Explain This to Me

[Teldar]

So first off, I have to give Heather Dinich a lot credit. She seems to have a good grasp of this.

http://espn.go.com/college-football...equal-first-college-football-playoff-rankings

After the rankings were released, she tracked down Jeff Long for him to explain to her why Iowa was ranked so low in comparison to Alabama. This idiot said Offense. They are worried about Iowa's offense. I'm not making this up. Check the link. He also said Alabama had three wins against winning teams. Ah, so does Iowa.

So I did a little checking. Alabama averages 421 yds/game. Iowa? 405. Alabama has had 29 offensive touchdowns. Iowa has 30. Alabama averages 5.65 yards per play. Iowa averages 5.77.

Explain to me again, Jeff Long, you SEC homer how Alabama's offense is so much better than Iowa's?

I had faith that this committee would trust the data. I was wrong. Even if we win out, I now can paint a scenario where Iowa gets left out of the championship. I never would have thought that yesterday.

 

[HawkeyeSmitty4]

if these stats are true, well done.

 

[Hawkirish]

So first off, I have to give Heather Dinich a lot credit. She seems to have a good grasp of this.

http://espn.go.com/college-football...equal-first-college-football-playoff-rankings

After the rankings were released, she tracked down Jeff Long for him to explain to her why Iowa was ranked so low in comparison to Alabama. This idiot said Offense. They are worried about Iowa's offense. I'm not making this up. Check the link. He also said Alabama had three wins against winning teams. Ah, so does Iowa.

So I did a little checking. Alabama averages 421 yds/game. Iowa? 405. Alabama has had 29 offensive touchdowns. Iowa has 30. Alabama averages 5.65 yards per play. Iowa averages 5.77.

Explain to me again, Jeff Long, you SEC homer how Alabama's offense is so much better than Iowa's?

I had faith that this committee would trust the data. I was wrong. Even if we win out, I now can paint a scenario where Iowa gets left out of the championship. I never would have thought that yesterday.

Duh - the defenses in the SEC are better than the big 10 and D matters when talking SEC vs Iowa. Offense only matters when comparing Big 12 vs Iowa. Not going to get too worked up unless Iowa goes undefeated and gets left out but some of the comments last night and this morning (especially by the chairman) make you scratch your head. It may be best if the committee has someone else talk next week.

 

[neversurrender]

Do we start to worry if next week at this time we are in the same spot or lower even with Bama possibly having 2 losses along with Clemson, and TCU, maybe hainvg losses?

 

[icparkerhawk]

So first off, I have to give Heather Dinich a lot credit. She seems to have a good grasp of this.

http://espn.go.com/college-football...equal-first-college-football-playoff-rankings

After the rankings were released, she tracked down Jeff Long for him to explain to her why Iowa was ranked so low in comparison to Alabama. This idiot said Offense. They are worried about Iowa's offense. I'm not making this up. Check the link. He also said Alabama had three wins against winning teams. Ah, so does Iowa.

So I did a little checking. Alabama averages 421 yds/game. Iowa? 405. Alabama has had 29 offensive touchdowns. Iowa has 30. Alabama averages 5.65 yards per play. Iowa averages 5.77.

Explain to me again, Jeff Long, you SEC homer how Alabama's offense is so much better than Iowa's?

I had faith that this committee would trust the data. I was wrong. Even if we win out, I now can paint a scenario where Iowa gets left out of the championship. I never would have thought that yesterday.

The way I understood it, the question was a spinoff of her question about Bama and Florida with their common opponents and losses. He responded basically that it was how they won and overall SoS since Bama beat 3 teams over .500. She followed up with why doesn't that bump Iowa above the 2 big 12 teams. He said it was because of doubts about our offense. I think he is comparing our O to Baylor and TCU, not Bama. I agree our O isn't as powerful as those but it's terrible logic.

 

[David1979]

I am rooting for LSU to stomp Bama this weekend and Florida St to beat Clemson.

 

[eb_sports]

I am almost certain that the Hawks will be left out of the playoff unless they not only win every game, but control the BT championship and win by at least 10. If LSU/Alabama is close this weekend and neither loses another game, they will both be ahead of Iowa. Too many other teams ahead will either win out or only have a close loss for their only loss and be put ahead of Iowa. Iowa's wins: Wisconsin isn't as good as they have been lately, Northwestern isn't as good as it seemed at the time, and Nebraska isn't very good. One game this weekend that is HUGE is if Pitt can beat Notre Dame. ND would then be behind Iowa and the Pitt win would look better.

 

[Teldar]

Duh - the defenses in the SEC are better than the big 10 and D matters when talking SEC vs Iowa. Offense only matters when comparing Big 12 vs Iowa. Not going to get too worked up unless Iowa goes undefeated and gets left out but some of the comments last night and this morning (especially by the chairman) make you scratch your head. It may be best if the committee has someone else talk next week.

Um, lets see:

Alabama's top 5 Defenses faced:

Wisconsin (3)
Georgia (21)
Ole Miss (35)
Arkansas (62)
Texas A&M (66)

Iowa's top 5 Defenses faced:

Wisconsin (3)
Northwestern (18)
Pittsburgh (26)
Illinois (38)
Maryland (91)

Your comment simply is not true. Iowa to date has faced much tougher defenses than Alabama.

