Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
That is very surprising, haha. Not saying it's not fair, but it is certainly surprising ... especially considering the same voters didn't reward Maryland with a top 25 ranking (although they are very close, at 27th). I wouldn't volunteer to look through the data myself, but I have a hunch that if you looked back at enough weeks, voters would subconsciously value "non-statement" results at the END of the week higher than those at the BEGINNING of the week (i.e., having recency bias for results within the previous week). It wouldn't shock me if some of these voters didn't have the first clue how bad we looked vs. Maryland and simply saw that Illinois "went 1-1 this week," ending on a win.
Somewhat OT, but one of my side interests in the coming weeks will be hoping that Auburn stubs its toe and we can take on Duke at MSG while they are ranked #1. To that end, here is Auburn's schedule between now and then. Illinois/Duke is at the end of Week 16, for reference.
#1 AUBURN UPCOMING SCHEDULE
W13 - at LSU, at #23 Ole Miss
W14 - vs. Oklahoma, vs. #5 Florida
W15 - at Vanderbilt, at #4 Alabama
Best bet for a loss is obviously at Alabama, but I honestly wonder if the pollsters would let Alabama leapfrog Duke for the #1 spot if they beat Auburn there. Honestly, knowing the media and considering that it's Duke ... probably not, lol.
Somewhat OT, but one of my side interests in the coming weeks will be hoping that Auburn stubs its toe and we can take on Duke at MSG while they are ranked #1. To that end, here is Auburn's schedule between now and then. Illinois/Duke is at the end of Week 16, for reference.
#1 AUBURN UPCOMING SCHEDULE
W13 - at LSU, at #23 Ole Miss
W14 - vs. Oklahoma, vs. #5 Florida
W15 - at Vanderbilt, at #4 Alabama
Best bet for a loss is obviously at Alabama, but I honestly wonder if the pollsters would let Alabama leapfrog Duke for the #1 spot if they beat Auburn there. Honestly, knowing the media and considering that it's Duke ... probably not, lol.