Go Home SEC, You're Drunk

[Adam Stokes]

I didn't think there'd be a large improvement from last year but this is pathetic.

Xavier beats Mizzou - saw that coming
Oregon State beats MSU - okay 50/50 game
Western Kentucky beats Ole Miss - WTeff?
Texas A&M vs Youngstown St - A&M only up by 5 with 10 minutes to go.

Vandy could lose to Purdue as well tonight.  Good thing Arkansas took care of business, because our SOS is dropping like a rock.  Of course we get to play the two Mississippi's and Mizzou twice in the year that they are terrible.

[WilsonHog]

Ole Miss blew a 17-point lead at home to WKU and lost by seven. Ugly.

[HF#1]

No reason we shouldn't be +.500 on the road in this league.  No reason at all.

[PonderinHog]

Ole Miss blew a 17-point lead at home to WKU and lost by seven. Ugly.

Andy needs a raise.  He didn't get shut out...

[Wild Bill Hog]

Ole Miss blew a 17-point lead at home to WKU and lost by seven. Ugly.

Never count out a Bobby Petrino team  --  oh wait, nevermind.   

[ricepig]

Ole Miss blew a 17-point lead at home to WKU and lost by seven. Ugly.

How many picks did Bo throw? nm...

[(notOM)Rebel123]

Andy needs a raise.  He didn't get shut out...

Taxi?

[Rawker]

AL in a dog fight with Tenn Tech.

[kuhog]

Honestly, how can a major a conference be this bad? If it weren't for Kentucky, the SEC would resemble the Sun Belt.

[HF#1]

An interesting game coming up is Dayton @ Ole Miss on December 30th. 

[Atlhogfan1]

Butler at Tenn is about to start.

AU at Clemson later today.

[ErieHog]

Butler at Tenn is about to start.

AU at Clemson later today.

That's very likely a 0-2 day.    I didn't think Tennessee's dumpster fire could get worse, but I was wrong.

[-Blu]

Honestly, how can a major a conference be this bad? If it weren't for Kentucky, the SEC would resemble the Sun Belt.

Actually the SEC has moved up to the conference with the 3rd best RPI. 

http://www.rpiforecast.com/confs/SEC.html

Currently the highest RPI by any SEC team is Auburn with a RPI of 161.  I was with you guys, I thought SEC was doing pretty horrible, but looks like the effort all the schools made in their Non-conference schedule is actually paying off so far.  Our current SOS is 27. 

[ErieHog]

Actually the SEC has moved up to the conference with the 3rd best RPI. 

http://www.rpiforecast.com/confs/SEC.html

Currently the highest RPI by any SEC team is Auburn with an RPI of 161.  I was with you guys, I thought SEC was doing pretty horrible, but looks like the effort all the schools made in their Non-conference schedule is actually paying off so far.  Our current SOS is 27. 

A few timely wins, to go along with the bad losses has been very helpful as well.

While we may groan at OM losing to WKU, their win over Oregon was a nice boost.    In the end, the conference was losing both of those games the last few years.

[PonderinHog]

Vandy and LSU both won last night.  i guess that's a good thing.

[(notOM)Rebel123]

Butler at Tenn is about to start.

AU at Clemson later today.

To heck with Butler & Tenner.
UVA-UCLA going to penalty kicks to decide the National Title in soccer.

[Biggus Piggus]

Actually the SEC has moved up to the conference with the 3rd best RPI. 

http://www.rpiforecast.com/confs/SEC.html

Currently the highest RPI by any SEC team is Auburn with a RPI of 161.  I was with you guys, I thought SEC was doing pretty horrible, but looks like the effort all the schools made in their Non-conference schedule is actually paying off so far.  Our current SOS is 27. 

In Pomeroy, the SEC is ranked fifth.

In Sagarin, the SEC is rated sixth.

[(notOM)Rebel123]

Butler-55
UT-67

[-Blu]

In Pomeroy, the SEC is ranked fifth.

In Sagarin, the SEC is rated sixth.

