Jimbo Fisher: SEC West not the toughest division in college football

[MuskogeeHogFan]

On ESPN's car wash Fisher took an opportunity to take a shot at the SEC West. According to Chris Low, Fisher said:

Chris Low  ‎@ClowESPN 

Jimbo Fisher warns against overreaction based on early results. "Everybody last year thought the SEC West was the best, and they weren't."

10:30 AM - 28 Jul 2015

Maybe Jimbo should play a few years of conference games in the SEC West before he makes statements like this.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/25252394/fsus-jimbo-fisher-says-sec-west-wasnt-the-best-division-last-year

[ldfergu]

I think I dislike Jimbo more than any other coach. His schedule is a joke every year

[ricepig]

Who cares what Jimbo says, it's just an attempt to deflect away from the real story of his lack of control of his football team.

[racinghog]

Who cares what Jimbo says, it's just an attempt to deflect away from the real story of his lack of control of his football team.

Bingo!!!! The article makes it clear that he offered no alternative to his claim. REALLY wonder how he would feel playing the SEC west schedule?

[HogWildBison2011]

Who cares what Jimbo says, it's just an attempt to deflect away from the real story of his lack of control of his football team.

As always
http://arrestnation.com/teamsschools/florida-state-university/

I can't stand him either. He took a step above Stoops for me.

[Hawgzinbowlz]

Jimbo couldn't be more wrong about the SEC West. Good coach, yes, respectable program, not so much.


http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-jimbo-fisher-became-the-most-disliked-coach-in-america-151931804.html

" GO HOGS "

[WardamnHOGGLE]

Stay skrong Jimbo.

[mizzouman]

Can't stand Jimbo, AT ALL.  However, how in the world do you quantify being the best division?  How is that measured?

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Can't stand Jimbo, AT ALL.  However, how in the world do you quantify being the best division?  How is that measured?

The link attempts to explain that. Apparently they think an argument can be made for the Pac 12 South.

[Arthur pigby sellers.]

Can't stand Jimbo, AT ALL.  However, how in the world do you quantify being the best division?  How is that measured?

One way to do it is especially mid to late season is to compare
Match ups of comparably ranked teams in respective conferences.  Compare the #1 in the SEC vs #1 in Pac 12 and go down the line.  Usually there is a solid favorite in each comparison.

[Cinco de Hogo]

All the media covering conference media days know that the Southeast is the bulk of their audience.  They are more than happy to create controversy so we will do just what we are doing.

[mizzouman]

The link attempts to explain that. Apparently they think an argument can be made for the Pac 12 South.

The links don't really explain it.  Not sure how a conference, or a division for that matter, is rated. 

[PORKULATOR]

Jimbo is of the worst moral character there is in college football. Nothing he says matters.

[zane]

http://www.hogville.net/yabbse/index.php?topic=594522.msg9756836#msg9756836

Not long ago, Jimbo was telling Devin White to come to FSU because he would get "too beat up in the SEC" and would "be on the sideline for the 2nd half" at FSU . Give me a break Jimbo- you're an idiot

[MuskogeeHogFan]

The links don't really explain it.  Not sure how a conference, or a division for that matter, is rated. 

I'm not sure either. I would think that you would have to compare overall W-L record to SOS and if they do it that way, there isn't any way in hades that the Pac 12 South comes even remotely close to the SEC West.

http://stats.ncaa.org/rankings?sport_code=MFB&division=11

[Justifiable Hogicide]

About as accurate as his statement that he and FSU have a "class program on and off the field."

[Hog N Bama]

TOTAL ABSOLUTE IDIOT!

[nwahogfan1]

On ESPN's car wash Fisher took an opportunity to take a shot at the SEC West. According to Chris Low, Fisher said:

Chris Low  ‎@ClowESPN 

Jimbo Fisher warns against overreaction based on early results. "Everybody last year thought the SEC West was the best, and they weren't."

