Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Even with an additional loss and MUCH lower point differential?

I hate to be the one making this argument when it is for my team, but I disagree.

If Wisconsin wins the B1GCG in a blowout, they and tOSU would be 1-1 H2H with a blowout each way. I see that as a wash and tOSU's other 11 games are unequivocally better.

I agree that tOSU would have the better resume and I would expect the committee to pick the Buckeyes as better, but that's no guarantee the Buckeyes would win a 3rd head to head meeting

Even the most intelligent people are often slaves to traditional, group-think.  Unfortunately.

Right.

The widespread idea that Big 12 teams don't play defense while SEC teams do is an example of this.

Right.

The widespread idea that Big 12 teams don't play defense while SEC teams do is an example of this.

No it's not.  The data is an example of it.

You may have some argument about LSU, specifically, this year, but that's it.  The overwhelming avalanche of data support the claim.

Oklahoma leads the XII in total defense, allowing 336 ypg.  That would place them...
7th in the SEC
9th in the B10
4th in the ACC
3rd in the PAC


But I'm guilty of lazy, traditional thinking.

If we are talking Wisconsin and Ohio St then a UW win wouldn’t be enough for me personally but it should definitely close the gap.  At the very least UW’s win makes it a much more interesting discussion.  Because they then have very comparable wins and Wisconsin would have the conference championship.

The Illinois loss is still hard to overcome for me. If the extra loss wasn’t to them and was maybe to some really quality OOC opponent then, yeah, maybe I would think UW would deserve the nod there.

It would narrow the gap...but there would still be an obvious gap.


...and Wisconsin would have the conference championship.
Okay, is that something they can fold up and put in their back pocket?  Because in this instance, that's about all they can do with it.

No it's not.  The data is an example of it.

You may have some argument about LSU, specifically, this year, but that's it.  The overwhelming avalanche of data support the claim.

Is Vanderbilt in the SEC?  How about Arkansas?
The most that can accurately be said is that in general SEC teams play better defense than Big 12 teams.  And one may just as accurately say that in general Big 12 teams play better offense than SEC teams.
To say more than that is to fall back on lazy thinking based on traditional understanding.  And I know that you abhor that sort of thing.
If we were going to dig deeper, we might want to assess the impact of taking weekends off during the heat of the conference race in order to play FCS cupcakes.

Now let's discuss the meaninglessness of OU's initial victory over Baylor earlier this year....

Heh!  I've said many times that arguments for CCGs and the CFP based on "settling it on the field" are meaningless if CCGs and the CFP include the possibility/probability/certainty of rematches.  If it's "settled," then there's no need to settle it again.
For the record, I do not like CCGs (nor do I like conferences so big as to require them) and I'd rather go back to bowls and polls as the way of determining the national champion.