Massey composite computer rankings https://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm
have some notable differences from the human polls (this is before today's results).

1 Ohio St.
2 LSU
3 Clemson
4 Alabama
5 PSU
6 Oklahoma
7 Auburn
8 Oregon
9 Florida
10 Wisconsin
11 Baylor
12 Notre Dame
13 Utah
14 Georgia

15 Cincinnati
16 SMU
17 Minnesota
18 App. St.
19 Texas
20 Iowa St.
21 Memphis
22 Iowa
23 Michigan
24 Boise
25 Washington

Current, with 84 polls reporting.

Headline: Alabama 5th, Five American schools in Top 25

1 Ohio St
2 LSU
3 Clemson
4 Penn St
5 Alabama
6 Auburn
7 Oregon
8 Florida
9 Oklahoma
10 Utah
11 Baylor
12 Wisconsin (WTF?)
13 Michigan
14 Minnesota
15 Cincy
16 Georgia
17 SMU
18 App St
19 Iowa
20 Notre Dame
21 UCF
22 Boise
23 Navy
24 Memphis
25 Kansas St

Based on SOS so far I’m not surprised by Alabama. I’m a little shocked Clemson is as high as they are with their mushy soft schedule.

(10-28-2019 09:58 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Based on SOS so far I’m not surprised by Alabama. I’m a little shocked Clemson is as high as they are with their mushy soft schedule.

Agreed. My "personal rankings" that I update weekly have Alabama at #3 and Clemson at #5 with LSU #1, Ohio St #2, and Penn St #4.

An undefeated Clemson will not get left out but I have doubts they'll win out. I think they'll slip near the end - @ North Carolina St can be tricky, Wake Forest is not a push over, and @ South Carolina will test them. One loss and they're out IMO. I think a 1-loss Oregon and a 1-loss Oklahoma trump a 1-loss Clemson this season.

South Carolina, WF, and NC St will all be highly motivated to take down Clemson. Personally, I’m hoping they lose at home to Wofford.

At this point, I think an undefeated SMU would have a just as compelling argument for a playoff spot as 13-0 Clemson. I am doubtful that the ACC would even have another top 25 team in that scenario.

Let this sink in: the ACC has gone 3-7 in OOC games against the P5 (with 7 remaining). The AAC has twice that many (6); the MWC has triple (9).

(10-28-2019 09:58 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  ...I’m a little shocked Clemson is as high as they are with their mushy soft schedule... South Carolina, WF, and NC St will all be highly motivated to take down Clemson... an undefeated SMU would have a just as compelling argument for a playoff spot as 13-0 Clemson...

Obsess much?

(10-28-2019 12:15 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(10-28-2019 09:58 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  ...I’m a little shocked Clemson is as high as they are with their mushy soft schedule... South Carolina, WF, and NC St will all be highly motivated to take down Clemson... an undefeated SMU would have a just as compelling argument for a playoff spot as 13-0 Clemson...

Obsess much?

Hard to talk about a paper tiger and their underperforming conference without mentioning their name

On board with OSU #1

(10-28-2019 01:21 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(10-28-2019 12:15 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(10-28-2019 09:58 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  ...I’m a little shocked Clemson is as high as they are with their mushy soft schedule... South Carolina, WF, and NC St will all be highly motivated to take down Clemson... an undefeated SMU would have a just as compelling argument for a playoff spot as 13-0 Clemson...

Obsess much?

Hard to talk about a paper tiger and their underperforming conference without mentioning their name

Still sore from the last game against the Tigers, huh?



Perhaps you'd prefer to do another home-and-home with Virginia Tech?



...but yeah, ACC football sucks.

(10-28-2019 02:26 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(10-28-2019 01:21 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(10-28-2019 12:15 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(10-28-2019 09:58 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  ...I’m a little shocked Clemson is as high as they are with their mushy soft schedule... South Carolina, WF, and NC St will all be highly motivated to take down Clemson... an undefeated SMU would have a just as compelling argument for a playoff spot as 13-0 Clemson...

Obsess much?

Hard to talk about a paper tiger and their underperforming conference without mentioning their name

Still sore from the last game against the Tigers, huh?



