Pitt/Penn St
Re: Pitt/Penn St
Southpaw don't let facts get in the way of El-Moldo rants. Let loose El-Moldy. Pitt is relevant for the first time since 1982...Hail!
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Re: Pitt/Penn St
Literally the topic is “Pitt/Penn St”
But just for you El-Moldo, I’ll play your game and stick to facts, and then make some inferences.
(All my rankings below are based off the AP Poll)
Fact: Penn State has been ranked in the top 10 at some point every season since 2016.
Inference: Most people outside of Western PA view Penn State as a top 10 program nationwide.
Fact: Penn State is coming off of double digit wins the previous two seasons.
Fact: Penn State was preseason ranked 7th
Fact: Penn State is one of three teams nationally who started off undefeated, who is still undefeated, and began the season in the top 10.
Inference: The Big Ten is viewed as the 2nd best conference in football. This claim is based upon the evidence of the number of ranked teams in the top 10 and top 25. Currently 4 SEC in top 10, 3 Big 10 in top ten. This has been a pretty consistent trend for a few years now (most of the time)
Inference: At the end of the season, some of PSU wins will be qualified as winning record teams based upon the Big 10’s track record
Inference: Teams who are undefeated typically get the benefit of doubt at this point of the year because, ya know, they haven’t lost.
Fact: Ohio State plays Penn State, so we will find out who is better anyways on that given Saturday.
Fact: You have to be in the top 12 final rankings to have a shot at the National Title.
Re: Pitt/Penn St
Let's review the last few posts.
1) Why all the fawning over the USC victory over LSU? It happened over Labor Day weekend. Since then they are 2-3, not in anybody's top 25, and ranked 15th out of 18 teams in the Big Ten.
2) The only team PSU has beaten with a winning record is Illinois. Last Saturday, they barely beat a bad Purdue team by ONE point 50-49.
3)And Ghost, how significant are the past seasons in today's games? Where is TCU now? They just played in the National Championship game in January 2023. Doesn't help them this season, does it?
4) And is Pitt relevant? I don't know. They've been in the ACC for 10 years and have ONE conference championship. PSU has been in the Big Ten since 1993 and has been conference champ once in 2016.
5) Someone said that the rankings of the first 6 games don't matter much now. Then why have a ranking at this time at all if it means nothing yet?
Just a few observations.
1) Why all the fawning over the USC victory over LSU? It happened over Labor Day weekend. Since then they are 2-3, not in anybody's top 25, and ranked 15th out of 18 teams in the Big Ten.
2) The only team PSU has beaten with a winning record is Illinois. Last Saturday, they barely beat a bad Purdue team by ONE point 50-49.
3)And Ghost, how significant are the past seasons in today's games? Where is TCU now? They just played in the National Championship game in January 2023. Doesn't help them this season, does it?
4) And is Pitt relevant? I don't know. They've been in the ACC for 10 years and have ONE conference championship. PSU has been in the Big Ten since 1993 and has been conference champ once in 2016.
5) Someone said that the rankings of the first 6 games don't matter much now. Then why have a ranking at this time at all if it means nothing yet?
Just a few observations.
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Re: Pitt/Penn St
3) Being ranked consistently shows you are a top 5, 10, 25 program. Which matters when people cast their votes. For instance, Iowa State, BYU, Indiana, and Pitt are all also 6-0. How many times have each of them been ranked in the top 10 in the last 7 years? Any of them finish in the top 10 last year? Top 15? And you are suggesting being considered a top 5, 10, 15 program has no bearing on your ranking - which is based off the opinion of people across the country?El-Moldo wrote: ↑October 14th, 2024, 10:11 pm Let's review the last few posts.
3)And Ghost, how significant are the past seasons in today's games? Where is TCU now? They just played in the National Championship game in January 2023. Doesn't help them this season, does it?
4) And is Pitt relevant? I don't know. They've been in the ACC for 10 years and have ONE conference championship. PSU has been in the Big Ten since 1993 and has been conference champ once in 2016.
Just a few observations.
4) FALSE. 1994, 2005, 2008, 2016
Re: Pitt/Penn St
I'm a lifelong PSU fan...do I think they're the 3rd best team in college football right now, no. I'll offer this though: WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE????
