PSU currently 8th hardest strength of schedule

[psu00]

Another comparison- Auburn vs Penn State.

Penn St played 2 ranked teams all year.
Auburn played 5 ranked teams all year.

Penn St played current #2, and #3.
Auburn played current #1, #5, #7, #11, and #20.

PSU opponent records- 74-59
Auburn opponent records- 88-44

PSU played teams with winning record-
#2 Ohio State 11-0
#3 Michigan 11-0
Ohio 9-3
Purdue 7-4
Minnesota 7-4
Maryland 6-5

Auburn played teams with winning record-
#1 Georgia 11-0
#5 LSU 9-2
#7 Alabama 9-2
#11 Penn State 9-2
#20 Mississippi 8-3
Mississippi State 7-4
Mercer 7-4
Western Kentucky 7-5
San Jose St 6-4
Arkansas 6-5


This ‘Team Rankings’ site has Penn State’s schedule ranked at #8 and Auburn’s at #23.

 

[psu00]

We have seen far worse than WVU over the years. They will unfortunately be down next season but in general they are respectable.

True. IIRC, after the WVU games we will see a stretch of far worse again.

 

[Ian]

Outside of scUM and O$U, PSU schedule is underwhelming no matter what the algorithms say. Ohio is your marquee victory? Come on man! Minnesota, Maryland, and Purdue were solid but are not ranked teams. CMU, NW, Indiana, Rutgers, Sparty, and Auburn are not good teams this year.

 

[lazydave841]

Ole Miss drops the Egg Bowl. Guess they just swap places and Miss St becomes the good win for the SEC now?

Sec west is average. They are living on reputation this year.

 

[Online Persona]

Ole Miss drops the Egg Bowl. Guess they just swap places and Miss St becomes the good win for the SEC now?

Sec west is average. They are living on reputation this year.

Yes and if the SEC doesn't play an extra OOC cream puff than some of those teams are 7-5 instead of 8-4.

The big10 plays an extra conference game which equals an extra loss for half of the teams. We aren't comparing apples to apples.

 

[LandoComando]

Ole Miss drops the Egg Bowl. Guess they just swap places and Miss St becomes the good win for the SEC now?

Sec west is average. They are living on reputation this year.

Or, more likely, both will be ranked Does Ole Miss fall more than 5 spots for losing by 2 to Miss State?

Not saying both should be ranked or either team is good but this year after about 14 (maybe 18) it's just "who has won a bunch of games" and who might be good. Miss State beat Arizona and Ole Miss beat Georgia Tech in non-conference P5 so that helps them even though neither are good.

 

[LandoComando]

Yes and if the SEC doesn't play an extra OOC cream puff than some of those teams are 7-5 instead of 8-4.

The big10 plays an extra conference game which equals an extra loss for half of the teams. We aren't comparing apples to apples.

Ehhh--I mean, for the East that should be an extra win. Hurts the Big Ten west but they can't beat anyone anyway. Let's not pretend the Big Ten is out there scheduling 3 solid OOC games. Basically the same as most but, yes, the SEC should add a 9th game.

 

[lazydave841]

Or, more likely, both will be ranked Does Ole Miss fall more than 5 spots for losing by 2 to Miss State?

Not saying both should be ranked or either team is good but this year after about 14 (maybe 18) it's just "who has won a bunch of games" and who might be good. Miss State beat Arizona and Ole Miss beat Georgia Tech in non-conference P5 so that helps them even though neither are good.

6-5 Kentucky definitively whipped the Bulldogs and Levis did his best Sean Clifford impression and pissed away the Ole Miss game.

Neither should be ranked. If beyond the 14 or 18 or whatever spot is irrelevant, give the spot to other teams with similar records. These 2 are not it.

Although I agree that you are probably right, they will likely be 23/24 and 25 come Tuesday. However, Ole Miss has lost 4 of their last 5. Why should they be ranked, at all?

Miss St doesn't get credit for beating them either. They've lost badly to every team they've played with a pulse.

