Massey Football Average Ranking of Conference teams through 2 weeks.

Sun Belt: 87.85
Mountain West 91.75
American 93.86
CUSA: 106.22
MAC: 111.00

- Shocking drop for AAC, 9 of 14 teams rated #90 or worse.
- Sun Belt moves into top position, though their best teams are not the best in Group of Five
- CUSA has a good chance to be better than the MAC.

(09-11-2023 03:55 PM)sstaedtler88 Wrote:  Massey Football Average Ranking of Conference teams through 2 weeks.

Sun Belt: 87.85
Mountain West 91.75
American 93.86
CUSA: 106.22
MAC: 111.00

- Shocking drop for AAC, 9 of 14 teams rated #90 or worse.
- Sun Belt moves into top position, though their best teams are not the best in Group of Five
- CUSA has a good chance to be better than the MAC.

Desperately needed a BoR conference but looks like that ship sailed.

The only battle will be to see who gets 2nd IMO.

The Sun Belt will finish first in spite of not being as strong as last season. Not going to be the best season for the G5 even considering the losses from the G5 to the M2.

If we're being honest here one of Memphis, SMU, and Tulane will get the NY6 but the AAC's problem is that they just have too much dead weight. In turns out that "herp derp gimme marketz" is not the best realignment strategy.

The gap between the bottom 2 and top 3 is too big to overcome.

Certainly doesn't help that three of them are USF, ECU and Temple, BUT, the season is young and a two game stretch doesn't provide enough datapoints to make a nuanced assessment either.

The preseason biases have got to be in play, and its making some of the rankings kind of whack. (ie Rice at 99? They beat Houston and lost in a decent game against Texas.)

(09-11-2023 04:34 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  The only battle will be to see who gets 2nd IMO.

The Sun Belt will finish first in spite of not being as strong as last season. Not going to be the best season for the G5 even considering the losses from the G5 to the M2.

If we're being honest here one of Memphis, SMU, and Tulane will get the NY6 but the AAC's problem is that they just have too much dead weight. In turns out that "herp derp gimme marketz" is not the best realignment strategy.

The gap between the bottom 2 and top 3 is too big to overcome.

The AAC strategy worked fine until they lost 5 of their top 6 brands over a 3 year period and replaced with CUSA schools.

(09-11-2023 04:45 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  The preseason biases have got to be in play, and its making some of the rankings kind of whack. (ie Rice at 99? They beat Houston and lost in a decent game against Texas.)

Lost by 4 TDs and scored a garbage time TD with 3 minutes left in the game. Not a good performance at all.

(09-11-2023 06:38 PM)PicksUp Wrote:  

(09-11-2023 04:45 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  The preseason biases have got to be in play, and its making some of the rankings kind of whack. (ie Rice at 99? They beat Houston and lost in a decent game against Texas.)

Lost by 4 TDs and scored a garbage time TD with 3 minutes left in the game. Not a good performance at all.

I'm betting half the teams ranked higher than them would lose just as badly. Boise St is ranked 26 spots higher, havent won a game, and got drilled worse than Rice did.

(09-11-2023 03:55 PM)sstaedtler88 Wrote:  Massey Football Average Ranking of Conference teams through 2 weeks.

Sun Belt: 87.85
Mountain West 91.75
American 93.86
CUSA: 106.22
MAC: 111.00

- Shocking drop for AAC, 9 of 14 teams rated #90 or worse.
- Sun Belt moves into top position, though their best teams are not the best in Group of Five
- CUSA has a good chance to be better than the MAC.

That's just wrong. If you look at the G5 team ranking, from the same Massey Composite:

1. Tulane
2. Fresno State
3. Air Force
4. Memphis
5. Marshall
6. UTSA
7. James Madison
8. SMU
9. Troy
10. Western Kentucky

4 in the AAC, 3 in the SBC, 2 in the MWC, and 1 in CUSA.

The SBC's best are among the best in the G5.

(09-11-2023 08:04 PM)Yosef181 Wrote:  

(09-11-2023 03:55 PM)sstaedtler88 Wrote:  Massey Football Average Ranking of Conference teams through 2 weeks.

Sun Belt: 87.85
Mountain West 91.75
American 93.86
CUSA: 106.22
MAC: 111.00

- Shocking drop for AAC, 9 of 14 teams rated #90 or worse.
- Sun Belt moves into top position, though their best teams are not the best in Group of Five
- CUSA has a good chance to be better than the MAC.

That's just wrong. If you look at the G5 team ranking, from the same Massey Composite:

1. Tulane
2. Fresno State
3. Air Force
4. Memphis
5. Marshall
6. UTSA
7. James Madison
8. SMU
9. Troy
10. Western Kentucky

4 in the AAC, 3 in the SBC, 2 in the MWC, and 1 in CUSA.

The SBC's best are among the best in the G5.

That's not what I said. I said they are not the best in G5. I didn't say the word "among" the best. My point was, despite their great conference ratings, other conferences own the top spots.

#42 Fresno State
#53 Tulane
#55 Memphis
#58 Air Force

...4 teams before we get to JMU and Marshall.

