Jerry Palm Predicts Playoff Rankings

99topdawg

99topdawg

Well-Known Member
Surprised?

1. Clemson (8-0) -- The Tigers have played one of the best schedules among undefeated teams and have a win over Notre Dame.
2. LSU (7-0) -- These Tigers also have played a relatively good schedule and a have a win over Florida.
3. Iowa (8-0) -- This is probably a peak position for the Hawkeyes, who don't have a marquee win but do have good wins over Pitt, Northwestern and Wisconsin.
4. Michigan State (8-0) -- The Spartans are similar in overall SOS with Iowa and have a slightly better “best winâ€￾ in the one over Michigan, but the next three best wins belong to the Hawkeyes.
5. TCU (8-0) -- The Horned Frogs have been especially dominant at home, they have yet to beat anyone noteworthy.
6. Ohio State (8-0) -- Early on last season, the committee tended to overrate win-loss records. If that doesn't happen this year, Ohio State could be about three spots lower.
7. Notre Dame (7-1) -- The Irish have played arguably the best schedule among the one-loss teams and only has that loss at Clemson.
8. Florida (7-1) -- What I just said about Notre Dame is true for Florida, too -- except the Gators lost at LSU.
9. Alabama (7-1) -- The Crimson Tide have also played a top 10 schedule to this point. The quality of the team they lost to separates them from the two ahead of them.
10. Stanford (7-1) -- The Cardinal have been reasonably dominant since that opening season loss at Northwestern.
11. Utah (7-1) -- The Utes have done well this year, including a win over Michigan and a historic beating of Oregon.
12. Baylor (7-0) -- The Bears massive margin of victory, er, game control may push them higher than this. Questions about their quarterback may keep them down. Questions about their schedule are the why they are here.
13. Oklahoma State (8-0) -- The Cowboys haven't lost but have played a bad schedule and haven't been quite as dominant as Baylor.
14. Memphis (8-0) -- The Tigers have a huge win over Ole Miss in an otherwise mediocre schedule. They should be the highest-rated Group of Five team at this point. You could make a case for them to be a couple spots higher.
15. Ole Miss (7-2) -- The Rebels won the Alabama state championship, beating both the Crimson Tide and Auburn on the road in the same season for the first time ever.
16. Texas A&M (6-2) -- The Aggies beat Mississippi State as part of a pretty good schedule, though it is one that only has seen them play a single road game so far.
17. Oklahoma (7-1) -- How did these guys lose to Texas? The best team the Sooners has played so far is Texas Tech. OU still has much to prove.
18. Michigan (6-2) -- If only the punter caught the snap. This is one of the best defensive teams in the country with three shutouts and two other games where they held their opponent to just seven points.
19. Northwestern (6-2) -- The Cats have played a good schedule and are the only team to beat Stanford this year.
20. Temple (7-1) -- The Owls are having a breakthrough season, but their schedule hasn't been great beyond Notre Dame and Penn State.
21. Florida State (7-1) -- Florida State hasn't played a very good schedule either, but games with Clemson (this week) and Florida are on the horizon.
22. North Carolina (7-1) -- The win at Pitt is nice, but the Heels played two FCS schools. They might not make the top 25 at all because of that.
23. Toledo (7-0) -- The Rockets won at Arkansas, but the Hogs haven't panned out for them. Their overall schedule ranks in the bottom 20.
24. Pittsburgh (6-2) -- The Panthers have played well on the road and have only lost to Iowa and North Carolina.
25. Houston (8-0) -- This is the team I have predicted to win the Group of Five spot, but obviously the competition will be tough. So far though, it hasn't been, which is why the Cougars are so far down this list.
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Link
 
I was actually preparing myself for something like this. The outrage that would be caused by Iowa being included in the top 4 of the first playoff bracket would be too much. ESecPN will skewer the committee, Mike and Mike will have heart attacks, Kornheiser will skewer himself with his canadian flag, Wilbon will find a way to rip on Fran McCaffery. We're talking bedlam people

Jerry Palm is a logic/math guy. What he puts out makes sense. What the committe comes up with will not make sense.
 
Would be shocked if we are in the top four just because of the bias we have been getting against us from the largest sports network. However maybe the voters will reflect the general attitude towards politics and buck the trend and look for less established name brand. Go Hawks!!!
 
