Tuesday, November 24, 2009

2009 Gus Rankings: Week 12

Here are this week's Gus Rankings. Texas jumps to the top spot, followed by Alabama at #2 and Florida and TCU tied at #3. Some thoughts:

- It's fun to see who controls their own destiny for the top spot prior to bowl games. Of course, no one can directly control their own destiny-- your score will fluctuate based on whether teams you have already beaten continue to win (and if teams you have lost to continue to lose, though these top 4 haven't lost to anyone). To this end, within-league teams are unlikely to have a large impact; most of these teams play pretty balance schedules within the league, so if two teams play each other that say, Alabama, has defeated, Alabama will get a point since one of them has to win. What it comes down to is the teams outside of your conference performing well. Florida has Troy and Florida International, Alabama has Virginia Tech, Florida International and North Texas, Texas has Louisiana-Monroe, Wyoming, UTEP and Central Florida, and TCU has Virginia, Clemson, and Southern Methodist.

- However, even though you don't have direct control over your score, you do have control over beating the remaining teams on your schedule. Here's how many points the remaining teams stand to gain directly from beating their remaining opponents:

Texas - Texas A&M (6 points), Nebraska (8 or 9 points, depending on their performance vs. Colorado) for a best possible increase of 15 points.

Alabama - Auburn (6 points), Florida (10 or 11 points, depending on their performance vs. Florida State) for a best possible increase of 17 points.

Florida - Florida State (5 points), Alabama (10 or 11 points, depending on their performance vs. Auburn) for a best possible increase of 16 points.

TCU - They only play New Mexico and stand to gain 1 point for doing so.

Alabama looks to have the best direct shot at it, but Texas' opponents listed above have (in my opinion) a much better shot at winning their respective games, which would erode the direct advantage Alabama has. It's going to come right down to it, Art!

4 comments:

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Art Carden said...

Roll Tide. Assuming FL beats FSU tomorrow, the Bama-Florida game will have 12 points riding on it. If South Carolina beats Clemson, both Alabama and Florida will pick up a point. If Georgia beats Georgia Tech, Florida will pick up another point. It's basically moot because it's looking like Texas will play the Bama-Florida winner. Indeed, since they'll only pick up a point by beating New Mexico, I don't think TCU will pass Bama/FL/Texas even if one of them loses.

Justin Ross said...

When you get the time, you should put up a Wikipedia entry on the Gus Rankings.

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