(09-11-2023 04:34 PM)Lord2FLI Wrote:  Certainly doesn't help that three of them are USF, ECU and Temple, BUT, the season is young and a two game stretch doesn't provide enough datapoints to make a nuanced assessment either.

True, but after game 4, the ratings will be mostly solidified. Afterwards, most of what will be added to mix will be .500 because of conference games.

Rice is #55 in ESPN Team Efficiency (no carryover from last year), #59 in The Athletic, and #2 (behind the aforementioned Texas) of the 13 FBS teams in the state of Texas.

Rice is for real and they may not be the AAC favorites but they have played like a contender so far this year.

don’t SLEEP on RICE!

(Also p.s. keep an eye on Coastal. )

JMU, fun fact, is again not yet postseason eligible. Solid team tho.

(09-11-2023 08:36 PM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  

(09-11-2023 04:34 PM)Lord2FLI Wrote:  Certainly doesn't help that three of them are USF, ECU and Temple, BUT, the season is young and a two game stretch doesn't provide enough datapoints to make a nuanced assessment either.

True, but after game 4, the ratings will be mostly solidified. Afterwards, most of what will be added to mix will be .500 because of conference games.

Correct, so let's let the next two weeks of OOC games play out.

AAC did this to themselves.

After losing Cincy, UCF, and Houston, bringing football down to 8 members, they could have added UAB and UTSA, two strong additions, and called it a day. Massey would have been pretty favorable for them.

Instead the invited who, amazing as a university as it is, is an anvil dragging the conference down athletically. FAU peaks at 7-5 without Lane Kiffin. UNT has been playing FBS for generations, and winning seasons are few and far between for them.

And Charlotte? app says good luck with that.

(09-11-2023 08:51 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  AAC did this to themselves.

After losing Cincy, UCF, and Houston, bringing football down to 8 members, they could have added UAB and UTSA, two strong additions, and called it a day. Massey would have been pretty favorable for them.

I know everybody loves UAB's coach, but never in the history of FBS / 1A / Major Conference football has a high school coach made the jump to head coach at this level and been successful. Not sure he's going to be the first one.

(09-11-2023 08:55 PM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  

(09-11-2023 08:51 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  AAC did this to themselves.

After losing Cincy, UCF, and Houston, bringing football down to 8 members, they could have added UAB and UTSA, two strong additions, and called it a day. Massey would have been pretty favorable for them.

I know everybody loves UAB's coach, but never in the history of FBS / 1A / Major Conference football has a high school coach made the jump head coach at this level and been successful. Not sure he's going to be the first one.

I didn't even know their coach came straight from high school. I just knew about the community's local financial support and the new stadium. I thought that spoke volumes. Plus they've been winning a lot in recent years. Maybe they're about to dip down a bit with the new coach.

(09-11-2023 08:48 PM)BeatWestern! Wrote:  

(09-11-2023 08:36 PM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  

(09-11-2023 04:34 PM)Lord2FLI Wrote:  Certainly doesn't help that three of them are USF, ECU and Temple, BUT, the season is young and a two game stretch doesn't provide enough datapoints to make a nuanced assessment either.

True, but after game 4, the ratings will be mostly solidified. Afterwards, most of what will be added to mix will be .500 because of conference games.

Correct, so let's let the next two weeks of OOC games play out.

Sagarins are more illustrative since they include previous seasons bias.

They have SBC East as top division with MWC, AAC and MAC West basically tied.

MAC East above CUSA....w/o WKU/MT.

(09-11-2023 06:55 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(09-11-2023 06:38 PM)PicksUp Wrote:  

(09-11-2023 04:45 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  The preseason biases have got to be in play, and its making some of the rankings kind of whack. (ie Rice at 99? They beat Houston and lost in a decent game against Texas.)

Lost by 4 TDs and scored a garbage time TD with 3 minutes left in the game. Not a good performance at all.

I'm betting half the teams ranked higher than them would lose just as badly. Boise St is ranked 26 spots higher, havent won a game, and got drilled worse than Rice did.

Pure speculation with nothing to back it up. The fact is Texas was up 37-3 and didnt even try to run it up in the 4th.

I do not personally trust computer rankings before week six or so, but any ranking that has the AAC far from the top of the G5 conferences sounds right to me.

We have been terrible so far.

(09-11-2023 09:02 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(09-11-2023 08:55 PM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  

(09-11-2023 08:51 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  AAC did this to themselves.

After losing Cincy, UCF, and Houston, bringing football down to 8 members, they could have added UAB and UTSA, two strong additions, and called it a day. Massey would have been pretty favorable for them.

I know everybody loves UAB's coach, but never in the history of FBS / 1A / Major Conference football has a high school coach made the jump head coach at this level and been successful. Not sure he's going to be the first one.

I didn't even know their coach came straight from high school. I just knew about the community's local financial support and the new stadium. I thought that spoke volumes. Plus they've been winning a lot in recent years. Maybe they're about to dip down a bit with the new coach.

Only 4 years as a high school coach (he did very well in all due respect). No coaching experience of any kind before that. His OC spent many years under Nick Saban as a grad assistant and an analyst, but has no coaching experience at all. His DC, like Dilfer, is also straight from high school. Just not sure this recipe is going to work. We'll se where it goes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Dilf...ing_career