Posted by MikeT23 on 11/16/2014 7:19:00 AM (view original):
Bama was soooooo much better than Miss St. 

Really.  Miss. St. won time of possession and out gained Alabama by nearly 100 yards.  Miss. St. had 3 turnovers to Alabam's 0 as well as the safety.  All 3 of the turnovers were on drives of more than 50 yards.  That is why Alabama won the game.  They played it clean and Miss. St. did not.

I mean isn't that the same stats you used to explain why Alabama was really better than Mississippi even though they lost the game.

And it's TCU's fault.   Don't throw a stinker out against KU and maybe it's not even brought up.

Posted by moranis on 11/16/2014 10:49:00 AM (view original):

Posted by MikeT23 on 11/16/2014 7:19:00 AM (view original):
Bama was soooooo much better than Miss St. 

Really.  Miss. St. won time of possession and out gained Alabama by nearly 100 yards.  Miss. St. had 3 turnovers to Alabam's 0 as well as the safety.  All 3 of the turnovers were on drives of more than 50 yards.  That is why Alabama won the game.  They played it clean and Miss. St. did not.

I mean isn't that the same stats you used to explain why Alabama was really better than Mississippi even though they lost the game.

Did you watch the game?   Never in doubt.

Posted by MikeT23 on 11/16/2014 11:18:00 AM (view original):

START	QTR	POSS.	YARD	PLAYS	YARDS	RESULT
13:13	1	02:57	MSST 16	8	27	Punt
08:02	1	00:13	MSST 4	2	-5	Safety
02:06	1	01:31	MSST 21	3	3	Punt
14:44	2	02:37	MSST 9	7	50	Interception
10:43	2	01:07	MSST 18	3	6	Punt
07:45	2	01:39	MSST 12	3	-3	Punt
05:32	2	05:29	MSST 25	14	70	Downs

Yeah they started off a bit rough, but as you can see they had a drive of 50 and a drive of 70 and didn't get a single point.  They also had a much better second half, with another two long drives without scoring. 

You can't have that and expect to win, but it also doesn't say the other team is so much better either.

Muschamp fired.

They actually got a FG at the end of that 70 yard drive.   Point was that they had 78 total yards for the first 25 minutes of the game.   And 29 of those came on one play.   They were in scoring position just once in the first half. 

Miss St was overmatched.   Too much of their offense is Prescott.

and half of Alabama's drives were 3 and out. 

Rushing - MSU. out gained Bama by 14
Passing - MSU out gained Bama by 79
First downs - MSU exceeded Bama by 9
Time of Possesssion - MSU had about 4 extra minutes

The difference was the 3 INT's.

Again, was the game ever in doubt?

It was never in doubt, but that doesn't mean Alabama was soooooo much better than Mississippi St. as you claimed either.  Mississippi St. dominated every statistical category except score and turnovers, you know basically the same thing you used to claim Alabama was better than Mississippi even after Mississippi won the game.

Do you think coaches adjust game plans when the game is not in doubt?

If the answer is "yes", the stats become less relevant.

And, if you can connect the dots, you'll understand why Bama/Ole Miss and Bama/Miss St is different. 

AP Poll

1	Florida State (43)	10-0	1476
2	Alabama (16)	9-1	1439
3	Oregon (1)	9-1	1385
4	Mississippi State	9-1	1289
5	TCU	9-1	1237
6	Baylor	8-1	1232
7	Ohio State	9-1	1167
8	Ole Miss	8-2	1064
9	Georgia	8-2	948
10	Michigan State	8-2	941
11	UCLA	8-2	876
12	Kansas State	7-2	868
13	Arizona State	8-2	720
14	Wisconsin	8-2	707
15	Arizona	8-2	695
16	Auburn	7-3	531
17	Georgia Tech	9-2	523
18	Marshall	10-0	383
19	Missouri	8-2	376
20	Utah	7-3	349
21	Nebraska	8-2	291
22	Colorado State	9-1	281
23	Oklahoma	7-3	206
24	USC	7-3	195
25	Duke	8-2	85

Will Mississippi St.'s awful scheduling keep it out of the playoff at the end of the season?  The 4 non-con games for MSU are Southern Miss, UAB, South Alabama, and UT Martin.  South Alabama at 6-4 (5-3 in the Sun Belt) is the best opponent of those 4.  MSU's 3 big conference wins all lost this past weekend (at least 2 of the losses were to vastly inferior teams as well), and thus it really is relying on Mississippi not losing again before their big game to close the year. 

So if it comes down to MSU, TCU, Baylor, and Ohio St. (or some combination thereof), might MSU's terrible scheduling keep it out of the playoff.

Posted by MikeT23 on 11/16/2014 4:10:00 PM (view original):
Do you think coaches adjust game plans when the game is not in doubt?

If the answer is "yes", the stats become less relevant.

And, if you can connect the dots, you'll understand why Bama/Ole Miss and Bama/Miss St is different. 

Never in doubt doesn't mean 55-0 like you seem to be implying.  It was a 13 point game going to the 4th quarter and was a 6 point game midway through the 4th quarter.  Had MSU stopped Bama instead of allowing the TD, then the game very well might have been won by MSU.  That isn't the sort of game where you change your play calling and put it into coast. 

Posted by MikeT23 on 11/16/2014 10:50:00 AM (view original):
And it's TCU's fault.   Don't throw a stinker out against KU and maybe it's not even brought up.

Yes because Alabama didn't have any bad games and neither did miss st oh ya but there in the sec so it's ok. Tcu beat Oklahoma Minnesota west virginia yes they lost at Baylor where miss st lost at bama. They have very similar if not harder schedual then miss st and if things are that close it should come down to whose winning there conference