Dumb question on SOS

[bcsbuster]

Does it really matter if AF or Utah wins or loses when they play each other. I read a post from someone that they hoped Utah won so our strength of schedule would be better. At the end of the day, it seems like only out of conference wins or losses matter. Assuming we beat Utah and AirForce, if Air Force beats Utah, our AF win is worth more, but our Utah win is worth less. Conversely if Utah beats AF, our Utah win means more but our AF wins means less. Very confusing.

 

[Atomic Frawg]

Right now AF is unranked with two losses, and hopefully they'll have three losses after his weekend. Utah has no losses and is ranked in the top ten. If Utah beats AF then that gives AF four losses on the season. If Utah's only loss is us, then that's obviously better than them losing to unranked AF AND us (two losses + one being unranked).

 

[weklfrog]

If all of the other teams in the conference were relatively evenly-matched and beat up on each other so that everyone had several losses (but also several wins), we would not get much credit for running the table in conference because we would not have any marquis wins. We are better off having several ranked conference opponents even though that means that several other conference opponents would have very poor records. Poll voters pay attention to the marquis wins but will not differentiate between beating a bunch of middle-of-the pack conference teams versus beating the bottom feeders. They consider both groups unworthy.

 

[KillerFrog InD KitchenSink]

If all of the other teams in the conference were relatively evenly-matched and beat up on each other so that everyone had several losses (but also several wins), we would not get much credit for running the table in conference because we would not have any marquis wins. We are better off having several ranked conference opponents even though that means that several other conference opponents would have very poor records. Poll voters pay attention to the marquis wins but will not differentiate between beating a bunch of middle-of-the pack conference teams versus beating the bottom feeders. They consider both groups unworthy.

Agre with this. Some of the computers give boosts to teams in the top 10 and 30 (like Sagarin). And humans tend to do the same. We'll get a huge boost with a victory over Utah. OTOH, even though we play both AFA and SDSU, we'd have been better off if AFA had won. The only saving grace is if SDSU wins out from here. They *might* be ranked at 7-2, especially if Mizzou keeps winning.