I've heard of those, but to be honest I never paid them much attention, I usually keep up with RPI because that's what the selection committee is going to use.  What are they basing their rankings off of?  Because I just looked at Pomeroy and they have Florida as #17, no way they are ranked 17 at anything right now.

[Danny J]

No reason we shouldn't be +.500 on the road in this league.  No reason at all.

No reason we should have lost to Clemson but we imploded at the end banging our head against the wall with a senior PG(who lacks mental toughness which leads to panic which leads to terrible decisions) that has no business running the team especially late in games. If that is the formula for road games we will likely go 4-5 in SEC road games if not worse. However if CMA continues to allow Beard and Durham to get the playing time as the season progresses then I think 5-4 is reasonable and possible. I just don't have any idea what CMA is going to do going forward. The lineups in the first half of the Dayton game gives me some hope. Some of the weird lineups in the second half leave me wondering what he will do in the future.

[rusvegashog]

How upset are folks gonna be when they realize Alabama, Tenner and Georgia are legit teams and that LSU might be the second best team in the conference. Once you get into conference play it will be a dogfight, regardless.

[ErieHog]

How upset are folks gonna be when they realize Alabama, Tenner and Georgia are legit teams and that LSU might be the second best team in the conference. Once you get into conference play it will be a dogfight, regardless.

Georgia and LSU are the only legit teams on that list;   TAMU is better than either Bama or Tenner.

[Adam Stokes]

Actually the SEC has moved up to the conference with the 3rd best RPI. 

http://www.rpiforecast.com/confs/SEC.html

Currently the highest RPI by any SEC team is Auburn with a RPI of 161.  I was with you guys, I thought SEC was doing pretty horrible, but looks like the effort all the schools made in their Non-conference schedule is actually paying off so far.  Our current SOS is 27. 

We finished out the day much better than we started.  Looking at losses, we were projected as a conference to go 127-45 when the season started and slowly we've moved the number down to 55 losses.  There hasn't been a time where the SEC pulled enough upsets to push the projected loss number in the opposite direction. 

Like the Hogs, the SEC's RPI is going to go down going into conference play as the bulk of the conferences tough games are now past us and we are moving into the cupcake part of our schedules.  The SEC will finish with the 2nd most difficult non-con SOS, but as a conference we might not've been prepared to take on the level of competition we did, because we are projected to finish 6th in both RPI and non-con win 5.

[lefty08]

We finished out the day much better than we started.  Looking at losses, we were projected as a conference to go 127-45 when the season started and slowly we've moved the number down to 55 losses.  There hasn't been a time where the SEC pulled enough upsets to push the projected loss number in the opposite direction. 

Like the Hogs, the SEC's RPI is going to go down going into conference play as the bulk of the conferences tough games are now past us and we are moving into the cupcake part of our schedules.  The SEC will finish with the 2nd most difficult non-con SOS, but as a conference we might not've been prepared to take on the level of competition we did, because we are projected to finish 6th in both RPI and non-con win 5.

6th in rpi would be an improvement wouldn't it? Should give us more than 3 in the dance

[Danny J]

Like the Hogs, the SEC's RPI is going to go down going into conference play as the bulk of the conferences tough games are now past us and we are moving into the cupcake part of our schedules.  The SEC will finish with the 2nd most difficult non-con SOS, but as a conference we might not've been prepared to take on the level of competition we did, because we are projected to finish 6th in both RPI and non-con win 5.

We didn't have a choice. The committee chair put so much emphasis on non-con SOS during their decisions last year we simply had to do the same thing that the smaller conferences did to get bids they likely didn't deserve. The SOS factor is so high when figuring the RPI we simply needed to schedule better teams...the conference as a whole not just us. That will benefit us come selection time unless the committee change criteria. Go back and listen to him speak on selection sunday last year. He mentioned non-conf SOS at least 10 times in his post selection interview. They put less weight on conference SOS and my understanding was they put a disproportionate amount of weight on non-conf SOS. So interpreted that to mean since you have no control over your conference SOS then you must do everything in your power to to schedule better teams in your non-conf schedule.

