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Sorry college football talking heads, but there is an SEC bias

While I don't agree 100% with the playoff committee's first poll, which was released on Tuesday, I have to give them props for not falling directly in line with the media and coaches polls, which have been lazy to be nice, as well as biased toward the SEC. Yes, I said it; for as much as the media and coaches want to deny it, there is a definite bias toward the SEC.

Looking at the following numbers, here's how the top 17 teams should be ranked in my opinion (all unbeaten or 1-loss teams, excluding Marshall, East Carolina, and Duke, and no, I won't be listing the actual team names just yet):

1. Record: 7-0 (1.000)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 12-11 (.522)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 23-9 (.719)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 35-20 (.636)
Average margin of victory: +20.7

2. Record: 7-0 (1.000)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 13-10 (.565)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 15-17 (.469)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 28-27 (.509)
Average margin of victory: +14.8

3. Record: 7-1 (.875)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 14-8 (.636)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 17-15 (.531)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 31-23 (.574)
Average margin of victory: +21.4
Loss: to 7-2 team by 3 on road

4. Record: 6-1 (.857)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 14-8 (.636)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 15-10 (.600)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 29-18 (.617)
Average margin of victory: +18.6
Loss: to 7-0 team by 15 on road

5. Record: 7-1 (.875)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 12-12 (.500)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 17-15 (.531)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 29-27 (.518)
Average margin of victory: +15.4
Loss: to 6-1 team by 7 at home

6. Record: 6-1 (.857)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 10-12 (.455)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 13-10 (.565)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 23-22 (.511)
Average margin of victory: +28.0
Loss: to 6-1 team by 3 on road

7. Record: 6-1 (.857)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 10-5 (.667)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 13-17 (.433)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 23-22 (.511)
Average margin of victory: +14.0
Loss: to 6-1 team by 6 at home

8. Record: 7-1 (.875)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 12-12 (.500)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 15-15 (.500)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 27-27 (.500)
Average margin of victory: +22.5
Loss: to 7-1 team by 6 on road

9. Record: 6-1 (.857)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 22-25 (.468)
Average margin of victory: +14.3
Loss: to 7-0 team by 4 on road

10. Record: 7-1 (.875)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 8-7 (.533)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 16-15 (.516)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 24-22 (.522)
Average margin of victory: +23.4
Loss: to 7-1 team by 19 on road

11. Record: 7-1 (.875)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 16-15 (.516)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 12-11 (.522)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 28-26 (.519)
Average margin of victory: +22.7
Loss: to 7-1 team by 5 on road

12. Record: 6-1 (.857)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 9-15 (.375)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 13-11 (.542)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 22-26 (.458)
Average margin of victory: +12.3
Loss: to 5-3 team by 2 at home

13. Record: 6-1 (.857)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 7-9 (.438)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 15-17 (.469)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 22-26 (.458)
Average margin of victory: +23.4
Loss: to 4-4 team by 3 on road

14. Record: 6-1 (.857)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 9-14 (.391)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 14-9 (.609)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 23-23 (.500)
Average margin of victory: +23.6
Loss: to 4-4 team by 14 at home

15. Record: 6-1 (.857)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 7-16 (.304)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 11-12 (.478)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 18-28 (.391)
Average margin of victory: +19.7
Loss: to 6-2 team by 14 on road

16. Record: 6-1 (.857)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 2-13 (.133)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 17-15 (.531)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 19-28 (.404)
Average margin of victory: +8.0
Loss: to 6-2 team by 35 at home

17. Record: 6-1 (.857)
Non-conference opponents record they've beaten: 11-13 (.458)
Conference opponents record they've beaten: 15-8 (.652)
Overall opponents record they've beaten: 26-21 (.553)
Average margin of victory: +9.7
Loss: to 2-6 team by 1 at home

If, like me, you think those rankings are reasonable based on the teams' resumes, here are the actual team names next to those rankings, in comparison with the AP, coaches, and playoff committee polls)

1) Mississippi State (7-0) (#1 in AP, #1 in USA Today, #1 in playoff)

