Stephen Oh - AccuScore Analyst

Week 5 did not do much to shake up the Conference Strength rankings. Most of the major upsets that happened were in-conference match-ups. The ACC’s record was 11-8 ATS in non-conference games heading into Week 5 and now they are 13-10. A 2-2 week does not sound bad, but the fact that Wake Forest, the #1 team in the ACC (at least that’s what everyone thought) lost to Navy at home, straight up, has to make you question the strength of this conference, even though they have a respectable 13-10 ATS and straight up record.

Virginia Tech has bounced back the last few weeks with Sean Glennon firmly planted on the bench. They beat Nebraska on the road to bring respect to the ACC and bring the strong Big 12 down to earth a bit.

After a rough Week 4, the Pac 10 picked up a few wins against the spread with California dominating Colorado State and UCLA covering the spread vs. Fresno State. Of course, Fresno State could have easily covered had they try to run up the score in the closing minute, but instead they wisely chose to take a knee and prevent any possible game blowing turnover.

The conference games are in full swing so there are no big non-conference match-ups to worry about. Giant killers, Oregon State is a 10 point underdog at Utah. The MWC and Pac-10 are both around .500 against the spread in non-conference games. I do not expect this line to move much this week, although I could see Oregon State closing it to +8.5 based on their upset win over USC.

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nancy said:

Thanks for explaining how you arrived at this. I missed it in the other blog. I still say, however, that this exposes the flaw in this method. It takes the ratings from top to bottom and, imo, this does not relect accurately. I would argue that teams such as Auburn and LSU, who both play 2 top 10 teams, have a much higher chance of losing at least one game than does USC, whose highest opponent is currently ranked 12 (before they beat Tenn). The same thing would hold true for Wisconsin, Ohio State and many others who play at least one or more top 10 team. Of course, those rankings are likely to change, but possibly only to give USC at least one top 10 team to claim credit for scheduling. Another reason I also don’t look very positively upon this method of ranking SOS is that I would certainly expect any top 10 or 15 to lose to a team ranked 30th or lower. I will admit that I don’t know of another, more fair way to rank teams, so, until one is devised, I guess we will have to stick to the ones in place. Also, even though I am an LSU fan, this should not be taken to mean my bias toward SEC teams. It is just that I am more familiar with their schedules rather than other conferences. ======================================================= ========== blessy Foreclosed Homes

September 28, 2008

rosy said:

Thanks for explaining how you arrived at this. I missed it in the other blog. I still say, however, that this exposes the flaw in this method. It takes the ratings from top to bottom and, imo, this does not relect accurately. I would argue that teams such as Auburn and LSU, who both play 2 top 10 teams, have a much higher chance of losing at least one game than does USC, whose highest opponent is currently ranked 12 (before they beat Tenn). The same thing would hold true for Wisconsin, Ohio State and many others who play at least one or more top 10 team. Of course, those rankings are likely to change, but possibly only to give USC at least one top 10 team to claim credit for scheduling. Another reason I also don’t look very positively upon this method of ranking SOS is that I would certainly expect any top 10 or 15 to lose to a team ranked 30th or lower. I will admit that I don’t know of another, more fair way to rank teams, so, until one is devised, I guess we will have to stick to the ones in place. Also, even though I am an LSU fan, this should not be taken to mean my bias toward SEC teams. It is just that I am more familiar with their schedules rather than other conferences. -------------------------------------------------------------------- blessy Foreclosed Homes

September 28, 2008

sambam711 said:

i see fresno st. taken all that ucla will give them. bruins offense is offensive.frenso st rolls on by14

September 27, 2008

bradleyb said:

More content of this nature across all sports would be excellent.

September 16, 2008

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