yep, the SEC "beats up" on each other every week. That's why they are all 4-4 in conference. But when the ACC has teams with similar conference records, it is a slap to the ACC and not being competitive.
Isn't this the argument for playing a real OOC?
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yep, the SEC "beats up" on each other every week. That's why they are all 4-4 in conference. But when the ACC has teams with similar conference records, it is a slap to the ACC and not being competitive.
The real reason why Pitt isn't ranked higher is their loss to North Carolina who are a joke of a team. If Pitt wins that game they are 8-3 looking at a possible 10 win season.
Penn State Notre Dame UCF imo is not a killer schedule, Penn State is a little above average this year and, because of their weak schedule, we still don't know what UCF is. If Pitt were a legitimate national power they should have won 2 of those 3 games and definitely shouldn't have been blown out in 2 of them.
Who cares about being "legitimate" I never minded being "overrated" it opens doors you don't deserve to go through, so why not? It's better than everyone knowing you're not that good. If you lose a couple close games to Top 10 teams and are 6-4, you probably aren't ranked. If you're 8-2 and beat two slugs, Top 15, doors are opening.
That's what college football has become because you get punished for playing other good programs and losing - while rewarded for beating a nobody.
Would you really care if they were ranked in the top 25 or top 15 and getting better recruits because of it in 2020?
Sign me up for that scenario every year.
Would you really care if they were ranked in the top 25 or top 15 and getting better recruits because of it in 2020?
Sign me up for that scenario every year.
UCF and Washington State aren't even being considered for the playoff in spite of their great records because of weak schedules. Nobody thinks Washington State is a great team because they are 10-1. I could easily see the committee selecting a 2 loss Big Ten or SEC school over a 1 loss Washington State team if it came down to it.
What doors are opening? If we beat umass instead of losing to ucf; what doors are open now that aren’t now?
But I'd ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT if Pitt was in their exact same position. It would be the greatest Pitt seasons since Dan Marino! Who wouldn't love that! Way better than being 7-4 and everyone knowing you played tough teams.
If my aunt had a ....she would be my uncle. Pitt's not a national power neither is 90% of the teams in the top 25.
The point is if you are playing 3 games that you could/should lose OCC; you are over-scheduling. Alabama wouldn't even schedule 3 top 25 let alone 3 top 15 teams. It's idiotic all so many levels.
Yep. It is different in basketball. Michigan State under Tom Izzo always plays a brutal OOC schedule which helps his team in conference and come NCAA tourney time. But that sport has a real championship, and once you are in the tourney, everyone is 0-0. College football is more a beauty contest.
You can lose to Alabama, Notre Dame and Ohio State by 10 points, but you have 3 losses, while some slug team beats Buffalo, Eastern Michigan and the Citadel, have 3 wins, and team A is 6-4 and not ranked, team B is 8-2 and ranked 15th.
Youve got to walk before you run. Everyone with a grasp on reality knows Pitt is not even close to a national power. We all hope its a program that can get there one day. And the only way to build that rep is to have a schedule that allows them to have some success, sell that success. Playing a bunch of teams that Pitt is not on the same level as and losing does nothing for the program.
And even with the UNC loss if Pitt had substituted PSU, UCF or ND for one other win, they'd be ranked. THe softer schedule provides more margin for error
Probably better bowl game, higher ranking, recruits thinking you are better, maybe getting better recruits, fans thinking you are better, maybe better attendance.
You would love to be frustrated with being locked out of the CFB at 10-1?
Our board would be exploding with anger about how we won all those games and aren't even being considered for the playoffs. I would enjoy the wins but hate the inevitable result.
EDIT: I would be fine with a somewhat easier schedule, and we will have one going forward. As mentioned many times, this year was pretty unique because we had the required Notre Dame game (on a year they got hot) and THEN got PSU to finally agree to a super-well attended four game deal that you can't say no to. And UCF went from 0-11 to 12-0 while we waited for them. It won't be like this most years.
I am fine with either 9 or 10 P5 games, I don't care either way. But you have to have enough quality games that you don't end up locked out like Washington State from schedule alone.
Thats the point I was making. In hoops you get rewarded for playing against tough teams and you dont get penalized for losing. In FB you get penalized for losing period and credit for winning regardless of who you play. For a program like Pitt that is trying to build something its insane to over schedule like they did this year.
all of this is pure fabrication. higher ranking i'll give you, the rest is speculation. Recruiting will pick up because we beat another FCS program in front of 28k in September where the game is on espn8.com? bowl games are about fans and tickets sold..
Pitt could be 9-2 by scheduling bums instead of PSU and UCF, but they would still be in the same position. Playing 2 teams the next 2 weeks with more talent than them (Miami and Clemson). Playing for the conference championship. I'd say they would be about 10 slots higher in the rankings at this point.
I would love to be debating whether or not Pitt deserves to be in the playoffs because of their schedule verses whether or they deserve to crack the top 25.
