Strength of Schedule

[Hampton Roads 6]

Here is the official Top 10 SOS :

1. Auburn
2. Arkansas
3. LSU
4. Alabama
5. Texas A&M
6. Ole Miss
7. Tennessee
8. UCLA
9. Florida
10. West Virginia

Selected others:

Oregon 34
Ohio St. 60
Wisconsin 61
Michigan State 88

Virginia Tech 50.

 

[pckank1]

Duh? Of course they have high SOS numbers because they play so many cupcakes OOC. As a result, their overall records are better than other conference teams. Here is the SEC SOS formula that fools so many people:

1. Play a lot of cupcakes and build up the overall records.

2. Since every conference, good or bad, will go .500 against each other, it is the OOC records that end up affecting SOS.

3. The SEC played 55 OOC games (usually 56, but Florida only played 3). They went 43-1 against non power 5 teams, and 5-6 against power 5 teams. So, we can assume, had they played less cupcakes and more power 5 teams, they would have more overall losses, and their SOS numbers would not look as good.

4. Yes, playing tougher OOC competition and losing a few of them would hurt the SEC's SOS numbers. Why? Because the SOS numbers are weighted 8 to 1 in the SEC's favor. Example: if a team like Miss. St. plays 4 OOC cupcakes, yes, their SOS might
suffer, but the 8 SEC teams that play them get a boost because Miss. St.
will be 10-2 instead of 8-4 if they played and lost to 2 good teams
OOC. Simple math says it is better for the SEC's SOS numbers if 8 SEC play a 10-2 team instead of an 8-4 team. Then, keep doing this 8 to 1 ratio for the other teams, and it is obvious why the SEC will have such good SOS numbers.

This is not that hard to figure out, but it fools most everyone. No matter how good or bad these SEC teams are, they will have an overall record of 56-56 in conference. They could have the 14 worst teams in college football, and they will still go 56-56 in its conference games. Then, factor in playing 44 non power 5 teams, including 1-AAs and really bad 1-A teams, and it is not that surprising for them to go 43-1 here. So, that leaves the OOC games against power 5 teams as the best way to judge them, and they failed miserably here, going 5-6 against their peers. But, since they only played 11 of these games, and went 48-7 overall OOC, their SOS numbers look great.

 

[vt1hokie]

for once I agree with pc. only 11 ooc games against p5 teams? the acc at least schedule people. acc has 3 wins against ooc top 10 teams. no other conference can claim that because they're scared of playing ooc. the excuse of not doing so because their conference is so demanding is old and tired. seriously, florida never leaves the state for an ooc game.

 

[Hoos19NC]

I don't know where HR gets his info????? According to the FB schedules.com site Arkansas, UVA, Tennessee, Notre Dame and Texas A&M had the 5 toughest schedules this year......VT was 55.....Alabama was 95......

 

[hokie46835]

The following sites seem fairly consistent.....although the GBE rankings seem to be quite a bit different. Not sure how they calculate. hmmmmmm

http://www.predictionmachine.com/Strength-of-Schedule-Rankings-CFB-Teams

http://sagarin.com/sports/cfsend.htm

http://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/ranking/strength-of-schedule-by-team

http://www.gberatings.com/sos/

 

[Hampton Roads 6]

While I do not trust the selection committee, I am thankful you guys are not on it.

The SEC West is the toughest there is within NCAA. thus those teams will have strongest SOS no matter who their OOC games are with . Now as with most everything there may be a couple exceptions .