GT: Bucky at Goophs - 2:30 - ABC

[coolhandluke121]

I think PSU has to be in the Rose Bowl, and they deserve to be... unless UW wins next week, of course. It's a shame Illinois lost to Northwestern. They were well on their way to conclusively establishing themselves as a team that improved dramatically as the season went on, such that UW's loss was starting to look not all that bad.

[chuckleslove]

PSU doesn't deserve anything. That program should have been nuked from existence.

[Kerb Hohl]

I think PSU has to be in the Rose Bowl, and they deserve to be... unless UW wins next week, of course. It's a shame Illinois lost to Northwestern. They were well on their way to conclusively establishing themselves as a team that improved dramatically as the season went on, such that UW's loss was starting to look not all that bad.

Why does PSU deserve to be?

Wisconsin is #7 in Sagarin, Penn State is #11

Common opponents:

Both beat Iowa, Penn State did it on the road
Both beat Michigan at home, Wisconsin's was much more convincing
Both lost @OSU. The only reason PSU's was closer was a bunch of fluky OSU fumbles but even if you don't factor that in, it's a slight advantage to PSU
Wisconsin destroyed Minnesota @Minnesota, Penn State lost there.
Both teams crushed Purdue at home.
Both teams beat Michigan State convincingly.

About the only difference that you can maybe make football-wise is that Wisconsin lost a game @Illinois and Penn State beat a solid Indiana team at home. That's pretty small, though, IMO.

It's pretty damn close and I hope that Wisconsin isn't penalized for having to play OSU again. I think it realistically is down to these 2 teams and that I wouldn't complain if PSU is selected for football reasons but I think they'll be selected for economic reasons.

[coolhandluke121]

PSU doesn't deserve anything. That program should have been nuked from existence.

It's just a jersey. Who was involved in the Sandusky scandal that's still there now?

Penn State deserves to be in the Rose Bowl because UW lost to Illinois and almost lost to Northwestern, and because of the flukey way they lost to Minnesota despite clearly out-playing them. They played better than UW this year.

[Kerb Hohl]

PSU doesn't deserve anything. That program should have been nuked from existence.

It's just a jersey. Who was involved in the Sandusky scandal that's still there now?

Penn State deserves to be in the Rose Bowl because UW lost to Illinois and almost lost to Northwestern, and because of the flukey way they lost to Minnesota despite clearly out-playing them. They played better than UW this year.

Wisconsin's loss to Illinois was also fluky. Northwestern was only in the game due to some fluky stuff as well.

If they played on a neutral field right now, the Badgers would be favored by a point or two. Penn State's QB is effective but kinda sucks at throwing the ball.

It's a pretty damn close comparison. It could come down to losing to Illinois being the difference but Penn State did not look better in several games as well. Penn State only beat Rutgers by 21. That's embarrassing.

[coolhandluke121]

I'm not saying PSU is better, but they didn't lose to Illinois. There's no need to split hairs about common opponents or whose too-narrow victories are worse. That stuff is a tiebreaker when there's no better way to differentiate, but there's no tie in this case IMO. They played a very comparable schedule and UW had a much worse loss. UW also probably had an easier schedule. Rutgers and Maryland might pull PSU's strength of schedule down in a quantitative way, but when you get down to it, drawing Iowa on the road instead of at home was the major difference in their schedules and PSU still tied UW. The difference between Purdue/Northwestern and Rutgers/Maryland is just a boredom tolerance issue.

I actually think UW is slightly better right now, but the Rose Bowl berth should be about who has the better resume, not about setting a line, so I'm fully on board with PSU going, and I'm fine with the Auburn match-up in Florida. Let Bucky gnaw away at the SEC mystique yet again.

[MAC1987]

I'm not saying PSU is better, but they didn't lose to Illinois. There's no need to split hairs about common opponents or whose too-narrow victories are worse. That stuff is a tiebreaker when there's no better way to differentiate, but there's no tie in this case IMO. They played a very comparable schedule and UW had a much worse loss. UW also probably had an easier schedule. Rutgers and Maryland might pull PSU's strength of schedule down in a quantitative way, but when you get down to it, drawing Iowa on the road instead of at home was the major difference in their schedules and PSU still tied UW. The difference between Purdue/Northwestern and Rutgers/Maryland is just a boredom tolerance issue.

I actually think UW is slightly better right now, but the Rose Bowl berth should be about who has the better resume, not about setting a line, so I'm fully on board with PSU going, and I'm fine with the Auburn match-up in Florida. Let Bucky gnaw away at the SEC mystique yet again.

They also didn't beat Minnesota?

Thats what the comparison comes down to me.

WI lost to Illinois.
PSU lost to Minny and we annihilated them.

[coolhandluke121]

I'm not saying PSU is better, but they didn't lose to Illinois. There's no need to split hairs about common opponents or whose too-narrow victories are worse. That stuff is a tiebreaker when there's no better way to differentiate, but there's no tie in this case IMO. They played a very comparable schedule and UW had a much worse loss. UW also probably had an easier schedule. Rutgers and Maryland might pull PSU's strength of schedule down in a quantitative way, but when you get down to it, drawing Iowa on the road instead of at home was the major difference in their schedules and PSU still tied UW. The difference between Purdue/Northwestern and Rutgers/Maryland is just a boredom tolerance issue.

