I understand the point, but I think a precipitous drop following a loss would have more to do with last year's 8-5 than this year's early games. Even Lou Holtz is impressed with our ability to do what it takes to win. Imagine how reasonable people must feel?
This is correct. Just look at the 2007 season and tell me if those first 5 romps by LSU didn't matter (especially Vtech) when they needed to decide which 2 loss team should play for the BCS championship. If we had scheduled Tenn-Chattanooga instead of Vtech that year, Vtech probably would have played for the NC that year instead of us.
Va Tech helped our early ranking but the final rankings had everything to do with who lost and when they lost. Memories are short, but there were some god-awful ugly wins (and losses) in the 2007 season.
Well if that was the case, we lost last out of those teams that had 2 losses. So no, it had all to do with the entire resume, the fact we scheduled a very good BCS team and beat them senseless in the process, and had those early "pretty" wins. It was the first time I could recall voters having to look at the entire season rather than the same old stupid who lost last is out of luck rule.
You shouldn't disagree with your elders and masters of the golf domain. The late loss was wiped out by the SECCG performance and subsequent losses of other contenders.
2006 Florida was CONSTANTLY questioned about whether or not they were legitimate. They struggled through their regular-season schedule...winning by a field goal or a BLOCKED field goal wherever and however they could...and were a DOG in the SECCG against Arkansas. And yet...with only one loss...they found their way into the title game when USC choked on UCLA's junk.
They had multiple choices (VTech, USC, Oklahoma, Georgia, LSU). We lost last. They still picked us. Body of work. Poll correction. It's simple, really. PS - the SEC CG was not an overly impressive win by LSU, btw, in voters eyes. It was enough, however.
And the fact that we were undefeated in regulation. Some of the other two-loss teams had pretty bad defeats earlier on.
Va Tech lost to BC and Oklahoma lost to a bad Colorado team. That's what kept them below LSU in the BCS. If we had beaten Va Tech by 1 point, nothing would have been different. They were our chief competitor for the #2 spot and we beat them head to head. Bang! Zoom!
Thank you for coming around to the body of work theory. Next week, we'll work on the "pretty win" theory. I promise it won't hurt.