[Atlhogfan1]

To heck with Butler & Tenner.
UVA-UCLA going to penalty kicks to decide the National Title in soccer.

I wouldn't watch either on an NFL Sunday.  Good to see Tenn won.   

[razorbackchamps94]

No reason we shouldn't be +.500 on the road in this league.  No reason at all.

Years past prove otherwise .. We just can't win on the road

[Adam Stokes]

6th in rpi would be an improvement wouldn't it? Should give us more than 3 in the dance

Nah not really.  I wanna say we were 6th last year as well.  The problem last year with the SEC was the middle of the pack beat up each other too much and no one could really get separation.  I see the same thing happening this year.  I hope that we and a few other teams can get in the 12-6, 13-5 range. in conference.

[nextlevel]

Years past prove otherwise .. We just can't win on the road

Do you have any idea how many teams have finished above .500 on the road the past 3 years in the SEC?

Florida:
2011-2012 (4-4)
2012-2013 (5-3)
2013-2014 (9-0)

Kentucky:
2011-2012 (8-0)
2012-2013 (4-5)
2013-2014 (5-4)

Mizzou:
2011-2012 (6-3) (Big12)
2012-2013 (2-7)
2013-2014 (2-7)

Ole Miss:
2011-2012 (2-6)
2012-2013 (4-5)
2013-2014 (2-7)

Tennessee:
2011-2012 (3-5)
2012-2013 (4-5)
2013-2014 (4-5)

These have been the tourney teams from the SEC over that time span.

[Danny J]

6th in rpi would be an improvement wouldn't it? Should give us more than 3 in the dance

Well....I am not sure what the conference RPI rankings before the NCAAt last year but I do know in terms of bids the SEC was 8th. That will likely be improved this year simply because of the non-conf SOS for the conference as a whole.

[lefty08]

Anybody else think the way the SEC is officiated may have anything to do with how teams fare on the road?

[Danny J]

Anybody else think the way the SEC is officiated may have anything to do with how teams fare on the road?

That is always a problem but the SEC does not have their own officials. They are drawn/selected from a pool of regional officials. So we will get officials that call games from many different conferences depending on where the game is played.

[porkinsons disease]

Anybody else think the way the SEC is officiated may have anything to do with how teams fare on the road?

Probably somewhat. Not just the SEC though. Teams have to know that going in and hopefully can have a plan B or at least throw some wrinkles into plan A.

[(notOM)Rebel123]

I wouldn't watch either on an NFL Sunday.  Good to see Tenn won.   

Ha! I hear ya. Would much rather watch Knile Davis take a pass 70 yards for a TD.

[nextlevel]

That is always a problem but the SEC does not have their own officials. They are drawn/selected from a pool of regional officials. So we will get officials that call games from many different conferences depending on where the game is played.

All conferences use the same officials, or a crew that does say the Arkansas/UGA game could be seen calling the Duke/Clemson game the next night, then the USF/UCONN game the night after for example

That is the main problem, there isn't enough crews to give adequate rest, so you have guys physically and/or mentally tired from the grind and travel of their job. Being human, it wouldn't be surprising to learn the way the call the games depends on how they feel that night, if they are exhausted from the game the previous night 5 states away, they may not want an uptempo game where they have to run up and down the court, for example, leading to a free throw contest of a game.

[Biggus Piggus]

I've heard of those, but to be honest I never paid them much attention, I usually keep up with RPI because that's what the selection committee is going to use.  What are they basing their rankings off of?  Because I just looked at Pomeroy and they have Florida as #17, no way they are ranked 17 at anything right now.

The committee uses many different sources of information, and the version of RPI they use, you never get to see. They have a modified RPI to correct some of its problems. One of the corrections has something to do with schedule strength. Straight RPI gives too much credit/penalty for schedule strength at the extremes of the spectrum.

Funny that Pomeroy has Florida rated that high and still can't get the SEC out of fifth place among conferences.