BYU ranking discussion…
So, we didn’t move up or down this past week and I think that is fair considering who the teams in front of us lost against.
We were passed by both Oklahoma State and Florida who beat good Missouri and LSU teams who were both ranked in the top 5. Let’s look at the loss and whether they benefited or hurt our hopes.
Oklahoma vs. Texas- with Texas’ late game scoring spree the Longhorns sealed up the top spot of the AP poll and are now the team to beat in both the Big 12 and the country. This wasn’t the best case scenario for the Cougars but with the Longhorn and the Sooners still having to play OSU and Texas Tech, I am happy to say some of these teams will have to go.
LSU vs Florida- this one was a weekend spoiler. Urban wins and jumps us in the polls….crap, crap, crap. Come on Gary C., you need to help us out. Florida’s win gives them the inside track to again fight for a SEC title & National Championship. We would have preferred LSU win and than lose to Georgia or Alabama, but, who knows, the Gators still have some tough games ahead of them (Georgia, S. Carolina, Alabama, Florida St.).
Oklahoma St vs. Missouri- This one shocked me; in fact, this game didn’t even pop up on the radar. Is Oklahoma St. for real? We will see as they go on to play Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma. With those three games coming up I am thinking that a #8 ranking was a little more courtesy than anything else. Beating #3 and moving from 17 to 8, jumping two other undefeated team. You’re welcome, enjoy it, because now you get to play Texas, Texas Tech, Colorado and Oklahoma. They played well but won’t last in the top-10 too long.
Alabama almost has their ticket punched to the NC game as long as the Sabanator doesn’t trip up against Tennessee, LSU or Auburn.
Penn State still has tough games with Ohio St. and Michigan St.
Texas Tech, just like Oklahoma St., shouldn’t last too much longer and we really need one of the powder puff Pac-10 teams to beat USC. Maybe Jimmy Harbough or Stoops -who needs to save his career- will pull off an upset, but the best bet would be a resurgent California team who may have found a starting quarterback.
In all, it wasn’t a bad weekend for the Cougars. Yeah, it didn’t go perfect, but there are still good possibilities as long as the Cougs continue to win. On a side note, when was the last time three non-BCS team where in the top-15? And in the up-coming weeks the Utes and the Boise St. Broncos could be moving up even further.
After a Thursday night win and a few key losses above our current position; I think BYU moves up 3 spots and are just outside the top-5.
Big games for the Utes:
Ohio St. vs Michigan St.- Utes need Michigan St. to win.
LSU vs S. Carolina- Utes need LSU to win.
Missouri vs. Texas- Utes need Texas to win, but it wouldn’t be bad for BYU if Missouri won.
Georgia vs. Vanderbilt.-We both need Georgia to lose and than rebound to win down the stretch.
Quinn, I was rooting for Texas win because I feel having watched the two teams play so far this year that Oklahoma is the better team and will probably not lose down the stretch. While I think that Texas is really good, I do not think they are good enough to go undefeated through their schedule.
As for BYU not moving up OR down…I know a win is a win and it is great to be undefeated, but I honestly think that right now the only reason why BYU is still in the top 10 after the last two weeks is for two reason, 1) undefeated and 2) longest win streak. I was honestly surprised (but very very happy) when we stayed at 8. Had the pollsters watched the game we may have very well been jumped by more teams.
The best thing going for the Cougars right now is that with a weak win over CSU Sat. TCU is back in the top 25 and they are very vulnerable. They have no QB and that has seemingly destroyed their powerful offense. Now the strength of the D has always been their biggest asset but…we should blow them out and make us look very impressive.
I think the Oklahoma win was good. They are, IMO, the best team in the country, and them being upset anywhere is a good thing.
I called the OK State game on this blog last week. In fact, outside the Oklahoma game I went 100% on my predictions.
This week, we won’t see a top 10 team lose.
Ohio State @ Michigan State is a Pick’em, so you could see OSU lose there.