I actually think UW is slightly better right now, but the Rose Bowl berth should be about who has the better resume, not about setting a line, so I'm fully on board with PSU going, and I'm fine with the Auburn match-up in Florida. Let Bucky gnaw away at the SEC mystique yet again.

They also didn't beat Minnesota?

Thats what the comparison comes down to me.

WI lost to Illinois.
PSU lost to Minny and we annihilated them.

That's choosing the evidence you want. There's no head-to-head match-up. Common opponents are a convoluted way to go about it when the teams have similar schedules with the same record, but one team has an embarrassing loss. It's punished heavily, and it should be.

Somewhere a PSU fan is saying they should get it because they played OSU closer, or they beat Iowa on the road while UW barely beat them at home. I'd say the same thing to them; why are you splitting hairs when UW lost to Illinois? That's more weight on the scale than all the other stuff combined.

[ReasonablySober]

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[Mags FTW]

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Minny all the way down to 18. Rose Bowl would stupid picking them.

[MikeIsGood]

Again, it is not factual that one team staying above the other will determine the rose bowl team. The committee can pick who they want.

[MAC1987]

I'm not saying PSU is better, but they didn't lose to Illinois. There's no need to split hairs about common opponents or whose too-narrow victories are worse. That stuff is a tiebreaker when there's no better way to differentiate, but there's no tie in this case IMO. They played a very comparable schedule and UW had a much worse loss. UW also probably had an easier schedule. Rutgers and Maryland might pull PSU's strength of schedule down in a quantitative way, but when you get down to it, drawing Iowa on the road instead of at home was the major difference in their schedules and PSU still tied UW. The difference between Purdue/Northwestern and Rutgers/Maryland is just a boredom tolerance issue.

I actually think UW is slightly better right now, but the Rose Bowl berth should be about who has the better resume, not about setting a line, so I'm fully on board with PSU going, and I'm fine with the Auburn match-up in Florida. Let Bucky gnaw away at the SEC mystique yet again.

They also didn't beat Minnesota?

Thats what the comparison comes down to me.

WI lost to Illinois.
PSU lost to Minny and we annihilated them.

That's choosing the evidence you want. There's no head-to-head match-up. Common opponents are a convoluted way to go about it when the teams have similar schedules with the same record, but one team has an embarrassing loss. It's punished heavily, and it should be.

Somewhere a PSU fan is saying they should get it because they played OSU closer, or they beat Iowa on the road while UW barely beat them at home. I'd say the same thing to them; why are you splitting hairs when UW lost to Illinois? That's more weight on the scale than all the other stuff combined.

Well the rankings also have UW over PSU right now.

My guess is we dont get the rose bowl though unless we make a good showing Saturday.

Sent from my SM-G935V using RealGM mobile app

[Mags FTW]

Again, it is not factual that one team staying above the other will determine the rose bowl team. The committee can pick who they want.

Yes, but they do need to market the game and "Top Ten Battle of #5 Utah vs. #9 Penn State!" sounds a lot better than #5 Utah vs. #18 Minnesota.

[Kerb Hohl]

Yeah Minnesota falling to 18 is hilarious and my contrarian theory that they’d maybe get picked is done. No way they get picked down there.

[MikeIsGood]

Again, it is not factual that one team staying above the other will determine the rose bowl team. The committee can pick who they want.

Yes, but they do need to market the game and "Top Ten Battle of #5 Utah vs. #9 Penn State!" sounds a lot better than #5 Utah vs. #18 Minnesota.

I'm confused. I assume you have purposefully left Wisconsin out of this, but I don't understand why. Minnesota is way out of contention for a NY6 bowl now.

ETA Did I just take this too literally? I don't know why I'm so confused.

[Kerb Hohl]

Again, it is not factual that one team staying above the other will determine the rose bowl team. The committee can pick who they want.

Yes, but they do need to market the game and "Top Ten Battle of #5 Utah vs. #9 Penn State!" sounds a lot better than #5 Utah vs. #18 Minnesota.

I'm confused. I assume you have purposefully left Wisconsin out of this, but I don't understand why. Minnesota is way out of contention for a NY6 bowl now.

There was a discussion yesterday that Minnesota might be in “the cluster” and that the Rose Bowl would do what they did in 2007 and pick an inferior team (Illinois in that case) because they hadn’t been there in forever.

Of course it was mostly hypothetical and there was more of a standings reason to invite Illinois, but that’s why Minnesota is being mentioned here.

[Mags FTW]

Yes, it was in reference to Kerb's prediction that the Rose Bowl chooses Minny.

[Kerb Hohl]

Kinda crazy, a lot of bowl projections now have Wisconsin falling all the way to the Gator Bowl if they miss the Rose (and other NY6) and given Citrus wanting and taking Michigan, Badgers can't go to Outback because they've been there too much recently...so, Jacksonville.