Chris Fowler responds to ESPN/SEC Bias Claim

rip928

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http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...hows-theres-no-such-thing-as-sec-bias-in-poll

The Associated Press, which has sponsored a weekly media poll since 1936, decided to look into the perceived bias in its poll with help from the research group STATS. The research was done into polls from 2009 through this season.

The findings show that fans screaming about "SEC bias" need to scream about something else.

The average rise in poll spots of ranked teams after beating a conference opponent from 2009-2013 showed that the SEC actually is fifth among the Power Five conferences at 1.5; the ACC led the way in that category, with an average rise of two spots after a conference win. The Big Ten was next at 1.9, followed by the Big 12 at 1.8 and the Pac-12 at 1.6. In this season's polls, the SEC is second in average rise after a conference win, at 2.8. The Big 12 is first at 3.1, with the Pac-12 at 2.3, the Big Ten at 1.7 and the ACC at 0.4.

As for the average drop after losing to a league opponent, Pac-12 and SEC teams have suffered the most this season when losing conference games, with an average drop of 7.5 spots. ACC teams have dropped just 4.3 spots, with the Big Ten second at 5.5 and the Big 12 third at 7.0. Interestingly, the Pac-12 and SEC are considered the two strongest leagues this season, yet the average drop among their league teams is the highest.

In terms of average drop in the polls after suffering a conference loss from 2009-13, the SEC had the second-lowest drop, at 5.5 spots. Pac-12 schools dropped the least, at 5.3 spots. Big Ten and Big 12 teams both dropped an average of six spots, while ACC schools dropped 6.6 spots.

One thing to remember about polls: While fans certainly get riled up about them, they mean nothing when it comes to selecting the four teams for the College Football Playoff. That still won't stop the bleating. What is also means, though, is that every selection committee member will be in for a ton of hate-filled e-mail, tweets and Facebook posts when certain teams are left out of the four-team field in December.

:manny:The beef about bias aint legit. The only bias there may be is in preseason polls, but that is a result of the SEC having competitive teams the year before, their bowl records and great recruiting classes. We have a playoff system now. Whats all the whining for? The committee, which consists of reps from all over the country, is making their own top 25. So when that first poll is released and it looks like the AP with SEC teams all over it, what are you gonna complain about then?
 

Absolut

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lol @ that garbage article. the reason for the higher "drops" this year after losses is that average ass teams like south carolina and texas a&m were ranked so high, and still ranked after multiple weeks of getting their shyt pushed in, and ended up finally having to fall completely out of the polls
 

rip928

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lol @ that garbage article. the reason for the higher "drops" this year after losses is that average ass teams like south carolina and texas a&m were ranked so high, and still ranked after multiple weeks of getting their shyt pushed in, and ended up finally having to fall completely out of the polls
Numbers don't lie. You're calling south carolina and texas a&m average ass teams because they catching beats from other SEC teams. How would they fare elsewhere? Who knows. The issue people have is the preseason poll. Texas A&M was only ranked highly because they beat South Carolina, who was also ranked highly preseason. It was the very first game of the season. Voters guessed, like they always do, it wasn't a bias. Ya'll act like all the voters are in the southeast or something. :mjlol:
My point is that the football field always handles who belongs up top and who doesn't. There isn't a bias. You don't have to beat a SEC team to rise in the polls. You can beat Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Baylor etc. and get the same results. You beat a good team, you get rewarded. Virginia Tech, Arizona, TCU, West Virginia, and others have ate good after beating or competing well against top teams outside of the SEC.
 

FloorGeneral

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Numbers don't lie. You're calling south carolina and texas a&m average ass teams because they catching beats from other SEC teams. How would they fare elsewhere? Who knows. The issue people have is the preseason poll. Texas A&M was only ranked highly because they beat South Carolina, who was also ranked highly preseason. It was the very first game of the season. Voters guessed, like they always do, it wasn't a bias. Ya'll act like all the voters are in the southeast or something. :mjlol:
My point is that the football field always handles who belongs up top and who doesn't. There isn't a bias. You don't have to beat a SEC team to rise in the polls. You can beat Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Baylor etc. and get the same results. You beat a good team, you get rewarded. Virginia Tech, Arizona, TCU, West Virginia, and others have ate good after beating or competing well against top teams outside of the SEC.

