac 12 team vs. a solid non-conference team? (e.g., SDSU - ASU, ND - USC) For the same reason, the Pac 12 team's win isn't always in our best interests. It almost seems like we should be pulling for whichever team is likeliest to end up with the highest ranking. This would imply (at the moment) that we prefer ASU over SDSU and ND over USC. But the differences are fairly small and hard to predict.
When both opponents are within the Pac 12 conference, I'd argue that we usually want the better team to win. I assume that Stanford will beat the weaker team, and the win or loss against the stronger team will look better the stronger that team looks. Conferences and schedules seem to be measured based on the strength of the top 2-3 teams rather than the overall top-to-bottom strength.
What about when it's a Pac 12 team vs. a solid non-conference team? (e.g., SDSU - ASU, ND - USC) For the same reason, the Pac 12 team's win isn't always in our best interests. It almost seems like we should be pulling for whichever team is likeliest to end up with the highest ranking. This would imply (at the moment) that we prefer ASU over SDSU and ND over USC. But the differences are fairly small and hard to predict.