College Football - Championship Week (Dec. 1)

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You big x champs have 5 losses and absolutely [expletive] owned the 2nd best team in the league.

 

What's Wisconsin's best win before tonight? Purdue or Minny?

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i would pay money to see wisconsin hold down notre dame and violate them in a bowl game.

 

you'd have to pay someone a lot of money to take out all of ND's starting 22, and probably another 5-10 of their backups, for that to happen.

[Formerly Snayke]

What is in the DNA of Irish fans that make them so overly sensitive about having ND be the butt of jokes?

[TruffleShuffle]

i would pay money to see wisconsin hold down notre dame and violate them in a bowl game.

 

you'd have to pay someone a lot of money to take out all of ND's starting 22, and probably another 5-10 of their backups, for that to happen.

 

I dunno, Wisconsin is probably better than Pitt.

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i would pay money to see wisconsin hold down notre dame and violate them in a bowl game.

 

you'd have to pay someone a lot of money to take out all of ND's starting 22, and probably another 5-10 of their backups, for that to happen.

 

I dunno, Wisconsin is probably better than Pitt.

 

Yeah, 5-loss Wisconsin is probably better than the #1 team with the best defense in the country. Then again, Wisconsin lost at home to 6-6 MSU. Wisconsin is probably the "best" 5-loss team in cfb this year with all close losses. But Nebraska is probably the only good team they beat all year and it took them 2 tries.

[Careless]

You ND fans are hilarious.

[Old Style]

Are there stats to back up that "best defense in the country" claim?

[Andy]

Are there stats to back up that "best defense in the country" claim?

Scoring defense. ND passed Alabama after Bama surrendered 28 points to Georgia.

[dew1679666265]

Are there stats to back up that "best defense in the country" claim?

 

ND is ranked 1st in points per game. Though Bama is 1st in yards per game.

 

I'd lean toward Alabama as best defense in the country - 1st in ypg and 2nd in ppg allowed. ND is 1st in ppg allowed, but just 6th in ypg allowed.

[Andy]

For people who don't want NIU to make a BCS game, the Huskies' schedule is ranked 120th in the nation this year, which would be the 2nd-worst SOS of any BCS bowl participant ever if they made it. 1st was Hawaii 2007, who was also 120th, but there were only 120 teams then instead of 124.

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Are there stats to back up that "best defense in the country" claim?

 

ND is ranked 1st in points per game. Though Bama is 1st in yards per game.

 

I'd lean toward Alabama as best defense in the country - 1st in ypg and 2nd in ppg allowed. ND is 1st in ppg allowed, but just 6th in ypg allowed.

 

If you count fcs opponents...

 

Bama gave up a total of 7 points to these 5 teams teams: Western Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida Atlantic, W Carolina, Auburn. So Bama pitched shutouts against a number of terrible teams. Only 1 of which is going to a bowl (ETA-bowl eligible. I guess I shouldn't assume that the 5th best Sun Belt team is going bowling).

 

ND shutout Wake and gave up 2 FGs to BC. The only non-bowl eligible teams on its schedule.

[dew1679666265]

Are there stats to back up that "best defense in the country" claim?

 

ND is ranked 1st in points per game. Though Bama is 1st in yards per game.

 

I'd lean toward Alabama as best defense in the country - 1st in ypg and 2nd in ppg allowed. ND is 1st in ppg allowed, but just 6th in ypg allowed.

 

If you count fcs opponenets

 

Bama's ranks still hold even if you take Western Carolina out. Those numbers count the SEC Championship game, so it's 12 FBS games for each. Bama just adds the 1 FCS game as well.

[dew1679666265]

Bama gave up a total of 7 points to these 5 teams teams: Western Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida Atlantic, W Carolina, Auburn. So Bama pitched shutouts against a number of terrible teams. Only 1 of which is going to a bowl (ETA-bowl eligible. I guess I shouldn't assume that the 5th best Sun Belt team is going bowling).

 

ND shutout Wake and gave up 2 FGs to BC. The only non-bowl eligible teams on its schedule.