Strange that Illinois dropped like a rock and Ole Miss didn't isn't it?

 

[LandoComando]

6-5 Kentucky definitively whipped the Bulldogs and Levis did his best Sean Clifford impression and pissed away the Ole Miss game.

Neither should be ranked. If beyond the 14 or 18 or whatever spot is irrelevant, give the spot to other teams with similar records. These 2 are not it.

Although I agree that you are probably right, they will likely be 23/24 and 25 come Tuesday. However, Ole Miss has lost 4 of their last 5. Why should they be ranked, at all?

Miss St doesn't get credit for beating them either. They've lost badly to every team they've played with a pulse.

Strange that Illinois dropped like a rock and Ole Miss didn't isn't it?

Remember, when I'm discussing things I discuss them as "what's going to happen" based on the reality we live in so I'm glad you agree that they probably are both ranked right around 25. That seems probable but we'll see what happens

Illinois dropped because the Big Ten west is considered the worst/second worst division in football. Unfortunately reputation matters. Illinois wasn't really considered legit by most people even before the 3 game losing streak. Kind of like we all (well most of us) knew Syracuse and Kansas would come back down to reality. Illinois has 3 "bad losses" without a win over a ranked team. Ole Miss and Miss State have better losses which is sadly where we're at with the bottom 6-8 in the rankings.

 

[lazydave841]

Remember, when I'm discussing things I discuss them as "what's going to happen"

Actually you didn't until this week when you started going along with the committee.

Just because you or I can predict what the committee is going to do doesn't make it accurate in any reality.

Teams that lose 4 of 5 games to end the regular season don't deserve to be ranked. Politics doesn't make it so.

 

[LandoComando]

Actually you didn't until this week when you started going along with the committee.

Just because you or I can predict what the committee is going to do doesn't make it accurate in any reality.

Teams that lose 4 of 5 games to end the regular season don't deserve to be ranked. Politics doesn't make it so.

What are you talking about? When didn't I do that?
It is accurate in our reality
That's always happened--losing 4 of 5 at the end and being ranked. If we were 7-0 and went 1-4 the rest of the way we'd likely still be ranked as well.
Just because I think we need a 24 team playoff (we desperately do) doesn't mean I don't comprehend what's going to happen. People here have been saying nonsense about how teams would be ranked since the first release and I've always had the same stance.

 

[lazydave841]

What are you talking about? When didn't I do that?
It is accurate in our reality
That's always happened--losing 4 of 5 at the end and being ranked. If we were 7-0 and went 1-4 the rest of the way we'd likely still be ranked as well.

The committee rankings began week 9. You had strong opinions on good teams prior to week 9.

Show me all the teams that have been ranked after losing 4 of 5 since that always happens.

 

[LandoComando]

The committee rankings began week 9. You had strong opinions on good teams prior to week 9.

Show me all the teams that have been ranked after losing 4 of 5 since that always happens.

What do you mean I had strong opinions on good teams prior? Of course I had strong opinions on who I thought was good and who the committee would determine was good. That doesn't even make sense

If/when I have time I'll be happy to do that for you

 

[heckmans]

Even you know that is total bs argument - now you are just embarrassing yourself - well if you cherry pick everyone’s schedule you can say the same thing.

What's not BS? ...PSU will finish the regular season without having beat a team that is ranked.
PSU was embarrassed by scUM and tOSU let us hang around, but it never felt like PSU was in a position to control anything.
The entirety of the "strength" came with noncompetitive losses. PSUs wins are not very strong, unfortunately. If PSU was competitive against UM and tOSU, this wouldn't be an issue, but the biggest takeaway from this season is that there is a big gap. Line play under JF has been underwhelming for all 8 yrs. The offensive philosophy of JF is big plays instead of big lines that control the game. Unfortunately, the big play philosophy falls down without a certain level of skill players. Then, all we see is as absence of fundamentals and losing the LOS.

 

[Waltwam]

A tie is still one loss or less!

Until this year, the Buckeyes never had a salary cap! 😉. Oh wait. They still don't!