December 3, 2006
Week 15 Polls
USA Today Coaches Poll
1. Ohio State (62)
2. Florida
3. Michigan
4. LSU
5. Wisconsin
6. Louisville
7. USC
8. Oklahoma
9. Boise State
10. Auburn
11. Notre Dame
12. West Virginia
13. Arkansas
14. Virginia Tech
15. Wake Forest
16. Texas
17. Rutgers
18. Tennessee
19. California
20. Brigham Young
21. Texas A&M
22. Nebraska
23. Boston College
24. TCU
25. Oregon State
AP Top 25
1. Ohio State (65)
2. Florida
3. Michigan
4. LSU
5. Louisville
6. Wisconsin
7. Oklahoma
8. USC
9. Boise State
10. Auburn
11. Notre Dame
12. Arkansas
13. West Virginia
14. Virginia Tech
15. Wake Forest
16. Rutgers
17. Tennessee
18. Texas
19. Brigham Young
20. California
21. Texas A&M
22. Nebraska
23. Boston College
24. Oregon State
25. TCU
Harris Interactive
1. Ohio State
2. Florida
3. Michigan
4. LSU
5. Louisville
6. Wisconsin
7. USC
8. Oklahoma
9. Boise State
10. Auburn
10. Notre Dame
12. West Virginia
13. Arkansas
14. Wake Forest
15. Virginia Tech
16. Rutgers
17. Texas
18. Tennessee
19. Brigham Young
20. California
21. Texas A&M
22. Nebraska
23. Boston College
24. TCU
25. Georgia Tech
Master Coaches Poll
1. Ohio State (16)
2. Michigan
3. Florida
4. LSU
5. Wisconsin
6. Louisville
7. USC
8. Oklahoma
9. Auburn
10. Arkansas
11. Virginia Tech
12. West Virginia
13. Boise State
14. Notre Dame
15. Wake Forest
16. Rutgers
17. Texas
18. Tennessee
19. BYU
20. Nebraska
21. Texas A&M
22. California
23. Georgia
24. Boston College
25. Georgia Tech
Bowl Champ. Series
1. Ohio State
2. Florida
3. Michigan
4. LSU
5. USC
6. Louisville
7. Wisconsin
8. Boise State
9. Auburn
10. Oklahoma
11. Notre Dame
12. Arkansas
13. West Virginia
14. Wake Forest
15. Virginia Tech
16. Rutgers
17. Tennessee
18. California
19. Texas
20. Brigham Young
21. Texas A&M
22. Oregon State
23. Nebraska
24. Boston College
25. UCLA
Comments:
volstrike3 said:
posted on December 3, 2006 4:05 PM — 75.20.190.14 — link — abuse?
Andrew R,
I am. USC played a brutal schedule with a young team but that does not change the fact that they have two losses to unranked teams. They have been dodging bullets for two years and it finally caught up with them.
Matt said:
posted on December 3, 2006 4:32 PM — 68.158.174.64 — link — abuse?
It's not only a love affair with USC. What about the most-padded-schedule love affair with Notre Dame? They don't deserve to be in the top 20. 26 points to UNC? 10 to a shitty reggie ball and Georgia Tech, which they won on two blantantly missed holding calls and a bullshit personal foul. POUNDED by Michigan. ROMPED ON by USC. Barely beat (20-17) a mediocre UCLA team that beat USC. Who else has Notre Dame played? NO ONE
T-Mac said:
posted on December 3, 2006 4:38 PM — 66.78.164.162 — link — abuse?
Mayor, Oregon State wasn't ranked when they beat USC. Just like Arkansas wasn't ranked when USC beat them. I'm not talking end-of-season rankings. I'm going by the rankings of when the teams played. The fact that Oregon State is ranked now has no bearing on the fact that USC lost to them as an un-ranked team. Now, regarding the BCS and strength of schedule it helps USC tremendously that Oregon State and Arkansas are now ranked teams. That's a shame too.
stan said:
posted on December 3, 2006 5:36 PM — 70.59.106.80 — link — abuse?
Florida? Give me a frigging break. First George Bush wins in Florida and ruind the world and now a 10th place team gets to ruin the B C S! Give me a frigging break. If you gace them 10 points and let Ohio State play drunk Florida is not going to win.
stan said:
posted on December 3, 2006 5:37 PM — 70.59.106.80 — link — abuse?
Florida? Give me a frigging break. First George Bush wins in Florida and ruined the world and now a 10th place team gets to ruin the B C S! Give me a frigging break. If you gace them 10 points and let Ohio State play drunk Florida is not going to win.
posted on December 3, 2006 6:26 PM — 216.9.250.6 — link — abuse?Dave said:
Stan, since you think the world has been ruined...shut up and let the rest of us enjoy a Big10 / SEC showdown. And, because Vegas is definitely more right than wrong, I guarantee the line will not be double digits you moron.