 

Sagarin has Alabama's schedule ranked 35 and Notre Dame's ranked 30. Not a big enough difference to disregard the statistical advantage.

 

That said, I don't think Alabama's is considerably better. Just slightly.

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Bama gave up a total of 7 points to these 5 teams teams: Western Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida Atlantic, W Carolina, Auburn. So Bama pitched shutouts against a number of terrible teams. Only 1 of which is going to a bowl (ETA-bowl eligible. I guess I shouldn't assume that the 5th best Sun Belt team is going bowling).

 

ND shutout Wake and gave up 2 FGs to BC. The only non-bowl eligible teams on its schedule.

 

Sagarin has Alabama's schedule ranked 35 and Notre Dame's ranked 30. Not a big enough difference to disregard the statistical advantage.

 

That said, I don't think Alabama's is considerably better. Just slightly.

 

Even if we assume Sagarin is infalliable, which some here are more willing to do than I am. Things look pretty different against their best opponents. As the games get easier, you can start to see where Bama begins pulling away. Also not surprising that ND wasn't putting up 30 ppg early with a RS freshman making 2 of his first 4 starts against top 20 defenses.

 

NOTRE DAME

vs Top 10: 2-0 +24 (Oklahoma and Stanford)

 

vs Top 25: 5-0 +43 ( add USC, BYU, Michigan)

 

vs Top 50: 7-0 +63 (add Michigan St and Pitt)

 

vs Top 75: 9-0 +104 (add Miami and Purdue)

 

vs Top 100: 10-0 +144 (add Navy)

 

vs Top150: 12-0 +197 (add BC and Wake Forest)

 

ALABAMA

vs Top 10: 1-1 -1 (Texas A&M and Georgia)

 

vs Top 25: 3-1 +30 (add LSU and Michigan)

 

vs Top 50: 6-1 +112 (add Ole Miss, Miss St, and Missouri)

 

vs Top 75: 8-1 +195 (add Tennessee and Arkansas)

 

vs Top 100: 10-1 +279 (add Western Kentucky and Auburn)

 

vs Top 150: 11-1 +312 (add Florida Atlantic)

[EhDubya]

GOD WHO CARES? You went undefeated, congratulations. Now for your prize, you get to be embarrassed in the title game, whoopie!

[Andy]

GOD WHO CARES?

Well, apparently everyone who keeps arguing with him.

[Tracer Bullet]

GOD WHO CARES? You went undefeated, congratulations. Now for your prize, you get to be embarrassed in the title game, whoopie!

 

These are my favorite posts on this board. Walk into the cfb thread and what are people discussing? CFB?!?!?!?! Who cares about cfb in the cdb thread?

[Careless]

You ND fans realize that 100% of the reason people hate ND is ND fans, right? Unlike, say, the Yankees, who are hated for winning a lot, it's just you guys that make people hate them.

 

I don't even hate ND, I just find this really entertaining.

[Andy]

You ND fans realize that 100% of the reason people hate ND is ND fans, right? Unlike, say, the Yankees, who are hated for winning a lot, it's just you guys that make people hate them.

 

I don't even hate ND, I just find this really entertaining.

CFB fans antagonize ND fans more than any other fan base and then are shocked, SHOCKED I say, when there are some who argue back. So they hate ND even more. Vicious circle. I've said many times, the day people don't hate the Irish is the day I'll worry about where they stand in the CFB universe.

 

ETA: Just to clarify, I'm not saying dew or anyone who argues in favor of Alabama qualifies as antagonism, it's just a general comment.

[dew1679666265]

Even if we assume Sagarin is infalliable, which some here are more willing to do than I am. Things look pretty different against their best opponents. As the games get easier, you can start to see where Bama begins pulling away. Also not surprising that ND wasn't putting up 30 ppg early with a RS freshman making 2 of his first 4 starts against top 20 defenses.

 

I'm confused, this looks like you're talking about margin of victory or something. I'm talking about what the defense has allowed.

