From Friday Five: Fan bases I angered the most during the 2017 college football season

Quote:4. Miami: While Friday Fives lead to a lot of anger, one of the other firestarters is my Fornelli 50 ratings. If you aren't familiar with them, I rank teams based solely on their performance in the current season using a mathematical formula and blah blah blah; math is boring. Anyway, the formula doesn't always favor teams as much as their fans do.

Miami has one of the most outspoken fan bases on the internet, and the Hurricanes started the season 10-0. It was the first time in a while Miami fans had a chance to be truly excited about their football team. While all this was going on, however, my rankings were never all that high on the Canes. In the formula I use, wins and losses are weighted heavier than any other metric, yet week after week the Canes were ranked behind teams with more losses.

Every week the rankings would come out, and every week I'd hear from Miami fans angry that the math was disrespecting their team. The Canes then lost their final three games of the season, and the anger subsided a bit.

3. Wake Forest: This was by far the most surprising feud that arose during the 2017 season. Wake Forest is a small, private school with a small fan base, so you don't typically hear from them much. That changed for me in 2017.

It all started early in the season with a Friday Five. At the end of September, I ranked five teams that were off to hot starts that I expected to cool off over the final months of the season. Wake Forest was 3-0 at the time, but I thought the Deacons would have a hard time achieving bowl eligibility; not because I thought they were bad, but because the schedule was about to become difficult. This prediction drew some ire, though it was more subdued.

That wasn't the case in January.

After the season finished, I wrote another Friday Five in which I compared two sets of rankings: my own Fornelli Rankings and the CBS 130. I then listed the five most overrated and underrated teams based on where they appeared in my rankings compared to the CBS 130. My rankings are what I use for my ballot in our CBS 130, so essentially I was saying my colleagues here at CBSSports.com are giving these teams too much credit, and these other teams not enough.

Well, Wake Forest was the most overrated team of the bunch by this metric. My rankings had the Deacons at No. 41 while they finished at No. 27 in the CBS 130.

It turns out there are a lot more Wake Forest fans than you thought, and they have tempers.

2. Clemson: Clemson is another result of my rankings, and this is the second straight season Clemson fans appear on this list because of it. Last season my formula under-ranked the Tigers -- by my own opinion, not just those of Clemson fans -- throughout 2016 and the final insult was that Alabama finished the season ranked No. 1 even though Clemson had just beaten it to win a national title.

In 2017 it was a similar situation, as Clemson was usually found in the top five but it was often behind Alabama, Oklahoma, Georgia, Wisconsin and sometimes Ohio State. The difference last season was that I tended to agree with my formula more than in 2016.

Things only got worse when I shared my opinion that the College Football Playoff committee was ranking Clemson too high. Clemson fans felt their team should be No. 1, and I said placing them at No. 2 was too high. So at this point, the dam broke, and the hate flooded the valley that was my Twitter mentions column.

In the end, Clemson finished the regular season ranked No. 1, and I further cemented my status as a "Clemson Hater" among the fan base when I picked Alabama to beat it in the CFP semifinals. While I disagreed with my formula in 2016, I felt it was correct about the Tigers last year, and I think that 24-6 loss to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl supported the theory quite well.

If that's too long, I'll summarize: 3 of the 5 most-offended fan bases were in the ACC. The other two? Auburn and Kansas State. I know CBS is SEC over-the-air network, but why so much hate for the ACC?

(05-04-2018 03:47 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  I know CBS is SEC over-the-air network, but why so much hate for the ACC?

because cbs is the sec over-the-air network ...

CIRCULAR REASONING

I always felt ESPN was the most critical of the ACC, which I still don't understand because they own its rights

ESPN, CBS, etc, etc. SEC really dominates the CFB market. Basically anything that threatens the SEC gets crapped on. Even ESPN re: ACC. They are all SEC, all the time. Period. ESPN only cares about Duke/UNC bball.

(05-04-2018 07:21 PM)nole Wrote:  ESPN, CBS, etc, etc. SEC really dominates the CFB market. Basically anything that threatens the SEC gets crapped on. Even ESPN re: ACC. They are all SEC, all the time. Period. ESPN only cares about Duke/UNC bball.

