Monday, October 31, 2016

2016: TUCFC Week 10

The Washington Huskies faced their biggest challenge of the year and came up with a very important win, in what was a fun game to watch.  I had asked last week whether or not we could see five undefeated teams lose and we did see four lose.  Nebraska, Baylor, West Virginia, and Bose State all lost.  This eliminates the Big 12 completely from the talk of the playoffs, at least for now, and helps our friends at Western Michigan. 

I wanted to talk this week about something I found very interesting.  I was looking at Kenneth Massey's Computer Ranking Comparison and saw something very interesting.  I went there initially to see where other ranking systems had Western Michigan.  Like the TUCFC Power Ratings there were a number of systems that had them at number 4.  But what struck me as odd was the conference rating system at the bottom of the page.  The top conference is no surprise it's the SEC, the real surprise was the second highest ranked conference, the Pac 12.  In fact here is the current ranking of the power five conferences.  SEC, Pac 12, ACC, Big 10, Big 12.  That's right the Big 10 is fourth.  I had been assuming all along that the Big 10 was the best conference.  Well now I have to wonder.  It's always fun to see how the AP sees things compared to everything else.  If you went by the AP top 25, which is all we have to go on, here is how the conferences would rank:  Big 12, SEC, Big 10, ACC, Pac 12.

OK so how is it that the Pac 12 can be the number 2 conference when compiling 86 ranking systems and yet somehow the AP take on things is closer to how the conferences are generally being discussed?  I'm not sure what the answer is, but I do think it's the heavy influence of things like the AP and the USA Today Coach's poll that hurts schools like Western Michigan and their chance to actually make the playoffs. 


Games to Watch

Western Michigan (8-0) at Ball State (4-4)
After a week off Western Michigan comes back to play on prime time television on Thursday night.  You have a choice you can watch the NFL game, Falcons vs Buccaneers, or you can check out Western Michigan and see if you think they deserve a playoff thought. 

Alabama (8-0) at LSU (5-2)
Not only is the TUCFC up for grabs, but this should be a good game.  LSU has been playing much better and it's in Baton Rouge. 

Nebraska (7-1) at Ohio State (7-1)
This game has lost a lot of its luster, but it could still turn out to be a very critical game for the playoff picture.

Georgia (4-4) at Kentucky (5-3)
A win at home this week and Kentucky is bowl eligible. 


Week 10 Power Ratings

Despite what the power ratings show here you can expect Washington to end the season in the top four assuming they remain undefeated.  Surprisingly their WP rating is still slightly weaker than Western Michigan's.  I decided to increase the number of teams to 32 just because I still dream of a 32 team tournament.  The Colorado, Troy game in the first round would be a lot of fun.    

RankTeamRecordWPWDiffPLPLDiffPPower
1Alabama8-0443.000550.6630.0000.000993.663
2Michigan8-0326.719526.5130.0000.000853.231
3Clemson8-0365.188442.6250.0000.000807.813
4Texas A&M7-1298.969372.2251.00019.000651.194
5Ohio State7-1263.906425.88811.18834.125644.481
6Washington8-0213.063385.9750.0000.000599.038
7Louisville7-1200.125383.7131.0006.000576.838
8Western Michigan8-0213.188350.7880.0000.000563.975
9Auburn6-2167.125311.6634.00028.500446.288
10Penn State6-2257.125307.92525.656103.813435.581
11Wisconsin6-2206.438251.6757.53127.750422.831
12Nebraska7-1192.250246.1755.75014.563418.113
13Washington State6-2199.094242.95010.09425.688406.263
14Boise State7-1218.938245.71314.68850.438399.525
15Florida6-1192.906269.88815.90661.188385.700
16Colorado6-2176.344283.92514.43881.563364.269
17Troy6-1123.656205.6751.0006.000322.331
18Tennessee5-3270.844249.78843.906157.125319.600
19Virginia Tech6-2217.781334.88863.781204.500284.388
20Houston7-2185.469333.01355.531186.313276.638
21West Virginia6-1123.406202.87518.53150.750257.000
22Southern California5-3186.875248.85027.219153.313255.194
23South Florida7-2181.594290.38847.906170.125253.950
24Louisiana State5-299.406193.77510.00029.813253.369
25Florida State5-3177.563223.88826.438124.125250.888
26Oklahoma6-2128.438248.77526.406100.438250.369
27Baylor6-1107.563246.41335.06387.563231.350
28Iowa5-3102.500171.67518.25038.500217.425
29Stanford5-3154.969190.56316.594113.625215.313
30Oklahoma State6-2161.188256.55060.563153.250203.925
31Tulsa6-2117.875226.86325.906121.438197.394
32Northwestern4-4118.844128.10014.15638.813193.975

3 comments:

  1. I was thrilled about the UK and WKU victories this past weekend.

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  2. This weekend I finally figured out that Washington has Boise State's former coach. This helps me understand a lot more about football in the Northwest.

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    1. This is the hire that makes me think Kentucky should go after Strong. Part of the brilliance of getting the guy from Boise State is that he already was recruiting in the area. It also says a lot about Pederson and I think Strong that they left behind programs that have continued to succeed without them. I know Louisville brought in Petrino, but still I'm not sure anyone could have fixed the hot mess left behind Kiffen in Tennessee.

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