 

That said, by the breakdown you listed (granted from Sagarin), both ND and Alabama played 2 top 10 teams and two top 75 teams. The biggest difference between their schedule is that Notre Dame played 3 top 11-25 teams while Alabama played 2 of those. A little of that difference being made up by Alabama playing two top 100-149 teams, while Notre Dame played 2 of them. Going by that breakdown, there's not a huge difference in the two teams' schedules and, as I said before, is probably not enough to close the gap on the actual statistical advantages Alabama's defense holds on ND.

 

I'm not calling Sagarin infallible at all (in fact, I'm generally pretty skeptical of the computer rankings), I simply used Sagarin because all the rankings are subjective and he's a pretty credible subjective guy.

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Even if we assume Sagarin is infalliable, which some here are more willing to do than I am. Things look pretty different against their best opponents. As the games get easier, you can start to see where Bama begins pulling away. Also not surprising that ND wasn't putting up 30 ppg early with a RS freshman making 2 of his first 4 starts against top 20 defenses.

 

I'm confused, this looks like you're talking about margin of victory or something. I'm talking about what the defense has allowed.

 

That said, by the breakdown you listed (granted from Sagarin), both ND and Alabama played 2 top 10 teams and two top 75 teams. The biggest difference between their schedule is that Notre Dame played 3 top 11-25 teams while Alabama played 2 of those. A little of that difference being made up by Alabama playing two top 100-149 teams, while Notre Dame played 2 of them. Going by that breakdown, there's not a huge difference in the two teams' schedules and, as I said before, is probably not enough to close the gap on the actual statistical advantages Alabama's defense holds on ND.

 

I'm not calling Sagarin infallible at all (in fact, I'm generally pretty skeptical of the computer rankings), I simply used Sagarin because all the rankings are subjective and he's a pretty credible subjective guy.

 

It was a breakdown I just saw that was interesting and relevant to this discussion.

[Tracer Bullet]

You ND fans realize that 100% of the reason people hate ND is ND fans, right? Unlike, say, the Yankees, who are hated for winning a lot, it's just you guys that make people hate them.

 

I don't even hate ND, I just find this really entertaining.

 

People hate ND for a variety of reasons. Media exposure, perceived bias (which existed long ago but has switched to prejudice some time ago), popularity, fans, etc.

 

Fyi, 100% of the reason people hate you is bc of you. So there's that.

[NewUserName]

I think the reality of this season in CFB is that there really is not any elite teams. Because of scheduling quirks several SEC schools have really good records, but that has more to do with the lack of quality teams at the back end of the SEC. I don't think anyone is thinking about comparing any SEC team this year with either Alabama or LSU last season. Is ND great, probably not, but they were good/lucky enough to win all their games. Heck Alabama probably got "lucky" yesterday. Is that any different than ND getting lucky against Stanford? I think Alabama is going to win, but I don't think they are substantially better than ND. No matter what anyone believes, there is no question that ND belongs in the title game with the current system. I think there could be an argument made that Oregon deserves to get in instead of Alabama. I am not saying it is a good argument but it could be made.

[Guest]

I think the reality of this season in CFB is that there really is not any elite teams. Because of scheduling quirks several SEC schools have really good records, but that has more to do with the lack of quality teams at the back end of the SEC. I don't think anyone is thinking about comparing any SEC team this year with either Alabama or LSU last season. Is ND great, probably not, but they were good/lucky enough to win all their games. Heck Alabama probably got "lucky" yesterday. Is that any different than ND getting lucky against Stanford? I think Alabama is going to win, but I don't think they are substantially better than ND. No matter what anyone believes, there is no question that ND belongs in the title game with the current system. I think there could be an argument made that Oregon deserves to get in instead of Alabama. I am not saying it is a good argument but it could be made.

 

Yes, there was nothing controversial about yesterday's game.

[Formerly Snayke]

Even if we chuck Alabama's obviously lesser opponents out the window, the Tide's defense gave up 13 points per game. Does anyone honestly believe that Notre Dame's defense is better because Alabama gave up a handful of touchdowns when they were up by 20-30 points?