Dug this up today on the gOOgle

[TheDayMan]

Fake News! The top team always defines an entire division . . and conference for that matter!

To be fair, I’m not really trying to make that argument. All I said is the south is consistently a cluster fuck (because the teams are all pretty even and competitive). A USC fan took offense and claimed the south is as good as the north, which they’re not if you consider where the top teams in the conference are coming from.

 

[7Samurai13]

I don't understand why they aren't better than they are.

I'm not sure Herm will bring 'em back either. It'll be interesting to watch though.

It won’t be pretty the second week of the season. Them Devil fans are really going to be questioning this hiring.

 

[AfrikaBlack]

OD never fails lol

 

[The Oldtimer]

Fake News! The top team always defines an entire division . . and conference for that matter!

Yeah it seems that way.

 

[The Oldtimer]

Arizona State is the one that has no excuse for their level of underperforming. They should be better.

Bring back Frank Kush!

Hi DC good to hear from you, Yes I agree with you. Every year I think ASU will be better and every year I'm wrong.

 

[The Oldtimer]

To be fair, I’m not really trying to make that argument. All I said is the south is consistently a cluster fuck (because the teams are all pretty even and competitive). A USC fan took offense and claimed the south is as good as the north, which they’re not if you consider where the top teams in the conference are coming from.

LOL, I didn't take offense. I just made an opinion and I stand by that opinion.

 

[Deep Creek]

It won’t be pretty the second week of the season. Them Devil fans are really going to be questioning this hiring.

Sparty to the desert to kick a devil huh ? Kudos to both teams for scheduling a P5 home and home.

 

[Deep Creek]

Hi DC good to hear from you, Yes I agree with you. Every year I think ASU will be better and every year I'm wrong.

Where you been you old fart.

ASU seems to be getting worse instead of better.

 

[The Oldtimer]

Where you been you old fart.

ASU seems to be getting worse instead of better.

LOL, I've been here all of the time. ASU wasn't very good last year, they finished at 7-6 the same record as Oregon. This PAC 12 season should be very interesting. I'm disappointed that Washington and USC won't play each other this season.

 

[WizardHawk]

Yep, he's boarding the train for scenario village already and by God, he's taking Kelly with him/them. It's natties for everyone.

 

[AfrikaBlack]

Is OD a UCLA fan yet or what?

 

[WizardHawk]

Is OD a UCLA fan yet or what?

He bet on them to win the South division next season so whether or not he calls himself a UCLA fan, he's a total Kelly fanboi and is all in with the powder blue and yellow.

 

[nddulac]

To be fair, I’m not really trying to make that argument. All I said is the south is consistently a cluster fuck (because the teams are all pretty even and competitive). A USC fan took offense and claimed the south is as good as the north, which they’re not if you consider where the top teams in the conference are coming from.

Here are some numbers for the sake of analysis*:

PAC-12 
 Rank   School                     Record     Conf.       Div.     Rating      Schedule
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.   1)  Southern Cal               (11 -  3)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  122.054      116.340
.   2)  Washington                 (10 -  3)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  120.441      115.056
.   3)  Stanford                   ( 9 -  5)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  119.486      116.629
.   4)  Washington St              ( 9 -  4)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  119.027      115.181
.   5)  Arizona St                 ( 7 -  6)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  116.453      115.684
.   6)  Oregon                     ( 7 -  6)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  116.136      115.367
.   7)  UCLA                       ( 6 -  7)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  115.230      115.999
.   8)  Utah                       ( 7 -  6)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  115.116      114.347
.   9)  Arizona                    ( 7 -  6)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  114.631      113.862
.  10)  California                 ( 5 -  7)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  113.730      115.397
.  11)  Colorado                   ( 5 -  7)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  111.551      113.218
.  12)  Oregon St                  ( 1 - 11)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  106.370      114.703

Based on these data, the following averages can be calculated:

Average of ordinal rankings: North 6.167, South 6.833
Average of ratings: North 115.865, South 115.839

Conclusion? There is an insignificant difference between the two divisions when considering only win-loss records.

