Resume Ranking: Brigham Young v. Rutgers

by T Kyle King on Dec 29, 2006 8:09 AM EST in Football

I recently wondered what a Mountain West championship was worth.

Now, in the aftermath of the Scarlet Knights' win in the Texas Bowl, I find myself asking a related, but much more particular, question:

How do the respective resumes of B.Y.U. and Rutgers compare?

Rutgers alumna Kristin Davis is intrigued by this question concerning her alma mater. (Photograph from Ask Men.)

The Cougars finished the season with an 11-2 record after a 38-8 win in the Las Vegas Bowl against an Oregon team that ended up at 7-6. The State University of New Jersey finished the season with an 11-2 record after a 37-10 win in the Texas Bowl against a Kansas State team that ended up at 7-6.

Brigham Young's best win came against Texas Christian, which posted an 11-win season and won the Poinsettia Bowl. Rutgers's best win came against Louisville, which posted an 11-win season and will play in the Orange Bowl.

B.Y.U. went on the road and won a close game against a Utah team that would go on to win the Armed Forces Bowl. The Scarlet Knights went on the road and won a close game against a South Florida team that would go on to win the Papa John's.com Bowl.

Rutgers alumna Kristin Davis ponders the profound question raised by Dawg Sports. (Photograph from Yahoo! Movies.)

The Cougars defeated an Armed Forces Bowl-bound Tulsa team. The State University of New Jersey defeated a Meineke Car Care Bowl-bound Navy team. (The Midshipmen lost to Tulsa by one point during the regular season and the U.S. Naval Academy will face a Boston College squad that defeated B.Y.U. by one touchdown during the regular season.)

Brigham Young and Rutgers each lost two games on the road and they each lost one of them in overtime. B.Y.U. beat a 6-6 team and six teams that finished with losing records. The Scarlet Knights beat a 6-6 team, a Division I-AA team, and four teams that finished with losing records.

On my final regular-season BlogPoll ballot, I had Rutgers ranked 13th and Brigham Young ranked 21st. When the time comes to cast my final BlogPoll ballot, how should I distinguish the Cougars from the Scarlet Knights?

Go 'Dawgs!

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Comments

If I didn't know better...

... I would think this post was a satirical polemic in favor of a playoff system.

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? What is the cubed root of Pi? Which is the better team, Rutgers or BYU?

by 34hawk on Dec 29, 2006 10:02 AM EST reply actions

The difference, of course . . .

. . . is that the first question is entirely fanciful, philosophical, and unanswerable; the second one, while complex and unknowable to most (and perhaps all) of us, is strictly and solely a matter of mathematical certainty, however difficult it may be to discern; and the third involves both verifiable facts (e.g., games won and lost by the teams themselves and by the teams they played) and value judgments (i.e., the significance and weight to be afforded each of those facts). In other words, resume ranking is much like most of life.

By the way, I mentioned the closeness of the Navy-Tulsa and Boston College-Brigham Young games . . . then Boston College and Navy went on to play about as close a contest as two teams can play without going to overtime.

This offers some hint of a possible answer to my question and, at a minimum, it suggests that, while resume ranking, by definition, cannot be as definitive as calculating Pi, neither is it an academic exercise out of the Middle Ages. More to the point, it is part of the reason why college football is infinitely more fun than theoretical mathematics or Medieval philosophy.

by T Kyle King on Dec 31, 2006 5:57 PM EST up reply actions

lol

College football is more fun than maths and philosophy. Talking about it, not so much. Playoffs = more and better football.

That said, a playoff need not interfere with you resume fetish. Most teams would still not face each other, and thus the resume discussion could continue unabated.

As to the angels: in a little publicized proof, Pathagoras showed the answer was the cubed root of pi.

by 34hawk on Dec 31, 2006 6:38 PM EST up reply actions

There are 32 bowl games . . .

. . . so, unless you propose a 34-team college football tournament, I don't see how it is possible that a playoff would produce more football.

As for it being better, well, that gets us back into the realm of personal preferences (which I would not go so far as to call "fetishes") . . . but, offhand, I cannot recall a recent round of Division I-AA or N.F.L. postseason games that produced back-to-back-to-back contests generating the level of excitement seen in yesterday's Boston College-Navy, Iowa-Texas, and Georgia-Virginia Tech bowl games.

by T Kyle King on Dec 31, 2006 10:58 PM EST up reply actions

Keep the bad bowl games...

... and have a playoff for the very good teams. We must preserve the sanctity of the Papajohns.com Bowl after all.

by 34hawk on Jan 1, 2007 12:47 AM EST up reply actions

I know you're just being sarcastic . . .

. . . which is fine, but, while minor, purely corporate bowls have little tradition that is worth preserving, the major postseason games such as the Cotton, Orange, Rose, and Sugar Bowls are a fundamental part of the tradition of the sport that are inextricably intertwined with the heritage of the game.

The sacrifice of more than a century's worth of history in order to implement a neither-fish-nor-fowl-minor-bowl-for-the-mediocre-teams-but-playoff-for-the-better-teams system that might prove even more unsatisfactory represents a sea change in the sport that ought not to be taken lightly.

Consigning the Granddaddy of 'Em All to the dustbin of history in favor of a playoff would be a more dramatic change than outlawing the forward pass (which came into being later than the Tournament of Roses) and I believe it would be equally ill-advised.

by T Kyle King on Jan 2, 2007 12:18 AM EST up reply actions

Worth?

Well since the MWC champ does not get in a BCS bowl, I am thinking it is not worth much unless that team finishes in the top 6 or ahead of another BCS champ school.

by SkiDawg1985 on Dec 29, 2006 2:00 PM EST reply actions