Fanblogs.com - Latest Comments in Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Ben Prather — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:04:01 -0000

From the site you linked to above:

Unless they qualify to play in the NCG, the champions of selected conferences are contractually committed to host selected games:

Atlantic Coast Conference-Orange Bowl
Big Ten Conference-Rose Bowl
Big 12 Conference-Fiesta Bowl
Pac-10 Conference-Rose Bowl
Southeastern Conference-Sugar Bowl

Near as I can tell the ACC, not the Big East has the contract with a BCS Bowl.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Gatorboy41 — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:42:03 -0000

1Tomcat, I don't particular agree that you can't compare strength of schedule, or strength of conference. For one, if any given team beats 4-5 opponents that are always goodyear in, and year out, and they ranked in the top 20 at the end of the season. Then it is safe to say that they played some pretty good competition. When Fl won the NC, Noone argued that they had the toughest schedule in the nation. They play 8-9 that were ranked at one time, or another during the season. 5 of those teams finished in the 20. Preseason rankings means nothing, however rankings at the end of the season, are based on wins and loses, for the most part.

So then if what you are saying is true, do you think that the MEAC Conference could play on the same level as the Big Ten, SEC, or the PAC 10. If what you saying is true, then they should be able to compete,

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Ben Prather — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:05:57 -0000

Again the case is made that the BCS currently contains the correct conferences.

Even the expanded MWAC would only improve to 2.042, still in the middle of the gap they are in.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Ben Prather — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:01:28 -0000

I have described a benchmark that ranks conferences by a process similar to a GPA, so why not give it a test run!

Using a consensus rankings teams can be separated into grades by using the largest gaps in the average rankings of the teams. Further, grades can be subdivided using the largest gaps in their range.
This is a moving target,as th source site is kept up to date.

Here are the Pre-season grades as of 6:00 pm ET 8/20 (kinda like the teachers expectations from the first day of class, while no assignments have yet been given):
A(4.0): Ohio State, USC, Oklahoma, Georgia, West Virginia, Missouri, Florida, LSU
A-(3.7): Kansas

B+(3.3): Virginia Tech, Clemson, Texas, Oregon, Auburn, BYU, South Florida, Arizona State, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Wisconsin, Penn State
B(3.0):Cincinnati
B-(2.7): Wake Forest, Boston College, Michigan, Oregon State, Utah, Illinois, Ben Prather in Thermodynamics

C+(2.3): California, Rutgers, South Carolina, FSU, Alabama, Boise State, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Kentucky, TCU, Connecticut, UCLA, Arizona, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Maryland, Fresno State, Texas A&M, Virginia, Louisville, Hawaii, Mississippi State, Purdue, Tulsa
C(2.0): Colorado, UCF, East Carolina, Nebraska, Troy, New Mexico, Washington, Air Force, Iowa, Kansas State, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Washington State, Florida Atlantic, Indiana, Notre Dame, Houston, Central Michigan, Miami FL, Ball State, Navy, Northwestern, Stanford, Vanderbilt
C-(1.7): Mississippi, Southern Mississippi, Wyoming, Bowling Green, Nevada, NC State, Western Michigan, UL Monroe

D+(1.3): Iowa State, Miami OH, CSU, Memphis, Marshall, Minnesota, Buffalo, Ohio, Middle TN State, San Jose State, SDSU, Toledo, Baylor, UTEP, Syracuse, Duke, Temple, Louisiana Tech, Arkansas State, Western Kentucky, UNLV, Eastern Michigan, Akron, Tulane, Rice Northern Illinois,
D(1.0): Kent, UL Lafayette
D-(0.7): New Mexico State, Utah State, SMU, UAB, Army

E: North Texas, Idaho, Florida Atlantic

W: FCS

Conference GPA:
SEC: 2.817
Big 12: 2.625
PAC 10: 2.620
Big East: 2.600
Big 10: 2.536
ACC: 2.325
MWC: 1.989
C-USA: 1.492
MAC: 1.446
WAC: 1.400
Sun Belt: 1.113