10:30 AM - 28 Jul 2015

Maybe Jimbo should play a few years of conference games in the SEC West before he makes statements like this.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/25252394/fsus-jimbo-fisher-says-sec-west-wasnt-the-best-division-last-year

After seeing so many of us fall in the Bowls what Coach outside of the SECW would vote us as the toughest.   Maybe we can say the SECW is the most balanced but we did not show out last year in the Bowls and that is what counts.  Not the POLLS.  Polls are so based so often on popularity and not reality. 

We fell on our face last Bowl season.  What were we 2-5 in the Bowls?   Terrible.

[mizzouman]

I'm not sure either. I would think that you would have to compare overall W-L record to SOS and if they do it that way, there isn't any way in hades that the Pac 12 South comes even remotely close to the SEC West.

http://stats.ncaa.org/rankings?sport_code=MFB&division=11

But, how is the SOS quantified?  I mean, there are preseason SOS rankings for each team.  How is that even possible if no games have been played?  I know, they look at how strong a team 'should' be, but that's just a guess.

[MissippHog]

[mizzouman]

About as accurate as his statement that he and FSU have a "class program on and off the field."

There's nothing about Felony State U that is class.

[kaki]

I am not saying who is the best, but your statement is taking a superficial viewpoint of the bowl games.  I think one who need to look at the pairings based on relative position in their conference.  So if an eighth place SEC team is paired with a fourth place ACC team, does this mean if the ACC team wins, it negates the prestige of the SEC?  With our bowl tie ins, we often have SEC teams who finish lower in their conference/division playing higher finishing teams from other conferences.

What over division in the NCAA had a last place divisional team tougher than the SEC West?  There may be one, but I cannot think of one.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

But, how is the SOS quantified?  I mean, there are preseason SOS rankings for each team.  How is that even possible if no games have been played?  I know, they look at how strong a team 'should' be, but that's just a guess.

If you follow the NCAA link I gave you then go over to the Misc Reports tab, select Toughest Schedule and you will see last years SOS for the NCAA. And that is what Fisher is referring to, last year, not this year or any preseason projected SOS.

[Hollywood_HOGan45]

Free Shoes University.

Bobby Bowden had more class in his left pinkie than Jimbo ever will.

I was about to say the SEC west would mop the floor with the ACC but I remember Miss State embarrassing the league against GA Tech.

Their defense was AWFUL!

[mizzouman]

If you follow the NCAA link I gave you then go over to the Misc Reports tab, select Toughest Schedule and you will see last years SOS for the NCAA. And that is what Fisher is referring to, last year, not this year or any preseason projected SOS.

Right, but the SOS is the most useless, over used metric to determine how impressive a team's W-L record it, especially the one from the NCAA.  In order for the SOS to mean anything, it would have to do better than looking at your opponents record and your opponents opponents record. 

[SquidBilly]

After seeing so many of us fall in the Bowls what Coach outside of the SECW would vote us as the toughest.   Maybe we can say the SECW is the most balanced but we did not show out last year in the Bowls and that is what counts.  Not the POLLS.  Polls are so based so often on popularity and not reality. 

We fell on our face last Bowl season.  What were we 2-5 in the Bowls?   Terrible.

Well we were 1-0, just saying but to your point we had all seven teams in our division in a bowl.  No other division in any other conference can claim that.  Add to that we had one team in the playoff and two or three other teams ranked in the top 5 at some point in the season.  In the SEC-W its like playing a playoff game every week.  Yes we should have shown better overall in the bowls but at the same time our division has a target on it, as evidenced by Jimbo, so those other teams came in revved up to play.

[PonderinHog]

Well we were 1-0, just saying but to your point we had all seven teams in our division in a bowl.  No other division in any other conference can claim that.  Add to that we had one team in the playoff and two or three other teams ranked in the top 5 at some point in the season.  In the SEC-W its like playing a playoff game every week.  Yes we should have shown better overall in the bowls but at the same time our division has a target on it, as evidenced by Jimbo, so those other teams came in revved up to play.

And they had a month or longer to prepare vs. one week.

