Team 137 by Jim Harbaugh. Football talk and Predictions.

[AlabamAlum]

It would have made a difference, imo. Would the difference be enough to get into the CFP? It's possible, but at the very least the Buckeyes would have been rated higher than 7th and very possibly in the Rose playing Stanford.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Not all SEC teams play that de facto bye week on the second-to-last weekend. Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina do. The rest do not.

I believe the Big10 is trying to encourage more of an SEC type of approach to scheduling...putting more conference games in September, allowing prime time games past Halloween, and more non-conf games later in the year. Part of me likes having the conference schedule uninterrupted but I can see the strategic advantages of having a MAC team in October or an FCS team in November. Would playing Army do us more good at the start of the year or as a "break" in between Wisconsin and Penn State in October?

[Tom W]

Actually, OSU would have made the playoff if Blake O'Neill could field a punt...

Or just handle the snap.

Or.. OSU doesn't lose a critical conference game in November, at home, to an inexperienced backup QB and an unreliable FG kicker.

Simple enough.

[Mike]

5 first downs.

[iam416]

Inexplicable. Ohio State probably had at least 3 or 4 drives against M where they got at least 5 first downs.

[Mike]

Exactly. OSU totally shit the bed against Sparty and opened the door for MSU and Iowa to claim the two best bowls for the Big Ten. Ohio State not only disgraced themselves, but the entire conference as well. They should be ashamed.

[lineygoblue]

lmao.... well played, Mike!

[iam416]

Very fair, Mike. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but this year was unquestionably a below-average year for UFM's Ohio State. I'm not one to get too upset about 12-1, but I do feel obligated to call a spade a spade -- it was relatively subpar.

[Pasadena Blue]

although, Talent may not be upset, O-state's STB against Sparty did make the B1G look bad by pushing Iowa and Sparty into bowls they had no chance of winning.

B1G gets a bad rap because of our bowl performance against other conferences, but in general our teams are always playing a team that finished higher in their conference.

E.g. probably the 4th best team in the B1G against the best team in the PAC12 --- of course they are going to get bombed.

If it was:

O-state vs 'Bama
Sparty vs Stanford
M vs ND
Iowa vs UF

I wouldn't be surprised if we won all 4 of those.

B1G was also pretty competitive in most of their other match-ups except NW getting wrecked by Vols.


Match-ups are everything and it's why I don't think these bowl-based assessments of conference strengths are fair.

[iam416]

1. The CFP ranked Iowa ahead of OSU. The Rose Bowl had said it was taking the highest ranked available teams from the B10 and P12. I'd love to know what was going on behind the scenes.

2. I really doubt the B10 wins all 4. I'd be shocked. I'd be shocked with 3. The only team that would be favored, IMO, is Iowa. Bama is a smidge better than OSU, IMO. Sparty and Stanford are about equal. And I'd take ND over M with some room to spare.

[Da Geezer]

B1G gets a bad rap because of our bowl performance against other conferences, but in general our teams are always playing a team that finished higher in their conference.

Exactly. Or, said another way, the "slotting" of teams by overall record or by the rankings of "the Committee" is just nonsense. Matchups are indeed everything. So is health. Certainly it is better not to lose later in the season. And Ole Miss is the second best team in the SEC this year (and notice the Sugar took Miss rather than Fla).

But there is also the fact that the Citrus Bowl sold out in 24 hours. Iowa fans showed up for the Rose Bowl ( it was their team that didn't show!). Bowls look to which team "travels well". SEC teams all travel well. This system was basically fair when the B10 was THE power conference. But now, the good-weather conferences are as good or better than the B10, population has moved south and west, and the SEC is integrated.

I hate to be an apologist for OSU, but they had one chance to establish themselves after the STB game against MSU. They walloped UM. I'm not sure they could have done more. Move UM to the West, Northwestern to the East (Chicago v New York and all that), and then let the two traditional powers take care of business. Why is MSU's loss to Neb.(a losing team) not as big a deal as OSU's loss to MSU?

And just for giggles and grins, what if all teams could "toss out" one game each season? Who do you think would have been picked then for the Final Four?

[AlabamAlum]

If Ohio State's stb loss had been in September, I truly believe that over the course of the next 10 weeks, the committee would have them above an undefeated Iowa. So, the Buckeyes and the Cardinal in the Rose, and Iowa and ND in the Battlefrog. Both of which would have been better games.

Alabama is flawed this year. 2016 we should be better.

[Mike]

I get tired of people using the "better loss" metric. I prefer to look at quality wins and have also moved into the "most deserving" camp. Call me old-fashioned but I still think scores of games matter. MSU beat UM and OSU both on the road. It was smoke and mirrors but they won the games. Stanford tried the 2-loss route to the CFP and that road is closed. If you want to gaurantee yourself a slot in the CFP, win all your games. It's simple and it works. Absent an undefeated season, win your conferencw with only one loss. Anything less and you have nobody to blame but yourself. It's really quite simple.

[drok]

Yes!

[WM Wolverine]

Ohio State would've been much better off losing to Hawaii or Northern Illinois instead of team ranked in the top 5.