[personal] Re: [Husker] End of the Season

[Andrew Smith]

Are you serious?  We all know that transitivity does not apply in sports.

Head-to-head means a lot, but it's ALL the head-to-head games that 
matter, not just one.
Consider:
 Tennessee 35, Georgia 14
 Florida 59, Tennessee 20
 Alabama 41, Tennessee 17
 Georgia 26, Alabama 23
 Georgia 42, Florida 30
So who do you rank above whom?  And how do you rank these teams among 
the other teams they've played so that no one is ranked below a team 
they beat?  Let me know when you figure it out. :-)

The "<team> did not even win their division" argument is just as bad 
when deciding final rankings since it completely ignores all the 
head-to-head games out of conference and sometimes outside of the 
division!  The only reason Georgia (with 2 losses) did not win their 
division is because 1 of Tennessee's 3 losses (at the time) was outside 
the division (to 7-6 California).  Tennessee finished the season with 4 
losses; Georgia had only 2.  Ranking Tennessee over Georgia requires 
that at least 2 head-to-head games be completely ignored.

Andy

Todd Richards wrote:
>   That is another bug-a-boo in the college system.  Head to head competition doesn't mean much.  I can cite numerous examples from this year alone of a team soundly pounding another team, and later in the year, being passed in the polls.  Georgia was drilled by Tennessee this year, but I've heard many pundits saying that Georgia should have been in the MNC game.  Georgia didn't even win the SEC East.  Tennessee did.  Sheesh........
>    
>   Todd in Tennessee
>