[mizzouman]

Well we were 1-0, just saying but to your point we had all seven teams in our division in a bowl.  No other division in any other conference can claim that.  Add to that we had one team in the playoff and two or three other teams ranked in the top 5 at some point in the season.  In the SEC-W its like playing a playoff game every week.  Yes we should have shown better overall in the bowls but at the same time our division has a target on it, as evidenced by Jimbo, so those other teams came in revved up to play.

To be honest, if you schedule Non-Con correctly, all you have to do is go 2-6 in the SEC to qualify for a bowl game.

[bigdaddyhawg]

There's nothing about Felony State U that is class.

I think Tallahassee is a beautiful place to have a university.  Beyond that, not so much.

[ricepig]

To be honest, if you schedule Non-Con correctly, all you have to do is go 2-6 in the SEC to qualify for a bowl game.

Or any other conference that plays an eight game conference schedule, you'll need three wins in a nine game schedule, and your point is?

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Right, but the SOS is the most useless, over used metric to determine how impressive a team's W-L record it, especially the one from the NCAA.  In order for the SOS to mean anything, it would have to do better than looking at your opponents record and your opponents opponents record. 

OK, then maybe you would like this better.

The Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI) considers each of the nearly 20,000 possessions every season in major college football. All drives are filtered to eliminate first-half clock-kills and end-of-game garbage drives and scores. A scoring rate analysis of the remaining possessions then determines the baseline possession efficiency expectations against which each team is measured. A team is rewarded for playing well against good teams, win or lose, and is punished more severely for playing poorly against bad teams than it is rewarded for playing well against bad teams.

The S&P+ Ratings are a college football ratings system derived from both play-by-play and drive data from all 800+ of a season's FBS college football games (and 140,000+ plays).

The components for S&P+ reflect the components of four of what Bill Connelly has deemed the Five Factors of college football: efficiency), explosiveness, field position, and finishing drives. (A fifth factor, turnovers, is informed marginally by sack rates, the only quality-based statistic that has a consistent relationship with turnover margins.)

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/feiplus

[LRRandy]

I think the middle and lower teams in the secw are stronger than any other division. The top teams are no longer dominant. The national point of view has changed. With the sec tanking the major bowls two years in a row it has become " the King is dead, long live the king". The sec no longer has the best or most dominant team like it had, but top to bottom there is not a better division than the secw.

[bigdaddyhawg]

I think the middle and lower teams in the secw are stronger than any other division. The top teams are no longer dominant. The national point of view has changed. With the sec tanking the major bowls two years in a row it has become " the King is dead, long live the king". The sec no longer has the best or most dominant team like it had, but top to bottom there is not a better division than the secw.

Agreed.  There's not another conference, much less division, that had four teams that were good enough to compete in a NC playoff like we had last year in Bama, MSU, OM, and AU.

I understand the wear and tear of the SEC schedule changed those teams by the end, but all four of those teams were really, really good football teams -- at least as good as FSU and Oregon.

[Poker_hog]

We finished last in the west and we'd be only a slight underdog against fsu at home last year.

[wholehog92]

http://watch.scout.com/springhill-la-standout-rb/lb-devin-white-talks-about-alabama-arkansas-auburn-texas-am-ole-miss-fsu-and-more-in-this-recruiting-update

Watch that video to hear what Jimbo thinks in a more private setting.

[Großer Kriegschwein]

So says the guy that plays a schedule that keeps his team healthy and scrimmaged for the playoff every year.

[Atlhogfan1]

Attrition.  Playing in the SECW takes a toll on the teams in it.  OM last season was the biggest example.  The OM team of Sept and early Oct was not the same team that finished the season.  Attrition also to the NFL.  This has played a big role in Bama and LSU not being as dominant.  But it isn't really close as far as deepest or best division in college football. 

The coaches that take shots at the SEC are with the exceptions or the "media" point to the exceptions in college football:  OU, FSU, Oh St.  These programs recruit on a level with the SEC elite.  They can compete with the SEC consistently. Much of their in conference competition doesn't.  We know the "media" likes to build things up till they tire of it and then tear it down.  SEC fatigue reached a peak during the Bama-LSU NC game.  This past bowl season gave them their opportunity to go after the SEC. 

