Case for being ranked

[LWeis15]

We are not ranked for reason our best win is a team that best win was a Ohio state victory they one by three points over the worst ohio state I have seen in some time . Also it's very possible mich st. loses next three games. I still happy we are winning we just beating teams we should beat nothing special.

^This...like you said, we should be beating these teams. Give it a win over a possibly ranked U$C and we will be ranked.

 

[arrowryan]

The people on the BCS countdown show were just talking about Notre Dame about how they would probably beat the teams that were ranked 15-25 and they went on saying that they couldnt believe they werent ranked. They thought Notre Dame would definately beat Penn St

 

[Riddickulous]

The people on the BCS countdown show were just talking about Notre Dame about how they would probably beat the teams that were ranked 15-25 and they went on saying that they couldnt believe they werent ranked. They thought Notre Dame would definately beat Penn St

I think we would cruise over Penn State.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

The people on the BCS countdown show were just talking about Notre Dame about how they would probably beat the teams that were ranked 15-25 and they went on saying that they couldnt believe they werent ranked. They thought Notre Dame would definately beat Penn St

Heard it as well... Herbie is back on board. Said "he's been as tough on the Irish as anyone the past 15 years, but this team is extremely talented" despite their "self-destructive" games the first two weeks. Thinks we'd give problems to any team ranked in the teens up through 25. Craig James then chimed in that he broke "us" down and "loved" our defense....and everyone agreed that State Penn was a joke on the AP/Coaches Poll. Said both polls need to be more "fluid" based on performance v. wins and losses. They were all over ND's jock. I think I developed a telephone poll in my pants after hearing all of that. Completely agree.

I wonder if they know that Tommy Rees is...8-1, baby!!!!!!! That alone should have bumped us up into the Top 25...

 

[johnnykillz]

Wait a second.

We're 8-1?

Damn.

Back to the Future Part 7.

Thanks Biff, I mean HCTI.

 

[Rhode Irish]

I usually don't care about rankings. If you play your schedule and take care of your business, you'll be where you need to be at the end. Having said that, though, looking at who the voters have ranked higher than ND is infuriating. If the rankings are supposed to reflect who the best teams are, then the fact that teams like Penn State (Coaches), Texas, Baylor, Texas A&M, Houston, Florida, Virginia Tech, Washington and Michigan State received more votes than Notre Dame is an absolute joke. ND would be favored by any of those teams, probably by double digits in most cases, and has already run one of them out of the stadium. And a case could be made that ND has a better resume than Auburn, Kansas State, West Virginia.

A lot of you guys are pushing this idea that ND doesn't deserve to be ranked because we lack wins against bona fide title contenders, but I submit the following comparisons betweens ND and the teams listed above:

1. Only ND has all of its wins against BCS programs. We are also the only team of those in the comparison that has only played BCS teams.

2. Only Auburn has a win against a team that is clearly better than our win against Michigan State. Illinois has a comparable win against Arizona State. All of the other teams mentioned have combined for exactly ZERO good wins thus far.

3. Notre Dame has lost two games, both to teams receiving votes in the polls, one of which is ranked #10/11. Notre Dame's two losses were by a combined 7 points. Many of the teams listed above got buried by teams not appreciably better (or at least not ranked significantly higher) than Michigan.

I'm sorry, but I think some of you guys are too used to getting beat down. This Notre Dame team is legitimately a top-25 team right now, and will probably end up being even more elite than that. There is nothing we can do about those first two weeks now, but I think ND is being punished a little harshly for playing its worst football at the start of the year and losing two close games to a good team and (apparently) a very good team. I agree that even the win against Pitt didn't make ND look like a superteam, but look around at what the other teams toward the back end of the top-25 have done. It isn't impressive at all. I would like ND against any one of them. And really, this shouldn't be shocking. We thought we were good coming into the season, and we lost two ugly, sometimes fluky, games to start the year. But this is still the same team we all loved coming into the season, and they're finally starting to play like it. Sooner or later the poll voters will catch on.

