When I worked for ESPN full time, I put out a weekly article entitled the Vegas Power Ratings. I still have all the sources that I used to produce that article as it featured my plus/minus ratings which closely resemble Vegas’s numbers as well as three different casinos including the fine folks over at the Westgate Las Vegas Sportsbook @SuperBookSports.
This is not the AP poll but gives you an idea of how much teams would be favored over another team if they met on a neutral field.
And…
Filed under Phil Steele Makes My Eyes Water
Dayum, Gene.
LOL. I think yesterday’s post is the last time I’ll take a shot at the man.
Filed under Gene Chizik Is The Chiznit
It’s always cool to see the light bulb go off over somebody’s head like this.
Incoming Coastal Carolina president Michael T. Benson wrote an open letter to the College Football Playoff Committee and its chair, Iowa AD Gary Barta, criticizing the “lack of fairness” and “absence of character” in the current college football postseason that “must be addressed.”
The letter calls for an “equality of opportunity” for schools from the Group of Five and criticizes the “flawed logic” that ended with Coastal’s No. 12 ranking and Cincinnati (9-0) finishing No. 8, which he said left them “absolutely flabbergasted.”
“I can’t help but think what might have been this season had all FBS programs been given the same equality of opportunity,” Benson wrote in a letter obtained by Yahoo Sports. He added: “Just think about that: Football is the only sport where the deck is stacked insurmountably against those who have the inevitable classification of “Group of Five” before toe hits the leather each fall.”
Benson acknowledged in the letter the reality that finances play in judging teams for college football’s postseason: “The [power] five” have worked to ensure that a different kind of Golden Rule remains firmly in place at the highest level of Division 1 football: those with the gold make the rules.”
Welcome to the party, pal. It’s not as if Jim Delany was exactly hiding that attitude a decade ago when the mids were screaming about being left out of the BCS.
Filed under BCS/Playoffs, It's Not Easy Being A Mid-Major
Really, this “inside” look at the decision making process involved in hiring Auburn’s replacement for Gus Malzahn is more predictable than anything else, a dash of ass covering, a smidgen of finger pointing at anonymous power brokers and a touch of pumping up the independence of the AD and president (yeah, sure), but there is a touch of comedy gold buried in the middle of it all.
Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin interviewed on Monday and impressed those involved in the search. After years of watching quarterbacks struggle to develop once they arrived at Auburn, those involved in the search believe Harsin has the skills and track record to change that.
They grew weary of all the preseason Heisman Trophy candidate talk? I’m dying, Jerry.
By the way, if you want to know what really sealed the deal for Harsin, it’s in the very next sentence.
He had a minimal $250,000 buyout to leave Boise State, making him much more financially palatable than coaches like Oregon’s Mario Cristobal, who come with big buyouts on top of the $21.4 million Auburn must pay Malzahn.
I will give Auburn some credit. At least they have some vague awareness of the limits there, unlike, say, Tennessee.
Filed under Auburn's Cast of Thousands
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