After Week #13, who should be #1? (2010)

[cdj]

With one week remaining in the regular season (save for Army-Navy in two weeks), who should be sitting in the driver's seat as the #1 team in the country?

- Auburn
- Oregon
- TCU

[gschwendt]

As I said last week, if Auburn were to beat Alabama, they would be my new #1.

[CLW]

Oregon although a GUTSY comeback by Auburn over Alabama made me really think about it.

[JeffHCross]

I'm going to stick with TCU. With Boise out of the picture, TCU has the best defense out of the remaining candidates. Auburn's victory felt like it was gift wrapped by Alabama ... they didn't do a thing after the first quarter. And Oregon's performance against Cal still leaves me uncertain about them.

[Rudy]

TCU hasn't really beaten anyone imo so I can't vote them #1. Their body of work just can't justify me putting them over Auburn or Oregon. Auburn gets #1 for me despite their close scares this year but Oregon is right there too. Oregon vs. Auburn for the title game will be sweet and very exciting.

Oregon and Auburn's schedule are ranked in the Top 25 while TCU's is significantly worse. It's funny that Wisconsin's schedule is almost as bad and they aren't even Top 10 in Sagarin's poll. Stanford is actually #2.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt10.htm

[JeffHCross]

Rudy, I'm not looking at body of work. That's impossible to look at, even at this point, in my opinion. Boise would have won the body of work argument for me if their 24-7 lead had held up against Nevada ... Nevada crushed Cal, whereas Oregon could only muster 15. Different teams, different days, I know, but that was the only "mutual opponent" combination I can think of right now.

With Boise out of the picture ... well ... defense wins championships, as far as I'm concerned. And TCU's is the top in the regard. I'm voting #1 team, not #1 resume.

FWIW, Sagarin's Strength of Schedule rankings are a joke. I remember a couple years ago when it was 1-10 Pac-10, all because he had USC so highly rated that everyone who played USC was a top schedule. This year's rankings are better -- wait, never mind.

#1 Washington
#2 Washington State
#3 Oregon State (considering they played Boise, TCU, and the Pac-10, this one is believable. Gotta imagine they'll be #1 next week)
#4 UCLA
#5 California
#6 USC
#7 Arizona State
#8 Stanford
#11 Arizona
#19 Oregon

I can understand, on the face of things, that when a conference has the #1 and #2 teams, and the #20 team, that the conference schedule is going to be tough.

But it's just difficult to accept that Oregon and Stanford automatically make the rest of the Pac-10 have the toughest schedules in the nation. There are so many frustrating problems with Sagarin's poll.

Also, make sure you're looking at the right rating. The numbers on the left are not his BCS rankings. You have to look at ELO_CHESS. You know, the one that rates Boise #16 and Nevada #18 (sigh).

[Rudy]

I'll always be biased towards the big boys. I won't hide that fact.