(10-29-2014 03:47 PM)ECBrad Wrote:  If you look at Notre Dame's schedule so far they are doing well but not top 4 well. They have no wins against ranked opponents.

Stanford is ranked #14 and Michigan was ranked when they played them. If anything I think ND's schedule this year will be better than it was last year.

(10-30-2014 08:56 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  You are correct, we don't know...and neither do they. They were not charged with ranking "after" the Top 25, only the Top 25. So no one knows.

They only said that ECU deserved to be in the Top 25 and Marshall did not.

Most are deducing that ECU has a tougher schedule left than Marshall, with games @Cincy, @Temple and UCF...so that would be the reason Marshall would not jump them.

Marshall's toughest game left may be La Tech in the CUSA champ game.

True and not true. They said ECU deserved to be in the Top 25 this week. They also said Marshall did not deserve to be in the top 25 . . . at this time.

Maybe that last part meant something. Maybe it did not. Maybe it meant everything. I am sure they discussed how they would word their reply so the "at this time" comment may not have been by accident. Then again, maybe it meant nothing at all.

We do not know.

(10-30-2014 09:04 AM)herdftblfan1 Wrote:  

(10-30-2014 08:56 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  You are correct, we don't know...and neither do they. They were not charged with ranking "after" the Top 25, only the Top 25. So no one knows.

They only said that ECU deserved to be in the Top 25 and Marshall did not.

Most are deducing that ECU has a tougher schedule left than Marshall, with games @Cincy, @Temple and UCF...so that would be the reason Marshall would not jump them.

Marshall's toughest game left may be La Tech in the CUSA champ game.

True and not true. They said ECU deserved to be in the Top 25 this week. They also said Marshall did not deserve to be in the top 25 . . . at this time.

Maybe that last part meant something. Maybe it did not. Maybe it meant everything. I am sure they discussed how they would word their reply so the "at this time" comment may not have been by accident. Then again, maybe it meant nothing at all.

We do not know.

You are clinging to the last little bit of hope you have...uncertainty. I don't blame you as I would be doint the EXACT same thing as an ECU fan if we were in Marshall's situation. We don't know how things will turn out. That is why nothing is ever guaranteed. But the percentages don't favor much of a change IF East Carolina wins out. How do we KNOW that? The committee was quite clear on what it found important and how that was used to derive this week's Top 25. I don't expect that to change week in and week out. Given that ECU was ranked higher based on their criteria and also having a tougher remaining SOS, the best educated "guess" leans heavily towards ECU in the Access bowl. The educated part tells us the chances are overwhelmingly in favor of that scenario...again, only IF East Carolina wins out. I'm not sure that anyone outside of Marshall fans and their Access Bowl hopes supporters that are arguing anything different. Seems all media outlets have the above opinion.

(10-30-2014 10:03 AM)apex_pirate Wrote:  

(10-30-2014 09:04 AM)herdftblfan1 Wrote:  

(10-30-2014 08:56 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  You are correct, we don't know...and neither do they. They were not charged with ranking "after" the Top 25, only the Top 25. So no one knows.

They only said that ECU deserved to be in the Top 25 and Marshall did not.

Most are deducing that ECU has a tougher schedule left than Marshall, with games @Cincy, @Temple and UCF...so that would be the reason Marshall would not jump them.

Marshall's toughest game left may be La Tech in the CUSA champ game.

True and not true. They said ECU deserved to be in the Top 25 this week. They also said Marshall did not deserve to be in the top 25 . . . at this time.

Maybe that last part meant something. Maybe it did not. Maybe it meant everything. I am sure they discussed how they would word their reply so the "at this time" comment may not have been by accident. Then again, maybe it meant nothing at all.

We do not know.

You are clinging to the last little bit of hope you have...uncertainty. I don't blame you as I would be doint the EXACT same thing as an ECU fan if we were in Marshall's situation. We don't know how things will turn out. That is why nothing is ever guaranteed. But the percentages don't favor much of a change IF East Carolina wins out. How do we KNOW that? The committee was quite clear on what it found important and how that was used to derive this week's Top 25. I don't expect that to change week in and week out. Given that ECU was ranked higher based on their criteria and also having a tougher remaining SOS, the best educated "guess" leans heavily towards ECU in the Access bowl. The educated part tells us the chances are overwhelmingly in favor of that scenario...again, only IF East Carolina wins out. I'm not sure that anyone outside of Marshall fans and their Access Bowl hopes supporters that are arguing anything different. Seems all media outlets have the above opinion.