The thing that people won't realize is that these standings are fluid. Even if Iowa started off 3rd and beat Indiana they might easily fall out of 3rd the next week.

Instead you're going to have meltdowns left and right because people are stupid and Stephen A Smith needs something to rant about

Stephen-A-Smith-300x255.jpg
 
Just unbelievable seeing this stuff considering the year I thought we were in for. Oh how things can change. We are back, this summer I said that as a joke, it's reality now.
 
I would be surprised by top 4, but I completely expect Iowa to be ranked higher than the polls currently have them. The committee can't just say "Iowa's schedule sucks", but they will look at and discuss each schedule. If you actually look at the schedules, it is obvious that Iowa's has been as good as most teams' at this point.
 
Iowa will be 8 or 9. That may not be logical, but that is where we will land.
 
HawkeyeMHA said:
Just unbelievable seeing this stuff considering the year I thought we were in for. Oh how things can change. We are back, this summer I said that as a joke, it's reality now.
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I even laughed at myself this summer when I suggested that Iowa was only a few plays away from a 10-2 season last year. I thought I just had my herky blinders on. Maybe it was the reality. Year in and year out Iowa is just a solid team who can beat or get beat by anyone...and that's all there is to it.
 
DJL said:
Iowa will be 8 or 9. That may not be logical, but that is where we will land.
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I thought that originally but now I'm convinced Iowa will be better than 8 or 9 tonight. Read some of the criteria (I bolded some things for emphasis):

When circumstances at the margins indicate that teams are comparable, then the following criteria must be considered:
  • Championships won
  • Strength of schedule
  • Head-to-head competition (if it occurred)
  • Comparative outcomes of common opponents (without incenting margin of victory)
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I bolded the below again for emphasis

  • While it is understood that committee members will take into consideration all kinds of data including polls, committee members will be required to discredit polls wherein initial rankings are established before competition has occurred;
  • Any polls that are taken into consideration by the selection committee must be completely open and transparent to the public;
  • Strength of schedule, head-to-head competition and championships won must be specifically applied as tie-breakers between teams that look similar;
  • Committee members associated with any team under consideration during the selection process will be required to recuse themselves from any deliberations associated with that team;
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I read that to mean that the AP and Coaches polls are almost entirely discredited as they were established before the season started...giving teams like Ohio State an unfair initial advantage over Iowa.
 
 
alexzelada said:
When the first College Football Playoff rankings are announced later tonight Michigan State, coach Mark Dantonio will be parked in front of his television. He’ll be watching the screen intently, but he’ll he looking at game film of Nebraska, not at where his team stands in the committee’s eyes.

The Big Ten has three viable playoff contenders this season, as many as any other conference in the country. None of the coaches with skin in the game said they plan on spending much time dwelling on the initial rankings tonight. Ohio State’s Urban Meyer told reporters on a teleconference Tuesday afternoon that he had forgotten the first rankings would be released this week. Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz said he’ll rely on his assistants to keep him up to speed.
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^^Nominated for HN Longest Link Ever Posted.^^
 
Would rather see the Hawks come in around 12th tonight. That way they'll be good and pizzed off come Saturday in Bloomington.
 
I think the most important thing to remember is the rankings tonight really don't mean sh*t. Even though they'll be completely blown out of proportion starting at 6:02pm
 
BigD said:
Would be shocked if we are in the top four just because of the bias we have been getting against us from the largest sports network. However maybe the voters will reflect the general attitude towards politics and buck the trend and look for less established name brand. Go Hawks!!!
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Exactly. It is nice to see that a respected talking head from a network without an agenda-driven bias toward a specific conference can actually see through all the misinformation being strewn about.

On the other hand if you want to read something that will get your blood boiling, check out this piece by a rather confused PSU blogger. I would have started a thread with this bit of comedy but I didn't think it merited that much attention...

http://www.pennlive.com/pennstatefootball/index.ssf/2015/11/college_football_playoff_commi.html
 
I actually think Iowa's ranking this week will be surprisingly high. They have played a decent schedule so far. That being said, Iowa's schedule from here on out doesn't help them. Even if Iowa wins out other teams will catch them due to marque games to be played.

I'm a lot more worried about CJB's injury status than this ranking stuff.
 
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