Glad the CFB Playoff committee has made it evident that SOS is more important than easy wins, or wins by wide margins against easy teams. How much, also, I wonder has ECU's entrance in the AAC helped to booster our image?

Schools like UCONN, and USF, although in down years right now, still have to carry more public good will than what is left in Conference USA. I have to think that these schools, and other than are having bad seasons this year, still have more talent than the majority of Conference USA schools, regardless of some rating agencies say.

This week for example, Lincoln Riley was quoted as saying that the competition in this league is far better than what we experienced in Conference USA, especially he said, the defenses we have played. ECU fans saw last year what our team can do against Conference USA talent vs what we have now.

As someone who used to coach at the High School level, I can tell just from the eye test on tv that UCONN and USF had better athlete's across the board than what we say in Conference USA.

The committee made a clear statement that as a G5 you better play some P5 teams or you won't be given any respect.

UCF picked up a game at Stanford next year (to start a 1-1 series) pretty damn quickly. So I really don't want to hear anymore about how poor lil Marshall couldn't find anyone else to schedule after UL had to rearrange their schedule.

I guarentee you they could have gone on the road to play some Big 10 or Big 12 team as soon as UL bolted.

Instead they put yet another MAC East team on the schedule.

It's fitting, and appropriate, they aren't being rewarded for such a bad schedule.

(10-29-2014 07:12 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  The committee made a clear statement that as a G5 you better play some P5 teams or you won't be given any respect.

Only thing I'll toss out is the p5 group is trying to pull back with games against the g5. Still no excuse for that Marshall schedule fiasco.

We don't really know that SOS is playing a big part. We don't know how far behind Marshall is, with the committee, b/c they only show the top 25. If ECU loses a game, maybe Marshall jumps them, who knows? I mean, ECU was ahead of Marshall in the regular polls, so it would be normal for them to be ahead of Marshall now.

I hope a stronger SOS is in play, but we can't tell it based on what we see with ECU at the moment. At least we know one loss is okay, but what about two losses? I doubt SOS will make that much difference, compared to the normal polls.

(10-29-2014 07:51 AM)TripleA Wrote:  We don't really know that SOS is playing a big part. We don't know how far behind Marshall is, with the committee, b/c they only show the top 25. If ECU loses a game, maybe Marshall jumps them, who knows? I mean, ECU was ahead of Marshall in the regular polls, so it would be normal for them to be ahead of Marshall now.

I hope a stronger SOS is in play, but we can't tell it based on what we see with ECU at the moment. At least we know one loss is okay, but what about two losses? I doubt SOS will make that much difference, compared to the normal polls.

Disagree. I think it's very clear what is important. I'm not sure how you can draw that conclusion when a 1 loss G5 is ranked higher than a zero loss G5. They've sent a clear message but not in the way that most people think about SOS.

Here's the thing about SOS. The committee made it clear that the average doesn't matter. If you look at the averaged SOS numbers then Marshall and ECU look somewhat similar in that regard. However, when you isolate ECU's top games it becomes much more clear what they're weighting those games heavily. MOST ratings have SC, UNC and VT ranked much higher than any team on Marshall's schedule. We've got several that are ranked below the worst FBS on Marshall's schedule that are dragging ECU's average SOS down.

At the end of the day you'd be splitting hairs trying to decide which turd smells worse and the committee isn't interested in that. When one of the 2 teams has played and beaten 2 Power 5 teams there's no sense in diving that deep into an atrocious schedule. Individual games are what matters at the end of the day.

Quote:They ain't played nobody, Pawwwwwwwl. Judging by this top 25, two questions mattered most to the committee.
•​ Who have you played?
• Who have you beaten?

http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/...roundtable

Yep they are judging SOS pretty much how I expected them to, not by some overall number a computer spits out but simply by who have you played and who have you beat and placing the most importance on beating highly ranked teams and not beating a whole bunch of middling teams.

My point is, we don't know where Marshall is. They could be #26. If so, that would reflect about the same difference as shown in the regular polls.

I did not say the committee didn't take SOS into consideration at all. I said there is no way to tell if they did it any differently than the normal polls, b/c we don't know where Marshall sits with the committee. To me, the definite proof would be if ECU lost a close game to UCF, and still remained ahead of Marshall.

Aresco has said from the beginning that he has been assured that the new playoff/access bowl system would be based on merit.

The big ? for ECU is that all the teams they played have no winning records currently.

(10-29-2014 10:06 AM)MWC Tex Wrote:  The big ? for ECU is that all the teams they played have no winning records currently.

at this point does not matter. Pretty much now- if ECU goes 5-0 and has no close calls- there isn't a damn thing Marshall, CSU, or Boise can do about it. Nothing.

(10-29-2014 10:06 AM)MWC Tex Wrote:  The big ? for ECU is that all the teams they played have no winning records currently.

VT and USC will end with comfortable winning records.

UNC probably will too

ECU has Cincy, Temple, and UCF left on the schedule. Temple is the only wildcard on whether or not they'll finish with a winning record.

ECU very well may face a 9-2 UCF team on December 4th.

(10-29-2014 07:51 AM)TripleA Wrote:  We don't really know that SOS is playing a big part. We don't know how far behind Marshall is, with the committee, b/c they only show the top 25. If ECU loses a game, maybe Marshall jumps them, who knows? I mean, ECU was ahead of Marshall in the regular polls, so it would be normal for them to be ahead of Marshall now.

I hope a stronger SOS is in play, but we can't tell it based on what we see with ECU at the moment. At least we know one loss is okay, but what about two losses? I doubt SOS will make that much difference, compared to the normal polls.

