Before we announce this week's rankings, let's attempt to do a blind case study and see how much perception shapes reality, shall we?
- Team A and Team B are both undefeated. Team B has played a tougher schedule but Team A has blown out more teams.
- Team A: Beats a team that was previously ranked for several weeks by 25+ points.
- Team B: Wins by less than 15 points over a team that must win out to become bowl eligible.
Which is the better team right now?
If you guessed that Team A was Baylor and Team B was Alabama, well, pat yourself on the back and buy yourself a Coke. If you caught on to our not-so-blind case study, you probably also caught on to why I brought it up.
This week, after several weeks of inching closer and closer, Baylor has finally usurped Alabama for the coveted second position in the Rankings. If you've been following the Rankings, you likely have noticed that Baylor keeps gaining and gaining on the Crimson Tide. Bama was able to produce a strong win over LSU last week, but Baylor countered with a dominating performance over the 10th-ranked Sooners. On Saturday, Baylor beat down a Red Raiders team that had been ranked for the previous seven weeks while Alabama came away with a 20-7 victory over 4-6 Mississippi State. It's not illogical to say Baylor's last two weeks deserve more credit.
It's not only these rankings that think Baylor has been impressive over that time (or the season as a whole); the BCS has as well. Since the Week 11 BCS rankings were announced, Baylor has reduced its distance behind Alabama by half. Only Auburn has seen its BCS stock rise quicker than Baylor's during that time. But with only two weeks left, it's a moot point as Alabama WILL play for the BCS national championship, should they win out and Baylor will cross its fingers hoping it's 2014 team is as strong as its current.
For an explanation of how these rankings work and what all these numbers mean, click here.
The Rankings
- Florida State (100.00) – At this point, I'm almost out of superlatives to describe the Seminoles. They absolutely desecrated Syracuse on Saturday, notching their fifth victory of 48 points or more.
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Baylor (94.29) – The Bears defense hasn't been as solid since entering Big 12 play, but their offense is still outstanding, averaging 57.0 points in conference games.<img alt="http://sportsaccountant.wordpress.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif" border="0" height="1" src="http://oregonsportsnews.com/file:///C:UsersSuperBadAppDataLocalTempmsohtmlclip1
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