Perhaps you'd prefer to do another home-and-home with Virginia Tech?



...but yeah, ACC football sucks.

So the thread is talking about the 2019 season and Hokie Mark brings up 2014? Yeah, makes sense!

I agree the verbage is a bit harsh towards the ACC, but come on, if it were the BIG or SEC being down you'd be all over it.

Remember a while back when there was a thread in the ACC forum bashing the PAC? I actually got in some trouble for calling it what it was, trash and trolling.

I really don't care that VT won in 2014, Ohio State won in 2015, so big deal! Other than the a** beating (31-0) by Clemson, who went on to win the NC. The other games were quite enjoyable between the 2 schools. One got the great Woodrow Hayes fired unfortunately and the other was a shootout.

And yes, the ACC is a dumpster fire THIS year, Hokie, no way around that.

Not so long ago...

Ohio State 6 BCS Bowl victories
The entire ACC 5 BCS Bowl victories.

This^ means absolutely nothing, but since you're bringing up the past...

I find it funny how some fans of ACC schools around here take pride in Clemson's national success. They and the rest of the ACC have zero to do with that, it is all about Clemson.

(10-28-2019 02:56 PM)cubucks Wrote:  So the thread is talking about the 2019 season and Hokie Mark brings up 2014? Yeah, makes sense!

I agree the verbage is a bit harsh towards the ACC, but come on, if it were the BIG or SEC being down you'd be all over it.

Remember a while back when there was a thread in the ACC forum bashing the PAC? I actually got in some trouble for calling it what it was, trash and trolling.

I really don't care that VT won in 2014, Ohio State won in 2015, so big deal! Other than the a** beating (31-0) by Clemson, who went on to win the NC. The other games were quite enjoyable between the 2 schools. One got the great Woodrow Hayes fired unfortunately and the other was a shootout.

And yes, the ACC is a dumpster fire THIS year, Hokie, no way around that.

Not so long ago...

Ohio State 6 BCS Bowl victories
The entire ACC 5 BCS Bowl victories.

This^ means absolutely nothing, but since you're bringing up the past...

Sorry to involve you in this, CUBucks - you're a nice poster. This was mean for Muskie. That said, yeah, it's been a few years...

Still, I don't think I'd agree with dumpster fire... certainly not Rutgers grade fire, at least.

(10-28-2019 03:35 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(10-28-2019 02:56 PM)cubucks Wrote:  So the thread is talking about the 2019 season and Hokie Mark brings up 2014? Yeah, makes sense!

I agree the verbage is a bit harsh towards the ACC, but come on, if it were the BIG or SEC being down you'd be all over it.

Remember a while back when there was a thread in the ACC forum bashing the PAC? I actually got in some trouble for calling it what it was, trash and trolling.

I really don't care that VT won in 2014, Ohio State won in 2015, so big deal! Other than the a** beating (31-0) by Clemson, who went on to win the NC. The other games were quite enjoyable between the 2 schools. One got the great Woodrow Hayes fired unfortunately and the other was a shootout.

And yes, the ACC is a dumpster fire THIS year, Hokie, no way around that.

Not so long ago...

Ohio State 6 BCS Bowl victories
The entire ACC 5 BCS Bowl victories.

This^ means absolutely nothing, but since you're bringing up the past...

Sorry to involve you in this, CUBucks - you're a nice poster. This was mean for Muskie. That said, yeah, it's been a few years...

Still, I don't think I'd agree with dumpster fire... certainly not Rutgers grade fire, at least.

No worries and you're one of my favorites! Like I said, some folks are pretty hateful and I understand your frustration. The BIG as a whole has had some pretty ugly years too.

Head up, put a smile on your face and just take the trash talk for what it is...trash.

Besides, when bowl season rolls around you'll have your chance to shut up a lot of people.

You say dumpster fire, we say parity. You never know what’s gonna happen in the ACC!

Syracuse and Virginia were overrated while Louisville and UNC have already exceeded expectations.

It’s all part of our charm.