Dan said:
posted on December 3, 2006 7:08 PM — 70.171.41.206 — link — abuse?
Stan, you must be the drunk one. A 10th place team? What is that even supposed to mean. Florida's been in the top 5 for weeks now. The only other team in contention is one who has an undisputedly weaker schedule, has already lost to OSU, and aren't even champions of their own conference. There's no way you can say that a team coming out of the SEC at 11-1, who played 6 teams that were ranked at the time is not worthy of being in the BCS championship.
Mike said:
posted on December 3, 2006 7:29 PM — 24.231.224.19 — link — abuse?
I am also very disappointed that Florida is number two. Florida lost to AUBURN...Michigan lost to OHIO STATE. Come on now. This isn't about a Big Ten/SEC Showdown. It's SUPPOSED to be about the two best teams playing each other.
Big East Fan said:
posted on December 3, 2006 8:42 PM — 129.71.136.214 — link — abuse?
This is the 2nd year in a row that the Atlantic Coast Conference's BCS representative will be from outside the top 12...FSU last year #18, this year Wake Forest at #15.
When are they going to use the Big East rule and strip the ACC of their automatic BCS bid.
Oh, I forgot it was the Big East rule.
All Criminal Conference is a joke.
posted on December 3, 2006 9:56 PM — link — abuse?
@HPotter - As soon as the final coaches ballots are released, we'll run them at Fanblogs.
gatorhippy said:
posted on December 4, 2006 7:32 AM — 209.16.115.5 — link — abuse?
SoCal (#19):
Org St. only creeped into the rankings this week with the exception of the BCS last week, dude...
Let's not get carried away...
Southern Cal got BEAT twice by UNRANKED teams at the time the game took place...
Oregon State didn't get ranked on the merit of that win that got ranked on the merit of the rest of their season...
UCLA? Still unranked...
Bayou Boys said:
posted on December 4, 2006 11:43 AM — 72.149.254.106 — link — abuse?
Hey Stan, way to bring politics into sports. You want to talk about ruining stuff, you should listen to yourself speak. Oh and Mike, you also have no clue what your talking about. Here's the Deal!! Michigan already had there chance to beat OSU, and they failed, now its the next best teams turn. "florida" Go SEC!!!
TKE929 said:
posted on December 4, 2006 1:00 PM — 128.186.111.94 — link — abuse?
Michigan was ROBBED.
Strength of schedule? Wow, what an arguement. Florida’s #1 vs Michigan’s #3 ranking. Quite a landslide gators.
Losing by 10 pts at Auburn, a team who finished 9th with two losses (Arkansas, Georgia). How about losing by 3 to the undisputed #1 team in their own backyard?
Michigan led Florida in the BCS polls 7 of the total 8 weeks, even after losing at Ohio State. The only time UF pasted Michigan being in the final week as voters decided they didn’t want to see a rematch of Mich/OSU. If USC had beaten UCLA, I guarantee UF remains behind Michigan.
Now what do you mean when you say "Michigan had their chance?" Did I miss something? Did Michigan play Ohio State in the national championship? Opps, I'm sorry. NO they didn't. It's not Michigan's fault that they played the number one team in the nation during regular season. If the top two teams in the country are in the same conference, SO BE IT. Let them play for the national title.
Let me ask you, is anyone in Gainsville opposed to the concept of a rematch in the national championship game? It seemed to work out pretty well for them in 1996 with a rematch against FSU who beat them during regular season. What a bunch of hypocrites.
So what are Florida’s argument points?
They won their conference. See above Michigan’s rationale, and plus, show me where it says in the BCS manual that you have to win your conference to play for the national title. NOWHERE, that’s where.Back to the strength of schedule, how about if we let Michigan play a 13th game against a comparable (2-9) Div I-AA team that Florida played (West. Carolina)? Call me crazy, but I think Michigan could put up some style-points as well against an undeserving foe like them.
Well, congratulations Florida. One positive note could be that this controversy is yet one more swing of the axe at the inadequacy of the BCS system.
P.S. just a few stats for comparison.
Michigan's rush defence is #1 (43 yds/game)
UF's #6 (75 yds/game)Michigan #6 total defence (254 yes/game)
Florida #10 with 269 yds/gameMichigan is #12 in rushing offence (189 yds/game)
Florida is #36 with (160 yds/game) even with their 202 yds rushing in their extra game.Michigan is #22 in scoring/game with 30pts
Florida is #32 with 29 pts (PUSH)UF is #6 (13.5 pts/game) in scoring defense
Michigan #8 (14.5 pts/game), mind you UF had a defensive score in their 13th game of the year where Michigan only plays 12 games.
