common opponents. Both teams have played Southern Methodist. SMU was winning in the 4th quarter against Tulsa and tied with 8 minutes left. Texas Tech was leading less than 3 minutes into the game… and allowed its only points against SMU with just over 3 minutes remaining in the game. Admittedly, Tech got them at home, Tulsa got them on the road.

I don’t know whether Nebraska is a better 4-3 team than Rice, but I’m sure many voters think so. Nebraska has only lost to BCS teams, Rice lost to Tulsa. Beating winless North Texas doesn’t make Rice any better. Nebraska beat 6-2 Western Michigan, 5-2 San Jose State, etc. Rice has not defeated a team with a winning record, yet. Again, I don’t know that Rice is definitively better or worse than Nebraska, but don’t fault anyone for concluding the latter is a better team than the former.

I think 13 is a fine spot for the Red Raiders right now.

But now to the head-to-head…

Tulsa beat:
2-6 UAB on the road
Winless North Texas on the road
4-4 New Mexico at home
6-1 Central Arkansas at home
4-3 Rice at home
1-7 SMU on the road
3-4 UTEP at home

Tech beat:
3-4 Eastern Washington at home
4-3 Nevada on the road
1-7 SMU at home
4-3 Mass at home
4-3 K. State on the road
4-3 Nebraska at home
2-5 A&M on the road

I know you HATE FCS teams and victory over them, so I’ll simply ignore all three of those games unless you want to talk about them (perhaps because Central Arkansas appears to be the best of the FCS teams of this bunch, which would tip towards Tulsa’s favor?).

Couple observations:

Tulas has yet to beat a BCS school. I don’t know that BCS schools are inherently better than non-BCS schools, but conventional wisdom says those teams are generally better funded and more talented. Texas Tech has played a soft BCS school (A&M, who we handled on the road) and two winning BCS schools, who we beat at home and on the road respectively.

Tulsa has not beaten a winning team on the road. Tech has beaten two.

Tulsa has beaten one non-FCS winning team. Tech has beaten three.

Combined record of non-FCS opponents that Tulsa has defeated, something like: 14-31
Combined Record of non-FCS opponents that Texas Tech has defeated, soemthing like: 15-21

None of which is to say Tech justifies its position any more than Tulsa justifies its position, or that Tulsa sucks, or that Tech rules, or any such claims. Texas Tech hasn’t done a lot. Tulsa hasn’t done a lot. But LD asks the question:

What is it about Texas Tech (Team A) that is that much more impressive than Tulsa (Team B)?

And I feel that is answered above, minus the “that much” part. I think there’s sufficient explanation in looking at the two teams against each other holistically (as opposed to merely looking at their offensive statistics and best home victories, obviously) that would justify placing Tech above Tulsa. Does that justify a 20 versus an 8 ranking? I don’t know, I actually doubt it, but it should at least explain why one school should be ranked higer than the other.