Are Any Strength of Schedule Polls Out?

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LSU plays 3 top-10 teams (including number 1), 5 teams ranked in the top 25, plus 2 teams in the "Others receiving votes" (South Carolina is at 26, right outside the top 25).

So we play 5 ranked teams, and 2 teams that could be ranked by the time we play them. That doesnt include Appy State, whom some pollsters were ranking in the AP top 25 after they beat Michigan last year.

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You do realize that the polls change every week, don't you?

Right now you don't play any ranked teams because nobody knows...saying you play X amount of ranked teams based on a blind preseason poll is really lame. The only SOS that matters is how many Top 25 teams you played at the end of the year with their final ranking and not when you played them. This idea, well they were #10 when we played them is the worst logic used in college football.

25. BYU - Has zero preseason ranked teams on its schedule.

24. Fresno St. - Wisconsin and UCLA provide only "tests."

23. Wake Forest - Rough patch of Clemson, Maryland, Miami all in a row.

22. Texas Tech - This could get tougher if Nebraska and Texas A&M shape up.

21. Missouri - Shocked to see this come in so low, but no Oklahoma unless they meet in the B12 CG.

20. Oklahoma - Texas and Kansas back to back. Texas Tech late. Not much else. See above.

19. Pitt - Skewed by so many average bowl teams from last year. Notre Dame and Cincy are wild cards.

18. Arizona St. - Georgia, at Cal, at USC, UCLA, and at Arizona. Don't be shocked if three of those are losses.

17. Illinois - Missouri early, Ohio State late, and a lot of solid comp in the middle. Oh, and a Rose Bowlseye on your back.

16. Oregon - Seven straight before an open date. Boise St., and games at USC, ASU, Cal, and Oregon St. 2007 was probably your year.

15. USF - Kansas, Pitt, and WVU should be huge. Four more '07 bowl teams.

14. Clemson - Open with Alabama. Close with South Carolina. Solid ACC center with late date in Tallahassee, plus championship game.

13. Wisconsin - Strange one at Fresno St. Then at Mich, OSU, Penn St., at Iowa, and Illinois. In order. Athletic director deserves a cheese basket.

12. USC - At Virginia, OSU two weeks later, and a back-to-back with Oregon and ASU. Cal, Notre Dame (?), and Neu-C-L-A. Somehow 11 more are tougher.

11. LSU - Creampuff start, brutal from there. At Auburn, Florida, South Carolina, and Arky. Home games against Georgia and Alabama. Two losses won't cut it this year.

10. OSU - Trip to LA early to most likely make/break the season. At Wiscy and Illinois. Home dates with Penn St. and the Michigan Wolveneers.

9. West Virginia - At Colorado on a Thursday Night. Does any road team like a Thursday night game? Auburn at home, with Louisville, Pitt, and South Florida to finish.

8. Florida - Hawaii and Miami early in the typical 'tuneup' games. At Tennessee and Arkansas. LSU and SC at home. Against Georgia, in Jacksonville, for control of the universe. Finish up at FSU and an SEC CG birth, or look at the season as a failure. Sounds like fun.

7. Kansas - At South Florida early. Every powerhouse B12 team imaginable. A hopeful championship game berth to prove last season wasn't a fluke? Not likely. Pop in your March Madness DVD if things start going south.

6. Florida St. - Biggest shocker to see their schedule this high. Though after eating a few cupcakes while the suspended players rest, it becomes a who's who of 2007 bowl teams with some big names sprinkled in. Miami will improve. VT is always a problem. Clemson feels it's their year. So does Florida. Plus a championship game if you make it through all of that. Dadgummit.

5. Tennessee - The pendulum will likely swing the other way this year for Phil and Co. Squeaking out game after game in '07, this year brings a trip to UCLA, Florida early, at Auburn, at Georgia, who might be looking for some revenge, and late tilts with Alabama and South Carolina.

4. Texas - Arkansas early. A Colorado team that has to improve. All of the big boys in OU, Missouri, Kansas, TTech, A&M, plus a death match against one of them all over again if they want to play in the Orange Bowl.

3. Auburn - Southern Miss, LSU, Tennessee, and a Thursday night trip to West Virginia to chase Noel Devine around the field. Georgia three weeks later. Take a breath. Go to Alabama. Leave no one behind.

2. Alabama - Clemson to open things up in Atlanta. The worst road schedule I've seen requiring trips to Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and LSU. Auburn at home for dessert. This is not the kind of schedule you want your young kids hanging their title hopes on. Figure things out this year. Kick the door down in '09

1. Georgia - Far and away the most difficult schedule on paper in 2008. The only team to play six ranked opponents (per Lindy's), with two separate sets of back-to-back meetings with ranked teams. Fly to Arizona St. Bama a week later. Fly to LSU. Florida a week later. Mix in some Tennessee, South Carolina, Auburn, and Georgia Tech for additional flavor. Dawg fans had better hope Mark Richt has three or four new pre-game stunts up his sleeve.


