Latest CFP Rankings...7 PM ESPN

[AppFan11]

Yes, this is where we miss Karl Benson. He was an outspoken advocate who had long ties inside the committee structure of the NCAA and CFP. But I do think we all need to remember that the Top 25 is really set up for the P5 maybe less so than the AP and Coaches polls, but dramatically more for the CFP rankings. For the G5 slot in NY6, really doesn’t matter how many P5’s between us and Boise, Cincy and Memphis.... they are the only ones that matter for us so VaTech getting #24 no matter now. The whole idea of style points is also overblown. It wouldn’t have mattered if we beat TXST 80-3...... VaTech was going to be #24.... why because they have won 5 P5 games and they play in a P5 conference. What matters to us is Apps winning the conference and Navy beating Houston, Cincy beating Memphis, and Navy beating Cincy also Boise getting beat. Can it happen yes, likely nope. But I would say that we are setting new expectations for our program by being in the Top25 consistently and that will pay dividends next year and beyond. Our conference mates need to continue to win against peer conferences and against P5. Then we’ll get two of our teams ranked at the same time. Rome wasn’t built in a “season.”

[Maddog1956]

I am thrilled to still be ranked, but I am really pissed that the committee has listened to the AAC ...

The AAC commissioner, despite being a whiner, does a great job branding that conference. The stats clearly show they are the premier G5 conference, but they’ve got someone at the helm that keeps them in the news week after week.

Our commissioner is a Duke alumnus who, as far as I know, is non-existent for us from a marketing perspective.

I agree and that's what Doug G. should bring up. AppState is a big win for the Sunbelt and we should get K. Gill off his ACC butt and start pulling for us. The CFP is just a thing because schools agree to it. They know that if the ACC starts throwing doubt that other conferences could too. Sometimes you have to go big or go home.

[hapapp]

It is clear based on Ohio State's jump to #1 that it is more about what have you done lately. Va Tech has outscored its opponents 86-0 over the last 9 quarters and is 6-0 with Hooker at QB. That obviously played more to the committee's liking than our 10-1 record. It is interesting to see those 3&4 loss teams between us and the other 10-1 G5 teams. Clearly, the committee doesn't think we are their equal. All we can do is keep winning and see where the chips fall.

[hapapp]

Keep in mind there is a Sun Belt AD on the committee. I believe the StAte AD is the only G5 member on the committee. He likely would have more influence than some public lobbying from the commissioner.

[GregPercussion]

Just gotta crush these next 3 games and I just hope we can still be ranked at the end of the season.

[Rick83]

The problem with the way the committee has us positioned is that whoever wins the AAC will probably end up with a top 20 win in the AAC championship game. So, even if that champion has two losses, that top 20 win will probably carry more weight in their eyes than our two P5 wins. Still not impossible but very slim the way they have Cincy, Memphis and Boise all bunched up ahead of us.
Don't agree with it because I think our resume is better than Boise's and Cincy's.

[Maddog1956]

I know football math doesn't add up but the simple fact is we beat USC and they beat uga who is ranked 4th. I understand that USC isn't that good but then we beat UNC that almost beat Clemson. Plus our record is 10-1. All I'm saying is that given what we have done this year it pretty much let's us make the case that we could have given most teams a run for their money. Again I say that it's given the sunbelt is satisfied for us to be ranked anywhere.

[WVAPPeer]

" the Washington Generals"

Come on man - these youngsters have no idea who the Washington Generals are -

[EastHallApp]

Yes, this is where we miss Karl Benson. He was an outspoken advocate who had long ties inside the committee structure of the NCAA and CFP. But I do think we all need to remember that the Top 25 is really set up for the P5 maybe less so than the AP and Coaches polls, but dramatically more for the CFP rankings. For the G5 slot in NY6, really doesn’t matter how many P5’s between us and Boise, Cincy and Memphis.... they are the only ones that matter for us so VaTech getting #24 no matter now. The whole idea of style points is also overblown. It wouldn’t have mattered if we beat TXST 80-3...... VaTech was going to be #24.... why because they have won 5 P5 games and they play in a P5 conference. What matters to us is Apps winning the conference and Navy beating Houston, Cincy beating Memphis, and Navy beating Cincy also Boise getting beat. Can it happen yes, likely nope. But I would say that we are setting new expectations for our program by being in the Top25 consistently and that will pay dividends next year and beyond. Our conference mates need to continue to win against peer conferences and against P5. Then we’ll get two of our teams ranked at the same time. Rome wasn’t built in a “season.”

I get this point about the G5s being the ones we need to pass, but I think the P5s ahead of us DO matter because they illustrate the committee's perceived gap between us and Memphis/Cincy/Boise. They've continually had those three bunched together, with a few P5s between them and us. When Iowa State, USC and VT moved in, they leapfrogged us but not the other G5s. That's a way of saying "these other three teams are all virtually equal; you aren't."

