We see the AP top ten and wonder what does it mean. We especially wonder after last year when it seemed we were constantly being told by the experts about how good the flavor of the week was, only to then see that team get beat. Certainly this year has seen a repeat of last year with many of the "top" teams getting beat. Presently the AP top ten is as follows:

We wonder how good some of these teams are. Maybe you can gauge the strength of a team or conference by paying attention to Lou Holtz or Mark May, but in this corner we see those guys as full of bullshit and specializing in hype. We decided to look at the top ten by seeing the records of those teams they beat. Now we know this isn't scientific because, for example, in looking at the won/loss record of one of the teams that was beaten by a top ten team we saw 3 teams on the schedule that we didn't even know where the school was, let alone that they have a football team. Again, we are wondering who the top ten teams have played, how good are the teams who were beaten? We know USC beat OSU. We know Alabama beat Georgia-how about the rest- who have they beaten.

Surprising to us, only USC, Alabama, and Georgia have beaten teams that, at this stage of the season, have winning records. USC has beaten teams with a combined won/loss record of 11 & 6. Georgia's opponents have a combined record of 12/10. Alabama's opponents have a combined record of 17/14. The combined won/loss records of the opponents the top ten teams have beaten is listed as follows:

Looking at life and trying to figure out what this means, if anything, we are struck with the thought that if, for example, Texas really is the number five team in the country, isn't it reasonable to expect them to be 5 and 0 against teams with a combined record of 11/16. This author, an OSU fan with a serious OSU bias, has noted the increased respect Penn State has garnered the past few weeks. Now maybe Penn State is God's gift to college football, but their opponents have a combined won/loss record of 13/19. Sure, they beat the team that beat USC, but again, look at the record. Penn state's opponents haven't won much. BYU is certainly starting to become the flavor of the month with the "experts". Take a look at the records of BYU's opponents-8 & 18. Again, we will put out there that this is just another way to look at things, but how can one be overly impressed because BYU has beaten teams that are 8 & 18?

We admitted an OSU bias, so, for shits and giggles we checked the won/loss records of the teams OSU has beaten and that record is 14/14. Notre Dame is 4/1 and people are starting to whisper the Irish are back. Hell, the Irish may be back, but before ya'll jump on the bandwagon you might want to consider the opponents the Irish have beaten have a combined record of 8/13. Are the Irish back, or has the schedule just been dummied down?

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Lloyds Apple said:

Good read man. Nice research. HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE! GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY! BYU is a good team but should not sniff the top 5. They killed UCLA, which is nice. They squeaked by Washington. They play @ TCU and @ Utah---so if they run the table they will be a top 5 team like it or not. They won't make a title game, though. No way, no how. Colt McCoy leads Texas in rushing. Their D will have to play huge against OU to have a chance. PSU has a tough road @ Wisky and @ OSU. Georgia fans are already talking about "next year" because they return all but 3 starters (unless moreno and stafford leave). It's hard to see Alabama running the table but they've earned their ranking. Bottom line: Lots of football left to play.

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October 10, 2008
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