Guest TML: Michigan over MSU? Does head-to-head matter to committee? Wake me in December
Did you stay up late (9:30 still feels like 10:30 for another week or so, right?) to see where the Cincinnati Bearcats and their contemporaries would be ranked in Week 2 of the College Football Playoff rankings reveal. How'd that work out?
No. 5 is better than No. 6, so at least UC wasn't penalized excessively for letting Tulsa hang around until Wilson Huber saved their butts on back-to-back plays. (Well, along with Tulsa quarterback Davis Brin sliding instead of perhaps diving.)
Am I allowed to care whether the Bearcats become the first Group of 5 team ever invited to the College Football Playoff without caring about this rankings show once a week for another four weeks?
Because I'm just about done paying attention to weekly rankings that no longer deserve much respect.
Does head-to-head matter? Gary Barta has said it does. Oregon ranked above Ohio State makes it seem like it does. So how on earth do you rank Michigan one spot ahead of Michigan State?
From Pete Thamel via Twitter:
If only Judge Common Sense had moderated that debate. Let's see: They're both 8-1. The Spartans beat the Wolverines not a month or two ago but 10 DAYS AGO.
It's pretty clear that Michigan ranked above Michigan State made no sense. Even Rece Davis said on ESPN: "If we're gonna value head-to-head, then it needs to last longer than a week or week-and-a-half."
So I went from barely caring - after all, it's tough to care too much now with so many games yet to be played and Ohio State, for instance, yet to play the Spartans and Wolverines - to not caring. I'm excited to watch the rest of the season play out, including those Big Ten games, UC-SMU, potentially UC-Houston in the AAC Championship, et al. But the standings I could take or leave if there's just going to be silliness.
SPEAKING OF THE PAST 10 DAYS, I'm trying to figure out whether they've gone worse for Reds fans or Bengals fans.
Blowing a 31-20 fourth-quarter lead against the Jets and a backup quarterback, and following that by getting embarrassed by the AFC North rival Cleveland Browns. Going from 5-2 and No. 1 AFC seed if the season ended then ... to 5-4, tied for last in the division.
With AT Vegas, Steelers, Chargers, Niners, AT Denver (which just pummeled Dallas) Baltimore, Chiefs and Browns again coming up after the bye. (Good luck with that.)
OR
Losing fan favorite and two-time Gold Glover Tucker Barnhart, which didn't quite elicit the "what just happened?" reaction that failing to pick up Wade Miley's option and allowing the Cubs to claim him off waivers was. Add a report from Jon Morosi that they're willing to engage in trade talks for Luis Castillo, one of the best pitchers in the league over the last four months of the season.
In other words, when Nick Krall says, "We must align our payroll," he's not lying.
The answer, of course, to which fan base had it worse is c) FC Cincinnati fans.
COLLEGE HOOPS SEASON predictably doesn't care that you never expected the Miami RedHawks to win at Georgia Tech, and Ohio State to need a buzzer-beater to beat Akron. So great to have CBB back.
UC? If I'm Wes Miller, I'm ecstatic with holding any opponent to 25.9% from the field. Saturday's game against Georgia could reveal a lot about the Bearcats.
Xavier by 3? Good thing Paul Scruggs came back. And a win is a win. (Ask all of the team that lost "buy games.") The Muskies will be deeper and more talented when Ben Stanley and Zach Freemantle are healthy. But in the meantime they could have their hands full with Kent State and Ohio State their next two games. (The Zips ranked just behind the Golden Flashes in the MAC Preseason Coaches Poll.)
A shoutout to the MAC, by the way, as Akron and Miami weren't the only teams raising eyebrows Tuesday night. Ohio downed a Belmont team that was 26-4 last season. EMU outscored IU by 11 in the second half in Bloomington. Toledo took care of business at Valpo, and Northern Illinois won at Washington.
TUNE O' THE DAY:
The older I get, the more I realize the role Eddie Money has played in my nostalgia for the '80s.
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