SanDiegoGator said:
posted on December 4, 2006 4:51 PM — 63.149.244.59 — link — abuse?
Absolutely No Chance to Win vs. OSU?!?! Vegas Odds makers with UM over UF by 7 points (same oddsmakers who had USC over UCLA by 13.5). This system sucks but here are the facts ([b][color=darkblue]BLUE [/color][/b]= advantange [b]UM[/b]; [color=orange][b]ORANGE [/b][/color]= advantage [b]UF[/b]):
[color=orange][b]Toughest Schedule:[/b] UM - 3rd; UF - 1st
[b]Record against top 25 teams:[/b] UM 2-1; UF 4-1
[b]Record against bowl-bound teams:[/b] UM 6-1; UF 9-1
[b]Teams beat with Winning Records:[/b] UM - 4; UF - 7
[b]Rankings of Top Three Teams Beat:[/b] UM - Wisc (7); ND (10); PSU (unranked) || UF - LSU (5); Ark (9); TN (16) [/color]
[color=darkblue][b]Quality Loss:[/b] UM - OSU; UF - AUB [/color]
[color=orange][b]Top 25 Defenses faced:[/b] UM - 3; UF - 6
[b]Conference Champion:[/b] UM - No; UF - Yes
[b]Toughest Conference: [/b]SEC
[b]10 win teams per conference: [/b]Big 10 - 3; SEC - 4
[b]Ranked Teams per conference:[/b] Big 10 - 3; SEC - 5 [/color]
[color=darkblue][b]Average Margin of Victory: [/b]UM 17.3; UF 13.5 [/color]
[color=orange][b]Division 1-A Combined Records Faced:[/b] UM 84-61; UF 89-57
[b]Ranking of Top Team Beat:[/b] UM - WISC (7); UF - LSU (5)
[b]Combined Top 25 Wins of Opponents: [/b]UM - 3; UF - 11
[b]Team Average Yards per Play: [/b]UM - 5.64; UF - 6.51
[b]Team Total Offense (yds / gm gained): [/b]UM - 374.9 (33rd); UF - 398.2 (21st) [/color]
[color=darkblue][b]Team Total Defense (yds / gm allowed): [/b]UM - 254.08 (6th); UF - 268.77 (10th) [/color]
[color=orange][b]Team Offensive TDs:[/b] UM - 41; UF - 44
[b]Team QB Rating: [/b]UM - 144.5; UF - 155.2
[b]Team yards per attempt: [/b]UM - 7.68; UF - 8.75
[b]Team Yards per completion:[/b] UM - 12.38; 13.67
[b]Team Completion Percentage:[/b] UM - 62.1; UF - 64.0 [/color]
[color=darkblue][b]Long Passing Plays: [/b]UM - 69; UF 66 [/color]
[color=orange][b]Scoring Defense: [/b]UM -9th; UF - 4th[/color]Seems to me the tale of the tape has Florida as the #2 team in the country and facing OSU in the BS (errr BCS) Championship. We will never really know until a day comes where UF and UM would face off on the field to see who goes to the championship game. But until then...
D said:
posted on December 4, 2006 6:33 PM — 159.143.1.2 — link — abuse?
T-Mac, overall how a team ends up is a far superior barometer to strength of schedule than is "how good a team was when you played them"
It's not perfect because it doesn't really account for injuries, etc... later in the season, but it clearly differentiates teams that pollsters thought were good early in the season (OSU/UT) but ended up not as good and vice-versa (USC/ARK)
There's obviously the human element and personal opinion involved in the voting but in my mind, it's more logical to look at the season as a whole
T-Mac said:
posted on December 4, 2006 7:22 PM — 66.78.139.117 — link — abuse?
D, you are correct my man. I mentioned that fact when I discussed the USC/Oregon State game and the USC/Arkansas game. I said it would benefit the USC strength of schedule tremendously. Now, at the same time, let's not get it confused either. I think we all know that Arkansas team that USC beat is a completely different team now. Oregon State being #24 now was not a ranked team when they beat USC. I still cannot believe USC is ranked #5 after losing to 2 unranked teams. Had USC lost to 2 ranked teams I wouldn't have as much of a problem with them having a #5 ranking. Any other team in the top-5 lose to 2 un-ranked teams D? The polls didn't make sense when I played and I guess they never will.
Tommie Trojan said:
posted on December 4, 2006 7:47 PM — 64.32.153.19 — link — abuse?
I am a moron. USC really sucks....
