This information will piggyback on the previous thread regarding whether P5 conferences NOWADAYS are one-team races sans the Big Ten and SEC. (In general, they are). Since I already compiled a lot of the data for Bo Schembechler and Paul Bryant on that thread, I will bring the data over here and add to it each day or so. If you have a P5 that you want me to run then let me know. After the data for Michigan and Alabama is posted, I plan on doing (most immediate) Notre Dame, Oklahoma, USC, Ohio St, Nebraska, and Penn State for starters. A few rules:
1) This is one of those search missions upon which I embark; I have NO IDEA what the data will actually show before compiling it. Sometimes they affirm my assumptions, sometimes they overturn it. For those who are unaware, I have made this basic assertion before (so nobody misunderstands me): while in no way do I disparage Coach Bryant or Alabama, a quick overview has shown that MOST YEARS Alabama: a) did not have an overly challenging schedule; and b) the SEC AS A WHOLE in the 1970s was not the monster conference of 1954-1966 or 1980-onwards. IN NO WAY am I impugning the great coach. Indeed, I suspect (and the research on Bo sort of proved it) that while Alabama may not have played a powerhouse schedule every year during the 1970s, neither did hardly anyone else (my presumed exceptions at this time are Notre Dame and USC - and the Irish played a horrible schedule in 1973 as I've said on this board many times).
2) When I say "beat ranked teams," what I mean is this: "beat teams that were ranked AT THE END OF THE SEASON regardless of whether they were ranked when the two teams played." This is the only fair way - in my view - to do this. Northwestern opened the season at #20 in 1971 and Michigan beat them. They fell out of the rankings and never got back into them. This game does not count for Michigan as beating a ranked team, because they beat a ranked team in September that shouldn't have been ranked. It also enables us to allot for situations where a 3-loss team beats another good team in a bowl game and ends the year at #19.
3) I will be using the Associated Press poll during these years.
There are two reasons for this: 1) the AP poll was generally considered the more respected of the two. Yes, the UPI national championships counted, but prior to 1974, the UPI didn't conduct a post-bowl game poll. This could change the results at least a bit since a team might be #17 in the final UPI poll and then get blown out in the bowl game by an unranked team that replaces them.
4) I've long considered it my self-appointed (divinely appointed?) duty to inform Tide fans how to most effectively defend Alabama football FAIRLY AND ACCURATELY at all points. The 1989 team was overrated, no question (as Jon correctly pointed out, Homer Smith bailed out Bill Curry a bunch). The 1986 team underachieved, the 1985 team was demonstrably underrated. The 1971 and 1974 Alabama teams played powerhouse schedules; the 1979 team did not. And the 1978 schedule was a bit of an illusion how "tough" it actually was, though it was difficult.
These points are made via data - not assumption or appeals to tradition.
And so with my next post, which features both Alabama and Michigan, here we go.
1) This is one of those search missions upon which I embark; I have NO IDEA what the data will actually show before compiling it. Sometimes they affirm my assumptions, sometimes they overturn it. For those who are unaware, I have made this basic assertion before (so nobody misunderstands me): while in no way do I disparage Coach Bryant or Alabama, a quick overview has shown that MOST YEARS Alabama: a) did not have an overly challenging schedule; and b) the SEC AS A WHOLE in the 1970s was not the monster conference of 1954-1966 or 1980-onwards. IN NO WAY am I impugning the great coach. Indeed, I suspect (and the research on Bo sort of proved it) that while Alabama may not have played a powerhouse schedule every year during the 1970s, neither did hardly anyone else (my presumed exceptions at this time are Notre Dame and USC - and the Irish played a horrible schedule in 1973 as I've said on this board many times).
2) When I say "beat ranked teams," what I mean is this: "beat teams that were ranked AT THE END OF THE SEASON regardless of whether they were ranked when the two teams played." This is the only fair way - in my view - to do this. Northwestern opened the season at #20 in 1971 and Michigan beat them. They fell out of the rankings and never got back into them. This game does not count for Michigan as beating a ranked team, because they beat a ranked team in September that shouldn't have been ranked. It also enables us to allot for situations where a 3-loss team beats another good team in a bowl game and ends the year at #19.
3) I will be using the Associated Press poll during these years.
There are two reasons for this: 1) the AP poll was generally considered the more respected of the two. Yes, the UPI national championships counted, but prior to 1974, the UPI didn't conduct a post-bowl game poll. This could change the results at least a bit since a team might be #17 in the final UPI poll and then get blown out in the bowl game by an unranked team that replaces them.
4) I've long considered it my self-appointed (divinely appointed?) duty to inform Tide fans how to most effectively defend Alabama football FAIRLY AND ACCURATELY at all points. The 1989 team was overrated, no question (as Jon correctly pointed out, Homer Smith bailed out Bill Curry a bunch). The 1986 team underachieved, the 1985 team was demonstrably underrated. The 1971 and 1974 Alabama teams played powerhouse schedules; the 1979 team did not. And the 1978 schedule was a bit of an illusion how "tough" it actually was, though it was difficult.
These points are made via data - not assumption or appeals to tradition.
And so with my next post, which features both Alabama and Michigan, here we go.
