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2019 SOS Rankings - Odd little site
Posted on 1/23/20 at 12:26 pm
Posted on 1/23/20 at 12:26 pm
Found a Site that claims that it builds its rankings off of an aggregate ranking from other sites. It doesn't LIST those sites (and somehow these aggregate sites have OSU number #1 with an average ranking of 1.8, LSU #2 with an average ranking of #2 - which means that for every #1 ranking, there's a #3, or such for LSU - I can only imagine a lot of sites did not bother with post-playoff rankings to account for it).
Anyway, an interesting method of doing SOS was, because they rank every team, is an average rank of all opponents. This includes post season foes.
So, for example:
South Carolina had the hardest SOS, facing an average ranking for their opponents of 36.83.
Auburn was second, with an average ranking of 41.10.
Playoff teams were (this includes their playoff games):
#4 SOS Ohio State (42.09)
#10 SOS LSU (44.67)
#12 SOS Oklahoma (46.23)
#51 SOS Clemson (59.08)
The nice thing about this methodology is that we can see where the teams would stack up without their postseason boosts. Clemson obviously benefited the most from these bumps:
Clemson pre-playoff: 67.9 (69th equivalent SOS)
Clemson pre-ACC title game: 70.4 (71st equivalent SOS)
Prior to the postseason, Clemson's SOS was below the following G5 teams that failed to make the postseason:
Connecticut
USF
Others that had tougher regular season schedules:
Utah State
Memphis
Cincinnati
BYU
Which means that if Memphis had won their game against Temple mid-season, they would have had a better resume than Clemson.
Anyway, an interesting method of doing SOS was, because they rank every team, is an average rank of all opponents. This includes post season foes.
So, for example:
South Carolina had the hardest SOS, facing an average ranking for their opponents of 36.83.
Auburn was second, with an average ranking of 41.10.
Playoff teams were (this includes their playoff games):
#4 SOS Ohio State (42.09)
#10 SOS LSU (44.67)
#12 SOS Oklahoma (46.23)
#51 SOS Clemson (59.08)
The nice thing about this methodology is that we can see where the teams would stack up without their postseason boosts. Clemson obviously benefited the most from these bumps:
Clemson pre-playoff: 67.9 (69th equivalent SOS)
Clemson pre-ACC title game: 70.4 (71st equivalent SOS)
Prior to the postseason, Clemson's SOS was below the following G5 teams that failed to make the postseason:
Connecticut
USF
Others that had tougher regular season schedules:
Utah State
Memphis
Cincinnati
BYU
Which means that if Memphis had won their game against Temple mid-season, they would have had a better resume than Clemson.
This post was edited on 1/23/20 at 12:27 pm
Posted on 1/23/20 at 1:19 pm to skrayper
You're about to trigger some folks outside of the SEC...
Posted on 1/23/20 at 1:37 pm to Lonnie Utah
quote:
You're about to trigger some folks outside of the SEC...
Their fault for being in a weaker conference than than the AAC.
Posted on 1/23/20 at 1:38 pm to skrayper
Holy frick the ACC should be dismantled
Posted on 1/23/20 at 1:45 pm to skrayper
This doesnt seem like a bad method, I think SOS rankings need to add a slight curve to the system to more heavily weight the top. For example, I think playing the 15th to the 5th ranked team is a noticeably bigger difficulty gap than playing the 45th to 35th ranked team.
Posted on 1/23/20 at 1:53 pm to skrayper
Massey Composite
I was going to say they may be using the Massey composite, but I see their power ranking differs.
I was going to say they may be using the Massey composite, but I see their power ranking differs.
Posted on 1/23/20 at 1:56 pm to The_Ultimate_Warrior
quote:
Massey Composite
I was going to say they may be using the Massey composite, but I see their power ranking differs.
I will say, I wish they listed their sources. I could at least confirm then that the reason for LSU being behind Ohio State is that some sites don't bother with rankings after the playoffs because, well - playoffs. No one looks at the winner of the Super Bowl and says, "Yeah, #4 team in the NFL. #1 was the Pats who lost their Wild Card game." Or what not.
Posted on 1/23/20 at 2:04 pm to skrayper
quote:
Their fault for being in a weaker conference than than the AAC.
What helps the SOS for SEC teams is so many SEC teams play fewer OOC games against P5 schools than other conferences.
I saw where Clemson played 20 OOC regular season games against P5 schools in the last decade . Yes , 10 were against SC , but they did play 10 others.
Posted on 1/23/20 at 2:09 pm to 93and99
quote:
What helps the SOS for SEC teams is so many SEC teams play fewer OOC games against P5 schools than other conferences.
I saw where Clemson played 20 OOC regular season games against P5 schools in the last decade . Yes , 10 were against SC , but they did play 10 others.
When your toughest opponent is an OOC game against the #4 team in the SEC West, that's not terribly impressive.
Also, that would HURT the SOS for SEC Teams, not HELP them.
You think Alabama's SOS would have gone down if they had substituted Southern Miss for Penn State?
Posted on 1/23/20 at 2:12 pm to skrayper
quote:
Also, that would HURT the SOS for SEC Teams, not HELP them.
Are you serious ?
SOS is based on your opponents won loss record.
If 8 of your opponents don't play many P5 in OOC games it increases their chances of winning which strengthens YOUR SOS.
Posted on 1/23/20 at 2:18 pm to skrayper
quote:
is an average rank of all opponents
Which is dumb, because is there really a difference to SEC teams between the likes of Southern Miss and Citadel? Even though one increases a teams SOS ranking.
This post was edited on 1/23/20 at 2:19 pm
Posted on 1/23/20 at 2:20 pm to 93and99
quote:
Are you serious ?
SOS is based on your opponents won loss record.
If 8 of your opponents don't play many P5 in OOC games it increases their chances of winning which strengthens YOUR SOS.
No. On the site I linked, it is NOT based on your opponent's W/L record. There are 4-8 teams ranked above teams with winning records.
Posted on 1/23/20 at 2:20 pm to BobLeeDagger
quote:
Which is dumb, because is there really a difference to SEC teams between the likes of Southern Miss and Citadel? Even though one increases a teams SOS ranking.
In a single game, not much.
Over the course of an entire season? It adds up.
Posted on 1/23/20 at 2:36 pm to skrayper
quote:
Over the course of an entire season? It adds up.
That supports my argument. Who really cares about beating a mediocre team over some cupcake?
It's like a fanbase criticizing a team for playing Jacksonville State while they have Georgia Tech on the schedule.
This post was edited on 1/23/20 at 2:39 pm
Posted on 1/23/20 at 3:03 pm to BobLeeDagger
quote:
That supports my argument. Who really cares about beating a mediocre team over some cupcake?
It's like a fanbase criticizing a team for playing Jacksonville State while they have Georgia Tech on the schedule.
Not really.
If you play a season where most of the teams are "above average" and someone else plays a bunch of games where everyone is "below average", you might go undefeated - but that first team is more likely to have injuries, exhaustion, etc.
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