Ole Miss just drove down the field like they were playing against air.

It's bad enough to have all of the Outback Steakhouse commercials, do the ABC commentators have to keep plugging Bloomin' Onions?

Ole Miss is a very good 5-win team. Congrats!

What an upset! A 4-5 Ole Miss team beats 6-1 and #11 ranked Indiana, racking up over 500 yards on one of the nation's best defenses.

Congratulations Ole Miss, Outback Bowl champs!

(01-02-2021 04:03 PM)cubucks Wrote:  Ole Miss is a very good 5-win team. Congrats!

Some of these bowls are showing the quality of the SEC. Three teams that had losing records playing all-SEC schedules have now won bowl games against ranked teams - #22 Tulsa, #23 NC State and now #11 Indiana.

(01-02-2021 02:53 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 12:15 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 12:13 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

IMO, they have no beef. NW was the conference runner-up.

Indy's beef is with the CFP. They should be in the Fiesta Bowl.

That's like saying Florida's the second best SEC team. Granted Indiana didn't lose to Northwestern like Texas A&M beat Florida but the CFP ranked Indiana higher so Indiana certainly can argue they deserved the Citrus Bowl more than Northwestern. Northwestern wasn't the Big Ten's 2nd place team, they were the Big Ten's Western Division Champion.

Also, if the Rose Bowl wasn't a semi, Indiana would have taken the Big Ten Rose Bowl slot from #11.
Sure, discuss whether Iowa State should have been ahead of them, if they are saying they should have been in the Fiesta. But what I read was complaint about conference rules on Citrus vs Outback.
That specific beef is exactly with the BigTen.

Hey Indiana, you don't want to associate yourself with the Big Ten?

We don't want to associate ourselves with losers that can't even beat Mississippi either.

(01-02-2021 09:20 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  So we have a 6-1 and #11 ranked Indiana team that should be in the NY6 playing a 4-5 Ole Miss team missing its two top receivers? Only in 2020.

Indiana .............. 41

Ole Miss ............. 17

I believe that makes you 0-2 for the day. One would almost think you were rooting against the SEC teams.

(01-02-2021 04:15 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 09:20 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  So we have a 6-1 and #11 ranked Indiana team that should be in the NY6 playing a 4-5 Ole Miss team missing its two top receivers? Only in 2020.

Indiana .............. 41

Ole Miss ............. 17

I believe that makes you 0-2 for the day. One would almost think you were rooting against the SEC teams.

I sure was wrong. I assumed that 8-3 in the ACC and 6-1 in the B1G were a lot better than losing records in the SEC, lol.

(01-02-2021 04:33 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 04:15 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 09:20 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  So we have a 6-1 and #11 ranked Indiana team that should be in the NY6 playing a 4-5 Ole Miss team missing its two top receivers? Only in 2020.

Indiana .............. 41

Ole Miss ............. 17

I believe that makes you 0-2 for the day. One would almost think you were rooting against the SEC teams.

I sure was wrong. I assumed that 8-3 in the ACC and 6-1 in the B1G were a lot better than losing records in the SEC, lol.

I'm not making excuses for anyone. But it's wholly anomalous this year. I felt sorry for ranked teams being forced to play schools with losing records. All of the motivation and reward is there for the school with the losing record and there is no glory in winning and therefore less motivation for those with winning records and rankings. Add to it that there are few fans, no bands, a lack of traditional pre game events like fan walks, etc., and it would just feel like a scrimmage.

Anyone putting any emphasis on any bowls this year other than the CFP bowls is just seeking a reason to pound their chest over nothing. It is what it is, filler for the network so ESPN doesn't lose their advertising revenue for the 4th Quarter statement.

A few of the games have been entertaining, too many have been either lackluster wastes of 3 hours or so one sided they were hard to watch.

I figure A&M might have a chip on their shoulder (and Mack was a Horn coach) but even in that game the opt outs for UNC are enough that the team they put on the field won't be reflective of the one that played the rest of the season.

I find keeping up with the Conference Bowl records to be a wholly spurious activity under the circumstances. I only hope that next Fall things are back to normal. I am both grateful to have college football to watch and depressed at what it has become both at the same time!

(01-02-2021 05:11 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 04:33 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 04:15 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 09:20 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  So we have a 6-1 and #11 ranked Indiana team that should be in the NY6 playing a 4-5 Ole Miss team missing its two top receivers? Only in 2020.

Indiana .............. 41

Ole Miss ............. 17

I believe that makes you 0-2 for the day. One would almost think you were rooting against the SEC teams.

