The Case For Wisconsin as National Champion

[Deep Creek]

Can you name a better win that Wisconsin had before the bowl games? They were both top five ranked going into the season. Quite frankly, either team could have gotten in and I would have been fine with the decision. Neither had a open and shut case that they were hands and shoulders better. Neither could make it on paper of film. Both teams put themselves in a bad situation and a choice was made. Wisconsin and Alabama had schedules set for an undefeated run, both would have been shoe ins had they went undefeated. Neither did. Neither team could then make the case on Selection Day that they were undeniably the best team. When you are in that position, live with the results.

Good points Batch...let's play a little speculation.

Had Auburn beaten Georgia in the SEC CCG, who would have been the four CFP teams?

I say the top four would have been:

1. Clemson
2. Oklahoma
3. Auburn
4. Ohio State

...leaving out one loss Bama and Wisky and two loss Georgia.

What say you?

 

[The Oldtimer]

(1.) No Power Five Team lost fewer games than us
(2.) We put together our record in the best conference in America
(3.) Our loss is better than that of any team in the playoffs

Simply put, none of the playoff teams deserve this shit over us. We didn't lost to Syracuse or Iowa State. We didn't play in a conference with bowl losses. I may be a little intoxicated, but it's clear we deserve the title.

The Big 10 is the best conference "from top to bottom", in college football!!!

 

[The Oldtimer]

The bad thing about that is it can only be a hindsight factor. If you want to make a hindsight argument then I agree that it now appears that Wisconsin is more deserving. I am not sure that they should have been left out to begin with but that is the problem with putting your fate in someone else's hands. There was little if any separation between the two teams at the time the decision was made.

Good comment.

 

[Deep Creek]

The Big 10 is the best conference "from top to bottom", in college football!!!

Based on what OT?

 

[The Oldtimer]

Based on what OT?

Based on their season record. I would take Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan State, Michigan and Northwestern over any 6 teams from any other conference.

 

[7Samurai13]

Schedule was really no weaker than Alabama's, and they had a worse loss.

They had three top 25 wins vs Wisconsin’s one.

 

[Deep Creek]

Based on their season record.

I guess you put more stock in the bowl season than I do because I didn't see it from their regular OOC performance. (Some other conferences weren't either...which tells us we do not have enough good OOC games to get a good picture. JMO)

I don't see any real signature wins by the B1G over any of the P5 conference teams OUTSIDE THE BOWL GAMES.

Unless a person would consider Maryland over Texas, Michigan over Florida or Iowa over Iowa State "signature" wins. I don't but others might.

 

[The Oldtimer]

I guess you put more stock in the bowl season than I do because I didn't see it from their regular OOC performance. (Some other conferences weren't either...which tells us we do not have enough good OOC games to get a good picture. JMO)

I don't see any real signature wins by the B1G over any of the P5 conference teams OUTSIDE THE BOWL GAMES.

Unless a person would consider Maryland over Texas, Michigan over Florida or Iowa over Iowa State "signature" wins. I don't but others might.

Fair enough, then in your opinion, what was the best football conference from "top to bottom" this season?

 

[DJ]

 

[Deep Creek]

Fair enough, then in your opinion, what was the best football conference from "top to bottom" this season?

I don't think we can fairly and objectively analyze which is best because of the scarcity of enough good OOC games. The teams just won't schedule enough of them to get good data comparison's IMO. And it looks like we aren't going to get enough of them in the years to come either. No one wants to give up home games and the risk of losing a tough one can come back to bite you in the ass too much.

I also think if you take top teams from each conference and drop them into another one, they'd end up being the top ones in those conferences.

Your "top to bottom" question is a good one. Strong top, weak everywhere else? Parity? Number of real dogs at the bottom? etc?

 

[Ron G]

I guess you put more stock in the bowl season than I do because I didn't see it from their regular OOC performance. (Some other conferences weren't either...which tells us we do not have enough good OOC games to get a good picture. JMO)

I don't see any real signature wins by the B1G over any of the P5 conference teams OUTSIDE THE BOWL GAMES.

Unless a person would consider Maryland over Texas, Michigan over Florida or Iowa over Iowa State "signature" wins. I don't but others might.