You're proving his point with the bolded. He's calling them average ass teams because they ARE average ass teams. The fact that you typed "How would they fare elsewhere" is the exact bias that ppl have been talking about. The perception that all these SEC teams are good, but only look bad because they play each other. That's a biased view. Oregon loses to Arizona, and it's not "can't win all these games, lots of good teams out here" it's "OMG, Oregon lost to ARIZONA? LMAO!". Teams from other conferences don't get the same benefit that SEC teams do.

Everyone was on A&M's nuts when the beat South Carolina. Turns out South Carolina isn't very good, and lo and behold, neither is A&M. But while they kept turning in mediocre performances, they were given passes because they're in the SEC. The funny thing is, I don't think there's one team that you can say is THAT much better than everyone else. There's a whole lot of parity this year, and it's gonna make the playoff selection very interesting. There's definitely gonna be some hurt feelings.
 

Big Blue

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ESPN still shows a nice amount of Big Ten games.. But the Big Ten has too many schools that will probably never contend for anything in football, good schools but probably will never crack the top 5 in football anytime soon if ever- Iowa, Illinois, Maryland(no diss), Indiana, Northwestern, Minnesota, Purdue, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers.These schools aren't must see tv for people outside of their alumni base

Mississippi and Mississippi State being good this year just made the SEC even more easier to rally around and promote. They're a freight train
Yeah, but they're in massive DMZ's. The Big Ten Network was able to raise the rate for cable companies in NYC because of Rutgers' addition.
 

Jplaya2023

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Really? They'll be in the playoff if they win out. The committee already said conference championships will weigh heavily on the decision.

WHICH is a mistake IMO. It should be the best 4 teams regardless of conference.
 

jadillac

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The SEC fan bases are alot more rabid.

Can you imagine a FOUR HOUR daily show like Paul Finebaum for the Big 10 or Pac 12? No....just not happening.

ESPN takes advantage of that b/c it's good for their (daily) business, despite what they tell you.
 

Chrishaune

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WHICH is a mistake IMO. It should be the best 4 teams regardless of conference.


But who can say this team will beat that one if they've never played and don't have common opponents.....It's a fukked system whichever way you look at it......Having people vote on who should be in a playoff will always leave room for bias and underhanded type deals going on.
 

lutha

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of course there is bias, but the big 10 is the last conference that should be complaining...they were getting the same bias when they were good....i mean espn made iowa look like a powerhouse school when they werent shyt lol...anyway, the big 10 complaining is more so them being jealous the spotlight aint on them no more; also, that the answer to that question 'which conference is better sec or big 10?' aint the big 10...
 

Jplaya2023

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But who can say this team will beat that one if they've never played and don't have common opponents.....It's a fukked system whichever way you look at it......Having people vote on who should be in a playoff will always leave room for bias and underhanded type deals going on.


That's why there needs to be a 12 team playoff as i indicated on Tuesday
 

lutha

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That's why there needs to be a 12 team playoff as i indicated on Tuesday

they do need to expand the amount of playoff teams....something else that would help would be getting rid of pre-season rankings....those are the reason for a lot of the bullshyt we hear from people about teams/conferences...
 

Chrishaune

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That's why there needs to be a 12 team playoff as i indicated on Tuesday


Yeah, it definitely needs to be more than 4.......They have a 10 or 15 year deal for the current format though.....It almost makes me sick thinking of all of the arguing and comments that are going to be made about teams when nobody knows what would happen if certain teams play.
 

Jplaya2023

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Yeah, it definitely needs to be more than 4.......They have a 10 or 15 year deal for the current format though.....It almost makes me sick thinking of all of the arguing and comments that are going to be made about teams when nobody knows what would happen if certain teams play.


What i'm going to begin pushing for is my idea to chop the 32 best CFB teams and create a new league like the NFL and play a 16 game schedule and hve 12 of the 30 make the playoffs and have 2 conferences with 6 divisions of 4 teams in each division.

Imagine the Southern division consisting of
UF
FSU
MIAMI
Georgia
 
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