The Coastal "Race"

[slugboy]

Just FYI but SEC Florida lost to FCS GA Southern

Georgia Southern is not FCS. They're FBS, same as us.

 

[Squints]

You are right, the bowls may not be an indicator of conference strength because the match ups are for such varied reasons (ticket sales, travel considerations, traditional match ups) that we rarely see #3 SEC against #3 Pac 12, etc.

That plus the bowls generally being a home game for Southern teams and that having a whole month to prepare the game skews the result to the point of being meaningless in my mind.

But the answer to the Poll Bias is the same.

No it's not. The answer is that the pollsters need to wake the hell up and stop overrating teams just because of the conference they play in.

Take this example from this year. South Carolina is ranked #9 and Texas A&M is ranked #21 to start the year. Texas A&M blows out South Carolina. So Texas A&M moves into the top 10. As the season continues South Carolina is shown to be absolutely unworthy of their preseason ranking. So Texas A&M gets a massive boost in their ranking by beating a team that was grossly overrated. Texas A&M stays in the top 10 based on an absurdly easy schedule. When they play good teams they get embarrassed showing that their boost from beating a fraudulent ranked #9 team is, surprise, also fraudulent.

It took 9 weeks to straighten this **** out all because of where South Carolina was ranked. Why were they ranked so high? Because they needed a team in the SEC east in the top 10. End of story.

Non-SEC teams have got to start beating SEC teams more frequently. FSU over Auburn is a start. Tech over Georgia, Clemson over USC would help.

Sure that'd help but my issue is with the narrative surrounding the results. Because when it does happen it's ignored. The SEC lost bowl of its BCS bowls last year. Didn't put a dent in circlejerk. All I see is SEC teams are strong because they play SEC teams. How do we know the SEC teams they play are actually strong? Because they play SEC teams. And those SEC teams are strong because they play SEC teams. It's textbook circular reasoning.

Massey has the SEC in the top four and six out of the top 8. That is just insane, but who would you change? Alabama, Mississippi, Miss St., Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Oregon, LSU.

I honestly don't know enough about Massey to comment about it.

The propaganda is nobody beat the SEC teams but other SEC teams. And as of today it's true.

Except that it's not. But they'll keep pushing that it is. From what I hear in college football coverage I don't see why they shouldn't crown the national champion at the end of the SEC championship game. Like you said nobody beats the SEC other than the SEC so why bother playing anymore games?

TL,DR; I'm tired of the media saying "The SEC is far and away the best no matter what. Deal with it." College football media is a joke and the SEC bias is largely why.

 

[zhavenor]

Georgia Southern is not FCS. They're FBS, same as us.

They were FCS when they lost them.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Either the SEC joined the coastal (and I missed the press release)....or this thread got seriously derailed.

 

[Squints]

Either the SEC joined the coastal (and I missed the press release)....or this thread got seriously derailed.

Sorry can't help it. If someone's going to try and blow some SEC sunshine up my *** I'm going to run my mouth.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

That plus the bowls generally being a home game for Southern teams and that having a whole month to prepare the game skews the result to the point of being meaningless in my mind.



No it's not. The answer is that the pollsters need to wake the hell up and stop overrating teams just because of the conference they play in.

Take this example from this year. South Carolina is ranked #9 and Texas A&M is ranked #21 to start the year. Texas A&M blows out South Carolina. So Texas A&M moves into the top 10. As the season continues South Carolina is shown to be absolutely unworthy of their preseason ranking. So Texas A&M gets a massive boost in their ranking by beating a team that was grossly overrated. Texas A&M stays in the top 10 based on an absurdly easy schedule. When they play good teams they get embarrassed showing that their boost from beating a fraudulent ranked #9 team is, surprise, also fraudulent.

It took 9 weeks to straighten this **** out all because of where South Carolina was ranked. Why were they ranked so high? Because they needed a team in the SEC east in the top 10. End of story.



Sure that'd help but my issue is with the narrative surrounding the results. Because when it does happen it's ignored. The SEC lost bowl of its BCS bowls last year. Didn't put a dent in circlejerk. All I see is SEC teams are strong because they play SEC teams. How do we know the SEC teams they play are actually strong? Because they play SEC teams. And those SEC teams are strong because they play SEC teams. It's textbook circular reasoning.




I honestly don't know enough about Massey to comment about it.



Except that it's not. But they'll keep pushing that it is. From what I hear in college football coverage I don't see why they shouldn't crown the national champion at the end of the SEC championship game. Like you said nobody beats the SEC other than the SEC so why bother playing anymore games?

TL,DR; I'm tired of the media saying "The SEC is far and away the best no matter what. Deal with it." College football media is a joke and the SEC bias is largely why.

I wish I could like this about ten more times. You took the words right out of my mouth. I had read that the playoff committee was supposed to ignore the very bias you identified but it appears they are not going to do so. SEC starts every season with money in the bank because of the polling bias. Then as SEC teams fold up and die it does not matter because there are always other SEC teams we can go to. South Carolina, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Missouri were all treated like they were special at one time or another just because they were in the SEC. Since they clearly do not deserve to be ranked you can simply figure out which SEC teams beat them and go from there. Man, you don't even need to think to be a sports journalist anymore. Just pay attention to which SEC team is beating which SEC team. Gives you extra time on the golf course. Cool.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Either the SEC joined the coastal (and I missed the press release)....or this thread got seriously derailed.

Sunday, I'll post a new thread on the Coastal "Race" if someone else doesn't.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I think we have to win all our remaining conference games to have a shot and even then it's not a given. That's all I care about.... our path to the ACCCG. All other conversations.... meh. It all starts with a win against the Zima drinkers.

Btw, I'm for doing away with permanent cross-divisional rivalries. I love playing the tiggers, but it creates real inequities when you have Duke playing Wake every year. Actually, keep the cdr's just de-emphasize overall ACC record in the divisional pecking order. Put intra-divisional record first, head to head second, ACC record third. Even then we lose the tie breaker to Dook. sigh.

 

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

Sunday, I'll post a new thread on the Coastal "Race" if someone else doesn't.

The Coastal Race might be over by Sunday morning.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Agree with cheese. Either weigh intradivisional games ahead of overall conference record or realign the divisions and schedules all together. The system needs better balance. I'd hate to lose the Clemson game. It's time for the ACC to get creative though and fix the scheduling imparities.