Here for the Wins

Money is the cause of much of this no doubt. But fans have clamored for playoffs for decades. With that those with the most power were never going to be satisfied getting shorted their seats at the table and their dollars. People are complaining about the top 12, but it’s also the seeding that matters too. That won’t change. If you expand it to 16, you’re introducing more into the argument. And you still have the issue of too many teams with too few games in unbalanced schedules. With 16, you’ll have to do something with the conference championships because now there’s no byes. Right now you get people arguing over Miami versus Notre Dame because they won a coin flip game late on a FG in the first game of the year. Is it the best 12 teams or those with the seasons? I’d say Texas and Notre Dame are both top 12 right now based on the available information. Theres more of a debate whether Notre Dame and Texas have had one of the 12 (or 10) best seasons. In my opinion they have. With each attempt to get the playoffs right, you give away something that was meaningful over the 100 plus years of college football that made it a special thing. Bowl games and conference championships meant something. You know what season was perfect? Texas-USC. Last year Ohio State didn’t even win their conference but were national champs. Not making the conference championship likely helped that effort. The super conferences are the only way to get this consistent. You can schedule as you like in non-conference cause advancement is not dependent upon it. You can then somewhat balance the conference schedules. Then the divisions within the conference determines who advances. It sounds terrible, but that’s the path.

Forgetting? No. I’d wager people are unaware, don’t care. I wasn’t aware. I’ve paid quite a bit of attention, but you’re the first I’ve known give this any attention. Thing is this year that Texas and Vandy have the potential to make waves, probably more so than many years. So the “win it on the field” mantra isn’t exactly accurate this year.

Fewer games than the NFL, far more unbalanced schedules leads to inconclusive choices.

I think A&M got hosed to keep us out of it. Maybe Vandy too.

Um, lack of understanding?

Other notes or points of discussion. South Florida sent UF reeling. LSU got them at home and Lagway fell apart. Miami got them at their low point. The latter two games on the road. The week off prior to Texas allowed them to regroup and rally like they did last year. Manny was out and Wilson played for the first time. Their top 2 WRs versus us that accounted for 65% of their passing yards did not play versus Ole Miss. Wilson had about 20 snaps versus Georgia. Brown didn’t play versus Georgia. So, yes, their game versus Texas was very different from a timing, location and personnel standpoint.

OU being a lock is a joke. They lost at home. They lost a neutral site. Is Tennessee their 2nd best win? Or Michigan? Tennessee got blown out at home by Vandy. Michigan got handled by OSU at home. Vandy beat most of OUs contenders for 2nd best win. The only metric they have us on is losses. And lost head to head. By 3 scores.

Yet Doc I feel as though you wasted my time. JH, not so much.

I would like to see a good, in depth analysis of home versus away win-loss percentage. As there is some premature, preliminary debate on should Texas schedule the Ohio States or also rans, this would add another discussion point regarding such decisions. That extra loss may cost you an invite to the party, but it certainly is likely to cost you a home game. Actually it’s not the losing of a home game, but it’s giving you an away game rather than a neutral site game. There are references made, but it’s minimally discussed. There are too many teams with them all having unbalanced schedules, playing too few games to be awarding significant advantages based those factors.

Pff shows that we are running man about 10-15% more this year than last. Manny has gone from 17 to 28% for example.

There may be some of this, but there’s the possibility that Georgia went heavy against tendencies which would leave our preparation specific to them moot.

Here’s a little nugget to take however you please. We have led approximately 205 minutes in our home games. We have trailed exactly 0 minutes. In those approximate 205 minutes, we have played roughly 175 minutes in which our opponents never had the chance to take the lead. While Vandy got ugly late in the win, they were down two scores for 57 minutes of that game only running 4 plays in which they could have tied or taken the lead.

Completely agree.

I might buy that he’s outside the house peeking inside. Does that count?

But presumably OU and Vandy are. You’re pretty definitive there about us not being a playoff team.