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Topic: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time

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ELA

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #14 on: February 03, 2025, 11:38:24 PM »
Quote from: bayareabadger on February 03, 2025, 10:51:51 PM
He mentioned 2014 Oregon and 2008 OU in the OP.
Oh, then blah to the concept.  1998 Kansas State
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ELA

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #15 on: February 03, 2025, 11:39:06 PM »
Quote from: Brutus Buckeye on February 03, 2025, 10:57:30 PM
Who were the worst 2-loss teams of all time?
I mean probably a random MAC team that lost the California Bowl
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ELA

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #16 on: February 03, 2025, 11:44:11 PM »
Quote from: ELA on February 03, 2025, 10:29:48 PM
OSU was clearly the best team.  The more chances we give the best team, particularly in "Dr. Pepper games" the more often thats going to sort itself out.  If we wanted a meaningful regular season, we would have just let Oregon and Georgia play each other
I think in whatever form weve selected, the best included team has won it.  With both 2 teams and 4 teams, the best team didnt necessarily make it.  With 12 teams, thats out the window, but I think one year in, nothing has changed my mind that the best team to get in will win in it.

Thats why my biggest what if is if we had had a playoff in 2013.  The 2014 team was better, but the best teams were also in it.  The best teams in 2013 kept screwing up, that a great, but not elite MSU team, would have had a chance in a 4 team field.  In a 12 team field, that gave all of those better teams another shot?  No way.  it's the funny paradox of the expanded playoff. it gives more teams a chance to say they played in the playoff, but it actually eliminates the chances of one of them winning it in a weird year where 2-3 teams lose a stupid game or two
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OrangeAfroMan

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #17 on: February 04, 2025, 07:04:26 AM »
2014 OSU was most definitely not the best team, but they won it.  But they won 2 games and earned it.  They had a relatively shit defense for a NC-caliber team.
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OrangeAfroMan

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #18 on: February 04, 2025, 07:12:36 AM »
Quote from: ELA on February 03, 2025, 10:29:48 PM
OSU was clearly the best team.  The more chances we give the best team, particularly in "Dr. Pepper games" the more often thats going to sort itself out.  If we wanted a meaningful regular season, we would have just let Oregon and Georgia play each other
Yeah, statistically, this just isn't the case.  Including all of the best teams knocks each individual team's chances down by a lot.  The more games they have a 75% chance of winning or 60% chance of winning, the lower and lower their odds of winning the NC are.  They just benefit that everyone else's decrease by a lot, too.  But no team is LIKELY going to win the NC in this format.  The '95 Huskers would have a <50% chance at the start of this 12-team playoff. 

These things don't just "sort itself out" lol.  That's like suggesting karma is a thing and telling it o a starving child.

OSU split their 2 games with Oregon, lost to a mediocre UM team, and only got into the playoff thanks to the new format.
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Brutus Buckeye

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #19 on: February 04, 2025, 07:43:22 AM »
The Oregon loss was by one point on the road to the number one team in the nation, and the revenge game at a "neutral" site was an absolute beatdown. 

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FearlessF

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #20 on: February 04, 2025, 08:24:14 AM »
Quote from: OrangeAfroMan on February 04, 2025, 07:12:36 AM
OSU split their 2 games with Oregon, lost to a mediocre UM team, and only got into the playoff thanks to the new format.
very true

but, once they were in they performed at a level that is hard to argue, they weren't the best
as I asked, after all the games were played - what team has the best resume?

Oregon?  Texas??  Georgia???  Bama????  The Irish?????
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ELA

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #21 on: February 04, 2025, 08:32:49 AM »
Did OSU ever fall out of #1 in SP+?
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ELA

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #22 on: February 04, 2025, 08:42:05 AM »
Quote from: OrangeAfroMan on February 04, 2025, 07:12:36 AM
Yeah, statistically, this just isn't the case.  Including all of the best teams knocks each individual team's chances down by a lot.  The more games they have a 75% chance of winning or 60% chance of winning, the lower and lower their odds of winning the NC are.  They just benefit that everyone else's decrease by a lot, too.  But no team is LIKELY going to win the NC in this format.  The '95 Huskers would have a <50% chance at the start of this 12-team playoff. 

These things don't just "sort itself out" lol.  That's like suggesting karma is a thing and telling it o a starving child.

OSU split their 2 games with Oregon, lost to a mediocre UM team, and only got into the playoff thanks to the new format.
Unless their chance was 0% because they weren't in it.  Your last sentence is exactly my point.  Yes it reduces '95 Nebraska's chances, because '95 Nebraska was already in the 2 team field.  But the most common reason, by far, that the "best" team didn't win the national title wasn't losing a postseason game, it was not being included in the 2 or 4 team field.  That's never going to happen anymore.
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FearlessF

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #23 on: February 04, 2025, 09:04:44 AM »
95 Nebraska would have said, "line em up"

we like our chances

how many teams do you think would have wanted a shot?
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bayareabadger

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #24 on: February 04, 2025, 10:48:16 AM »
Quote from: ELA on February 04, 2025, 08:32:49 AM
Did OSU ever fall out of #1 in SP+?
No.

It still feels a little weird to call them the best all the way through.


they had the highest ceiling for the entire year. They didn’t play up to it against a lot of upper level opponents until the postseason. Then they did, in part because the quarterback stepped up.
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jgvol

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #25 on: February 04, 2025, 11:21:11 AM »
From my eye --- OSU was clearly the best team.  That realization happened in Round 1 after seeing my Vols summarily dominated in every possible facet.

I knew about halftime of our game that OSU would run the table.  The annihilation of Oregon cemented that thought.
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OrangeAfroMan

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #26 on: February 04, 2025, 07:49:32 PM »
Quote from: FearlessF on February 04, 2025, 09:04:44 AM
95 Nebraska would have said, "line em up"

we like our chances

how many teams do you think would have wanted a shot?
All these modern defenses running a base-nickel wouldn't have a chance, lol.
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OrangeAfroMan

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Re: Revisiting best 2-loss teams of All-Time
« Reply #27 on: February 04, 2025, 07:51:56 PM »
Quote from: ELA on February 04, 2025, 08:42:05 AM
Unless their chance was 0% because they weren't in it.  Your last sentence is exactly my point.  Yes it reduces '95 Nebraska's chances, because '95 Nebraska was already in the 2 team field.  But the most common reason, by far, that the "best" team didn't win the national title wasn't losing a postseason game, it was not being included in the 2 or 4 team field.  That's never going to happen anymore.
Maybe the healthiest team is going to win the larger playoff.  Maybe the deepest. 

For me, when you have like 4-6 teams with a nearly-equal % chance of winning it before it starts, it's basically a flick of a spinner.  The piece of the pie it stops on doesn't crown themas being the best, just the champion.  It just means they happened to win it because someone is going to win it.  I know it's not romantic, but oh well.
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“The Swamp is where Gators live.  We feel comfortable there, but we hope our opponents feel tentative. A swamp is hot and sticky and can be dangerous." - Steve Spurrier
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