I suppose if you don't count 'the Bowl Games' you can build up or put down any conference. Kind of like in the classroom, the bowl games are the finals. If not, then neither does the playoff crown a champion. The shame is that next year it will be the same, SEC great everybody else bad, until the bowl season shows the truth. The best team in the country can come from any conference. But a conference is not to be judged great only by its best 1 or 2 teams.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

Can we institute an automatic suspension for anyone that posts this "healthy FSU" bullshit please?

Depends — can we give the same suspension to anyone insinuating Wisconsin, who finished the year with a big win over.........Northwestern, should be in the CFP.

Wisconsin has played CFB for 128 years — there is a reason they’ve never won a National Title. It isn’t going to change anytime soon. You get recruits good enough to compete with anyone outside the top 10. You don’t get recruits to consistently beat legitimate top 10 teams.

It sucks to hear this, but the CFB is filled with teams that can be good, but will never win a national title — Wisconsin is one of those teams.

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

I feel bad for laughing at this...but not too bad

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

I don't think we can fairly and objectively analyze which is best because of the scarcity of enough good OOC games. The teams just won't schedule enough of them to get good data comparison's IMO. And it looks like we aren't going to get enough of them in the years to come either. No one wants to give up home games and the risk of losing a tough one can come back to bite you in the ass too much.

I also think if you take top teams from each conference and drop them into another one, they'd end up being the top ones in those conferences.

Your "top to bottom" question is a good one. Strong top, weak everywhere else? Parity? Number of real dogs at the bottom? etc?

Yep — we will see teams running from OOC games because it has cost teams in multiple years. OU is in without a loss to OSU last year and vice versa this year.

If you are a blue blood — you may as well sit back, play cupcakes and hope to win your conference, because you will get in. It is the 2nd tier teams who will have to try to schedule big OOC games to up their resume, but finding takers won’t be easy.

 

[outofyourmind]

Penn State looked like the best team from the BIG yesterday.

 

[Deep Creek]

I suppose if you don't count 'the Bowl Games' you can build up or put down any conference. Kind of like in the classroom, the bowl games are the finals. If not, then neither does the playoff crown a champion. The shame is that next year it will be the same, SEC great everybody else bad, until the bowl season shows the truth. The best team in the country can come from any conference. But a conference is not to be judged great only by its best 1 or 2 teams.

Guess this is where I disagree. I have no faith in bowl results. A few years ago when the B1G lost a lot of them I said it wasn't really indicative of the conference. Same thing when they are winning a lot of them.

I've just seen way too much difference in the ways that bowl teams approach the games...especially the lesser ones. Add to that the fact that a lot of the NFL projected players are sitting out bowl games, the bowl game results have lost even more credibility in my opinion. And many coaches are willing to take a bowl loss in order to start looking at next year's prospects.

I said on another thread that it would be great if all these bowl matchups were scheduled as OOC games during the regular season. But, I can want in one hand and crap in the other and see which one fills up first.

 

[richig07]

(1.) No Power Five Team lost fewer games than us
(2.) We put together our record in the best conference in America
(3.) Our loss is better than that of any team in the playoffs

Simply put, none of the playoff teams deserve this shit over us. We didn't lost to Syracuse or Iowa State. We didn't play in a conference with bowl losses. I may be a little intoxicated, but it's clear we deserve the title.

LMAO... did Wisconsin even beat a team that will finished ranked? Maybe one?

Your loss is fine, but your wins are shit.

 

[batchaps4me]

Good points Batch...let's play a little speculation.

Had Auburn beaten Georgia in the SEC CCG, who would have been the four CFP teams?

I say the top four would have been:

1. Clemson
2. Oklahoma
3. Auburn
4. Ohio State

...leaving out one loss Bama and Wisky and two loss Georgia.

What say you?

No doubts on Clemson, Oklahoma and Auburn. IMHO that would have left Alabama and OSU for the fourth spot. I agree that OSU would have gotten in based on winning the CCG. I do not think that it would have been cut and dried, but the teams were close enough for that to factor into it. It would boil down to the quality of loss argument vs conference championship. Again, I would have no sympathy for who was left out because they both had their chance to get in.

 

[Deep Creek]

Penn State looked like the best team from the BIG yesterday.

It was Washington!

 

[BigAppleBadger]

They had three top 25 wins vs Wisconsin’s one.

LSU, Mississippi State, and ???

FSU is not a top 25 win.

And do you honestly think LSU or Miss State, especially the latter, are really that much tougher than Michigan or Iowa? Both overrated teams getting too much love from the committee because SEC.