I think there are at least a couple other ACC basketball programs that ESPN cares about after those 2 big boys. I also think there are at least several fb programs that ESPN cares about that play in the ACC. The problem is that the SEC has a whole lot more fb programs that ESPN cares about.

(05-04-2018 04:56 PM)The Grassy Nole Wrote:  I always felt ESPN was the most critical of the ACC, which I still don't understand because they own its rights

They may own the rights, but almost all the on air "talent" is SEC.

"The SEC East is about to be college football's most interesting division" - so says CBS Sports, the network which ONLY broadcasts SEC games.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...t-georgia/

#SECHypeMachine

It sounds more like the ACC has the most anti-CBS fan base.

(05-05-2018 02:29 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  "The SEC East is about to be college football's most interesting division" - so says CBS Sports, the network which ONLY broadcasts SEC games.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...t-georgia/

#SECHypeMachine

Honestly I could see that.

I mean Georgia is going to win the division but it will be interesting to see which of the craptastic teams steps up to take second.

(05-04-2018 08:44 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(05-04-2018 04:56 PM)The Grassy Nole Wrote:  I always felt ESPN was the most critical of the ACC, which I still don't understand because they own its rights

They may own the rights, but almost all the on air "talent" is SEC.

Hard NOT to notice (but the ACC seems to not notice). About 20 or so ex SEC players, media talking heads, etc.


To how many for ACC? 0

(05-05-2018 10:45 PM)nole Wrote:  Hard NOT to notice (but the ACC seems to not notice). About 20 or so ex SEC players, media talking heads, etc.


To how many for ACC? 0

It isn't zero but I hope the ACC network is an ACC only Talent operation. I'm fine letting Bates in at this point but that's it.

(05-05-2018 10:57 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(05-05-2018 10:45 PM)nole Wrote:  Hard NOT to notice (but the ACC seems to not notice). About 20 or so ex SEC players, media talking heads, etc.


To how many for ACC? 0

It isn't zero but I hope the ACC network is an ACC only Talent operation. I'm fine letting Bates in at this point but that's it.

Wouldn't surprise me, but can you name one?

Danny Kannell (ex FSU player) was the only one I knew and he just got fired.

Roddy Jones

(05-06-2018 09:53 PM)nole Wrote:  

(05-05-2018 10:57 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(05-05-2018 10:45 PM)nole Wrote:  Hard NOT to notice (but the ACC seems to not notice). About 20 or so ex SEC players, media talking heads, etc.


To how many for ACC? 0

It isn't zero but I hope the ACC network is an ACC only Talent operation. I'm fine letting Bates in at this point but that's it.

Wouldn't surprise me, but can you name one?

Danny Kannell (ex FSU player) was the only one I knew and he just got fired.

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

Yep!!

(05-06-2018 09:53 PM)nole Wrote:  Wouldn't surprise me, but can you name one?

ONE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER

At least a bunch of the play by play guys are ACC.

My preference would be for Wes Durham to take over broadcasting in Chapel Hill, but if that is not going to happen, the ACCN needs to make Wes their #1.

Vilma and Roddy Jones. Good news. Wonder how much air time they get compared to the 20 or so SEC folks on gameday, CFB sat, etc.

Not to mention the counter to a Paul F, Booger, etc.

There is a HUGE delta here. When they fired Kannell, I didn't get a warm fuzzy that delta would be closing anytime soon

(05-10-2018 03:27 PM)nole Wrote:  Vilma and Roddy Jones. Good news. Wonder how much air time they get compared to the 20 or so SEC folks on gameday, CFB sat, etc.

Not to mention the counter to a Paul F, Booger, etc.

There is a HUGE delta here. When they fired Kannell, I didn't get a warm fuzzy that delta would be closing anytime soon

You mean to tell me that there's a big difference in how ESPN treats it's two biggest properties?



We'll get some SEC retread that buries us every chance they get and like always we'll bend over and take it.

(05-10-2018 07:17 AM)XLance Wrote:  My preference would be for Wes Durham to take over broadcasting in Chapel Hill, but if that is not going to happen, the ACCN needs to make Wes their #1.

If his craptastic performance this week in the SportsSouth tournament coverage is any indication of what he can do I'll pass.