College Football - Week 10 (Nov. 7)

[SouthSideRyan]

IIRC, ND was #1 in several computer polls heading into the title game vs. Alabama. Even after the depantsing they finished 5th in Sagarin. I think there's a lot of revisionism that goes on with that team painting them as a total fluke. They lucked out in the PItt game, and then had a couple close calls. They also beat 8th ranked Stanford, and won at #15 Oklahoma.

[Andy]

IIRC, ND was #1 in several computer polls heading into the title game vs. Alabama. Even after the depantsing they finished 5th in Sagarin. I think there's a lot of revisionism that goes on with that team painting them as a total fluke. They lucked out in the PItt game, and then had a couple close calls. They also beat 8th ranked Stanford, and won at #15 Oklahoma.

There was an SB Nation article a while back, and I swear I'd link it if I could find it, that said Alabama played like the 2nd-best single game by several advanced stats in the last 25 years against Notre Dame. That game was far more about Bama than anything else, but as usual no one cared about that when there was an opportunity to call an ND team fraudulent - never mind that Bama basically did the exact same thing to LSU a year prior and no one was calling the Tigers a fraud then.

 

I'm not even all that high on this ND team - I think they're very good, not sure about great - but talking 'eye test' about them is ludicrous. No one was talking 'eye test' when Bama had to score in the final 2 minutes to beat [expletive] Tennessee.

[KingCubsFan]

Other than the fact that they score like 35 points per game, have only really "escaped" twice (once after their QB broke his ankle during the game), and are more talented pretty much across the board than that team was, yeah, exactly the same.

Yeah, this year's team has a lot more athletes than 2012, a much better offense, and a much better QB. In terms of identity, they're completely different from the 2012 team.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

The ND game with Pitt is the first time I have watched them this season. I don't know how they don't pass the eye test. They're a really good team.

[bcl412]

I think Iowa could have been ahead of Baylor last week but don't really get why they jumped them this week. I'm surprised Oklahoma state isn't in front of Iowa and they probably deserve to be. I could make an argument that puts them ahead of Alabama and ohio state though they likely aren't better than them.

 

Notre Dame could beat any team in the country.

[Andy]

I thought Oklahoma State would be 4 this week. Any unbeaten Big 12 team is getting in, ultimately. The whole point of expanding to 4 (in my view) was to ensure any unbeaten Power 5 school would always get a shot at the title.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

The only way I can think to explain Iowa jumping Baylor is that they now have 2 road wins over current top 25 teams since Wisconsin has popped in the list.

[hawkeyecub]

I think Iowa could have been ahead of Baylor last week but don't really get why they jumped them this week. I'm surprised Oklahoma state isn't in front of Iowa and they probably deserve to be. I could make an argument that puts them ahead of Alabama and ohio state though they likely aren't better than them.

 

Notre Dame could beat any team in the country.

 

Don't look at it as jumping, it's correcting. Baylor has done nothing yet. They might be a better team, but for the sake of the current rankings there was no reason for them to be ranked ahead of Iowa.