 

[IrishinSyria]

I usually don't care about rankings. If you play your schedule and take care of your business, you'll be where you need to be at the end. Having said that, though, looking at who the voters have ranked higher than ND is infuriating. If the rankings are supposed to reflect who the best teams are, then the fact that teams like Penn State (Coaches), Texas, Baylor, Texas A&M, Houston, Florida, Virginia Tech, Washington and Michigan State received more votes than Notre Dame is an absolute joke. ND would be favored by any of those teams, probably by double digits in most cases, and has already run one of them out of the stadium. And a case could be made that ND has a better resume than Auburn, Kansas State, West Virginia.

A lot of you guys are pushing this idea that ND doesn't deserve to be ranked because we lack wins against bona fide title contenders, but I submit the following comparisons betweens ND and the teams listed above:

1. Only ND has all of its wins against BCS programs. We are also the only team of those in the comparison that has only played BCS teams.

2. Only Auburn has a win against a team that is clearly better than our win against Michigan State. Illinois has a comparable win against Arizona State. All of the other teams mentioned have combined for exactly ZERO good wins thus far.

3. Notre Dame has lost two games, both to teams receiving votes in the polls, one of which is ranked #10/11. Notre Dame's two losses were by a combined 7 points. Many of the teams listed above got buried by teams not appreciably better (or at least not ranked significantly higher) than Michigan.

I'm sorry, but I think some of you guys are too used to getting beat down. This Notre Dame team is legitimately a top-25 team right now, and will probably end up being even more elite than that. There is nothing we can do about those first two weeks now, but I think ND is being punished a little harshly for playing its worst football at the start of the year and losing two close games to a good team and (apparently) a very good team. I agree that even the win against Pitt didn't make ND look like a superteam, but look around at what the other teams toward the back end of the top-25 have done. It isn't impressive at all. I would like ND against any one of them. And really, this shouldn't be shocking. We thought we were good coming into the season, and we lost two ugly, sometimes fluky, games to start the year. But this is still the same team we all loved coming into the season, and they're finally starting to play like it. Sooner or later the poll voters will catch on.

You're getting all bunched up for nothing. If ND wins out, they'll be in a BCS bowl and the season will have been a success. If they don't, they won't. If the Illinoises and the Auburns of the world are as bad as you claim they are, we will be well above them by season's end. DON'T PANIC.

 

[Rhode Irish]

You're getting all bunched up for nothing. If ND wins out, they'll be in a BCS bowl and the season will have been a success. If they don't, they won't. If the Illinoises and the Auburns of the world are as bad as you claim they are, we will be well above them by season's end. DON'T PANIC.

You've misread my post. I don't care about the polls in and of themselves. That is explained in the first two sentences. The point of my post is that the voters aren't paying attention, and I do think if they are going to bother tabulating the votes they might as well make an effort to get it right. Otherwise, what the hell is the point? And I think, based on the respective resumes of the teams in the 15-30 range, Notre Dame has a very good argument that they are the best team of that group.

 

[IrishinSyria]

You've misread my post. I don't care about the polls in and of themselves. That is explained in the first two sentences. The point of my post is that the voters aren't paying attention, and I do think if they are going to bother tabulating the votes they might as well make an effort to get it right. Otherwise, what the hell is the point? And I think, based on the respective resumes of the teams in the 15-30 range, Notre Dame has a very good argument that they are the best team of that group.

Stimulate, package and sell debate. You're probably right that they don't pay attention, but you're talking about the backside of a middle of the season poll. Most voters probably put serious thought into the top 10 or so, and spend a lot less time with the back of the poll. We as a community know the Irish are much better than they are ranked, but the fact of the matter is they have 2 losses and only one quality win. That will change by the end of the season, no reason to worry yet: the only thing these polls do is make it a little easier to follow ND on ESPN's website.

 

[BeauBenken]

1. Only ND has all of its wins against BCS programs. We are also the only team of those in the comparison that has only played BCS teams.

By BCS do you mean D1 FBS? AF is not in an AQ conference.

 

[nlroma1o]

Oh the never ending debate on whether or not the poll voters have even watched a football game before... The polls are a foking joke... I still throw up in the back of my mouth everytime I am reminded that scUM, is 10th or 11th in the country right now... It must be nice to beat up on WMU, EMU, and Minn.... I have no doubt in my mind that they will still accumulate their loses here in the second half of the season. Just look at the last 3 games on their schedule. @ Illinois, who is playing solid ball right now. Nebraska at home is a guarenteed loss in my book, unless something major happens. And they end with OSU. Osu is down, but everyone knows that those crazy SOBs from columbus will make that game their bowl game. scUM literally may lose their last 3 games of the season. Not to mention they still have to go to East Lansing this weekend.