*These results come from a least-squares fit to flat win-loss results including all 760 programs playing college football in 2017 (See http://minkeynet.net/~pfleming/fcfcr/football/2017/Flat/tfs40.out for all of the raw results.)

 

[Rolltide94]

Huh, I thought he got fat in Philly, but I guess he was already chunky before getting there

I can't understand why you would think that. everybody knows Philly is the "it" town for healthy eating...

 

[TheDayMan]

Here are some numbers for the sake of analysis*:

PAC-12
 Rank   School                     Record     Conf.       Div.     Rating      Schedule
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.   1)  Southern Cal               (11 -  3)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  122.054      116.340
.   2)  Washington                 (10 -  3)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  120.441      115.056
.   3)  Stanford                   ( 9 -  5)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  119.486      116.629
.   4)  Washington St              ( 9 -  4)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  119.027      115.181
.   5)  Arizona St                 ( 7 -  6)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  116.453      115.684
.   6)  Oregon                     ( 7 -  6)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  116.136      115.367
.   7)  UCLA                       ( 6 -  7)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  115.230      115.999
.   8)  Utah                       ( 7 -  6)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  115.116      114.347
.   9)  Arizona                    ( 7 -  6)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  114.631      113.862
.  10)  California                 ( 5 -  7)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  113.730      115.397
.  11)  Colorado                   ( 5 -  7)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  111.551      113.218
.  12)  Oregon St                  ( 1 - 11)  PAC-12       DI-FBS  106.370      114.703

Based on these data, the following averages can be calculated:

Average of ordinal rankings: North 6.167, South 6.833
Average of ratings: North 115.865, South 115.839

Conclusion? There is an insignificant difference between the two divisions when considering only win-loss records.

*These results come from a least-squares fit to flat win-loss results including all 760 programs playing college football in 2017 (See http://minkeynet.net/~pfleming/fcfcr/football/2017/Flat/tfs40.out for all of the raw results.)

Yeah, that totally proves me wrong if I was arguing something I literally explained I wasn’t in the post you’re replying to.

 

[nddulac]

To be fair, I’m not really trying to make that argument. All I said is the south is consistently a cluster fuck (because the teams are all pretty even and competitive). A USC fan took offense and claimed the south is as good as the north, which they’re not if you consider where the top teams in the conference are coming from.

"that argument" is (I believe) in reference to my joke about the top teams determining the strength of a division.

Yeah, that totally proves me wrong if I was arguing something I literally explained I wasn’t in the post you’re replying to.

The trouble with this defense is that you completely contradicted yourself in the post to which I was responding.

That said, my post was more in response to the general discussion of "which division is stronger - North or South?" than to anything you said. Your post just seemed to be a convenient place to insert this analysis.

 

[AlaskaGuy]

Yeah Stanford won most of those CCG, but I was talking "top to bottom", not just one game.

USC and who else in the South? That division is like warm butter.

 

[ralphiewvu]

Most Y’all fogettin the man that will run the south from here on out.......

 

[The Oldtimer]

USC and who else in the South? That division is like warm butter.

Yeah it seems like USC will win the South. It doesn't hurt them that they don't play the Huskies this year. Besides Stanford and Washington, the North doesn't look all that tough this year. We will just have to sit back, enjoy and see what happens.

 

[TheDayMan]

"that argument" is (I believe) in reference to my joke about the top teams determining the strength of a division.


The trouble with this defense is that you completely contradicted yourself in the post to which I was responding.

That said, my post was more in response to the general discussion of "which division is stronger - North or South?" than to anything you said. Your post just seemed to be a convenient place to insert this analysis.

Your joke was about the top “team”, the top teams absolutely do determine the strength, or at least perceived strengh of a conference or division.

How did I contradict myself? You started talking about record averages after I said my argument is the top teams in conference are consistently from the north. The conference has pretty much been defined by teams from the north since they went to a 12 team, two division conference. USC is starting to get their shit together, but beyond them the south shows no signs of being anything but the same inconsistent shit show it’s been from the start.

Your post does show 4 of the top half 6 being teams from the north, and 3 of the top 4 (the only teams that finished with a respectable record), so I guess saying it was completely off base is a bit of a contradiction.