 

[eb_sports]

Yep. Need LSU to stomp Bama. I'm worried, though, that if Florida State beats Clemson FSU could end up in front of Iowa by the end as well and Clemson might also stay ahead of us if their loss is close.

 

[Hawkirish]

Um, lets see:

Alabama's top 5 Defenses faced:

Wisconsin (3)
Georgia (21)
Ole Miss (35)
Arkansas (62)
Texas A&M (66)

Iowa's top 5 Defenses faced:

Wisconsin (3)
Northwestern (18)
Pittsburgh (26)
Illinois (38)
Maryland (91)

Your comment simply is not true. Iowa to date has faced much tougher defenses than Alabama.

You are correct and I should have used a smiley face - sorry. I was being a bit facetious as you would have to make the comment to justify the O rankings/stats of Alabama vs Iowa. The old eyeball test per the SEC defenders which is used when facts / stats don't back them up. And D #s don't matter only offense per the commish at least when comparing Iowa to big 12.

 

[iahawkeyes17]

Seriously with the committee you could do what the late night shows do with elections. Ask a person who they are voting for then ask them if they like the candidates stance on several positions. But in reality they keep stating the stuff the opposition is in favor of and the person will answer yes how much they agree with what they are being asked.

You could flip Bama's stats with other teams like Iowa, Florida, Mich St in comparison and they will say Alabama every time no matter the numbers. I did like how Dinich actually asked an intelligent question.

 

[Menace Sockeyes]

Guys, take a breath. If Iowa goes undefeated and wins the B1G Championship, there is NO way the schedule will shake out to us being left out. With Ohio State in there, it's a near lock that either, MSU, Iowa, or OSU as B1G Champion is in. And frankly, if we lose any remaining games, we don't DESERVE to be in. It's all so beautifully simple.

 

[SchmidtyNole]

Yep. Need LSU to stomp Bama. I'm worried, though, that if Florida State beats Clemson FSU could end up in front of Iowa by the end as well and Clemson might also stay ahead of us if their loss is close.

I disagree. These are weekly rankings. But they can't give weight to something like winning a Conference Championship yet because noone has actually won their conference. Once December 6 gets here they'll in all likelihood do what they are supposed to do which is take the 4 best Conference winning among the Power 5 conferences or 3 best along with Notre Dame for the Playoff. I predict the Pac 12 gets left out because I am predicting their winner will have two losses. I have Stanford beating Utah and I have Notre Dame beating Stanford.

The key is all of us around the country need to be big Pitt fans on Saturday.

 

[icu81222]

I think most people realize that Iowa needs to win out to be in the playoffs. That's not the issue.

The issue is the process that was supposed to be better than the BCS has already taken a turn for bias after only 1 year.

The SEC network is owned by ESPN. Virtually every ESPN website has something "SEC" on it. Every ESPN show on college sports, discusses at length, the SEC. Even if the topic is a non-SEC team, it somehow ends up on the SEC.

That's the problem. Iowa being involved here is just a fly in their ointment. They absolutely need Iowa to be out of the picture so as to justify the end results they want

 

[Chuck C]

Guys, take a breath. If Iowa goes undefeated and wins the B1G Championship, there is NO way the schedule will shake out to us being left out. With Ohio State in there, it's a near lock that either, MSU, Iowa, or OSU as B1G Champion is in. And frankly, if we lose any remaining games, we don't DESERVE to be in. It's all so beautifully simple.

I think you're correct. If MSU beats Ohio state they'll take their spot. If Iowa beats MSU or OSU they'll take their spot. If Notre dame wins this weekend, they'll take either LSU's or Bamas spot. The ND/Stanford game will basically be a quarterfinal game. The Big 12 is the conference on the outside looking in again. They need some help, especially since they don't have a championship game.

 

[iahawkeyes17]

I think most people realize that Iowa needs to win out to be in the playoffs. That's not the issue.

The issue is the process that was supposed to be better than the BCS has already taken a turn for bias after only 1 year.

The SEC network is owned by ESPN. Virtually every ESPN website has something "SEC" on it. Every ESPN show on college sports, discusses at length, the SEC. Even if the topic is a non-SEC team, it somehow ends up on the SEC.

That's the problem. Iowa being involved here is just a fly in their ointment. They absolutely need Iowa to be out of the picture so as to justify the end results they want[/QUOTE]

I was honestly surprised that Pollacks top 6 wasn't this with his SEC biased opinion.
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Florida
4. Memphis
5. Ole Miss
6. Georgia

 

[renkHawk]

If you go by point per game, historically Iowa's offense is the best since 2002 (32.6 - 37.2) and best defense since 2008 (15.2 - 13.0).

 

[ABYPFCS]

I think Iowa will have to go unbeaten to make the playoffs. The issue with using stats when comparing teams, is that those stats are usually against different teams.

I would imagine if Iowa were to be playing Alabama, Alabama would probably be favored by about a touchdown. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean they would win, but that the perception is that they are the better team.

I just think it is great that we are in the hunt, but cannot afford a slip up.