But, why do we have to keep hearing about how USC lost to two unranked teams? It doesn't matter what people used to think now does it? Now, that Florida was rethought of as #2 - does that change the fact that they started out lower? Does that change how good they really are because people didn't think that they were before? Is USC really #2 because somebody once thought that they were? No, it does not. What matters is the Final BCS Standings.
USC wins - #11 Notre Dame, #12 Arkansas, #18 California and #23 Nebraska
USC losses - #22 Oregon State and #25 UCLA.
Florida wins - #4 LSU, #12 Arkansas and #17 Tennessee
Florida loss - #9 Auburn
While Florida clearly has the best win and the better loss - they have only played four ranked teams while winning three.
USC has played six ranked teams while winning four.
Is there any other team that has beat four ranked teams or even played six ranked teams?
If we think that Florida has played remarkable by beating 3 of 4 ranked teams - why is it so amazing that USC retains a #5 rank after beating 4 of 6 ranked teams? What if USC does beat Michigan? Does that justify the ranking later on? Maybe their #3 or #4. LSU has lost two games.
Oregon State at 9-4 and UCLA at 7-5 are not exactly terrible teams. UCLA is still only 3-4 with Cowan at QB - after losing their starter Ben Olsen. Had they not lost him - they may have had an even better record. The point is - Oregon State and UCLA are ranked already with Bowl games to go to. They may win them and climb higher than #22 and #25. USC did not lose to Idaho or Portland State and there is a fine line between all the TOP 30 teams. One team shows up and plays five points below of what they're capable of, while another shows up and plays five points better than they normally are, and you got an upset. That's all it takes. Florida never had that "Big Spectacular Win". They just played more consistent. They just won - even by close margins. In that respect they are a real good team and quite capable of beating Ohio State. And, Ohio State only has to be slightly off on that day. USC was way off against UCLA though. But, it was not nearly as bad as many other teams have lost games this year. USC's worst game is probably still better than Notre Dame's best game. Not quite accurate since Notre Dame did beat UCLA by three at home. USC lost by four "on the road" sort of. So, what, it's a one point win for Notre Dame when it comes to UCLA. Notre Dame would count that three point win over UCLA as probably their best of the season or one of the best. USC would consider the four point loss as possibly the worst loss in school history. I know that I do. It's even worse under the scenario, than the pounding that Notre Dame laid on USC in 1966, 51-0.
Tommie T
SanDieGoGator said:
posted on December 4, 2006 8:02 PM — 63.149.244.59 — link — abuse?
So I guess you canNOT use HTML tags for style as the instructions say! :-) The point I was trying to make (mostly to TKE929 since he broke out the stat stick) is that there is a huge body of statistical evidence that supports Florida as #2. I think the Coaches and Harris is poll folks took an honest look at the WHOLE season and opponents of both teams and made their choice. Should we have just stopped considering any games played AFTER the OSU/UM game and crowned the championship teams then? Of course not...
posted on December 4, 2006 8:07 PM — link — abuse?
@SanDiegoGator - HTML yes, BB tags no.
Phil Lesh said:
posted on December 5, 2006 11:02 AM — 192.112.251.48 — link — abuse?
I have two words for you TKE....Ball State! Come on! You almost lose to the laughing stock of the MAC in your own house! Yes, the Meatchickens played a very good game against tOSU and lost. Give me one quality win that they had this year. And since every Michigan fan I know thins Notre Dame is the most overrated team in the history of college football you can't use that one. (just playing by your rules) Wisconsin is the only possible average win you have. Vandy, Central Michigan, Northwestern, Ball State,IU, Mich State, Penn State. (the last two lost to ND so the above rule qualifies) You can throw the West Carolina card all you want but you better take a look in the mirror!
PopsMich said:
posted on December 5, 2006 2:33 PM — 71.77.24.80 — link — abuse?
Phil, you're right about Ball St, and that never should have happened. You likely know you should characterize that correctly, too. Its was 30+ something to teens when in the 3rd quarter the coaches pulled everyone and tried getting a look at the reserves (they failed the test).
Inexcusable then, given what was at stake. Still inexcusable.
I'd say OSU's close call against Illinois was even worse. Hey, it happens.....
CROW said:
posted on December 7, 2006 10:02 PM — 74.130.121.56 — link — abuse?
Lets face it we have already seen the National Championship game....Ohio State won by "3" at home...What will the lil #ag Meyer say when OSU beats them by 21?? lets watch how they spin it.
Oh yea, Louisville got scr23wed..Sec way over rated..when will the title be settled on the field??Time for play off!!
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SoonerTaft said:
posted on December 3, 2006 3:19 PM — 68.97.9.76 — link — abuse?Congrats to the Sooners, and to whoever plays us in BCS game- get ready for annihilation..