The Athletic - CFB Rankings (2024)

[Greg]

It’s a fair ranking IMO. Until we can beat a team in the next tier, we’ve hit a ceiling. But, it’s nice to be out of the cellar and in the land of competitive.

The improvement is remarkable given the hand the players and coach are dealt. I feel schedule needs a big upgrade in the near future even if it means seven road games. The way to compete as a top 40 program is grab a couple yop 40 wins.

 

[Patman]

The improvement is remarkable given the hand the players and coach are dealt. I feel schedule needs a big upgrade in the near future even if it means seven road games. The way to compete as a top 40 program is grab a couple yop 40 wins.

I think the NIL will start to pay off and get us more solidly into the 50s range... this year that would have meant going like 10-2. We've been close enough. If one of our QBs develop and Bell drops a few less we could be close next year.

 

[RSTuthill]

We are 7-3. But that doesn’t mean what it means in a professional league, or even in a NCAA conference. It’s our record, but it tells you very little as a football independent unless you — wait for it — no who we played and who we beat.

Think you meant 7-4? You posted today.

 

[RSTuthill]

there's plenty of ways to give those asterisks. Are you telling me that Boise State's 10-1 and Ohio State's 10-1 is the same?

"is the same"? And you have a PhD from UConn?

 

[Patman]

"is the same"? And you have a PhD from UConn?

Yes, and you complained for years about illegal canadian hockey players only to be proven wrong over and over and over and over and over again.

Are you going to tell me that Ohio State's 10-1 is the same as that of Colorado State-Pueblo's 10-1?

 

[freescooter]

We are 7-3. But that doesn’t mean what it means in a professional league, or even in a NCAA conference. It’s our record, but it tells you very little as a football independent unless you — wait for it — no who we played and who we beat.

We are 7-4 but who’s counting. Here’s Army’s schedule:
Lehigh
FAU
Temple
Rice
Tulsa
UAB
East Carolina
North Texas
Air Force
ND
Texas San Antonio

That is pretty comparable to our schedule. Not quite as good I’d say. Heck, we played 4 of the teams they played.

And there are exactly 3 football independents. So it isn’t exactly like we are going to play a bunch of them for comparison. As an independent we play who we can play. As a G5 we play mostly other G5s. That means the AAC , Sunbelt, CUSA, MAC, MWC. We played 4of 5. That’s all you can do. You can only speculate but I suspect this team would finish near the top of all those leagues. Don’t know if they’d win any. Maybe the MAC or CUSA. Probably not the MW.

 

[UConnDan97]

These arguments are pretty ridiculous.

We're 7-4. People can qualify that or put an asterisk on that, but at the end of the day, we're 7-4.

Here's a thought exercise that some folks here should try: I'm going to take four of our 1- score games and flip the result (completely logical to do, as all four could have ended differently).

Win against Duke
Win against Wake
Loss against UAB
Loss against Temple (yes, for our purposes, that was a "last play" game even though we won by 9)

Are we a better 7-4 team under these circumstances?? You might be able to argue that the perception of our team might be better (you could argue the opposite as well), but you can't argue that we are a better team. We're the same exact team...

 

[RSTuthill]

Yes, and you complained for years about illegal canadian hockey players only to be proven wrong over and over and over and over and over again.

Say what? I said it was illegal for UConn to give certain types of aid while other schools could. Which was true, and straight out of the coach's mouth. Not sure you could get a better source. And that Union giving Canadian players cross-cultural scholarships when they claimed to be a non-scholarship program and would not give scholarships to American players was hypocritical and disingenuous. So I am not sure where you are coming from.

Are you going to tell me that Ohio State's 10-1 is the same as that of Colorado State-Pueblo's 10-1?

Why would I do that? Lets not be ridiculous.

So, about your grammar ....

 

[Jetskies]

These arguments are pretty ridiculous.

We're 7-4. People can qualify that or put an asterisk on that, but at the end of the day, we're 7-4.

Here's a thought exercise that some folks here should try: I'm going to take four of our 1- score games and flip the result (completely logical to do, as all four could have ended differently).

