Purple Haize wrote: ↑January 3rd, 2021, 5:08 pm
olldflame wrote: ↑January 3rd, 2021, 4:06 pm
Big 12 going 5-0 was a bit of a shocker to me. Good for them.
Sun Belt went 4-1. Their only loser????
ACC 0-6 was my shocker
The bowl season’s way of slotting matchups has a lot to do with this.* The B12 not getting any teams in the CFP greatly benefited them from a bowl matchup perspective. The B12 was favored in every bowl game (edit: I just checked because I wasn't sure about UF/OU)
Conversely, the ACC had bad matchups in its other bowl games due to it getting two teams in the CFP. It’s kind of like playing team tennis without your two top seeds because they are playing in another tournament. Everybody else has to play two seeds up.
Simply put, the ACC #3 team filled its #1 contracted bowl slot whereas the B12 actual #1 team filled its #1 contracted bowl slot. And this shifting creates mismatches the whole way down the line (your #5 school is playing another conferences #3, etc.)
The SEC is strong enough to overcome a negative shift. B10 and B12 seem to deal with it decently. The ACC seems to struggle with it (they obviously did this year). The PAC gets a positive shift almost every year (because they generally don't get a team in the playoff) and they still lose.
*plus add in opt-outs / injuries