Buckeyes slightly close gap on Badgers in BCS
by Adam Hoge on Nov 21, 2010 6:07 PM CST
in Wisconsin Badgers Football
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PrintThis week's BCS standings are out a little early and the Badgers are still ranked No. 7. But what stands out more is that Ohio State moved up to No. 8 -- by virtue of Nebraska's loss -- and closed the gap on Wisconsin by a mere .0044 percentage points.
It's interesting that Ohio State closed the gap at all, because Wisconsin actually gained percentage points on Ohio State in both the Harris Poll and the coaches' poll. That means the annoying computers are working against Wisconsin again.
Both the Buckeyes and Badgers actually made great strides in the computers this week, but Ohio State's improvement was a little more significant. Wisconsin's average computer ranking went from 12 to eight while Ohio State's went from 13 to nine. But while Wisconsin's computer percentage points went from .5700 to .6800, OSU's went from .5000 to .6400, which accounts for the Buckeyes slightly closing the gap overall.
Why did the computers like Ohio State's narrow victory at Iowa more than Wisconsin's blowout win at Michigan when the Wolverines and Hawkeyes have the same overall record? Who knows?
But one thing is obvious: The unpredictable and confusing computers are going to decide which team is ranked higher in the final BCS standings released Dec. 5 and that has to make the Badgers and their fans feel uneasy.
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For what it's worth
The computer polls are just about as good at ranking teams as the human polls. It should be obvious that a win over (BCS-ranked) Iowa would help OSU more than UW’s win over (unranked) NW. Wisconsin’s gap is still quite large.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/magazine/21fob-gofigure-t.html?r=1&ref=natesilver
People should remember that while they have the right to their opinion, they are not entitled to be taken seriously. -- Bruce Bartlett
A win at Michigan is less impressive in the BCS computers’ eyes than one at Iowa because the Hawkeyes’ schedule has been dramatically more challenging to this point. Iowa’s best win is against Michigan State, while Michigan’s best win is either Illinois, Notre Dame, or UConn. Plus, Iowa beat Michigan.
Yes, computers are unpredictable, but at the end of the day it’s all about strength of schedule and winning. If Ohio State was hosting Michigan State instead of Michigan next week, I’d be more uncomfortable about our chances of staying ahead of them in the computers.
Bucky's 5th Quarter - All Badgers, all the time.
How about
Michigan State drops one in Happy Valley and we don’t have to worry about this? Either way, though, I believe that Iowa was Ohio State’s best chance to close the gap and possibly overtake Wisconsin and if they didn’t this week, it’s unlikely they do it the next.
BCS is Garbage
Good win on Saturday. I enjoyed it. However, this BCS stuff is garbage. Why is the Rose Bowl berth going to be settled by this trash? I know you guys will accept the Rose Bowl and never look back or apologize but it is trash that MSU is looking like they get the biggest shaft ever if everyone wins Saturday. I’m not complaining or taking anything from Wisconsin, more just voicing my frustration over a potentially very frustrating scenario that puts MSU in the Capital One Bowl and a team like Pitt of Va Tech in the BCS. Rant over.
Everyone loves to trash the BCS
But what was done before to break a 3-way tie for the B10 title where not all the teams played one another? If if goes down to the human polls, as I suspect was done before, Wisconsin would also go to the Rose Bowl. At least there’s a system that determines this.
People should remember that while they have the right to their opinion, they are not entitled to be taken seriously. -- Bruce Bartlett
could be worse
Before the B10 adopted BCS rankings as a tiebreaker, MSU would be in the driver’s seat to Pasadena because their last trip to the Rose Bowl predates Wisco’s fin de siècle games.
BCS is hopelessly flawed, but the B10’s decision to incorporate the rankings is much less arbitrary than the old way.
Yes the old way with team that hadn’t been to the Rose in the longest time was pretty flawed
That way the Big Ten actually did not send it’s best team to represent the conference as a weaker team with an easier schedule could win by having the same record.
He’s always open. He catches a lot of balls. He’s un-guardable, no matter how old he is
Why should Badger's Fans be worried?
That was Ohio State’ best opportunity to pass us. They didnt and they wont now unless we lose. We both have teams ranked relatively close to each other at home this week. Computers wont change much if at all, and if we both win, we will be ranked higher in the Human Polls. Bucky and OSU wins, Badgers are going to Pasadena, no question about it.
Agree with this.
The risk all along was losing the humans, which didn’t happen because OSU would have had to put the hurt on Iowa.
The computers aren’t as evil and you’re making them sound IMO. You guys played a slightly weaker OOC schedule but missed PSU instead of MSU which is making up for is. Obviously the scores aren’t a part of the formula so you don’t get bonus points for hanging 80-something on Indiana.
Ultimately you all should be happy about the BCS, it’s doing a better job of ranking the best teams than anything that pre-dated it and even a mediocre win against Minnesota almost guarantees you a trip to the RB.
My problem is why the computers rate all the big ten teams so low in comparison to other conferences like the pac 10 and wherever BS state and TCU are from.
Only the Big Ten has 3 top ten teams – it is obvious the Big Ten is strong this year.
Both the coaches poll and the writers poll have Wisconsin as the best 1 loss team in the country. Only the computer rankings hold the Badgers down despite the obvious quality of the team.
- Harris Poll Coaches’ Poll -
Rank Team Record Rank Votes Avg. Rank Votes Avg. Comp
Rank
Avg BCS
Avg Previous
1 Oregon Ducks 10-0 1 2,793 .9800 1 1,459 .9892 .9600 .9764 1
2 Auburn Tigers 11-0 2 2,727 .9568 2 1,398 .9478 1.0000 .9682 2
3 TCU Horned Frogs 11-0 4 2,557 .8972 4 1,300 .8814 .9200 .8995 3
4 Boise State Broncos 10-0 3 2,619 .9189 3 1,341 .9092 .8300 .8860 4
5 LSU Tigers 10-1 6 2,227 .7814 6 1,175 .7966 .8800 .8193 5
6 Stanford Cardinal 10-1 7 2,209 .7751 8 1,112 .7539 .8000 .7763 6
7 Wisconsin Badgers 10-1 5 2,295 .8053 5 1,211 .8210 .6800 .7688 7
8 Ohio State Buckeyes 10-1 8 2,131 .7477 7 1,116 .7566 .6400 .7148 9
9 Oklahoma State Cowboys 10-1 9 1,805 .6333 9 990 .6712 .7400 .6815 10
10 Michigan State Spartans 10-1 10 1,797 .6305 10 927 .6285 .5600 .6063 12
11 Alabama Crimson Tide 9-2 11 1,783 .6256 11 885 .6000 .5800 .6019 11
12 Arkansas Razorbacks 9-2 12 1,589 .5575 12 784 .5315 .6200 .5697 13
13 Oklahoma Sooners 9-2 13 1,412 .4954 13 733 .4969 .5200 .5041 14
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/polls/bcs/#ixzz163uue7Kh
He’s always open. He catches a lot of balls. He’s un-guardable, no matter how old he is
LSU's schedule is ****ing ridiculous.
UNC is flagging down the stretch, WVU is not in contention to win the Big East, and other than that? Nobody. McNeese State, an FCS school, is 6-4 in FCS play, and Louisiana-Monroe is 5-6.
Hardly the group of powerhouses everyone expected…
Beat Northwestern, THEN I'll talk Wisconsin in the BCS. But not until that happens.
For all the crap we give Wil Wheaton, he can still tackle better than Asante Samuel...
by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Nov 23, 2010 12:34 AM CST up reply actions
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