SMU beating OU and TCU away would be monumental for us. I just hope we get a tune-up game before we travel with our new QB and new Portal players (now in Top Ten Portal Rankings).

(01-06-2023 03:30 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  

(01-06-2023 01:11 PM)CoastalJuan Wrote:  So let's rank them. Criteria would be, if every team went 4-0 OOC, who would be the highest ranked?

Tulane gets a bump from coming into the season ranked, but we have a couple playing CFP teams.

Order depending on how their big match ups finish (1-3):
SMU @TCU @Oklahoma
FAU @Clemson @Illinois
Tulsa vs Oklahoma @Washington

Right behind those three (4/5):
UTSA @Houston @Tennessee
Charlotte @Maryland @Florida

Bit below them:
6) Rice vs Houston @Texas

Then a mix of with me favoring Navy (all have 1 big game) and putting USF last:
7) Navy in Ireland vs Notre Dame (plus AFA and Army as always)
8) UAB @ Georgia
9) ECU @Michigan
10) USF vs Alabama

Finally the last four all have a home or neutral vs a midlevel major opponent (11-14):
Memphis in St Louis vs Missouri (have Boise St home)
Tulane vs Ole Miss
Temple vs Miami
North Texas vs California

Wild but possible dream AAC scenario:
Navy, Tulsa, UTSA could all go undefeated and Memphis could have 1 loss (to Navy) with a 9-3 Tulane having only conference losses.

I agree with SMU being one of the tops, particularly with TCU being a CFP team. Oklahoma will have to get some of its luster back to be a huge win.

UAB@UGA is a bit low imo. If UAB went undefeated, with a win over a 1-loss SEC champion UGA, the committee's heads would explode. That's the kind of resume, like Cincy beating ND last year, that paints the committee into a corner.

Similar argument for USF, but UGA is the bigger fish because Bama isn't coming off an SEC title or playoff appearance. The committee seems to put a ton of value on not surprising them. It's actually why I'm shocked TCU made it in.

(01-07-2023 07:30 AM)owl at the moon Wrote:  

(01-07-2023 02:36 AM)STL_Wave Wrote:  Now the most important question. Which wins would be more shocking?

Charlotte @Florida & @Maryland

or

USF vs Alabama

Neither one as shocking as asking this the last year whether 2-10 Tulane would win at Kansas State, or would be in the ny6 and beat USC

But I’ll still say Charlotte

This 2-10 to 10-2 thing is overstated.
Tulane would have been a 6 or 7 win team last season, but for Ida sapping the energy. Much more advanced than Rice or Charlotte are at this point.

I think that many of those matchups are a big lift for our schools to win at their current conditions and certainly would be HUGE upsets should they happen.