Omnivore CFB computer rankings (Week 6)
1 LSU
2 Alabama
3 Oklahoma
4 Oklahoma State
5 Clemson
6 Boise State
7 Stanford
8 Michigan
9 Georgia Tech
10 Texas
11 Kansas State
12 South Carolina
13 Illinois
14 Wisconsin
15 Arkansas
16 Nebraska
17 Houston
18 Oregon
19 Auburn
20 Virginia Tech
21 West Virginia
22 Notre Dame
23 Texas A&M
24 Arizona State
25 Georgia
Omnivore Rankings Week 4
I’ve been doing a computer ranking of college football teams at the FBS level for a number of years now. I also award the Omnivore National Championship to the highest rated non-automatic qualified team from the FBS in the last rankings after the bowl games.
In any case, the rankings aren’t released for the first three weeks of the season and now they’re here.
Here’s the top 25, as always if you want the whole list you can go to the rankings site.
1 LSU
2 Oklahoma
3 Alabama
4 Oklahoma State
5 Clemson
6 South Carolina
7 Boise State
8 Nebraska
9 Stanford
10 South Florida
11 Baylor
12 Florida
13 Wisconsin
14 Washington
15 Michigan
16 Virginia Tech
17 Arizona State
18 Texas
19 TCU
20 Notre Dame
21 Iowa State
22 Kansas State
23 Illinois
24 Georgia Tech
25 Oregon
Always glad to get the first ones out of the way.
FBS Bowls v. FCS playoff attendances
I bet the attendance at an FCS playoff game is heck of a lot better than the attendance at the GMAAC bowl.
Except not really. And even if the top FCS teams outdraw regular games from the FBS, the difference is that FBS fans are having to draw well all year long to stay at the top level and most usually do. Beyond that, the games are different and the alliances are different. Pro sports need playoffs to keep people interested. At the college level, bowl game wins provide the same incentive for fans to keep caring and allows you to have the unique opportunity that few sports provide — to end your season with a win even if you were just a .500 team.
I’m a pretty big opponent to the BCS on the whole, but I’ve got no gripes with the bowl system. Going from a D3 school to a FBS school as an undergraduate was fun, not the least of which because I hated how anti-climatic the playoffs were. It’s not a good reason to maintain the status quo or anything, but I’d honestly hate to see the bowls go away just so we can crown the same teams we do now as champions.
Because truthfully, that’s what’s going to happen for the most part. Boise State might be an upstart now. But if they maintain their pace, in a decade they’ll be a juggernaut like the rest of them trying to shut a new legion of little programs out of the fray.
Here are your stats from 2010 on FCS playoff games versus bowls:
From 2010
Cumulative Totals (through semifinal games)
1. Delaware - 32,736(3 games)
2. Appalachian State - 29,028(2 games)
3. Eastern Washington - 14,325(3 games)
4. Montana State - 14,277
5. North Dakota State - 12,202
6. Wofford - 11,823
7. Jacksonville State - 11,817
8. Georgia Southern - 10,214
9. William & Mary - 8,243
10. Northern Iowa - 5,990
11. Bethune-Cookman - 5,738
12. Stephen F. Austin - 4,938
13. Coastal Carolina - 4,556
Average attendance for home games
Appalachian State - 14,514
Montana State- 14,277
North Dakota State - 12,202
Wofford - 11,823
Jacksonville State - 11,817
Delaware - 10,912
Georgia Southern - 10,214
William & Mary - 8,243
Northern Iowa - 5,990
Bethune-Cookman - 5,738
Stephen F. Austin - 4,938
Eastern Washington - 4,775
Coastal Carolina - 4,556On the flip side, here are the attendance figures from last year’s bowl games.
You can attribute most of the downturns in attendance to the economy’s state. Also, understand that drawing as many people to a bowl game in a neutral site — even at a loss to the program — that an FCS team does to a home game takes a lot of effort. Even if two teams are “pitching in.” I think the hypocrisy of giving players giftbags but not paying them a larger stipend or other things are problems we need to address.
But let’s not all holier than thou about how supposedly “well” the NCAA handles the playoffs in the FCS, because the bowl system has essentially worked well for eighty or so years. I’m not prepared to throw out the way it works, just so we can get TCU or Boise State a title. Not because I don’t believe in those programs, but rather, because I don’t think they’ll change the system anymore than BYU’s 1984 title did.