If we were sitting right behind Boise at 21, then we'd almost certainly pass the Memphis/Cincy loser with a win this week. Since we're 6-7 spots back, we probably won't. (Or if we do, they'll just jump back over us if they win the AAC title game.)

[EastHallApp]

" the Washington Generals"

Come on man - these youngsters have no idea who the Washington Generals are -

You're probably right. Best analogy for "terrible sports team" I could come up with off the top of my dome.

[EastHallApp]

Keep in mind there is a Sun Belt AD on the committee. I believe the StAte AD is the only G5 member on the committee. He likely would have more influence than some public lobbying from the commissioner.

But the job of the AD on the committee is to be an objective member, not to lobby for his conference. Obviously in reality everyone's going to bring their own biases to the table, but they're at least supposed to minimize them as much as possible.

The job of the commissioner is to advocate for his league's member schools. For Gill to not make a peep while Aresco is out there beating the drum for his teams and specifically calling out App State by name is pure negligence.

For that matter, he should be pushing for ULL to be ranked too, if not by the CFP then at least in the other polls. Sun Belt has a legit chance to have a top 25 matchup in the title game and the league office is doing nothing to push for it, at least publicly.

[EastHallApp]

It is clear based on Ohio State's jump to #1 that it is more about what have you done lately. Va Tech has outscored its opponents 86-0 over the last 9 quarters and is 6-0 with Hooker at QB. That obviously played more to the committee's liking than our 10-1 record. It is interesting to see those 3&4 loss teams between us and the other 10-1 G5 teams. Clearly, the committee doesn't think we are their equal. All we can do is keep winning and see where the chips fall.

I don't think Ohio State's ranking says anything about recency, other than the fact that their schedule allowed them to enhance their resume much more last week than LSU did. But OSU has been incredibly dominant all year long.

Now, in reality I think you're right that VT's recent play is carrying a lot of weight. But I also think that's a bit of a red herring. In reality the CFP seems to shift the goalposts often in terms of what metrics they value. It gives the impression that they start with their desired result, then use whatever justification best suits it.

[BeauFoster]

" the Washington Generals"

Come on man - these youngsters have no idea who the Washington Generals are -

I'm pretty sure it's the Washington Nationals, and I have no idea what baseball has to do with any of this...





(sarcasm)

[BeauFoster]

" the Washington Generals"

Come on man - these youngsters have no idea who the Washington Generals are -

You're probably right. Best analogy for "terrible sports team" I could come up with off the top of my dome.

You could have said Western Carolina and nailed the "terrible sports team" part.

[Saint3333]

Keep in mind there is a Sun Belt AD on the committee. I believe the StAte AD is the only G5 member on the committee. He likely would have more influence than some public lobbying from the commissioner.

Why not work both angles?

The silence from the SBC offices is deafening. They should at a minimum be on a radio show discussing the best year the SBC has ever had, with four P5 wins, yet again finishing ahead of CUSA and MAC, and having a team ranked in the top 25 with another team that deserves consideration in ULL.

[AppStFan1]

Yes, this is where we miss Karl Benson. He was an outspoken advocate who had long ties inside the committee structure of the NCAA and CFP. But I do think we all need to remember that the Top 25 is really set up for the P5 maybe less so than the AP and Coaches polls, but dramatically more for the CFP rankings. For the G5 slot in NY6, really doesn’t matter how many P5’s between us and Boise, Cincy and Memphis.... they are the only ones that matter for us so VaTech getting #24 no matter now. The whole idea of style points is also overblown. It wouldn’t have mattered if we beat TXST 80-3...... VaTech was going to be #24.... why because they have won 5 P5 games and they play in a P5 conference. What matters to us is Apps winning the conference and Navy beating Houston, Cincy beating Memphis, and Navy beating Cincy also Boise getting beat. Can it happen yes, likely nope. But I would say that we are setting new expectations for our program by being in the Top25 consistently and that will pay dividends next year and beyond. Our conference mates need to continue to win against peer conferences and against P5. Then we’ll get two of our teams ranked at the same time. Rome wasn’t built in a “season.”

I get this point about the G5s being the ones we need to pass, but I think the P5s ahead of us DO matter because they illustrate the committee's perceived gap between us and Memphis/Cincy/Boise. They've continually had those three bunched together, with a few P5s between them and us. When Iowa State, USC and VT moved in, they leapfrogged us but not the other G5s. That's a way of saying "these other three teams are all virtually equal; you aren't."

If we were sitting right behind Boise at 21, then we'd almost certainly pass the Memphis/Cincy loser with a win this week. Since we're 6-7 spots back, we probably won't. (Or if we do, they'll just jump back over us if they win the AAC title game.)

I think what he means is that the P5 teams don't matter to us because all we have to do is be ahead of the G5 but I'm with you that it matters because it shows the gap.

