No Season Left Behind 2010

 I don't believe in revisionist history. What happened happened, and we are supposed to learn from that. What I'm learning as we travel on this journey is that biases are pervasive and harmful. Now, I knew the harmful part. It's obvious, really. But the extent of biases is amazing to me still. 

So, here's the argument:

Random fan week 7: My team is awesome. They should be ranked #1.
Me: My calculations say your team is #1
Fan: Great! You know your stuff!

Random fan week 8: My team is still awesome, they should be ranked #1
Me: Your team played Eastern BFE Tech while #3 stomped #2. My calculations (which are exactly the same as they are every week) say your team is #3.
Fan: You're an idiot.

Maybe so, but at least I am consistent and transparent.

Anyway, what happened in the world in 2010?

Celebrities who died:

• King Koopa
• Lt. Frank Drebin
• The Catcher in the Rye
• Lost Boys' Sam
• Arnold "Whatchutalkinbout" Jackson
• The Heater from Van Meter
• The man responsible for The Empire Strikes Back
• "The Boss" of NY, NY

and one of the greatest voices in all of metal and rock

• RJD

What else happened in 2010:

• A 7.0 earthquake in Haiti
• The iPad in unveiled
• Snowmageddon
• Deepwater Horizon
• Uber goes live and Instagram debuts

How much things cost:

• Average Cost of New House $262,260
• Cost of a gallon of Gas $2.73
• US Postage Stamp 44 cents
• Dozen eggs $1.37
• Loaf of bread $2.49
• Price Of Gold Per Ounce (August 2010) $1,237

And, of course, the top movies of the year:

10. How to Train Your Dragon - not gonna lie, I enjoyed it a lot
9. Despicable Me - another animated film I liked a lot, and not just for the Minions
8. Tangled - I'm sensing a theme here...
7. Iron Man 2 - ok, maybe not; while I'm a Marvel fan, this one was pretty weak
6. Twilight: Eclipse - no accounting for taste
5. Shrek Forever After - the franchise was tired even before this
4. Inception - Chris Nolan can tell a story, and Hans Zimmer!
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 - accio $1 BILLION DOLLARS!
2. Alice in Wonderland - never in a million years would I have thought
1. Toy Story 3 - Woody and Buzz at it again

Ready for some football?

This was the year of Cam Newton:

• 2800yds passing with 30TD to 7INT and a 182 passer rating
• 1473yds rushing with 20TD and a 5.6yd average
• 13-0, Heisman winner, and a natty

It was a bad year to be No.1 In back to back to back weekends, Alabama lost to South Carolina, Ohio State was knocked off by Wisconsin, and then Oklahoma took the No. 1 banner into Columbia, Missouri, where the Tigers toppled the Sooners.

Tulsa over ND?!?!

Jacksonville State over Ole Miss

JMU over VaTech!!

Boise breaks my heart again vs Nevada (and yes, I checked to see "what if")

Andrew Luck had a heck of a year:

UW goes for it vs Cal

And this happened: 

OK, let's get retro!

Here's a quick reminder of the rules:

• I stop all data at the conference championships. No bowl games are included, as the idea is to provide us with a top 25 that we would have selected playoff teams from.
• All calculations are exactly the same as the current Ray's Rankings calculations.
• I will introduce the top 25 in reverse order
• I will compare RR/BCS/AP rankings
• I will provide 3 different playoff scenarios 
• 4 team seeded
• 8 team with conference champions, top G5, and 2 at large, seeded
• 16 team seeded
• We can all have a good laugh at how different things would have been. Or we can all stare slack-jawed in amazement at how closely Ray's Rankings matches human polls.

When they ask, tell them that Pac12 generally does not play FCS schools and very vew G5 schools. That conference is the definition of cannibalism. Many claim the SEC does this, but that's not the case. 

Utah was still MWC.

South Carolina had an odd year: first they knock off No.1 Bama then immediately loses to Kentucky, being held to 0 second half points.

Yes, I checked. Boise moves up 2 whole places if they beat Nevada. Either way, they make my 16 team playoff!

TCU was also still MWC. This was Nebraska's last Big 12 season. Bama was not their usual selves.

Umm...ok? The Piggies only lost to Bama and Auburn (and to Ohio State in their bowl game). Petrino had them playing some ball!

Mizzou reminds me of Iowa, and not just due to the colors. They are a "tough out" if you'll excuse the baseball reference. They lost to Nebraska and Texas Tech, and then coincidentally lost to Iowa in their bowl game.

Started the season unranked, and ended with losses to Nebraska and Oklahoma.

Wisky at it again. This might have been the last time they beat Ohio State? Stellar season and only playing a weak B1G schedule held them back.

The Hoakies opened the season with a loss to Boise State and Kellen Moore, then couldn't shake that hangover against James friggin' Madison. After that it was an 11 game win streak that got upset when they hit the buzz saw that was Stanford and Andrew Luck in the Orange Bowl.

Oh, I can hear you now, "Oklahoma? Overrated then just like now!" They lost to a good Mizzou and a confusing Texas Tech. They also had the 13th ranked SoS.

Yeah, I know. "But they lost to Wisconsin!" They had the advantage of whooping everyone else they played (including Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl) and having much tougher B1G schedule.

As I write these they take me back in time (as I hope they do for you). I well recall when Stanford was consistently this good. They had a string of excellent coaches who recruited excellent QBs.

"But but but...Cam Newton!" Yes, I know. Here's the deal: The Tigers were in the top tier for 1st and 2nd level points, but they both scored fewer and allowed more points than No.1

Chip Kelly and the Ducks were on fire all season. They just couldn't get over that last hurdle. 

No playoff committee, so let's see how I do against the AP and BCS:

Ray vs the AP

It's the MWC and WAC getting the love this year! And look at how little the voters thought of the ACC and Big 12.

Mean	1.720
Variance	48.460
SD	6.961
SEC	5.33
Big Ten	3.33
Pac-10	-1.50
Big 12	-4.80
ACC	-5.50
WAC	6.33
Mountain West	5.50

Ray vs the BCS

Just look at the WAC! And more hate on the ACC

Mean	3.520
Variance	103.927
SD	10.194
SEC	3.50
Big Ten	2.00
Pac-10	-1.00
Big 12	-2.80
ACC	-6.50
WAC	16.67
Mountain West	5.50

If we thought 2011 was bad, 2010 is an order of magnitude worse!  The BCS was a joke. 

If this season happened today, here's your 4 team playoff:

It's ok, but there exists the possibility that Luck outplays Newton and we get Oregon-Stanford in the championship game. I feel like everyone except SEC homers hated UGA-Bama, and LSU-Bama in the BCS was a driving force for the playoff. Still, numbers don't lie. How about my Elite 8? All Power 5 conference champs (though the conferences are a bit different than they are today), the top Group of 5 team (go Broncos!), and the next 2 top ranked at-large teams.

Looks like some fun games! But why limit the fun to only 8 teams? 

So I had to move LSU/MSU and BSU/Mizzou to avoid same-conference 1st round games. And these are all games I'd want to watch, though I expect there'd be some blowouts. I expect there'd be some upsets as well, and that's kind of the point - give the "underdog" a shot, right!

What do you think?