Comments on: The Gauntlet http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/ Just a few guys loving the same woman and talking Irish Football. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 04:24:13 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: The Irish Roundup » Blog Archive » By the numbers: Is there hope for the Irish against Purdue? http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/comment-page-1/#comment-29176 The Irish Roundup » Blog Archive » By the numbers: Is there hope for the Irish against Purdue? Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:40:21 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/#comment-29176 [...] The first lies in the extremely low quality of opponents that Purdue has played thus far. The Boilermakers blew out 1-3 Toledo, 2-2 Eastern Illinois, 1-3 Central Michigan, and 1-3 Minnesota in the first four weeks of the season: hardly a gauntlet of the sort that the Irish have faced. (For what it’s worth, Toledo, Central Michigan, and Minnesota are ranked 86th, 107th, and 100th in the nation by SI, and Eastern Illinois is a I-AA team. Compare this to ND’s opponents: both Penn State and MSU are either ranked or just outside the top 25 in both polls, while Michigan ranks 30th and Georgia Tech 44th.) [...] [...] The first lies in the extremely low quality of opponents that Purdue has played thus far. The Boilermakers blew out 1-3 Toledo, 2-2 Eastern Illinois, 1-3 Central Michigan, and 1-3 Minnesota in the first four weeks of the season: hardly a gauntlet of the sort that the Irish have faced. (For what it’s worth, Toledo, Central Michigan, and Minnesota are ranked 86th, 107th, and 100th in the nation by SI, and Eastern Illinois is a I-AA team. Compare this to ND’s opponents: both Penn State and MSU are either ranked or just outside the top 25 in both polls, while Michigan ranks 30th and Georgia Tech 44th.) [...]

]]> By: Jim Hu http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/comment-page-1/#comment-28822 Jim Hu Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:38:59 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/#comment-28822 Biscuit, it got cut off because it's a trackback...follow the link for the whole thing with formatting. Biscuit, it got cut off because it’s a trackback…follow the link for the whole thing with formatting.

]]> By: DeepTeaKup http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/comment-page-1/#comment-28752 DeepTeaKup Wed, 26 Sep 2007 23:22:20 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/#comment-28752 Andrew, So what happens to ND when they can't compete? By your logic ND would have to join a conference right? Andrew,

So what happens to ND when they can’t compete? By your logic ND would have to join a conference right?

]]> By: Andrew http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/comment-page-1/#comment-28743 Andrew Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:37:22 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/#comment-28743 Biscuit, I don't know what Sagarin's method is, so it may be a good indicator. The only way to fix the strength of schedule divide is to set rules for teams that want to go to bowl games and the NC game. For example. The SEC is always touted as the toughest conf. I agree they have many of the top teams year to year, but saying playing in the SEC means you have the toughest schedule is misleading. Compare Arkansas (who had 3 ranked SEC opponents on their sched to start the season) with Alabama (who has 5 of the 6 ranked SEC teams to start the season). IMO, the structure of the SEC (and others with more than 10 teams) needs to change. Every team should play every other team in their conf. Then, a conf champion game would be unnecessary and every BCS team plays 12 games. No D I-A team should play D I-AA teams. BCS conf teams should not be allowed to play non BCS schools. Those teams in BCS conf's that perenially fail to compete (like Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, etc) should be bumped with teams in non BCS conferences that are competative (like Utah, Hawaii, etc) Sort of off topic, but I couldn't help myself. Biscuit, I don’t know what Sagarin’s method is, so it may be a good indicator.

The only way to fix the strength of schedule divide is to set rules for teams that want to go to bowl games and the NC game.

For example. The SEC is always touted as the toughest conf. I agree they have many of the top teams year to year, but saying playing in the SEC means you have the toughest schedule is misleading. Compare Arkansas (who had 3 ranked SEC opponents on their sched to start the season) with Alabama (who has 5 of the 6 ranked SEC teams to start the season). IMO, the structure of the SEC (and others with more than 10 teams) needs to change. Every team should play every other team in their conf. Then, a conf champion game would be unnecessary and every BCS team plays 12 games.

No D I-A team should play D I-AA teams.
BCS conf teams should not be allowed to play non BCS schools.
Those teams in BCS conf’s that perenially fail to compete (like Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, etc) should be bumped with teams in non BCS conferences that are competative (like Utah, Hawaii, etc)

Sort of off topic, but I couldn’t help myself.