The current gap is the reason why I said the loss would keep us out of the NY6 for sure. We had to be undefeated and honestly even then it would be 50/50. The committee would see our 12-0 and their 11-1 and say well if App had their schedule they would likely be 11-1 as well. Even if we had been 11-0 I think if Cincy won the AAC we would finish behind them.

The minute we lost it became almost impossible that we could sneak back in. Even if we were undefeated I think we would be just behind Memphis and Cincy. Instead of this gap we would be #20 just ahead of Boise State.

The good news here is that if we win out we should begin next season ranked in the top 25 and that sets us up to be in the hunt for real.

[BTK2000]

" the Washington Generals"

Come on man - these youngsters have no idea who the Washington Generals are -

Ok Boomer

[AppStFan1]

Keep in mind there is a Sun Belt AD on the committee. I believe the StAte AD is the only G5 member on the committee. He likely would have more influence than some public lobbying from the commissioner.

Why not work both angles?

The silence from the SBC offices is deafening. They should at a minimum be on a radio show discussing the best year the SBC has ever had, with four P5 wins, yet again finishing ahead of CUSA and MAC, and having a team ranked in the top 25 with another team that deserves consideration in ULL.

I don't get why anyone thinks ULL should be ranked in the top 25 right now. They look better now but have not done anything that proves they are a top 25 caliber team. All they have done is beat down awful SBC teams lately. We have P5 wins. They lost by 10 to Miss State and lost to us at home.

They could finish 12-2 at best and we did not finish ranked at 12-2 last year. Miss State had a bad year and is not even a quality win right now. While I agree they are better I still don't think their resume is top 25 worthy.

You need a quality win to deserve it and they don't have one. What do you think their record would be if they swapped schedules with Miss State?

Here is their schedule and my guess based on how they have done and how Miss St has done: https://hailstate.com/sports/football/schedule/2019

Swap Louisiana with Miss State and here is their likely record:
Miss St- Loss
Southern Miss- Win
Kansas St- Tossup here but I'll say loss the way KSU was playing at the time
Kentucky- Win
Auburn- Loss
Tennessee- MSU lost to these guys but Tenn is up and down. I'll give ULL a win but this is really a toss up.
LSU- Loss
Texas A&M- Loss
Arkansas- Win
Alabama- Loss
Abilene Christian- Win
Ole Miss- Win

ULL would likely be 6-6 and 8-4 best case with this schedule. We would have folks screaming that a 5-6 loss ULL does not belong in the ratings. And if you gave ULL a loss to every team that Miss State lost to (transitive property which I don't believe in) then it would be more like 4-8 or 5-7. We would be screaming if a 5-7 or even 6-6 G5 team was ranked that they don't deserve it.

Watch the games and go by the eye test of speed, size, and strength. ULL is pretty good but until they win against someone with a pulse and beat a ranked or at least receiving votes team I would not rank them.

[AppFan11]

Hey East, I agree about the “perceived gap” thinking but that is all that it is.... perceived. At the end of the day, it’s the highest ranked G5 champion slot in NY6. So the real question is will a one loss Apps be higher ranked than a two loss AAC champion ..... a lot still has to happen for that to be the case so we may never know the answer to that question. I also think that the 2 P5 wins is not being properly valued. The last time it was done by a G5 team was 2013.

[AppStFan1]

Hey East, I agree about the “perceived gap” thinking but that is all that it is.... perceived. At the end of the day, it’s the highest ranked G5 champion slot in NY6. So the real question is will a one loss Apps be higher ranked than a two loss AAC champion ..... a lot still has to happen for that to be the case so we may never know the answer to that question. I also think that the 2 P5 wins is not being properly valued. The last time it was done by a G5 team was 2013.

P5 wins are good but they are even better if that P5 is going to a bowl game at least. The committee is giving us credit for having two and that is hard to do for a G5 but there are teams out there in P5 with 4 P5 wins who will not go to a bowl game. I just wish UNC had won 7 or 8 and South Carolina had won 6 or 7. Those wins would look a lot better and probably would have us at 20-21 even with the GSU loss. I think had both of them been bowl caliber teams and we had gone undefeated then I really believe we have a big time argument and would be the top rated G5.

We can complain all we want to but we were done for the NY6 when we lost to Georgia Southern. People threw it in our faces when we entered the rankings again but it does not matter for the NY6 as long as 3-4 teams are ahead of us. We still need about 5 things to happen and there are only two weeks for them to do so. We better hope 3 of them happen this week just to even have a possible show next week. If certain results don't happen this Saturday then nothing that happens during conference title games would matter for that anyway.

For now I am very happy to finish 13-1 and ranked. It is about the best we could have hoped for and really the expectation most in the know of our program had set for us. We just have to finish strong so we can indeed go 13-1. I said in the preseason that anything less than 12-2 for me would not be acceptable because we have the talent. If we somehow finish 10-3 or 12-2 now I would be very disappointed.