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Message: [QUOTE="tzznandrew, post: 5219073, member: 168"] I agree with this. I think Xavier is better than Texas/Oklahoma (the two teams tied in the 14th spot). I think Xavier, right now, would probably beat 9-16 in the SEC, and have a good chance against 5-8. That said, you have to look at resumes, and Xavier sort of flopped OOC whereas those mid SEC teams did not (though Freemantle was out). They got slaughtered by Michigan, lost to a 16-16 TCU, and lost to Cincy. If they went 1-2 rather than 0-3, they'd be safely in, and 2-1 above bid stealers. It was in their hands and they failed. On your second part, Georgia and Vandy were both put in difficult spots with losses against other bubble teams. Arkansas's regular season loss to South Carolina was not great, but the die is sort of cast. I'd say this...I don't think there's any conspiracy, but I don't think the SEC or the ACC would be cool with a sub-200 team absolutely mauling their marquee team in a close game and stealing a win. When bad teams beat Kentucky or Duke, they usually have to actually play well, not [I]just [/I]push, grab, and pull their way to victory, and in that sense I think the Big East does a poorer job protecting their brands, and thus their conference's bids than some others. It's strange that the BE's marquee team has played markedly better OOC for a few years running... [/QUOTE]