Who cares? It's meaningless. No one is ever going to get shirts made up in January that say: "We were ranked 3rd in the nation during week 8!!!" Why does anyone care? The only rankings that really matter start coming out on November 5th. There's a reason the season is over 2 months in before they do those rankings--so much happens in the those 2 months. Teams navigate injuries, scheme changes, players over performing and under performing, coaching duty changes. College football is a long season. These week to week rankings are so worthless right now. It's really just so the TV networks can bill matchups as a "TOP 10 Matchup" or a "Top 25 match up". Other than that, the rankings mean nothing. PSU has flaws, just like pretty much every team. Against the best teams on their schedule those flaws will be magnified and tougher to overcome. Winning is what matters most. Keep winning and everything else seems to take care of itself. If Pitt wins out, they'll be in the playoff. I'll throw this out though... if you're truly a college football fan: If Army and Navy are both undefeated going into their match up on 12/14 (that means they both would had to have beaten Notre Dame), I will say it should be a national movement that both Army and Navy go to the college football playoff. If somehow one of them was to finish the season with 1 loss and the other undefeated, it should be a national mandate that they both get in! I'd gladly give up the PSU spot in the playoffs (if they earn one) to give the Army & Navy teams the chance to be there instead.
Who cares? It's meaningless. No one is ever going to get shirts made up in January that say: "We were ranked 3rd in the nation during week 8!!!" Why does anyone care? The only rankings that really matter start coming out on November 5th. There's a reason the season is over 2 months in before they do those rankings--so much happens in the those 2 months. Teams navigate injuries, scheme changes, players over performing and under performing, coaching duty changes. College football is a long season. These week to week rankings are so worthless right now. It's really just so the TV networks can bill matchups as a "TOP 10 Matchup" or a "Top 25 match up". Other than that, the rankings mean nothing. PSU has flaws, just like pretty much every team. Against the best teams on their schedule those flaws will be magnified and tougher to overcome. Winning is what matters most. Keep winning and everything else seems to take care of itself. If Pitt wins out, they'll be in the playoff. I'll throw this out though... if you're truly a college football fan: If Army and Navy are both undefeated going into their match up on 12/14 (that means they both would had to have beaten Notre Dame), I will say it should be a national movement that both Army and Navy go to the college football playoff. If somehow one of them was to finish the season with 1 loss and the other undefeated, it should be a national mandate that they both get in! I'd gladly give up the PSU spot in the playoffs (if they earn one) to give the Army & Navy teams the chance to be there instead.
Re: Pitt/Penn St
Sorry Ghost for not making myself clear. I wanted to refer to after divisional play began. Let me start this again. Divisional play in the Big Ten started in 2011. Since then, PSU has only won the Big Ten Championship ONCE. Sorry for the confusion. Also, past consistency is fine for prestige, but doesn't help a team in the season they are playing in NOW.
Re: Pitt/Penn St
Ahhh, I love college football!
Everyone can think what they wish but the college coaches and college football media both view Penn State as the 3rd best team in the country and Pitt as the 20th best team in the country. Now the AP poll, the coaches poll, and the CFP committee all have inherent bias's. There is no way to remove those but the fact that 62 writers and 55 coaches vote on these polls a lot of biases cancel each other out.
You could make the argument that both Penn State and Pitt are underranked. SoR has PSU #2 and Pitt #8.
You could make the same argument that both Penn State and Pitt are ranked too high. FPI has PSU #9 and Pitt #36.
To this point Penn State has played the 52nd toughest schedule to Pitt's 96th. That doesn't sound good but a lot of MAC, CUSA, and other teams that took big "Buy-Game" paydays have the hardest schedules to this point. PSU ranked 12th of the top 25 in SOS. Rest of the way PSU plays the 24th strongest schedule, while Pitt is at 30th. So both teams have the tougher part of their schedule remaining but neither is facing a gauntlet that isn't possible.
It's pretty clear, to me at least, that the networks and committee seem pretty hell bent on getting at very minimum 3 from the B1G and SEC each into the playoffs. My guess is they will end up with 8 bids between the B1G and SEC but maybe 7 if some of the scenarios below play out. Is that fair? I don't know. Its tough to argue that those aren't the best 2 leagues at the top. ACC and Big 12 doesn't have the top heavy hammers of a Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, LSU, and Ole Miss or a Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Michigan, Washington, and USC. Sure some of those teams might be "down" this year but those are all programs that are consistently in the top 20, consistently recruiting at a top 25 clip, and consistently playing in NY6 or better bowl games. Now I don't think the difference from the middle to bottom of the SEC or B1G is any different than the middle to bottom of the ACC or Big 12. In fact, I think middle to bottom of the ACC and Big 12 are probably a little better.