#14 LSU will lose to South Carolina.
#15 Kansas will lose to Oklahoma.
#18 Virginia Tech will lose to Boston College.
#22 Cal will lose to Arizona.
IMO, BYU played VERY well on Saturday. I think an unbiased observer of that game would easily see how BYU should remain where they were after the UNM game.
I don’t agree with the LSU and Cal predictions. In fact I was just commenting to my dad yesterday that it is ironic how a 4-1 USC team with a Pac 10 loss is ranked in the top 10 and a 4-1 Cal w/o a Pac 10 loss is barely in the top 25. Nobody in the country should lose a game to U of A.
LSU IMO is now the most underrated team in the country. They are better than 14. South Carolina will play them tough, but they will not win.
IMO BC vs Kansas is a battle of the also rans…that game should not have a bearing on the outcome of anything really. But I agree that BC will probably win that one.
Staff:
Just so you’re aware, I went 10/11 with my predictions last week, with the sole miss being Oklahoma.
My system shows Cal only having a 27% chance of winning that UofA game, and LSU the same.
Of the two, I’d put Cal as the more likely “upset”.
Brandon, you need to find your way to Vegas if you went 10/11 last week. That kind of luck could produce some generous cash flow.
What exactly is your system and does it have a patent?
Quinn, is there any team, if losing two games, that would stay ahead of an undefeated BYU team??
Steven, I know you were asking Quinn, but I think that there is a possibility. I can’t say which team it would be though. One thing you have to keep in mind is that every time a Non-BCS team goes to a BCS bowl and wins it makes the system look flawed. A lot of the pollsters have BCS affiliations and nobody wants to look bad. There is also a strong distaste for BYU nationwide with voters. My father in law showed me a site last year where you can go and see who voted for what in the polls. You can also see where these guys are from. BYU gets no love east of the Mississippi.
One thing to keep in mind is the fact that USC and Cal have the same record and USC lost a conference game (Cal did not) and yet there is a HUGE difference in their rankings. This can only be due to the fact that some people will not let go of the assumption that USC is SUPPOSED to be in the top 10. That is the reasoning in the polls that would allow a 2 loss team to get passed BYU.
Also remember when a 2 loss LSU went to the NC game? They jumped some 1 and 0 loss teams to do that.
I will try and track down the site, because I would assume it will be of interest.
Quinn what do you think?
BRANDON,
I was not knocking your opinion (Theory/System), just venturing my own Guesstimations. I’m not sayin’ … I’m just sayin’ ya know?
The biggest thing about this week’s Coaches poll is the number of points we got, and the number of points of those above us.
We’re at #8 and USC is at #4. There’s a grand total of 55 points separating our spot from USC.
Basically, there’s a 5 way tie for 4th place. There’s only a difference of 4 points between #8, #7, and #6.
I think we move up BIG time as those teams start to distinguish themselves as winners/losers.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/onlinenews.ap.org/collegefootball_rankings/voters.php?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME
THIS IS THE LINK TO SEE WHO VOTES IN THE AP POLL AND WHERE THEY ARE FROM AND WHO THEY VOTED FOR.
In the Coaches Poll, BYU is only 2 points behind Florida and 4 points behind Oklahoma. With a win @ TCU, I think BYU gains just enough to jump both and move up to #6 in the national rankings!!
I looked at that site that shows the AP votes. It took me a minute to realize the votes are from last year.
Sorry…I went back and took a closer look…you are right. I will track down the ones from this year
Here’s a great site where you can track this year’s AP voters: http://pollspeak.com/football.htm
All the data is sortable–here’s BYU’s current ranking by each voter: http://pollspeak.com/pollstalker/pollstalker.php?s=5&p=9&t1=16&v=61&w=8&r=T
Brandon-
If you went 10/11 last week, what is your unbiased prediction of BYU vs TCU?
Leave your response!
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