Win against Duke
Win against Wake
Loss against UAB
Loss against Temple (yes, for our purposes, that was a "last play" game even though we won by 9)

Are we a better 7-4 team under these circumstances?? You might be able to argue that the perception of our team might be better (you could argue the opposite as well), but you can't argue that we are a better team. We're the same exact team...

Dan, this a very interesting exercise. thx for sharing.
I do think this 7-4 version of UConn is better than our 7-4.

Losses and inconsistencies happen. we are a work in progress and everyone knows that.

But 2 P4 wins would have been a potential signal of a team starting to seriously turn a corner, even with the 2 losses mentioned above. The mere fact that we did it, 2x, would have been great marketing material for our socials and for sports talk shows.

2 P4 wins also means that we proved that the BEST version of us, is capable of beating P4 teams, and that it wasn't a 1-time "NIU-Notre Dame" type fluke. Even with these 2 losses, we proved greatness twice. I believe that "peak" UConn narrative would have helped us tremendously in the inevitable next round of conference discussions.

The wins may have also gotten us a shout out on ESPN or CBS, like we got back in 2022. To me, those recognition moments matter. Just to hear our name and see our husky helmet on set is a big deal to me, because that is how you start mattering in the national football conscience again.

I know some people are shy on chasing a p4 opponent for our bowl game. I still hope we can get a P4 opponent because it's the only data point we don't have this season. a P4 loss won't hurt as much as a G5 loss, and a P4 win will matter much much much more than one more G5 win. Cmonnnn Rutgers...

 

[Patman]

I know some people are shy on chasing a p4 opponent for our bowl game. I still hope we can get a P4 opponent because it's the only data point we don't have this season. a P4 loss won't hurt as much as a G5 loss, and a P4 win will matter much much much more than one more G5 win. Cmonnnn Rutgers...

I have no problem with a p4 opponent. Gives the players something to work towards.

 

[Patman]

Say what? I said it was illegal for UConn to give certain types of aid while other schools could. Which was true, and straight out of the coach's mouth. Not sure you could get a better source. And that Union giving Canadian players cross-cultural scholarships when they claimed to be a non-scholarship program and would not give scholarships to American players was hypocritical and disingenuous. So I am not sure where you are coming from.

And you were informed multiple times by multiple people how and why this was wrong.

And then you conveniently forgot, as you have now.

Some day I will take you seriously. I haven't in 20 years, but some day I'll take you seriously.

 

[UConnDan97]

Dan, this a very interesting exercise. thx for sharing.
I do think this 7-4 version of UConn is better than our 7-4.

Losses and inconsistencies happen. we are a work in progress and everyone knows that.

But 2 P4 wins would have been a potential signal of a team starting to seriously turn a corner, even with the 2 losses mentioned above. The mere fact that we did it, 2x, would have been great marketing material for our socials and for sports talk shows.

2 P4 wins also means that we proved that the BEST version of us, is capable of beating P4 teams, and that it wasn't a 1-time "NIU-Notre Dame" type fluke. Even with these 2 losses, we proved greatness twice. I believe that "peak" UConn narrative would have helped us tremendously in the inevitable next round of conference discussions.

The wins may have also gotten us a shout out on ESPN or CBS, like we got back in 2022. To me, those recognition moments matter. Just to hear our name and see our husky helmet on set is a big deal to me, because that is how you start mattering in the national football conscience again.

I know some people are shy on chasing a p4 opponent for our bowl game. I still hope we can get a P4 opponent because it's the only data point we don't have this season. a P4 loss won't hurt as much as a G5 loss, and a P4 win will matter much much much more than one more G5 win. Cmonnnn Rutgers...

All of your wording choices speak to the perception of a better team. "A team starting to seriously turn a corner", "marketing material", "peak UConn narrative".

So essentially, you've helped prove my point. Trust me when I tell you that the narrative is whatever people want it to be. "They had turned a corner against Duke only to squander it against a 2-win Temple and 2-win UAB".