I sure was wrong. I assumed that 8-3 in the ACC and 6-1 in the B1G were a lot better than losing records in the SEC, lol.

I'm not making excuses for anyone. But it's wholly anomalous this year. I felt sorry for ranked teams being forced to play schools with losing records.

Nah, if you are NC State or Indiana, you have a chance to beat an SEC team in a bowl game. Everyone always wants to beat an SEC team.

Of course this is a bizarro year, but these OOC games are really all we have to go on. The SEC has now beaten 5 ranked teams in bowl games. All of their bowl games were against ranked teams, and yet somehow they are 5-2, including 2-1 in the NY6. They have two more bowl games, and both of those are against ranked teams as well.

Even if TAMU loses to UNC tonight and Alabama to Ohio State, it's been a way better-than-expected bowl season for the SEC.

(01-02-2021 04:05 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 04:03 PM)cubucks Wrote:  Ole Miss is a very good 5-win team. Congrats!

Some of these bowls are showing the quality of the SEC. Three teams that had losing records playing all-SEC schedules have now won bowl games against ranked teams - #22 Tulsa, #23 NC State and now #11 Indiana.

Yeah it is the best football conference.

This whole season the ratings don’t mean squat.

(01-02-2021 05:11 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 04:33 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 04:15 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 09:20 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  So we have a 6-1 and #11 ranked Indiana team that should be in the NY6 playing a 4-5 Ole Miss team missing its two top receivers? Only in 2020.

Indiana .............. 41

Ole Miss ............. 17

I believe that makes you 0-2 for the day. One would almost think you were rooting against the SEC teams.

I sure was wrong. I assumed that 8-3 in the ACC and 6-1 in the B1G were a lot better than losing records in the SEC, lol.

I'm not making excuses for anyone. But it's wholly anomalous this year. I felt sorry for ranked teams being forced to play schools with losing records. All of the motivation and reward is there for the school with the losing record and there is no glory in winning and therefore less motivation for those with winning records and rankings. Add to it that there are few fans, no bands, a lack of traditional pre game events like fan walks, etc., and it would just feel like a scrimmage.

Anyone putting any emphasis on any bowls this year other than the CFP bowls is just seeking a reason to pound their chest over nothing. It is what it is, filler for the network so ESPN doesn't lose their advertising revenue for the 4th Quarter statement.

A few of the games have been entertaining, too many have been either lackluster wastes of 3 hours or so one sided they were hard to watch.

I figure A&M might have a chip on their shoulder (and Mack was a Horn coach) but even in that game the opt outs for UNC are enough that the team they put on the field won't be reflective of the one that played the rest of the season.

I find keeping up with the Conference Bowl records to be a wholly spurious activity under the circumstances. I only hope that next Fall things are back to normal. I am both grateful to have college football to watch and depressed at what it has become both at the same time!

I would bet on Mack if not for the opt outs. UNC has a lot of firepower, but not a lot of depth. And Mack is good with time to prepare. But I don't know if he has the horses now.

the committee sure looks good after today.

Indiana wasn't a sign of the CFP looking good. They were clearly the most overrated team. They didn't beat anyone with a winning record.
Ohio St. was easy. They were one of the two major unbeatens, even if they only played 6 games.

Bowls in and of themselves are NEVER a good gauge of conference strength.
Small sample size.
Incredible variability - opt outs for the draft, coaches or entire coaching staffs already gone, some coaches want to bring up next year's guys while some want to reward seniors, some say "reward" some say "business trip"

THIS year?
Sample size still small, even smaller, but will get outsized attention because the regular season sample size is normally greater than the bowl-only sample size but is much smaller this year.
Variability is even GREATER this bowl season than most bowl seasons.

Most years, we can roll bowls up into regular season dataset and somewhat overcome the variability of bowl season...this year we can't even do that...2020...asterisk...

P5 only played 16 ooc games vs. FBS, none against other P5s (+9 vs. FCS). There will be 27 in bowls, mostly against other P5s. SEC, Big 10 and Pac 12 combined played 1 ooc game in the regular season.

Cincinnati, North Carolina and NCState (family ties to each) all lose to SEC teams. Now UNC (we root for the Heels, too) is losing to TAMU.

The SEC (and I've lived in Nashville most of my almost 60 years) is simply on a different level in football. I sometimes scoff at the SEC homers I occasionally encounter, particularly as a Vanderbilt fan. But there is not doubt: SEC football remains king.