I'm not arguing a single thing other than none of us has a clue what is going inside that room.

The media would never have dropped ND or placed UL at 25 either.

We are in virgin territory here and I think it is foolish to assume anything at all. Once the 2nd poll comes out and we see how much they actually shuffle things, maybe; but for now, we don't know how flux these ratings are.

(10-29-2014 03:26 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(10-29-2014 01:54 PM)TerryD Wrote:  

(10-29-2014 12:32 PM)PirateJP Wrote:  It's funny how Notre Dame moving to the ACC has hurt their football SOS. Now instead of scheduling traditional rivals they could play as an independent they have to play 5 ACC schools that are killing their SOS.

No complaints. Just win every game (this year and next).

Why worry about committee concocted rankings that one cannot control?

Frankly, I am just sitting back and enjoying Notre Dame's resurgence into national prominence under Brian Kelly.

ND is 27-6 since the beginning of the 2012 season (19-2 when Everett Golson started).

It is all good. Next year's team will have almost everyone back, plus 3 of the players suspended this year, plus is sitting on the #7 recruiting class right now.

I like where Kelly is taking the ND program. No worries about calls or rankings here, especially at the end of October.



To directly address your post, I guess it proves that ND should never, ever join any conference for football, right?

I'm not in the habit of defending Notre Dame, but they're underranked in the CFP rankings. Their only loss was to #2 FSU on the road with a controversial play and ND controlled the entire game. I was pretty surprised that ND was ranked lower than what they were in the AP poll (#6) and thought that they would be one of the teams that could largely control its own destiny going forward (as some of the SEC teams ahead of them are guaranteed to lose because they'll be playing each other). Out of the 1 loss teams, they clearly have the "best loss" and should have received more credit for that.

Note that I don't think it has anything to do with whether ND is in a conference or not. This year, we're just seeing an excessive media echo chamber about the dominance of the SEC (and specifically the SEC West) even more than usual, which is crowding out the top.

They also haven't beaten anybody impressive.

(10-30-2014 09:04 AM)herdftblfan1 Wrote:  

(10-30-2014 08:56 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  You are correct, we don't know...and neither do they. They were not charged with ranking "after" the Top 25, only the Top 25. So no one knows.

They only said that ECU deserved to be in the Top 25 and Marshall did not.

Most are deducing that ECU has a tougher schedule left than Marshall, with games @Cincy, @Temple and UCF...so that would be the reason Marshall would not jump them.

Marshall's toughest game left may be La Tech in the CUSA champ game.

True and not true. They said ECU deserved to be in the Top 25 this week. They also said Marshall did not deserve to be in the top 25 . . . at this time.

Maybe that last part meant something. Maybe it did not. Maybe it meant everything. I am sure they discussed how they would word their reply so the "at this time" comment may not have been by accident. Then again, maybe it meant nothing at all.

We do not know.

I just want to know what going forward is going to change? Is mighty Akron going to all of a sudden become Ohio St. Is mighty Ohio going to become a juggernaut? Is Miami Ohio going to all of a sudden have a pulse?

And hell, we do not know if Marshall is even next in line. Boise could easily be ahead of them. Colorado St as well(though without the division- that's meaningless). That's more of a we do not know than anything else quite frankly.

I said this in another thread but I think it bears repeating. This committee is a P-5 "centric" committee. I strongly believe the last thing they want is a Marshall team without a P-5 win representing the G-5 conferences. I always assumed ECU was in the lead and Marshall was number 2. After this poll and the comments directed about Marshall, I now believe that even if ECU lost that the Mountain West Champ (either Boise or CSU) could very well be the next in line for the access bowl.

(10-30-2014 08:56 AM)UpStreamRedTeam Wrote:  

(10-29-2014 03:47 PM)ECBrad Wrote:  If you look at Notre Dame's schedule so far they are doing well but not top 4 well. They have no wins against ranked opponents.

Stanford is ranked #14 and Michigan was ranked when they played them. If anything I think ND's schedule this year will be better than it was last year.

rating when you play a team is meaningless at the end of the year. ND isn't going to get ANY extra credit beating Michigan. None. Stanford is not ranked #14 at all unranked in both polls and in the CFP standings.

And considering last years schedule had 4 top 15 teams- not a chance that this years will be better.