Resume Ranking Game

Jeff: Today we play a game that is commonly played on ESPN before the NCAA tournament brackets come out so that people evaluate a team based on what they've done and not what their name is. I am going to give Brian ten teams and their wins and losses so far this season and who they beat based on their national rankings. After Brian ranks them 1-10 I will tell him who the teams are, where I got the rankings, and why he is wrong.

Team A
Beat (#86) 38-17 - Beat (#100+) 31-24 - Beat (#51) 17-14

Team B
Beat (#94) 44-10 - Beat (#100+) 66-24 - Beat @ (#38) 32-26 - Lost to (#19) 32-37

Team C
Beat (100+) 66-10 - Beat (#69) 45-14 - Beat @ (#100+) 55-13 - Beat (#92) 45-3

Team D
Lost @ (#20) 22-27 - Beat (#100+) 24-7 - Beat (#32) 20-17 - Beat @ (#45) 20-17

Team E
Beat (100+) 41-14 - Beat @ (#36) 19-16 - Lost @ (#22) 17-20 - Beat (#65) 38-7

Team F
Beat (#22) 27-22 - Beat (#51) 24-3 - Beat @ (#100) 28-24 - Lost @ (#61) 24-30

Team G
Lost @ (#6) 42-52 - Beat (#100+) 47-21 - Beat (#100+) 20-17

Team H
Beat @ (#93) 34-13 - Beat (#53) 24-17 - Beat (#78) 38-21 - Beat @ (#44) 23-17

Team I
Beat (#100+) 40-10 - Beat (#57) 29-0 - Lost @ (#15) 34-37 - Beat (#100+) 38-14

Team J
Beat (100+) 35-3 - Beat @ (#92) 12-9 - Beat (#89) 45-10 - Beat (#80) 31-28


Brian: (Disclaimer: I know who some of these teams are based on following the I-A scoreboard from week to week, e.g. Team E is Georgia Tech, Team G is Illinois.)

I'd have to reward teams for being undefeated. So first I consider Team A (3-0), Team C (4-0), Team H (4-0) and Team J (4-0). Of those four teams, Team H has the best strength of schedule with wins over a #53 and at #44. Next, Team C is straight up murdering teams they should beat so I'll rank them second. Team J has played one more game than Team A and tallied a road victory so I'll give them the third spot, followed by Team A.

The remaining teams all have 1 loss. Out of the losses, I'd have to say Team G's is the most impressive, losing to the #6 team in the country by 10 points, followed by Team I's 37-34 loss at #15. The mark against Team G is that they haven't beaten anyone good and came off a non-convincing win against a team ranked #100+. I'll rank Team I next.

Next up I notice that Team F came up with a big victory in week 1 against the #22 team in the country but was tripped up on the road at #61. They don't have any quality road wins while teams like Team B or Team E. I am going to take Team D next over Team F since Team D lost on the road in week 1 vs. a Top 25 opponent while Team F got tripped up last week on the road vs. a team ranked only #61. I'll give the slight edge to Team E as well having won last week and almost beating #22 on the road. While Team B hasn't beaten anyone good at home, they do have a more impressive road win than Team F and also lost to a Top 25 team (albeit at home). Team B gets ranked ahead of Team F.

Finally, while team G lost to a Top 10 team to start the season, they beat down on cupcakes in week 2 and narrowly beat another #100+ team in week 3, so their resume looks the weakest of the bunch.

Rankings
1. Team H (4-0)
2. Team C (4-0)
3. Team J (4-0)
4. Team A (3-0)
5. Team I (3-1)
6. Team D (3-1)
7. Team E (3-1)
8. Team B (3-1)
9. Team F (3-1)
10. Team G (2-1)

Jeff: So Brian ranked the teams as follows:

1. Vanderbilt (4-0)
2. Penn State (4-0)
3. Connecticut (4-0)
4. Colorado (3-0)
5. Kansas (3-1)
6. Virginia Tech (3-1)
7. Georgia Tech (3-1)
8. Oregon (3-1)
9. East Carolina (3-1)
10. Illinois (2-1)

Not too much I can yell at him for. I expected this exercise to tell us that Virginia Tech is a good one loss team and East Carolina is really not that impressive especially if you look at how they beat Virginia Tech on a punt block inside of 2:00 minutes to go.

The rankings came from cbssportline.com. I like to look at their rankings because they rank all 120 teams and have been doing it that way for a while. Boston College is currently ranked #36 which is the highest of any team who did not get a vote in either major poll this week. If I had included BC in this exercise I'm guessing Brian would've put them ahead of Oregon and behind Georgia Tech. I didn't include them because the scores definitely would've given away who they were. But just to give you an idea, here's our resume so far.

Beat @ (#100+) 21-0 - Lost to (#32) 19-16 - Beat (#76) 34-7