2) Florida State (7-0) (#2 in AP, #2 in USA Today, #2 in playoff)

3) Mississippi (7-1) (#7 in AP, #9 in USA Today, #4 in playoff)

4) Auburn (6-1) (#4 in AP, #4 in USA Today, #3 in playoff)

5) Oregon (7-1) (#5 in AP, #6 in USA Today, #5 in playoff)

6) TCU (6-1) (#10 in AP, #10 in USA Today, #7 in playoff)

7) Kansas State (6-1) (#11 in AP, #11 in USA Today, #9 in playoff)

8) Alabama (7-1) (#3 in AP, #3 in USA Today, #6 in playoff)

9) Notre Dame (6-1) (#6 in AP, #7 in USA Today, #10 in playoff)

10) Michigan State (7-1) (#8 in AP, #5 in USA Today, #8 in playoff)

11) Nebraska (7-1) (#17 in AP, #16 in USA Today, #15 in playoff)

12) Arizona (6-1) (#14 in AP, #15 in USA Today, #12 in playoff)

13) Georgia (6-1) (#9 in AP, #8 in USA Today, #11 in playoff)

14) Ohio State (6-1) (#13 in AP, #13 in USA Today, #16 in playoff)

15) Baylor (6-1) (#12 in AP, #12 in USA Today, #13 in playoff)

16) Arizona State (6-1) (#15 in AP, #15 in USA Today, #14 in playoff)

17) Utah (6-1) (#18 in AP, #18 in USA Today, #17 in playoff)

The media and coaches polls don't yet depict much bias as far as Mississippi State, Auburn, or especially Mississippi go. Mississippi State is one of two major conference teams, along with Florida State, who has yet to lose a game, and to this point in the season, their resume is more impressive than the defending champion Seminoles. Auburn and Mississippi's only losses are road games against unbeaten Mississippi State and 7-2 LSU, by 15 and 3 points, respectively. They also played fairly decent non-conference schedules, with Auburn beating Kansas State in Manhattan, and Mississippi defeating the always pesky Boise State Broncos. However, where the real bias comes in is with regard to Alabama and Georgia. While the playoff committee has the Crimson Tide ranked 6th and Bulldogs ranked 11th, the AP and Coaches polls have Alabama ranked 3rd and Georgia ranked 9th and 8th. To this point in the season, Alabama's most impressive win was their season's opening victory against the now 6-2 West Virginia Mountaineers by 10. Outside of that, they've only beaten one team over .500, and that was a reeling Texas A&M team, which went from a top 5 team to being out of the top 25 in a matter of no time it seemed. Outside of those two wins, they beat 4-4 Arkansas by a single point, defeated the .500 Florida Gators at home, beat 3-5 Tennessee by a couple of touchdowns, as well as sub-par Florida Atlantic and Southern Mississippi out-of-conference. To this point in the season, the teams they've beaten have gone a combined 27-27. Georgia's resume is even less impressive. Their most impressive win, like Alabama's, was an opening week victory out-of-conference, this time against Clemson. The Bulldogs took care of the inconsistent Missouri Tigers on the road, struggled against Arkansas and Tennessee (the latter two are a combined 7-9 on the season). They also defeated 2-6 Vanderbilt, and their only other non-conference opponent outside of Clemson to this point, was Troy. The non-conference opponents they've beaten to this point are 7-9 and the conference opponents they've beaten are 15-17. Are Alabama and Georgia good football teams? Yes, but to this point in the season, they're not deserving of the 3rd and 8th spots in the polls. To this point, teams like: Oregon, TCU, and Kansas State have more impressive resumes than Alabama, and those three along with the likes of Notre Dame, Michigan State, Nebraska, and Arizona have more impressive resumes than Georgia.

After seeing the polls this week, all I can say is thank the football gods the members of the playoff committee appear to have some sense to them and don't appear to be following the laziness and biases of the AP and Coaches polls. Let's hope that continues.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2247976-college-football-playoff-2014-official-selection-committee-rankings-for-week-10

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