I have some time to kill, so thought I would discuss the Iowa - Penn State game.
As I noted in my post a few days ago, the power rankings are really weird right now, and they are really, REALLY FUBAR as applied to the Big-10.
PENN STATE
The Nits are power ranked 7th by Sagarin right now in one of the most dumbfounding and confusing top-10 rankings I think I have ever seen this late in the season. They are also ranked more or less around no worse than 15th by nearly every possible ranking system. Yet they have virtually no resume (who you played against) or pedigree (who you opponents have played against) to support anywhere near that.
Take a look....
Lost to Ohio State:
Ohio State lost to Purdue (badly), and otherwise doesn't have a single top-30 win. But...the Bucks have three lopsided wins against sub-100 opponents at home.
Lost to Michigan State:
The Spartans lost to 49th Northwestern by 10, at home. Northwestern by the way, beat Nebraska in overtime and lost to Akron. MSU also lost to 51st Arizona State, who has yet to beat a top-100 team other than Michigan State.
Beat Appalachian State in overtime:
The 'Neers are ranked bout 38th, apparently because the took Penn State to overtime. Otherwise, all of their wins are against sub-100 FCS teams, except one ranked 79.
Also Purdue:
Purdue has not played Penn State, but they beat Ohio State who beat Penn State. Purdue's next best win Boston College. BC has yet to notch a top-50 win, and has played three sub-100 teams.
SUMMARY
That a lot of gobbledygook but here is what it concludes….the top ranked teams in the Big-10 appear to be top ranked because of performance against each other.....despite the fact there is no evidence that "each other" showed by highly ranked in the first placed.
None of these teams have any connection to anybody successful (other than themselves), nor any connection to anybody successful outside the conference.
It's like claiming that they are part Native American! (Oops, sorry.)
Put another way, if the (now defunct) RPI formula was applied to Penn State, Ohio State, and Purdue....their ranking would be pathetic. Two thirds of their RPI value would be worthless.
There is not a stitch of pedigree evidence that Penn State should be anywhere near being a ranked team, I would have a near impossible time ranking them in the top-30, and could make a strong argument they have not "earned" even top-50 yet. Except some merciless slobberknocking of a handful of sub-100 teams.
To be fair, I have a hard time believing that a Penn State program can be THAT bad, and I don't think they are. But going into the Iowa game, there is not a stitch of evidence they are anywhere near a top-15 team.
Just the same, Iowa will get credit for a top ranked win.
IOWA
To a point, another classic Iowa schedule.
Iowa has eight sub-50 opponents on it's schedule. Based on current rankings, they have yet to beat a single top-50 equivalent team, adjusted for home field advantage. That does include Iowa State.
Iowa State presents a sort of enigma when evaluating Iowa. It was Iowa State's first game while being Iowa's second, it was in Iowa City, was one of the worst games that Iowa State played, and I think even Iowa fans would admit that the Iowa State team that played back then is nowhere near the team that Iowa State is now. So, that game has to be evaluated with at least a lift of an eyebrow.
Iowa lost to Wisconsin....Wisconsin has it's own pedigree problems!
11th ranked Wisconsin's one and only top-75 win is over Iowa. That's it.
The Badgers LOST to 71st BYU at home! Their best non-Iowa win is over 65th Nebraska....at home! Adjusted for home field advantage, that is a 75th equivalent.
To the point....if Wisconsin had not beaten Iowa....their best win was to 65th Nebraska, and their best loss was to BYU. If the old win-loss based BCS formula was in place....Wisconsin would be ranked somewhere in the 65th to 75th range!
If Iowa had not beaten Iowa State, their best win was to 51st Maryland and their one loss was a ten point loss to a VERY suspicious Wisconsin team.
Simply put...Wisconsin is ranked because of their win against Iowa....who is ranked because of their win against Iowa State.
That....and a handful of one-sided victories against sub-50 and sub-100 teams.
SUMMARY
The situation is beyond belief.
Here we are halfway through the season, and two alleged top-25 teams are playing division championships....who have virtually zero resume cred, zero pedigree cred..... to support them being anywhere near a top-25 team.
All that having been said, I do think these two teams are pretty decent. But top tier teams in the discussion of conference championships and thereby national playoff contenders? Which Iowa certainly will be if they beat Penn State?
I have no idea who is going to win the Iowa - Penn State game, because there is virtually nothing that provides credibility to either of their program's strength. This is a game that is very analogous to the Ohio State - Purdue game.
But I will leave this.....imagine what the national image of Coach Campbell would be right now if Iowa State had had the opportunity to played five sub-50 equivalent teams to date, and even throw in a loss to a highly questionable top-15 team.