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I agree that a SOS poll right now is useless, but I wholeheartedly disagree with your statement that the onlky thing that matters is how many top=25 teams you played at the end of the season. That is ridiculous.

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Well you're wrong.

Let’s use LSU's 2006-2007 weekly ranking as an example:

LSU was ranked #8 in the preseason poll and moved to #6 after the second week. Then fell to #10 after week three and the AU loss. The following week, we moved to #9 and stayed there for two weeks before falling to #14 for the next three.

The ensuing two weeks we were ranked at #13 and #12 before moving BACK to #9 for two weeks, finishing up #5, #4 and ultimately, #3.

So, in playing LSU, did our opponents play an LSU team that was a #3, #4, #5, #6, #8, #9, #10, #12, #13 or #14 ranked team.......heck, we held 10 different rankings last year.

LSU's out of conference schedule is a joke. Last year you didn't play Georgia. The away games are all within a few hours of driving. I really dont see how the schedule can get any easier being in the SEC.

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No, I got it. The example I used happened to be with a team (Us) that didn't fall out of the Top 25 but it makes the point. Had we fallen out of it it's the end of the year ranking that matters.

To say differently means LSU's opponents didn't play the #1 team in the country last year...even though we may not have been when they played us.

Unless you mean as long as they never fall out of the Top 25, then I apologize but either way it's the final polls that give you the true measure of how good/strong a team was (In theory anyway lol).

If you disagree then Georgia is the 2008 National Champion.

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I still don't think you understand what I am saying. Yes only the end of season rankings should be accounted for, but what I am saying is that all games are factored into a proper SOS method. ranked opponents or not.

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LSU's out of conference schedule is a joke.

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This year it's terrible, but because they play in the SEC, the overall schedule is pretty tough.

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Last year you didn't play Georgia.

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So? We played and beat the SEC East champion Tennessee who spanked Georgia's fricking arse. What kind of terrible point were you trying to make?

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I really dont see how the schedule can get any easier being in the SEC.

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well, not having to go to Florida and Auburn and playing the preseason #1 team in the country would be easier. I'm sure there are a few in the SEC who don't have to play those games.

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I hope you don't mean this? Away games and how far you travel mean EVERYTHING.

LSU can never claim the strongest SOS because of how many home games they play. You claim (like most Rantards) that Tiger Stadium is the toughest place to play and the greatest home field advantage and last year you had 8 home games while almost all PAC 10 teams only had 6 home games because of the round robin schedule. That is a tremendous advantage for LSU.

Georgia for 40 years had a cupcake schedule because they never left the South.

This idea that the ranking of teams you play only matters in SOS is ridiculous. Playing a #10 ranked team at Tiger Stadium is a whole lot easier than traveling across the country to play an unranked OSU team in Corvallis in the rain...don't kid yourself.

You can't have it both ways dude...either Tiger stadium is a huge home field advantage and it factors in SOS or it isn't and doesn't factor into SOS. Your home games negate the difficulty of playing all those so-called ranked teams.

So take all those top 20 teams you play; factor in how far you have to travel and where you have to play and start subtracting the points...

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Wasn't talking about home field advantage, was talking about distance. You want to tell me that in the example I gave that it was easier for Florida to play Miami and/or FSU (When they were rollin) than OSU traveling out to Arizona? I think not.

Also, teams should not be penalized for distances anymore than OSU should be for never traveling West to play any games.

Now, when a team goes through two time zone changes...yes, that's a huge disadvantage but we're talking about a team's location allowing it to play in-conference games that aren't far and also BCS OOC opponents that aren't far either...QUALITY ones at that.

You can't expect a teams' geographical location to be discounted while USC and Florida benefit from theirs with the beaches, babes, etc. when it comes to recruiting. YOU can't have it both ways.

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You claim (like most Rantards) that Tiger Stadium is the toughest place to play and the greatest home field advantage and last year you had 8 home games while almost all PAC 10 teams only had 6 home games because of the round robin schedule.

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I do claim that but you've never seen me post that, surely not in this thread, so I'm not sure why you put those words in your post like they were straight from my nouth.

As for the round-robin, the PAC 10 elected to go that route so don't cry about it...change it if it's such a huge disadvantage.

Easy to see LSU schedule (#26 ranked) is easy compared to other SEC schedules.

Georgia = 3rd in nation
Arkansas = 4th
Vanderbilt = 6th
'Bama = 7th
Tennessee = 9th
Mississippi = 13th
Florida = 15th
Auburn = 16th
Kentucky = 19th
South Carolina = 22nd
LSU = 26th
Mississippi State = 41st

This is why we gonna