tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793424786678923623.post2214471850025346102..comments2024-01-24T13:11:53.844-05:00Comments on The National Championship Issue: Top to Bottom: A Conference ReportUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793424786678923623.post-68747750532542926992008-08-24T22:10:00.000-04:002008-08-24T22:10:00.000-04:00If we would have a true national championship, we ...If we would have a true national championship, we would not have to spend our time with all the conference comparisons. "Conferencecentrism" might be fun for the statistical types and conference fans, but it really is not good for the college game and the athletes that play it. As it stands now, if you are a football player in a non-BCS conference you are second class. Of course the conferences that have the history, prestige and bowl contracts are going to be better because they keep getting more money to recruit with each year. When will people see that the lack of a systematic conference alignment that allows new programs to legitimately compete with the old guard schools. The fan loyalty and love for certain conferences just makes it difficult move forward with a new playoff format.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793424786678923623.post-43079442726150236802008-08-04T08:53:00.000-04:002008-08-04T08:53:00.000-04:00Thanks for bringing up a good point, John. You can...Thanks for bringing up a good point, John. You can't really look at the stats while the season is going on, mainly because all of the games have to be played in order to calculate statistical upsets. <BR/><BR/>As another example, if Michigan State (1-2) plays Purdue (2-1) in October and loses, then it wouldn't be seen as an upset since Purdue had more conference wins at the time. But if Michigan State finishes the conference season at (5-3) and Purdue finishes at (3-5) or (4-4), the Boilermakers' win over the Spartans in October would be an upset since they ended up with fewer conference wins as a whole. <BR/><BR/>Same thing with the SEC championship game last year - it wasn't going to be a statistical upset no matter what, since both LSU & Tennessee came into the game with 6 conference wins. <BR/><BR/>Part of the reason I set up the analysis like that is so that snap judgments are taken out of play. There's something to be said for ranking the teams during each week of the season, but I feel that to get the most accurate view of a team's or conference's whole season, you have to wait until all the games have been played.Ed Guntherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618165280932470376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793424786678923623.post-34351171259039508012008-08-04T07:54:00.000-04:002008-08-04T07:54:00.000-04:00The only statistical problem with your definition ...The only statistical problem with your definition of a statistical upset is that the simple fact of a win by the "lower" team makes is less of an upset. For instance... Let's say 7-0 Wisconsin plays 0-7 Minnesota. If Minnesota knocks them off, it becomes a 6 point upset - even though they were separated by 7 at game time. More importantly, if the 3-4 team beats the 4-3 team, by your definition, it is not an upset at all. Overall I liked the analysis, though. Thanks.John Kaminskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14429725079988766730noreply@blogger.com