Not a bad pre season ranking of the conferences for as ad hoc as it is. The ACC is low thanks to Duke, NC State and Miami (FL). Three large gaps appear in the ranking, before and after the MWC and before the Sun Belt.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Oaktown — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:21:43 -0000

and what Jonsey, other than a bias, do you base your conclusion about the Pac 10? If any conference is over rated it is the Big East.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Ben Prather — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:57:29 -0000

That could have been worded better as "I just posted above." This was to avoid repetition for people reading this after the fact.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Ramblin' Gator — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:38:00 -0000

Too true! Whatever happened to coondawg?

I realize now I'm violating the first and second rules of the "h" policy. I better be careful or Tyler Durden will come and get my (foot)balls.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

grcunning — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:56:41 -0000

"I already stated above that conferences with contracts with BCS bowls can't lose their status."
Sorry, I missed that.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Kevin @ Fanblogs — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:22:29 -0000

That's not correct. The ACC does not have a contract with any of the BCS bowls. Big XII, Pac 10, Big 10, Big East and SEC have contracts (which I believe is the nature of the five minimum).

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Ben Prather — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:15:01 -0000

I agree it is about money and fan base.

Utah and BYU are expanding these rapidly. BYU has a stadium that seats 60,000+ fans and sells out regularly. Both have sold out their tickets for bowl games, including the Fiesta bowl where Utah even sold tickets Pittsburgh couldn't. Boise State travels crazy well for as small as the city is.

I already stated above that conferences with contracts with BCS bowls can't lose their status.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Ben Prather — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:10:43 -0000

This topic falls squarely in this thread.

Thank you for this information. I have visited that page often, but never read to the bottom of it. My bad.

You left off at a very important part.

"The standards will not prohibit the champion of any conference that has contracted with a bowl from playing in one of the participating BCS bowls. For example, the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions will, by contract, play in the Rose Bowl every year unless one or both qualifies for the National Championship Game."

So the PAC 10, BIG 10, SEC, ACC and Big 12 are in due to contract. To get in or stay in it is implied you must perform at the level of the least of these conferences, based on the three criterion listed above.

How do the conferences compare with these criterion?

#2 is beyond my ability to measure. Sagarin results are the best approximation I am aware of for this.

Conference -- Average top team -- average # of top 25teams
SEC -- 3.75 -- 5.00
ACC -- 6.75 -- 4.00
Big 12 -- 4.75-- 3.75
Big 10 -- 2.75 -- 3.25
PAC 10 -- 3.50 -- 3.00
Big East -- 10.50 -- 3.00
( MWAC -- 11.50 -- 1.50 )
MWC -- 14.50 -- 1.00

No other conference has placed a team in the top 25 all four year. The WAC averages 1 per year and would have an average of 14.25 if a rank of 26 is ascribed to the missing year. C-USA is the only other conference to get into the top 25 once at 24. Notre Dame accounts for the other three top 25 appearances.

If trends matter then the WAC is gaining on the MWC, but factor #2 would likely mitigate that significantly.

A MWC expansion could help them gain enough teams that can get into the top 25 to improve significantly here. Three top 25 teams per year appears to be standard. More teams in the top 25 will increase the average rank of the highest team.

This data would support the idea that the Big East is in more danger of losing BCS status than any conference would have of joining the BCS.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Ben Prather — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:09:31 -0000

Wow. unexpectedly delightful.

A+ in creative writing.

But then this from one who can''t spell.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Ben Prather — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:06:17 -0000

I have gotten my share of hard earned h's

I think now it is rather obsolete, as trolls can be identified by the gray digitized smily face that is the Disqus default.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

grcunning — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:05:54 -0000

Unfortunately, there is another factor in BCS decisions that is always in play, but not often talked about. Money. Big money.