SOS is partly calculated by the opponents of your opponents. So beating the team that beat Ohio State and that beat UVa, Ga Tech, and almost Notre Dame factors in partially.

(10-29-2014 09:32 AM)TripleA Wrote:  My point is, we don't know where Marshall is. They could be #26. If so, that would reflect about the same difference as shown in the regular polls.

I did not say the committee didn't take SOS into consideration at all. I said there is no way to tell if they did it any differently than the normal polls, b/c we don't know where Marshall sits with the committee. To me, the definite proof would be if ECU lost a close game to UCF, and still remained ahead of Marshall.

And under that scenario what would happen to UCF, the team that beat ECU on the road, and has only two losses both to P-5 teams. Should UCF jump Marsha based upon sos if they beat ECU? Put another way if ECU loses at home to UCF why should ECU be ranked ahead of UCF (the team that beat ECU on ECU's homefield)?

If ECU lost to UCF in that circumstance then ECU couldn't get the access bowl because UCF would be conference champion. Considering that the committee seems to base it on who you have played and who have you beaten then UCF beating a ranked ECU team might elevate them above Marshall. Probably not CSU if BSU loses another game though.

It won out before the season started.

I told a fairly big Marshall donor this the other day...with what they had coming back, Marshall should have scheduled a "bodybag" game.

He looked at me like I was crazy.

I told him that no one really knows where you stand nationally if you don't play at least 1 P5 opponent...and if that means you have to go to them, collect a check and lose a close game, then so be it. That is better than beating "another" MAC team. I pointed to ECU playing at Florida next year, which was scheduled not long ago. I also told him that going forward (they are adding Charlotte to the schedule in CUSA), Marshall needs to try and schedule at least 2 P5 games every year and at the least an AAC/MWC game. THAT was what really killed Marshall...not only do you not know nationally where Marshall stands, but as well you have no reference point with the two conferences you were competing against, the MWC and American. I told him he should be blaming his AD rather than blaming Louisville.

That being said, I think Marshall has a good team, but that doesn't mean they should be rewarded for terrible scheduling.

(10-29-2014 10:27 AM)ultraviolet Wrote:  

(10-29-2014 07:51 AM)TripleA Wrote:  We don't really know that SOS is playing a big part. We don't know how far behind Marshall is, with the committee, b/c they only show the top 25. If ECU loses a game, maybe Marshall jumps them, who knows? I mean, ECU was ahead of Marshall in the regular polls, so it would be normal for them to be ahead of Marshall now.

I hope a stronger SOS is in play, but we can't tell it based on what we see with ECU at the moment. At least we know one loss is okay, but what about two losses? I doubt SOS will make that much difference, compared to the normal polls.

SOS is partly calculated by the opponents of your opponents. So beating the team that beat Ohio State and that beat UVa, Ga Tech, and almost Notre Dame factors in partially.

Not necessarily. My understanding is the committee is free to calculate SOS however they please, including just using the eye test.

(10-29-2014 10:53 AM)ECBrad Wrote:  If ECU lost to UCF in that circumstance then ECU couldn't get the access bowl because UCF would be conference champion. Considering that the committee seems to base it on who you have played and who have you beaten then UCF beating a ranked ECU team might elevate them above Marshall. Probably not CSU if BSU loses another game though.

Makes sense. Thanks for a well thought out reasonable reply.

(10-29-2014 10:35 AM)NestaKnight1 Wrote:  

(10-29-2014 09:32 AM)TripleA Wrote:  My point is, we don't know where Marshall is. They could be #26. If so, that would reflect about the same difference as shown in the regular polls.

I did not say the committee didn't take SOS into consideration at all. I said there is no way to tell if they did it any differently than the normal polls, b/c we don't know where Marshall sits with the committee. To me, the definite proof would be if ECU lost a close game to UCF, and still remained ahead of Marshall.

And under that scenario what would happen to UCF, the team that beat ECU on the road, and has only two losses both to P-5 teams. Should UCF jump Marsha based upon sos if they beat ECU? Put another way if ECU loses at home to UCF why should ECU be ranked ahead of UCF (the team that beat ECU on ECU's homefield)?

I didn't say they would be. One possibility would be UCF above ECU, but ECU still above Marshall. If that happened, THEN we would know for sure how much the committee is really valuing SOS, or at least their version of it. Problem is, unless all the teams in question are ranked in the top 25, we won't be able to see it.

(10-29-2014 10:56 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  It won out before the season started.

I told a fairly big Marshall donor this the other day...with what they had coming back, Marshall should have scheduled a "bodybag" game.

He looked at me like I was crazy.

I told him that no one really knows where you stand nationally if you don't play at least 1 P5 opponent...and if that means you have to go to them, collect a check and lose a close game, then so be it. That is better than beating "another" MAC team. I pointed to ECU playing at Florida next year, which was scheduled not long ago. I also told him that going forward (they are adding Charlotte to the schedule in CUSA), Marshall needs to try and schedule at least 2 P5 games every year and at the least an AAC/MWC game. THAT was what really killed Marshall...not only do you not know nationally where Marshall stands, but as well you have no reference point with the two conferences you were competing against, the MWC and American. I told him he should be blaming his AD rather than blaming Louisville.

That being said, I think Marshall has a good team, but that doesn't mean they should be rewarded for terrible scheduling.

I think you're probably right. My only point is that it's hard to tell how big an impact SOS is having, when we can't see where Marshall stands. It obviously is having some impact, but if they are #26, then the difference is no more than the regular polls, which really don't consider SOS much, at all.