Conference musical chairs
So the Big East has lost two more schools to the ACC, this time in the form of conference founders Pittsburgh and Syracuse. That wasn’t unexpected, but the lack of smoke making that move plausible is somewhat surprising. Still, it means that the Big East as a football conference must regroup quickly as it now only has seven schools with TCU joining next year from the Mountain West.
The Commissioner of the Big East just hasn’t been very proactive in all of this. But it’s hard to be proactive when your league is a basketball conference with some schools that play football.
The most sensible next move will be to bring UMass into the league rather than them joining the MAC, as they at least fit into the league’s traditional footprint and can do what UConn did when they went to FBS too. Still, it won’t be enough UConn is surely almost out of the door now — likely to the ACC — and that possibly means Rutgers will come along with them to make 16 teams in the ACC.
West Virginia is probably headed to the SEC to make 14 there once Texas A&M is allowed to leave the Big 12.
Is your head still spinning? Mine is.
I’d personally hope — as a New Jersey native — to see Rutgers in the Big Ten. Academically, it’s the most sensible and stable league for the institution that up until a two decades ago eschewed big college sports for other things. I don’t think they’ll be dominant in any league they’re in, but as the NYC flagship of the B1G, they’ll offer that league a lot more than they would than going to the ACC where they’d literally be the 16th team in a league that might fit them geographically but certainly not from a market competitiveness standpoint.
The real wildcard is whether Notre Dame is ready to join the Big Ten or not. If so, then I think Rutgers is easily the 14th school for that league over say, Missouri which doesn’t offer anything that Nebraska didn’t. Rutgers strong academic standing helps immensely. I’d rather see them sit it out in the Big East until the Big Ten comes calling rather than jumping at the ACC to become the 16th team there though. Just seems like a better long-term position to be in a venerable conference full of other flagships than to join a rag-tag league that includes “The U” and a bunch of other second-tier schools Duke and UNC notwithstanding.
The dust should settle on this over the coming months as schools continue to jockey for position. While it’s a difficult time on one hand, it’s probably long overdue on another. It’ll be interesting to see where the dust settles once it’s all over.
After looking at the preliminary numbers..
There’s a reason I don’t release my computer college football ranking for two more weeks. There’s just not enough data for it to really be accurate or worthwhile.
That about summarizes the drama
Florida International v. Toledo
This is from the Little Caesar’s Bowl in Detroit a few days ago. I prefer the bowls over a playoff, only when you consider that it’s the only system that allows teams that don’t win the title to end their season on a high note. Seems strange, to be sure. The financials aren’t there, it’s lame to have computers and sportswriters choose a national champion and who gets there.
But I think that it’s nice when players aren’t paid beyond a scholarship stipend check to give them moments that can sustain programs for years to come. And well, bowl wins like this make it worth it to me.
Having started at a Division III institution, nothing seemed lamer to me than perpetual first-round playoff exits. No, it doesn’t solve the heart of the matter. Upstarts can exist and do, but…with 120 FBS programs, equity is never going to be assured and the bowl system has a legacy. Scrapping it for an uneven playoff format doesn’t appeal to me and since we’re never likely to get a 16-team playoff (with 11 conference champs and 5 wild cards, for instance) I’m sure I want some sort of half measure that preserves the hierarchy as it is.
But I reserve the right to change my mind.
College Football Playoff Simulators
Here are a few online college football playoff simulators for this year’s postseason:
They do an actual tournament of their own, where the conference champs and five at-large teams duel in a sixteen team tournament. You can sim your own scenarios too. It’s likely what I’ll use for my simulation this year, since you can put conference champions in.
I’m guessing their big media credentials and ties to the BCS are preventing them from drumming the playoff bully pulpit as they have in the past. Thus, they did this but it’s hidden away and it’s not advertised anywhere on their site. At least they made it, though.
They’re now the drummers of the playoff drum, though their simulator like ESPN’s doesn’t allow you to put in conference champions, so it’s not as good as it could be.
Playoffs? Playoffs!
A 16-team playoff bracket using the final regular season Omnivore Rankings, using the SI Ultimate Playoff 2010