Should the MWC be a BCS conference? I don't know, but consider this.

Which school will travel the most fans, and pump millions upon millions of dollars into the economy of BCS cities? Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame... or Utah?(with apologies to Ben)

We can use benchmark after benchmark, but the bottom line is that the current BCS conferences are the ones with the big money and big fan bases.

Am I imagining this? Maybe. According to Kevin, there is a mathematical formula to determine BCS eligibility. If this has always been the case, then maybe it's just a big coincidence.

And what about traditional bowl alliances? The Rose Bowl has always been Pac 10 - Big 10(at least for the last 50 years). If for some crazy reason the Big 10 and Pac 10 lose their BCS status, and instead it's the MAC and WAC, what then?

How many Bowling Green - La Tech matchups do you think it would take for the Rose Bowl to tell the BCS alliance to kiss off? The bottom line is that the BCS has a HUGE incentive to include the big money conferences, and the ones with the most deep-pocketed fans.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Ben Prather — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:03:20 -0000

His name is Robert Paulson...

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

OU_Ron — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:53:41 -0000

Porcine, great memory dude....

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Porcine — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:42:05 -0000

http://www.fanblogs.com/nca...
Post 40

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

OU_Ron — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:42:03 -0000

RG, then really got popular when the coondawg showed up...

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Kevin @ Fanblogs — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:39:15 -0000

ROFL!! VERY WELL DONE, SIR!!!

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Kevin @ Fanblogs — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:37:53 -0000

You couldn't login to author login? Email or chat me.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

grcunning — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:29:19 -0000

Higher caliber OOC schedules in and of themselves shouldn't be used to rank conferences. Most big-time programs schedule at least one lower tier in-state program to help "Share the wealth"
For example, OSU plays Youngstown St. (partially because Tressel coached there), and Ga plays Georgia Southern.
Based only on this one game, Youngstown St clearly has a higher caliber OOC schedule than OSU...Does this mean that the Missouri Valley Football Conference should be ranked above the Big10?
IMHO, head to head matchups should be the determining factor, and even those can be problematic.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Ramblin' Gator — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:26:32 -0000

My recollection is the "h" policy started quite by accident in the pre-Disqus days, when someone posted a complete non sequitur and the next poster apparently typed the letter "h" and then submitted the comment without entering anything additional. The next comment was from someone praising the "h" poster for his eloquence, brevity, and candor.

Since then, the "h" has stuck as a natural response to non sequitur - and especially, drive-by - posts.

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

grcunning — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:15:31 -0000

(( head exploding ))

- computer engineers get blurry eyed from reading such things

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

Kevin @ Fanblogs — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:00:09 -0000

The BCS itself uses a five-year window to review eligibility. I know we've discussed this before on Fanblogs, but... here goes.

The existing BCS conferences have an athematical formula to determine which 5-7 conferences will have automatic BCS eligibility starting with the 2010 season.

The formula will use results from the previous four regular seasons, based upon institutions that are members of the conferences during the previous season. So... for 2008, it would be the 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 data based upon 2007 memberships.

From each conference, you take (1) the ranking of the highest-ranked team in the final BCS standings each year, (2) the final regular-season rankings of all conference teams in the computer rankings used by the BCS each year and (3) the number of teams in the top 25 of the final BCS standings each year.

That will determine the BCS pecking order.
More details are at the bottom of this page.

The only question after that is... five berths? six? seven? (And you thought this was the last thread we would have to have on this?!)

Re: Who's who amomgst BCS conferences.

War_Eagle_Atlanta — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:51:45 -0000

I can't really speak about it's origin. I can say that h doesn't work unless 2 or more people use it...

h works best on trolls. Use, rinse, and repeat as often as necessary...

If you're in the top 20 of the Disqus commentators, you have immunity from h.

Okay, I just added that last one, but it's a good rule...

P.S. I tried to get into MT to correct the spelling on the title of this thread, but was barred entry. My intentions were good, though...