(10-04-2021 06:48 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-04-2021 02:39 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(10-04-2021 01:28 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  One problem I have in situations like this is that supporters of teams like Cincy, and the top G5 team generally, always focus on the perceived injustice of what is happening above them, but they take for granted that they belong ahead of teams below them. E.g., last year, there was a lot of gnashing of teeth about how Cincy was hitting a "glass ceiling" in the CFP and could not crack the top 4. But on the other hand, regarding the NY6 spot, Cincy was always well ahead of Coastal Carolina in the polls and CFP, despite Coastal having an arguably better resume than Cincy. But they didn't want to talk about that. They wanted to talk about why was a one-loss Texas AM or whoever ranked ahead of them.

I don’t disagree with the spirit of this, but, the bias is applied across all non-majors because you saw some sort of pecking order come out of it especially last year. Not just how Cincy couldn’t climb, but how Coastal needed to come from off the board and then slowly rise, too. I don’t disagree that a deck was stacked toward Cincy/AAC and that you saw it held against Coastal (and also SJSU?). It’s all wrong.

The bigger gripe should be toward how Iowa State climbed over so many others to get into position to get a playoff spot if it came to it, or how much help Ohio State got from everyone to keep a place, or how Oregon was bad, but good enough to grab a ranking so that you didn’t have an unranked AQ in the NY6. That’s the junk I think we’re seeing even now with Kentucky, OSU, and basically eveyone but Indiana, Rutgers, and Maryland in the Big Ten East.

But, I don’t disagree with there being a bias again. I think Coastal is a stud this year. Maybe better than last year. Both Cincy and Coastal could win out, and only Cincy will probably get the NY6 spot at best. Coastal’s hosed until there’s the establishment of top ranked AQ conference champs…but, the ceilings will still be in place for Sun Belt versus AAC or MWC heads up.

FWIW, I was mystified by how high Iowa State was ranked in the waning weeks of last year as well. That was a head-scratcher to me and IIRC I commented on it.

What shut me up was that they did go out and win the Fiesta Bowl over the PAC champ. Albeit a PAC champ that was like 3-2 or something.

That shouldn't have shut me up, because performance in a game doesn't mean you merited being in that game to begin with. But it did.

It was a screwy, virus year.

One of those losses was the 2nd game vs. OU. They split. ULL they lost early in the season. Then they lost by 3 to a good Okie St. squad on the road.