Week 13 Strength of Schedule

[Star Sports Network]

[*]Oakland claims toughest schedule[*]Madison's schedule to get much tougher[*]Lynx back on top of RPI standings

[Star Sports Network]

[P. Diddy]

Look at the only winning teams in the top ten.

Despite the tower of glower's rankings, I'm not sure I'd want to face any of us in the playoffs. That includes Reno, who are far from out of it.

[Suicane]

#2 In the RPI. That must mean i'm good. Does it mean that?

[P. Diddy]

Ah don' even know what that means but ah want it...

[Matt]

we dropped down in both the SOS and the rpi ranking with our win in Montreal.

good work SSN. I enjoy this feature.

[sovstar]

we dropped down in both the SOS and the rpi ranking with our win in Montreal.

good work SSN. I enjoy this feature.

I would be willing to bet that it was a bad week in general for a lot of your opponents just by the movement of your SOS, which was pretty hefty.

[Tower of Power]

Look at the only winning teams in the top ten.

Despite the tower of glower's rankings, I'm not sure I'd want to face any of us in the playoffs. That includes Reno, who are far from out of it.

The problem with the NC West is that you guys have been beating each other up, and no team has been extremely consistent.

We ranked Houston #5 because despite their lofty record, they haven't beaten that many good teams. The best they can claim is a some 6-5 teams.

After #5 there is really a big logjam. #6 Norfolk could easily be ranked a few spots back, they are lucky to be 8-3 and two games up in their division. #7 Columbia hasn't exactly impressed me, but they've won. Oakland saw a historically anemic Grizzly offense hang 38 on them. You could argue that the Grizzlies should be much higher except for some suspect playcalling against Norfolk (throwing the ball with under a minute and 3rd down, when your opponent has no time outs?) and Albuquerque. Salt Lake City has been struggling. Sure, Portland might have a losing record, but have you seen what they have done in the past 5 weeks? Iowa City and Wichita are going to go down to the wire, but Wichita has been a huge wild card all year. They win games you don't think they would, then they lose games they shouldn't. Lawrence can't win on the road, but they don't lose at home. They'll finish 9-7 or 10-6, but will be out of the playoffs in the first round when they go on the road to face NC West winner or Columbia.

EDIT: You want to see an impressive 4-7, look at Murphreesboro last 4-5 games. They are much better than their record indicates, their schedule has been brutal the last few weeks.

I can go on and on. The league this year has a solid top 5 (6, if you include a Norfolk team that easily could be sitting at 6-5 right now), but from 6-22, you can make an argument for nearly any team sitting anywhere and make it stick. It is telling that you can take the #21 team in the league and have the top 5 sweating when they have to play them. That shows the competitiveness of the league, which few leagues have.

[sovstar]

Boston has 2 non-West Virginia wins and you have them at #16. Madison has one win against an above-500 team and that was at home against Columbia, yet they're ranked at #3 and are the class of the NC? Who would make an argument that Hartford should be higher? Their win against Norfolk earlier in the year was negated and besides their home win against the Owls they've beaten overrated Boston, Cleveland, California, and West Virginia (and only WestVa on the road). Also, they've only outscored their opponents by 2 points a game.

[Tower of Power]

Boston has 2 non-West Virginia wins and you have them at #16. Madison has one win against an above-500 team and that was at home against Columbia, yet they're ranked at #3 and are the class of the NC? Who would make an argument that Hartford should be higher? Their win against Norfolk earlier in the year was negated and besides their home win against the Owls they've beaten overrated Boston, Cleveland, California, and West Virginia (and only WestVa on the road). Also, they've only outscored their opponents by 2 points a game.

You're right about Boston, but what is significant is that they've won their last two, after they made a QB change. We like their defense, and think that without their QB losing games for them, their defense is good enough to keep them in games. We see them as a 7-9 team as of right now, based upon their upcoming games. Let's not forget they've played most of their games on the road.

Madison and Newark should swap positions if I did it over again. But, they've done extremely well this year. The problem with the NC is that the top teams have been beating each other. You wind up getting into circular logic where team X beat team Y who beat team Z who beat team X. I opted to go with Madison over Newark, but I feel that regardless of which team is better now, we'll know for sure after this weekend.

Regarding Hartford, their only double digit loss was by 14 to Portland. Their other losses are by 3 to Norfolk, 4 to Albuquerque, 8 to Anchorage, and 2 to Salt Lake City. On the flip side, they've won by 3, 5, 7, 6, 25, and 7. Don't forget, they've compiled their record playing with a backup at QB. They've beaten the teams they should (with the exception of Portland), and they've lost to some good teams, but they've also beaten some good teams. Out of teams currently in the playoffs if the season ended today, they are 2-4. FWIW, Oakland is only 3-3 against playoff teams. Both Oakland and Hartford are 4-1 against non-playoff teams, maybe I should move them up ahead of Oakland, since Hartford just beat Oakland head to head.

Albuquerque could be moved up a bit as well, but I am not too sure about them. They've won some games that are impressive, Hartford and Norfolk on the road back to back is impressive, but they also have some head scratching losses. I rated them behind Hartford due more to quality of losses rather than quality of wins.

Reno is another team that could be rated higher. They've beaten both Newark and Oakland, but lost to Vermont and were swept by Vancouver.

The problem is, much more so than in the past, there are a few elite teams. Madison is up there because they always win like they are this year. Anchorage is just blowing teams out, but I think teams like Albuquerque, Boston, or Hartford could beat them if they played again. The teams with stout defensive secondaries can beat Anchorage. Houston could be moved to #3, but I didn't want to go 1,2,3 from one conference, but I probably should have. The AC Conference seems to be the stronger conference at the top than the NC is. But, the NC doesn't have the bottom feeders the AC does.

What we are also seeing is a changing of the guard in the AC. Portland, Boston, Murphreesboro, and Houston are all on the rise. Granted, three of those teams have losing records, but look at the schedules and results. Murphreesboro is 2-3 in their last 5, and those three losses all came on the road to teams that are 7-4, 9-2, and 9-2, and their biggest loss was by a TD. Boston is a similar, but less impressive story. Portland is 4-1 in their last 5. Houston is 9-2 on the year.

[sovstar]

FWIW, Oakland is only 3-3 against playoff teams.

Actually, that's 3-2. You might be confusing Hartford as a playoff team.

[Tower of Power]

FWIW, Oakland is only 3-3 against playoff teams.

Actually, that's 3-2. You might be confusing Hartford as a playoff team.

OK, you're 4-2 against non-playoff teams then. :P