]]> By: The Biscuit http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/comment-page-1/#comment-28741 The Biscuit Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:53:28 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/#comment-28741 Agreed. But Sagarin's is the best we've got. And while I think you're right that a more detailed/complex formula would be better, that could result in some more subjective measures being used (e.g. Team X was better in September than they are now, so that should be considered a 'tougher' game). W's and L's is the best metric to use when comparing across schedules. At least, it's the best we have for now. Of course, this is also a sport where we have the BCS, so... Agreed. But Sagarin’s is the best we’ve got. And while I think you’re right that a more detailed/complex formula would be better, that could result in some more subjective measures being used (e.g. Team X was better in September than they are now, so that should be considered a ‘tougher’ game). W’s and L’s is the best metric to use when comparing across schedules. At least, it’s the best we have for now. Of course, this is also a sport where we have the BCS, so…

]]> By: Andrew http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/comment-page-1/#comment-28738 Andrew Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:43:40 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/#comment-28738 We definitely have a tough schedule this year. What is interesting to me is that all I heard from the talking heads at that four letter sport network at the beginning of 2006 was how easy our schedule was with teams like Stanford, Navy, etc. Our schedule this year is nearly identical and now those bobble-heads are saying we have a tough schedule! The differences between last year and this is adding Boston College and dropping Army (a far more difficult opponent) and adding Duke in place of NC (a wash as far as I'm concerned). Idiots (the bobbleheads, not any of the aforementioned teams.) However, I don't put much emphasis on strenght of schedule ratings, because the formula they use is usually too simplistic. For example, the NCAA uses a formula that simply compiles wins and losses of your opponents. Let's say one of your first opponents was a ranked, tough team but then folded after they play you and never win again because of injuries. The NCAA formula will result in a low strenght of schedule based on that opponent. But their wins-loss record may not be indicative of how good they were when you played. A true SOS formula should take into account home games vs road games, rank at the start of the season, rank at the time you play a team, rank at the end of the season, offensive rank, defensive rank, and perhaps other factors. We definitely have a tough schedule this year.

What is interesting to me is that all I heard from the talking heads at that four letter sport network at the beginning of 2006 was how easy our schedule was with teams like Stanford, Navy, etc. Our schedule this year is nearly identical and now those bobble-heads are saying we have a tough schedule! The differences between last year and this is adding Boston College and dropping Army (a far more difficult opponent) and adding Duke in place of NC (a wash as far as I’m concerned). Idiots (the bobbleheads, not any of the aforementioned teams.)

However, I don’t put much emphasis on strenght of schedule ratings, because the formula they use is usually too simplistic.

For example, the NCAA uses a formula that simply compiles wins and losses of your opponents.

Let’s say one of your first opponents was a ranked, tough team but then folded after they play you and never win again because of injuries. The NCAA formula will result in a low strenght of schedule based on that opponent. But their wins-loss record may not be indicative of how good they were when you played.

A true SOS formula should take into account home games vs road games, rank at the start of the season, rank at the time you play a team, rank at the end of the season, offensive rank, defensive rank, and perhaps other factors.

]]> By: The Biscuit http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/comment-page-1/#comment-28727 The Biscuit Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:21:04 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/#comment-28727 Good stuff, nice for context. But I think your comment got cut off... Good stuff, nice for context. But I think your comment got cut off…

]]> By: blogs for industry http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/comment-page-1/#comment-28691 blogs for industry Wed, 26 Sep 2007 05:56:46 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2007/09/25/the-gauntlet/#comment-28691 <strong>SOS</strong> YearCoachSOS rankrecord 1999Davie105-7 2000Davie369-3 2001Davie145-6 2002Willingham1410-3 2003 Willingham 15-7 2004 Willingham 56-6 2005Weis 149-3 2006Weis1810-3 2007 so farWeis110-4 How well college football teams do is a comple... SOS

YearCoachSOS rankrecord
1999Davie105-7
2000Davie369-3
2001Davie145-6
2002Willingham1410-3
2003 Willingham 15-7
2004 Willingham 56-6
2005Weis 149-3
2006Weis1810-3
2007 so farWeis110-4
How well college football teams do is a comple…

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