 

[koonja]

Bit early in the day but I'm out of homework to do at work:

Texas #22 losing 10-21 in 3rd quarter.

Georgia Tech # 12 losing 14-24 at half.

Illinois # 16 losing 0-10 at half (OSU hasn't even completed a pass).

Michigan # 11 lost 28-14 (Awesome).

Baylor # 20 lost 55-28.

Still to play that I believe have a chance to be close games:

#17 K-state vs. Texas Tech

#24 Auburn vs. Florida

#19 V-tech vs. Wake Forest

#18 ASU vs. Oregon

Like I said, I think we have a good chance of being ranked going into USC. I don't think USC has a chance.

 

[DomerInHappyValley]

I'm feeling pretty confident we'll be ranked after this weekend.

 

[Riddickulous]

Beat USC and we'll be ranked. End of discussion.

 

[koonja]

I'm feeling pretty confident we'll be ranked after this weekend.

I concur. I don't think USC will be, however. The game's already going to be huge, if both teams somehow made the top 25 it'd get even more national attention.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

Bit early in the day but I'm out of homework to do at work:

Texas #22 losing 10-21 in 3rd quarter.

Georgia Tech # 12 losing 14-24 at half.

Illinois # 16 losing 0-10 at half (OSU hasn't even completed a pass).

Michigan # 11 lost 28-14 (Awesome).

Baylor # 20 lost 55-28.

Still to play that I believe have a chance to be close games:

#17 K-state vs. Texas Tech

#24 Auburn vs. Florida

#19 V-tech vs. Wake Forest

#18 ASU vs. Oregon

Like I said, I think we have a good chance of being ranked going into USC. I don't think USC has a chance.

^This.

I don't care about rankings, per se, if we keep winning. But, this does illustrate that the ranked and "better" team doesn't always destroy the inferior team.

That's just to say that escaping at Pitt was not a terrible thing.

 

[tadman95]

Wish we were playing this weekend. A win would definitely put us in I think.

 

[PJWhitfield]

Next couple of weeks will tell much. USC plays us and then Stanford the following week. Should be interesting to see how N.D. matches up against USC and then how Stanford does. Let's hope Dame is firing on all cylinders and no turnovers. I want to see a thrashing.

 

[#1irishfan]

I say 22 in the BCS rankings tomorrow! All things considered and especially with who lost today, WE ARE IN! Someone said it before and I'll repeat "ratings" is the name of the game!!!!

 

[irishfan]

We'll be ranked next week in both polls. 23-25.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

We'll be ranked next week in both polls. 23-25.

That's what I'm talkin' about.....

 

[BeauBenken]

How far does UM drop and how far does MSU rise?

 

[NDPhilly]

UM I'll say drops to 18-20. And MSU up to 13-15

 

[koonja]

Top 25 that lost this week:

#22 Texas 26-38 vs OKST.
#11 Mich 14-28 vs MSU
#12 G-Tech 14-24 vs. Virginia
#16 Illinois 7-17 vs. OSU
#20 Baylor 28-55 vs. A&M
#18 ASU 27-38 vs. Oregon

Bolded are teams sure to drop out of the top-25. If Oregon puts a TD up here and keeps ASU out of endzone, ASU is gone as well.

Those that received more votes than ND:

Florida lost 6-17 vs. Auburn
Washington won 52-24 vs Colorado

*Georgia who had 61 votes to NDs 64 beat Vanderbilt 33-28 today.

My guess? We move ahead of Texas, Illinois, Baylor, and Florida. We lose ground to Georgia and Washington by default.

That puts us around 25. Pure guessing of course.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Top 25 that lost this week:

#22 Texas 26-38 vs OKST.
#11 Mich 14-28 vs MSU
#12 G-Tech 14-24 vs. Virginia
#16 Illinois 7-17 vs. OSU
#20 Baylor 28-55 vs. A&M
#18 ASU 27-38 vs. Oregon

Bolded are teams sure to drop out of the top-25. If Oregon puts a TD up here and keeps ASU out of endzone, ASU is gone as well.

Those that received more votes than ND:

Florida lost 6-17 vs. Auburn
Washington won 52-24 vs Colorado

*Georgia who had 61 votes to NDs 64 beat Vanderbilt 33-28 today.

