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So after this weekend, we become irrelevant; or do we? The first college football playoff poll will be released after the games of the coming weekend and all the speculation about 'who's in' and why can start in earnest and then this all becomes an exercise in who cares. But it is fun and it is something that for whatever reason comes fairly close to mimicking the outcome of the selection committee..so on we go.
After this week, we seem to have more consensus than dissension between the two polls. The majority of teams now are within a few spots of each other in the polls. There are still some outliers, like Temple, who will get their chance to make a statement this week when they host Notre Dame. The Owls, in the top 25 of both major polls, are 32 in the Book and 42 in the Steele poll. Pitt is another one, with the Panthers also in the polls, but 35 and 44 in our two.
Then we have the curious case of Tennessee and USC. The Vols and Trojans have seven losses between them, but the Men of Troy sit at #12/#9 and Rocky Top comes in at #27/#22. So why?
These polls are power rankings and wouldn't necessarily equate to what one would expect to see in the AP or ESPN polls, which essentially rank teams by number of losses. These look at stack ranking teams and determining which are best, pretty much putting rankings aside. Both have played strong schedules and have suffered relatively little for their losses, while getting at least one major win each (Utah and Georgia).
As for the Eagles, well BC continues to slide in the Massey composite poll, down to #78, once again lower than either of our two rankings systems which show #74/#67. BC plays #47/#50 Virginia Tech this week and enters the game a 4.4 or 2.7 point underdog, depending on which magazine fits your eye better. Both publications are now 1 game below .500 when picking BC games, with both losing last week, taking Louisville and giving the points to stand at 2-3-1 for the season.
It begs the question then: will BC win another game this season? So many thought BC could be a 7-, 8-, 9-, or, God forbid, a 10-win team this season. Sitting at 3-5 now, there remains a possibility that BC doesn't win again in 2015. According to both publications, there is a better chance of that happening than somehow the Eagles winning out to get bowl eligible. As mentioned above BC is slight dog this week against VT and then as of today, will be underdogs to both NC State (5.5/4.6) and Notre Dame (23.0/24.0) at Fenway, before finally being picked as a favorite in the Carrier Dome on the last weekend of the season (2.6/5.0).
Our College Football Playoff bracket this week would have Alabama, TCU, Baylor and Ohio State, if you like GamePlan and TCU, Baylor, Alabama and Stanford, if you like Steele. The Massey poll now has the ACC's Clemson Tigers on top, followed by Ohio State, LSU and Alabama. The distinction of being the lead dog didn't work too well for last week's Massey number one, Utah, who was crushed by USC.
In the battle for media supremacy, Phil Steele has now inched ahead, based on a solid 57% week and leads the head to head competition vs the Book by 4 1/2 games.
Enjoy your football weekend and Go Eagles!
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GP | PS | TEAM | REC | MASSEY |
1 | 1 | Clemson | 7-0 | 1 |
2 | 3 | Duke | 6-1 | 26 |
3 | 2 | Florida State | 5-1 | 18 |
4 | 4 | North Carolina | 6-1 | 31 |
5 | 5 | Georgia Tech | 3-5 | 49 |
6 | 7 | Pittsburgh | 6-1 | 27 |
7 | 6 | NC State | 5-2 | 50 |
8 | 9 | Virginia Tech | 3-5 | 68 |
9 | 8 | Louisville | 3-4 | 52 |
10 | 10 | Miami | 4-3 | 56 |
11 | 11 | Boston College | 3-5 | 78 |
12 | 12 | Virginia | 2-5 | 85 |
13 | 13 | Syracuse | 3-4 | 82 |
14 | 14 | Wake Forest | 3-5 | 92 |
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FAVORITE | GP/PS SPREADS | UNDERDOG | ||
N Carolina | 1.9/3.5 | at Pittsburgh | ||
at TCU | 22.8/26.4 | West Virginia | ||
Louisville | 13.3/13.2 | at Wake Forest | ||
at Memphis | 38.2/38.4 | Tulane | ||
Notre Dame | 8.8/12.7 | at Temple | ||
Virginia Tech | 4.4/2.7 | at Boston College | ||
Clemson | 9.8/11.3 | North Carolina St | ||
at Duke | 16.5/15.5 | Miami | ||
at Florida State | 25.5/29.8 | Syracuse | ||
Georgia Tech | 8.2/10.4 | Virginia | ||
Mississippi | 5.8/5.9 | at Auburn | ||
at Houston | 17.3/16.5 | Vanderbilt | ||
USC | 7.0/10.7 | at California | ||
at UCLA | 26.1/26.2 | Colorado | ||
at Utah | 35.9/34.3 | Oregon State | ||
Stanford | 15.0/18.0 | at Washington St | ||
Oklahoma | 41.4/44.4 | at Kansas | ||
Oklahoma St | 8.0/8.1 | at Texas Tech | ||
at Iowa | 34.1/32.9 | Maryland | ||
Florida | 9.6/4.9 | Georgia | ||
Michigan | 15.9/13.4 | at Minnesota | ||