ACC Scheduel in 2009

Utah and Boise St. got screwed not because of SOS, but because they're not in a BCS conference.

USC is a different story. I agree they got screwed, but I don't believe it has anything to do with SOS. It has more to do with timing and the lack of a conference championship game (see Florida).

It's the same difference. Why is Utah not number one? Go ahead, you can say it: because they didn't play as tough of a schedule as Florida. That's why they weren't in the title game, and that's why they're not number one. Just because it is a result of their conference is irrelevant. Their conference schedule is perceived as weak, and that's what hurt them.

USC's case does have something to do with Strength of Schedule. Washington and Washington State being pathetic this year all but killed USC's computer rankings. The rest of the Pac-10 weren't exactly world beaters either, so they couldn't make up for the above two schools' dismal years.
 
2009
ACC Home: Clemson, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
ACC Away: Florida State, Virginia, Miami, Duke
Nonconference Home: Jacksonville State, Georgia
Nonconference Away: Mississippi State, Vanderbilt

This is all I could find.
 
Yeah, found that on Athletic Assoc website I think but what I want to know are the dates.
 
It's the same difference. Why is Utah not number one? Go ahead, you can say it: because they didn't play as tough of a schedule as Florida..

Not the case imho. If Utah had been in a BCS conference...and still had the same SOS they had this year...they would have played for the national championship.
 
Not the case imho. If Utah had been in a BCS conference...and still had the same SOS they had this year...they would have played for the national championship.

The problem is that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Their weak SOS was derived directly from their conference opponents outside of TCU and BYU.
 
The problem is that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Their weak SOS was derived directly from their conference opponents outside of TCU and BYU.


I think the point is if they had the exact same SOS in a BCS conference then they would have played for the championship. If they had been ranked in the top ten pre-season then they would have played for the championship as well. (Because pre-season rankings influence post-season rankings, though they shouldn't.)

USC is a different animal because USC WOULD have played for the MNC if they had the same record as Utah. SOS only matters when comparing BCS teams with identical records.
 
If they had been ranked in the top ten pre-season then they would have played for the championship as well. (Because pre-season rankings influence post-season rankings, though they shouldn't.)
+1 Utah had too far to climb this year due to the pre-season polls (I'm not sure where they were ranked, but it wasn't particularly high IIRC); Going undefeated in the regular season still wasn't enough.
 
The overarching issue is that if they were in a BCS conference, in all likelihood, their SOS wouldn't be that bad. Granted, you're still right that they would have gotten in if they were in a BCS conference, but you can't look at the situation and say that SOS only comes into play with BCS conferences. SOS is the ONLY reason Utah and Boise State didn't play for the national title. Hell, SOS is the primary difference between BCS and non-BCS conferences. The teams in those conferences, for the most part, cannot compete with those schools in BCS conferences. Therefore, playing them would be considered a weak schedule.

As far as pre-season top 10, Utah would be hard pressed to ever find themselves top 10. Things would have to align almost perfectly. They would most likely have to return pretty much everyone off of a team like this year's, and then have a schedule that people actually respect going into the season.
 
The problem is that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Their weak SOS was derived directly from their conference opponents outside of TCU and BYU.

Using Sagarin...Utah's SOS of 70.85 is higher than the following 10 BCS schools. Of course, these are final SOS ratings.

Arizona (70.63)
Iowa (70.08)
Rutgers (69.09)
South Florida (69.41)
Kentucky (70.48)
Illinois (70.30)
Kansas St (70.18)
Minnesota (68.68)
Louisville (68.17)
Indiana (67.82)
 
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