Didn’t mean to be harsh but the profiles are what they are. The AAC and ACC don’t look a whole lot different when you look at how they’ve performed OOC from top to bottom. Computers can’t see the helmet logos and the AAC’s strong performance in the Massey ratings demonstrates that.

Human voters give Clemson the benefit of the doubt because they are an ACC flagship with a massive fan base and a decent track record that didn’t really develop until about a decade ago.

Whether you’re SMU, Memphis, Cincy, Temple, UCF, or the Naval Academy the human voters aren’t going to give you a ranking like Clemson gets because they are viewed as small time despite what actually happens on the field.

(10-28-2019 03:03 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  I find it funny how some fans of ACC schools around here take pride in Clemson's national success. They and the rest of the ACC have zero to do with that, it is all about Clemson.

I agree with this but at the same time it’s also stupid for some posters to to say that Clemson isn’t good or they don’t deserve to be in the playoffs because the rest of the ACC is down.

(10-28-2019 06:30 PM)MKPitt Wrote:  

(10-28-2019 03:03 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  I find it funny how some fans of ACC schools around here take pride in Clemson's national success. They and the rest of the ACC have zero to do with that, it is all about Clemson.

I agree with this but at the same time it’s also stupid for some posters to to say that Clemson isn’t good or they don’t deserve to be in the playoffs because the rest of the ACC is down.

The argument "analysts" and "experts" have made against an undefeated AAC member ever getting into the playoff is that they don't have to go thru the week in and week out grind of a "power" conference. Right now there are several metrics that have the AAC and the ACC as essentially equal. I think you can make a pretty valid argument there's more depth and good teams in the AAC this year. So yeah you can make that argument against Clemson. It won't be made because that argument isn't actually about that, it's about using whatever narrative it takes to ensure a non-power conference team is never in the playoff.

(10-28-2019 01:21 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(10-28-2019 12:15 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(10-28-2019 09:58 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  ...I’m a little shocked Clemson is as high as they are with their mushy soft schedule... South Carolina, WF, and NC St will all be highly motivated to take down Clemson... an undefeated SMU would have a just as compelling argument for a playoff spot as 13-0 Clemson...

Obsess much?

Hard to talk about a paper tiger and their underperforming conference without mentioning their name

LOL Paper Tiger. Hope we get y'all in the semis again. It'll be good to expose a Big Slow fraud again just like last time.

Our defense is better than last year with four NFL draft picks on the DL and is on track to be one of our best defenses ever, and the offense is statistically the same through this point in the season and we play our FCS cupcake this week so stats will be padded. Once again when the season comes to an end we will have played more players in games than anyone else in the country by far because we know you can't win the national title by playing your best ball in September.

Just remember, at this point last year Alabama was being talked about as the best college football team ever. Then Clemson had the best two game run in the playoffs ever.

If this year’s Clemson squad is so good explain why they needed OT to beat a UNC team that lost to App St?

Then again there are all of those really close nail biters this year’s Ohio State team has had: 24+ points is so terribly close. They’ve given up what like 7 touchdowns all year.

Alabama, LSU, and even Penn St have been far more impressive. Tough facts for the ACC homer crowd but facts none the less.

(10-28-2019 07:07 PM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-28-2019 06:30 PM)MKPitt Wrote:  

(10-28-2019 03:03 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  I find it funny how some fans of ACC schools around here take pride in Clemson's national success. They and the rest of the ACC have zero to do with that, it is all about Clemson.

I agree with this but at the same time it’s also stupid for some posters to to say that Clemson isn’t good or they don’t deserve to be in the playoffs because the rest of the ACC is down.

The argument "analysts" and "experts" have made against an undefeated AAC member ever getting into the playoff is that they don't have to go thru the week in and week out grind of a "power" conference. Right now there are several metrics that have the AAC and the ACC as essentially equal. I think you can make a pretty valid argument there's more depth and good teams in the AAC this year. So yeah you can make that argument against Clemson. It won't be made because that argument isn't actually about that, it's about using whatever narrative it takes to ensure a non-power conference team is never in the playoff.

RPI

There really isn't any argument denying OSU the #1 slot. I remember a good poster here claiming he expected OSU to have a down year, and that Cincy wasn't very good as well.