Leach will be rewarded when he goes on the recruiting trail talking about their 10, 11 or 12 win season. No-one will care that it's a house of cards.
Absolutely, would love it! Even if we just played NYD, and no playoff, when was the last 10-1? I'd definitely trade every season in the last 35 years for that! Sign me up.
The difference is if Pitt were 10 and 1 at this point, and ended up 11 and 1 and beat Clemson, they would not be locked out of a playoff.
When Pitt scheduled UCF, they weren't a power team. They were an also-ran G5 team.
I will hold you to this if we are ever so lucky to see 11 wins again, that it made it totally OK for the playoff committee to exclude us based on schedule without ever giving us a shot despite all the wins. That is, if the sun doesn't consume planet earth first.
Gets it. As I said at this point in the program winning is far more important with respect to building the program, improving recruiting and generating fan interest.
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I think playing a game that is actually picked up on tv is always a good thing. you know what was crazy about pitt vs ok state? You could watch it on tv in a lot of parts of the country on your tv. No streaming, no hdmi cable, no going thru a service and putting in your username/password for your carrier. You could pick up a remote, push a number and watch it on HDTV..
But yeah, getting boatraced kind of sucked.. I will give you that.
I wouldn't be upset, the college football playoff isn't a real sports event, it's like Wrestlemania, they just choose the stars, the Hulk and the Macho Man and the Nature Boy every year for TV ratings and hotel reservations, so being in that doesn't matter. Call me when they have a playoff based totally on game results and championships of leagues.
If we were 11 and 1 with non conference wins over Wyoming, San Jose State, and Eastern Washington (those were Washington State's three opponents) I am not so sure they would be ranked high enough to automatically be in the top 4 with a Clemson upset.
Right now, Washington State is #7. Say we switched places and they beat #2 Clemson. Does that mean they jump some combination of Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia or Michigan to get up to #4? I am not so sure. I worry a schedule that weak automatically disqualifies you, especially if you're not a blue blood.
I think what everyone agrees on is games like Oklahoma State make no sense.
Sure, it's speculation, it might not happen, but it might, so why not try it.
It would still be more fun than where we are now, I'd take that 110%
You might want to remind yourself that UCF wins 10 or more games in most seasons. The O'fer season was an anomaly not the norm. UCF was a very successful program long before Pitt agreed to play them.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/central-florida/index.html
And until they do like they did in hoops theres no incentive to schedule a bunch of tough OOC games. schedule one really good team and a few lower level P5 teams and a scrimmage (Albany).
Couldnt agree more. How cool would it be to be ranked like WSU going into the CLemson game. Have to think the bowl game we'd get would be much better if we didnt beat Clemson,
All I am saying is I never want to see us disqualify ourselves before the season starts. Someday maybe we'll have the year the Cougars are having.
There is a balance. A schedule ranked around #40 in the country is probably where you want to be to get TV exposure, the possibility of a playoff bid if you have some freak year, some quality wins -- but not kill yourself getting there.
Washington State's schedule is #91. Even if they were undefeated I am not sure they'd be ranked higher than Georgia and Michigan.
There is a balance. A schedule ranked around #40 in the country is probably where you want to be to get TV exposure, the possibility of a playoff bid if you have some freak year, some quality wins -- but not kill yourself getting there.
Washington State's schedule is #91. Even if they were undefeated I am not sure they'd be ranked higher than Georgia and Michigan.
The issue here is the need to recognize that these human polls to a greater or lesser degree reflect a team's entire body of work and aren't entirely based on current strength and recent performance. They are based on a perception of that entire body of work and not entirely on more recent performance.
Because the full season vs recent results can be very different is why Sagarin added a "Recent" rating to his system. It basically ignores how a team was performing early in the season and reflects how teams are playing now. Obviously some teams have improved and some have regressed since September depending on various factors (e.g., injuries, younger players improving or not, units gelling or not, etc.).
The overall season vs current strength is also what explains why we are now #24/#25 in the human polls and why Sagarin's computer has us #44 for the entire season's body of work but a far better #18 in his "Recent" games rating. The # 44 takes into account the size of the PSU and UCF losses plus the bad loss to UNC while the #18 ignores them. The public perception polls also remain influenced by those three losses or else we would likely be ranked in the #13 to #18 range in them vs #24 & #25.
Our football team needs a really easy schedule, and our basketball team needs a really hard schedule.
If only you guys would just look at our future OOC schedule and see that this watering down is happening. U swear I’m not making it up. Look at our 2020 schedule, you’ll all be in heaven.
Question for those who want easier schedules:
What do you think our schedule should be ranked nationally? 40? 50? 60? 90?
Hard to get much lower than 90 because we're in a P5 league.
What do you think our schedule should be ranked nationally? 40? 50? 60? 90?
Hard to get much lower than 90 because we're in a P5 league.
