Top 5 SOS Maze Vol. 2

Another day of great games in Wilkinson. We have had some changes on the sharp end of the rankings. With all those changes, we still have the same suspects though. It is the same coaches on the sharp end of the rankings, year in and year out. This makes it sweeter when someone manages to beat one of these coaches but that rarely happens and the coaches themselves usually beat each other up as that means taking someone out of the running for that national title game. This is not what we were going to talk about today, we must look at the 6-10 teams in our SOS rankings.

We are going to start off with a team who have had a bump in SOS. We are going to start off with the Colorado State Rams out of Fort Collins, side note there are a lot of breweries in Fort Collins which makes me wonder how these boys make it to games with all that alcohol available. The Rams are coached by coach chainsaw4 and they are currently sitting in 27th spot. That’s about were they finished last year and I am sure the coach was hoping for some improvement and there is still time to improve. They have had a hattrick of losses, the losses have been relatively close. I am sure coach chainsaw4 plans on ending this run of losses and they face Louisville who we talked about in the last edition of the Maze. Looking at the upcoming games for the Rams, I see 2 maybe 3 wins out of the remaining 4 games including the one tonight. With their SOS I think the Rams will move up the rankings a bit but this will depend on how the others around them do.

The next school who have an SOS ranked as the 4th best schedule we have the Tigers of LSU. At the time this was written they had themselves an SOS rank of 4 and a WIS rank of 4, coincidence but cool I think. The tigers have managed to maul a few teams along the way, they themselves have only been mauled by the Longhorns in week 4 which seems like ages ago. Now looking ahead, I only see one tricky game for the Tigers and the is against coach awags and his Alabama squad. I think they are the only ones who can derail the Tigers who I think have ambitions of playing in the national title game. Of the top 5 schools, they have the best SOS and that I think gives them a chance at making the national title game if they manage to win out.

#6 SOS belongs to the Sooners and coach blitz who looks to retain his title. He isn’t happy with all these people trying to get their filthy hands on his title. Looking at the way things are going this season there is a high probability that he will retain the title. I know there are a few coaches out there who have other ideas but there are only a handful who can stop him. The Wolverines have shown us how to stop the Sooners but that is easier said than done. Looking at their remaining games I think there is only one tricky game in the Red River rivalry. They win that game and for my money they get back to the national title game given their SOS which will keep them sniffing around the top spots. I know some will say you are discounting Baylor, and I am not but I think it will be a bit of an ask for them to stop the national champs. I am all for upsets though so I will keep an eye out.

Speaking of Baylor, they have the #7 SOS, they have only played human coaches thus far this season and they get an easier one tonight with the Cowboys. Baylor with coach arcadecowboy gave the Longhorns a bit of a game today so we know they can play for sure. They only have one more game that can cause them trouble and it is against the Sooners but like I said that’s a tough one to pull the W, though given the way they have played this year I would not put it past them. Cowboy has built a nice program in Waco and I expect big things from them from now on after what they have shown us this season, so coach the pressure is now on.

Propping up the top ten for SOS are the ‘Cuse who have only won 3 games out of the 9 that have been played this season. Things might get worse for the ‘Cuse, they 3 ranked teams left on their schedule. 4 games to go and 3 ranked teams. That’s a rough remainder of the season for them and getting wins from the remaining games will require some excellent coaching and with coach z32fanatic that is what we are going to get. I am sure he will give it all he has and try to throw his weight around. They play West Virginia who are one of the ranked teams and we talked about them in the last article.

Now some of you will say that’s only 9 teams, well the tenth team is a Sim coached team so who cares. This season has been a good one and I expect that to continue all the way to the end. Just a quick word on the rankings. The Gamecocks lost to the Gators and they dropped from 2nd to 6th, that is a bit of a ways to fall but their SOS did not help their cause. Like I said before have to schedule hard to give yourself a chance to remain high in the rankings even if you lose a game, just look at West Virginia, not a great record but good ranking. Looking at the rankings we will have the reigning champs back to defend their title but there is plenty to happen from now till then. SEC this year is the best conference, they are just killing it out here, with a tight battle between 2nd and 3rd best conference between the Big East and Big 12.

Now we have looked at the schedules strengths and the evidence points to scheduling well so as to have a boost from the schedule in your rankings. Winning games also helps with that but having a strong SOS just lifts you over the top. Winning games is always fun but winning against another human coached team is always sweeter and it helps you get more bowl money which helps with acquiring talent to either improve or maintain the level of your roster which again helps with winning games, you use how this works. Anyway, until the next time, take it easy people.