4 plays. Flip the outcome of 4 plays. But you still have the same quality team. It's a simple as that...

 

[Jetskies]

All of your wording choices speak to the perception of a better team. "A team starting to seriously turn a corner", "marketing material", "peak UConn narrative".

So essentially, you've helped prove my point. Trust me when I tell you that the narrative is whatever people want it to be. "They had turned a corner against Duke only to squander it against a 2-win Temple and 2-win UAB".

4 plays. Flip the outcome of 4 plays. But you still have the same quality team. It's a simple as that...

fair.

I think my strongest point that isn't perception-related, was my point about "the BEST version" of us.
That wouldn't be marketing lingo - teams have good days and bad days. we would have legit shown that at our best, we could get the job done. There's no spin or jargon needed for that - we beat them and Big 12 would have to respect that.

In real life: Even though we are 7-4, the BEST version of us was never able to get it done (beat a p4), even once. therefore we showed our cards to the P4 conferences and proved we're not (yet) good enough to hang with their own.

This is why i still stand by my choice, in your exercise.

 

[UConnDan97]

fair.

I think my strongest point that isn't perception-related, was my point about "the BEST version" of us.
That wouldn't be marketing lingo - teams have good days and bad days. we would have legit shown that at our best, we could get the job done. There's no spin or jargon needed for that - we beat them and Big 12 would have to respect that.

In real life: Even though we are 7-4, the BEST version of us was never able to get it done (beat a p4), even once. therefore we showed our cards to the P4 conferences and proved we're not (yet) good enough to hang with their own.

This is why i still stand by my choice, in your exercise.

As it pertains to the Big12: the members that want us in already do not require us to beat Duke. The members that DO NOT want us in, in the scenario that I offered, would not accept a Duke victory as positive in light of a UAB loss.

And that's the ultimate problem with believing that it would change anything at all for the Big12 to be 7-4 in a different way. What would have changed it would have been a record of 10-1 and being ranked...

 

[Patman]

As it pertains to the Big12: the members that want us in already do not require us to beat Duke. The members that DO NOT want us in, in the scenario that I offered, would not accept a Duke victory as positive in light of a UAB loss.

And that's the ultimate problem with believing that it would change anything at all for the Big12 to be 7-4 in a different way. What would have changed it would have been a record of 10-1 and being ranked...

yeah the hold outs are going to want us go 11-1 versus our schedule. They want super-proof.

 

[UConnDan97]

yeah the hold outs are going to want us go 11-1 versus our schedule. They want super-proof.

I think when it comes to the Big12 membership, they understand what they lost with Texas and Oklahoma. And they know they didn't replace it with Cincy and Houston.

They're worried about perception just as much as anyone, because they hear people having "P2" discussions now instead of P4, and they know they aren't one of the P2. This means that they want to make sure that whatever addition comes in does NOT have a negative connotation connected with them as it pertains to football...

 

[Patman]

I think when it comes to the Big12 membership, they understand what they lost with Texas and Oklahoma. And they know they didn't replace it with Cincy and Houston.

They're worried about perception just as much as anyone, because they hear people having "P2" discussions now instead of P4, and they know they aren't one of the P2. This means that they want to make sure that whatever addition comes in does NOT have a negative connotation connected with them as it pertains to football...

Oh, I appreciate the situation they're in. And frankly this year by the numbers do not favor the SEC but they're going to get gifted their spots based on reputation despite the results.

 

[UConnDan97]

Oh, I appreciate the situation they're in. And frankly this year by the numbers do not favor the SEC but they're going to get gifted their spots based on reputation despite the results.

There is already lobbying going on for Alabama being "the best 3-loss team in the country". The SEC is a great football conference, but at some point, they have to be allowed to be punished when their teams don't perform well...

 

[HCCForever]

There is already lobbying going on for Alabama being "the best 3-loss team in the country". The SEC is a great football conference, but at some point, they have to be allowed to be punished when their teams don't perform well...

Hard to support that Alabama argument when they only scored 3 points against Oklahoma.