My guess? We move ahead of Texas, Illinois, Baylor, and Florida. We lose ground to Georgia and Washington by default.

That puts us around 25. Pure guessing of course.

That sounds about right....

 

[koonja]

#18 ASU loses to Oregon 27-41. They also lost to what will be unranked Illinois. IMO, we also move ahead of ASU in the polls.

 

[BGIF]

In the AP, which doesn't figure in the BCS, and the Coaches Poll which is BCS, ND lost ground this weekend by being idle and having her '11 Opponents going 3-8 for the week.

ND was 28th last week in the AP but Illinois isn't dropping 11 places. They lost to OSU not Ohio or Indiana. BU and UTX drop down to the same record as ND. BU may fall further but the Horn's losses are to the #3 and #6 teams. They don't drop below ND. UF at 4-3 is the only lock to drop below the Irish. Meanwhile UW stays ahead and UGA, PSU, USC all with better records move ahead. UC and USM could do so as well. UVA, RU, BYU, Temple, Iowa, and SDS will garner some votes as well. Somebody will probably give 6-1, Louisiana Lafayette, a vote. The LA-LAs or Temples that garner a vote can drop ND off the bottom of somebody's ballot. With 59 ballots, ND's 64 points averages out to the number 24+ slot. (25 points for 1st place, 24 for 2nd, ... 1 point for 25th.

The Coaches Poll is a worse scenario. ND was 30th there with 31 points out of 59 votes. UF and UNC, 5-2, were ahead of ND in the OTHERS category and all will probably drop lower. A 5-2 UNC might stay higher. Meanwhile AUB, UGA, RU and some of the others noted above that didn't garner votes last week, will this week.

Here's LAST WEEK's Coaches Poll showing the records after 10/15. The lower group of schools did not receive any votes last week but now there record is as good or better than ND's. I believe USC is still ineligibile for the Coaches Polls due to probation.

Rank 	 10.15	Votes	W or L
1	OU (5-0)	1434	W
2	LSU (7-0)	1409	W
3	ALA (7-0)	1399	W
4	WIS (6-0)	1244	W
5	SU (6-0)	1232	W
6	BSU (6-0)	1170	W
7	OKS (6-0)	1168	W
8	CLE (7-0)	1046	W
9	ORE(5-1)	995	W
10	UM (6-1)	891	L
11	ARK (5-1)	871	IDLE
12	GT (6-1)	805	L
13	SCA (6-1)	678	W
14	NEB (5-1)	671	IDLE
15	ILL (6-1)	634	L
16	WVU (5-1)	528	IDLE
17	VT (6-1)	523	W
18	KSU (6-0)	462	W
19	MSU (5-1)	431	W
20	ASU (5-2)	343	L
21	UTX (4-2)	243	L
22	HOU (6-0)	200	IDLE
23	A&M (4-2)	198	W
24	BU (4-2)	185	L
25	PSU (6-1)	77	W
26	UF (4-3)	72	L
27	UW (5-1)	52	W
28	UNC (5-2)	43	L
29	AUB (5-2)	33	W
30	ND (4-2)	31	IDLE
31	USF (4-2)	30	L
32	WF (4-2)	22	L
33	UGA (5-2)	15	W
34	SMU (5-1)	11	IDLE
35	TT (4-2)	9	L
36	RU (5-1)	8	W
37	USM (5-1)	7	W
38	TCU (4-2)	4	IDLE
39	Haw (3-3)	1	L
	Not in 10/8 poll		
	UVA (4-2)		W
	CIN (5-1)		W
	TEM (5-2)		W
	BYU (5-2)		W
	IOW (4-2)		W
	LA LA (6-1)		W
	SDS (4-2)		W
	USC (5-2)		W

 

[PANDFAN]

what i can't stand the most especially living close to Penn State...is they are sitting 6-1...barely beat temple, purdue,indiana played indiana state..and yet they are ranked????

 

[BobD]

The only poll that really matters, the IMO poll, has us consistently ranked number one. Let's just win!

 

[johnnykillz]

what i can't stand the most especially living close to Penn State...is they are sitting 6-1...barely beat temple, purdue,indiana played indiana state..and yet they are ranked????

They will be humbled quite soon.

They're suspect.