Sagarin: ACC is the Best Conference

I don't see how Bama pulls the SEC-W up so much. Yeah Bama is great, but to make SEC-W the #1 sub-conference? LSU came on strong late but beat a floundering Louisville that was all used up. Auburn got smashed by OU, Arky got Beamer'd by VPI, MSSt. lost to Miami, the shitty one, and aTm lost to Kansas for God's sake.
 
GoGATech said:
I don't see how Bama pulls the SEC-W up so much. Yeah Bama is great, but to make SEC-W the #1 sub-conference? LSU came on strong late but beat a floundering Louisville that was all used up. Auburn got smashed by OU, Arky got Beamer'd by VPI, MSSt. lost to Miami, the ööööty one, and aTm lost to Kansas for God's sake.
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Good thing we can rely on the orange tiger clowns from south carolina to take them down a notch. If Clemson beats Bama, we'll be the number one conference.

In Dabo we trust... ugh.. I got nauseated typing that...
 
What was Louisville down the stretch? 1-3?

Clemson took their swagger.
 
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The MAC should have to serve a 2 year ban from any bowl games -third week in December bowls or otherwise.
 
GoGATech said:
I don't see how Bama pulls the SEC-W up so much. Yeah Bama is great, but to make SEC-W the #1 sub-conference? LSU came on strong late but beat a floundering Louisville that was all used up. Auburn got smashed by OU, Arky got Beamer'd by VPI, MSSt. lost to Miami, the ööööty one, and aTm lost to Kansas for God's sake.
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Didn't need Sagarin to tell me that.
 
GoGATech said:
I don't see how Bama pulls the SEC-W up so much. Yeah Bama is great, but to make SEC-W the #1 sub-conference? LSU came on strong late but beat a floundering Louisville that was all used up. Auburn got smashed by OU, Arky got Beamer'd by VPI, MSSt. lost to Miami, the ööööty one, and aTm lost to Kansas for God's sake.
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As Old Gold 75 pointed out, Missy State won. And A+M lost to Kansas State. Kansas couldn't beat Grayson. But your point is well made.
 
thats-the-joke.jpg
 
ee8384 said:
More confirmation from 538

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-acc-is-having-a-bowl-season-for-the-ages/
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It is interesting reading that, because to me it exposes the flaw in the ratings systems that are in use. No matter how much these guys try to take bias out of the ratings, the fact of the matter is that it is still in there.

Clemson an underdog to Ohio State? That's just ridiculous. The ratings are flawed in that there is an inherent bias of how strong a conference is believed to be, and thus, how valuable the wins are for conference games. There aren't enough quality non-conference games to rid the ratings of these biases.
 
coit said:
It is interesting reading that, because to me it exposes the flaw in the ratings systems that are in use. No matter how much these guys try to take bias out of the ratings, the fact of the matter is that it is still in there.

Clemson an underdog to Ohio State? That's just ridiculous. The ratings are flawed in that there is an inherent bias of how strong a conference is believed to be, and thus, how valuable the wins are for conference games. There aren't enough quality non-conference games to rid the ratings of these biases.
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FWIW, Ohio State's marquee OOC win (Oklahoma) was better than Clemson's (Auburn). Obv that one data point isn't enough to tell the whole story, and to your point, it'd be nice to have more big OOC matchups.
 
gth874t said:
FWIW, Ohio State's marquee OOC win (Oklahoma) was better than Clemson's (Auburn). Obv that one data point isn't enough to tell the whole story, and to your point, it'd be nice to have more big OOC matchups.
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Don't know why Auburn was in that game to begin with. Why wasn't Florida in the Sugar Bowl?
 
coit said:
Don't know why Auburn was in that game to begin with. Why wasn't Florida in the Sugar Bowl?
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Agree with sentiment, but I think it's a case of "the rules are the rules". IIUC, Sugar Bowl has to take highest-rated SEC team that's not in the playoffs. And IIRC, UF was ranked below War Tigers after the SECCG loss.
 
coit said:
It is interesting reading that, because to me it exposes the flaw in the ratings systems that are in use. No matter how much these guys try to take bias out of the ratings, the fact of the matter is that it is still in there.

Clemson an underdog to Ohio State? That's just ridiculous. The ratings are flawed in that there is an inherent bias of how strong a conference is believed to be, and thus, how valuable the wins are for conference games. There aren't enough quality non-conference games to rid the ratings of these biases.
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The ELO ratings method is used across many different sports to measure relative strength. Believe it started as a way to compare opponents in chess but can and has been extended to other sports. The method is used for the very reason you stated - not enough head-to-head matchups. You can even use it to compare relative strength across seasons (which is how 538 has come up with this year's Bama team may the best ever).

Is ELO perfect - no. In a single game matchup it is directional, not absolute. But it's not biased - it's math. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system
 
ee8384 said:
The ELO ratings method is used across many different sports to measure relative strength. Believe it started as a way to compare opponents in chess but can and has been extended to other sports. The method is used for the very reason you stated - not enough head-to-head matchups. You can even use it to compare relative strength across seasons (which is how 538 has come up with this year's Bama team may the best ever).

Is ELO perfect - no. In a single game matchup it is directional, not absolute. But it's not biased - it's math. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system
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I don't have time to try to dig it up but I seem to remember that different Elo implementations utilize some form of starting ratings that are based on perceived relative strengths. I could be wrong on that but I don't think so.
 
It is the same rating system that is going to dramatically overrate the two Mississippi schools preseason because SEC. Everyone will once again act shocked when they are mediocre.
 
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