(In my opinion.)
As I noted in my post a few days ago, the power rankings are really weird right now, and they are really, REALLY FUBAR as applied to the Big-10.
PENN STATE
The Nits are power ranked 7th by Sagarin right now in one of the most dumbfounding and confusing top-10 rankings I think I have ever seen this late in the season. They are also ranked more or less around no worse than 15th by nearly every possible ranking system. Yet they have virtually no resume (who you played against) or pedigree (who you opponents have played against) to support anywhere near that.
Take a look....
Lost to Ohio State:
Ohio State lost to Purdue (badly), and otherwise doesn't have a single top-30 win. But...the Bucks have three lopsided wins against sub-100 opponents at home.
Lost to Michigan State:
The Spartans lost to 49th Northwestern by 10, at home. Northwestern by the way, beat Nebraska in overtime and lost to Akron. MSU also lost to 51st Arizona State, who has yet to beat a top-100 team other than Michigan State.
Beat Appalachian State in overtime:
The 'Neers are ranked bout 38th, apparently because the took Penn State to overtime. Otherwise, all of their wins are against sub-100 FCS teams, except one ranked 79.
Also Purdue:
Purdue has not played Penn State, but they beat Ohio State who beat Penn State. Purdue's next best win Boston College. BC has yet to notch a top-50 win, and has played three sub-100 teams.
SUMMARY
That a lot of gobbledygook but here is what it concludes….the top ranked teams in the Big-10 appear to be top ranked because of performance against each other.....despite the fact there is no evidence that "each other" showed by highly ranked in the first placed.
None of these teams have any connection to anybody successful (other than themselves), nor any connection to anybody successful outside the conference.
It's like claiming that they are part Native American! (Oops, sorry.)
Put another way, if the (now defunct) RPI formula was applied to Penn State, Ohio State, and Purdue....their ranking would be pathetic. Two thirds of their RPI value would be worthless.
There is not a stitch of pedigree evidence that Penn State should be anywhere near being a ranked team, I would have a near impossible time ranking them in the top-30, and could make a strong argument they have not "earned" even top-50 yet. Except some merciless slobberknocking of a handful of sub-100 teams.
To be fair, I have a hard time believing that a Penn State program can be THAT bad, and I don't think they are. But going into the Iowa game, there is not a stitch of evidence they are anywhere near a top-15 team.
Just the same, Iowa will get credit for a top ranked win.
IOWA
To a point, another classic Iowa schedule.
Iowa has eight sub-50 opponents on it's schedule. Based on current rankings, they have yet to beat a single top-50 equivalent team, adjusted for home field advantage. That does include Iowa State.
Iowa State presents a sort of enigma when evaluating Iowa. It was Iowa State's first game while being Iowa's second, it was in Iowa City, was one of the worst games that Iowa State played, and I think even Iowa fans would admit that the Iowa State team that played back then is nowhere near the team that Iowa State is now. So, that game has to be evaluated with at least a lift of an eyebrow.
Iowa lost to Wisconsin....Wisconsin has it's own pedigree problems!
11th ranked Wisconsin's one and only top-75 win is over Iowa. That's it.
The Badgers LOST to 71st BYU at home! Their best non-Iowa win is over 65th Nebraska....at home! Adjusted for home field advantage, that is a 75th equivalent.
To the point....if Wisconsin had not beaten Iowa....their best win was to 65th Nebraska, and their best loss was to BYU. If the old win-loss based BCS formula was in place....Wisconsin would be ranked somewhere in the 65th to 75th range!
If Iowa had not beaten Iowa State, their best win was to 51st Maryland and their one loss was a ten point loss to a VERY suspicious Wisconsin team.
Simply put...Wisconsin is ranked because of their win against Iowa....who is ranked because of their win against Iowa State.
That....and a handful of one-sided victories against sub-50 and sub-100 teams.
SUMMARY
The situation is beyond belief.
Here we are halfway through the season, and two alleged top-25 teams are playing division championships....who have virtually zero resume cred, zero pedigree cred..... to support them being anywhere near a top-25 team.
All that having been said, I do think these two teams are pretty decent. But top tier teams in the discussion of conference championships and thereby national playoff contenders? Which Iowa certainly will be if they beat Penn State?
I have no idea who is going to win the Iowa - Penn State game, because there is virtually nothing that provides credibility to either of their program's strength. This is a game that is very analogous to the Ohio State - Purdue game.
But I will leave this.....imagine what the national image of Coach Campbell would be right now if Iowa State had had the opportunity to played five sub-50 equivalent teams to date, and even throw in a loss to a highly questionable top-15 team.
(In my opinion.)