I think only the Big 12 champ is getting in unless an undefeated regular season team (Iowa St or BYU) loses their conference championship. I do see more of a path to 2 ACC teams getting in. Clemson and Miami can probably both lose one more and get an at-large. Clemson plays South Carolina and UGA out of conference. Miami played Florida in the swamp (I don't view this as a great OOC game but committee will because it's a SEC school), and Pitt is iffy, WVU and Cincy need to win because Pitt's conference schedule is not strong. I actually think Pitt with 1 loss and no conference championship would have a better resume than Miami but we all know brand value and early season ranking will push Miami in over Pitt in this scenario.
Everyone can think what they wish but the college coaches and college football media both view Penn State as the 3rd best team in the country and Pitt as the 20th best team in the country. Now the AP poll, the coaches poll, and the CFP committee all have inherent bias's. There is no way to remove those but the fact that 62 writers and 55 coaches vote on these polls a lot of biases cancel each other out.
You could make the argument that both Penn State and Pitt are underranked. SoR has PSU #2 and Pitt #8.
You could make the same argument that both Penn State and Pitt are ranked too high. FPI has PSU #9 and Pitt #36.
To this point Penn State has played the 52nd toughest schedule to Pitt's 96th. That doesn't sound good but a lot of MAC, CUSA, and other teams that took big "Buy-Game" paydays have the hardest schedules to this point. PSU ranked 12th of the top 25 in SOS. Rest of the way PSU plays the 24th strongest schedule, while Pitt is at 30th. So both teams have the tougher part of their schedule remaining but neither is facing a gauntlet that isn't possible.
It's pretty clear, to me at least, that the networks and committee seem pretty hell bent on getting at very minimum 3 from the B1G and SEC each into the playoffs. My guess is they will end up with 8 bids between the B1G and SEC but maybe 7 if some of the scenarios below play out. Is that fair? I don't know. Its tough to argue that those aren't the best 2 leagues at the top. ACC and Big 12 doesn't have the top heavy hammers of a Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, LSU, and Ole Miss or a Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Michigan, Washington, and USC. Sure some of those teams might be "down" this year but those are all programs that are consistently in the top 20, consistently recruiting at a top 25 clip, and consistently playing in NY6 or better bowl games. Now I don't think the difference from the middle to bottom of the SEC or B1G is any different than the middle to bottom of the ACC or Big 12. In fact, I think middle to bottom of the ACC and Big 12 are probably a little better.
I think only the Big 12 champ is getting in unless an undefeated regular season team (Iowa St or BYU) loses their conference championship. I do see more of a path to 2 ACC teams getting in. Clemson and Miami can probably both lose one more and get an at-large. Clemson plays South Carolina and UGA out of conference. Miami played Florida in the swamp (I don't view this as a great OOC game but committee will because it's a SEC school), and Pitt is iffy, WVU and Cincy need to win because Pitt's conference schedule is not strong. I actually think Pitt with 1 loss and no conference championship would have a better resume than Miami but we all know brand value and early season ranking will push Miami in over Pitt in this scenario.
Re: Pitt/Penn St
These last few posts were so much better to read than the usual Enzo drivel.
It ain't over until it's over.
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Re: Pitt/Penn St
I am going to hard disagree Wally, rankings do matter in week 8.WallyPipp wrote: ↑October 15th, 2024, 9:24 am I'll offer this though: WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE????
Who cares? It's meaningless. No one is ever going to get shirts made up in January that say: "We were ranked 3rd in the nation during week 8!!!" Why does anyone care? The only rankings that really matter start coming out on November 5th.
Being ranked in the top 5 currently definitely affords a team some cushion to lose once, maybe even twice and still sneak into the top 12. Regardless of who is ranked 1,2,3 right now- I believe that is true. I don’t think any undefeated team outside those ranked of the top has that luxury.
Same with the “Brand” as ABPK calls it. It carries weight, it matters.