The SEC was 7-5 in bowls this past season.  But since the West went 2-5, the rest of the nation including the "media" celebrated the conference isn't what it once was because an exception in college football beat Bama on top of exceptions beating AU and Bama the season before.  The competitive imbalance may be the most frustrating thing about watching college football right now.  The SEC appears to not have a dominant team right now but the difference in playing in this conference especially the West is huge vs the others.  A&M right now is projected to finish near the bottom of the division.  They have a freak of a DE who may be the best in college football and qb depth most would kill for. 

Jimbo should just enjoy being in a basketball focused conference with multiple small private universities plus public universities with somewhat higher academic standards like UVa and GT.  Enjoy the advantages you have just Oh St should be thrilled with theirs.  Stoops and OU should be ashamed they aren't dominating their conference given their advantages over everyone but UT. 

[GuvHog]

Jimbo's problem is he believes he knows more than he really does (yeah I know, I'm calling the kettle black  ).

[Atlhogfan1]

http://watch.scout.com/springhill-la-standout-rb/lb-devin-white-talks-about-alabama-arkansas-auburn-texas-am-ole-miss-fsu-and-more-in-this-recruiting-update

Watch that video to hear what Jimbo thinks in a more private setting.

Nice find.

So FSU's recruiting pitch against SEC programs is you will get beat up less if you play in the ACC and have less wear on you after college for the NFL.  I can't really argue with it. 

[Paul]

To be honest, if you schedule Non-Con correctly, all you have to do is go 2-6 in the SEC to qualify for a bowl game.

And that is fair

[mizzouman]

Or any other conference that plays an eight game conference schedule, you'll need three wins in a nine game schedule, and your point is?

My point is that just because you qualify for a bowl game doesn't mean much.  I was responding to the poster who inferred that the SEC West was a great division because all teams qualified.  So? 

[Atlhogfan1]

And if you play in the SECE, hope your regular season conference schedule never includes Bama, LSU or AU and get your SEC opponents at the right time in terms of injury and suspension and you can win the division where you get to find out what playing Bama or AU is like(just not both + LSU in the same season). 

[mizzouman]

OK, then maybe you would like this better.

The Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI) considers each of the nearly 20,000 possessions every season in major college football. All drives are filtered to eliminate first-half clock-kills and end-of-game garbage drives and scores. A scoring rate analysis of the remaining possessions then determines the baseline possession efficiency expectations against which each team is measured. A team is rewarded for playing well against good teams, win or lose, and is punished more severely for playing poorly against bad teams than it is rewarded for playing well against bad teams.

The S&P+ Ratings are a college football ratings system derived from both play-by-play and drive data from all 800+ of a season's FBS college football games (and 140,000+ plays).

The components for S&P+ reflect the components of four of what Bill Connelly has deemed the Five Factors of college football: efficiency), explosiveness, field position, and finishing drives. (A fifth factor, turnovers, is informed marginally by sack rates, the only quality-based statistic that has a consistent relationship with turnover margins.)

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/feiplus

Not really.

My point is that it is impossible to quantify, use an index or use a metric that can produce a top 25 at the beginning of the year.  It's also difficult to produce one at the end of the year.  It's also impossible to accurately measure which conference is better. 

I'm just struggling on how rank or rate a team and therefore a conference with any kind of accuracy whatsoever.

[Jek Tono Porkins]

Lol at "the sec west lost their bowl games so the division wasn't as good." Miss state got matched up with G Tech, a division champion. Ole miss got matched up with TCU, a conference champion. Auburn, an 8-4 SEC team, got matched up with Wisconsin, a division champion. If the SEC west isn't the toughest division, what is?

[mizzouman]

Attrition.  Playing in the SECW takes a toll on the teams in it.  OM last season was the biggest example.  The OM team of Sept and early Oct was not the same team that finished the season.  Attrition also to the NFL.  This has played a big role in Bama and LSU not being as dominant.  But it isn't really close as far as deepest or best division in college football. 

The coaches that take shots at the SEC are with the exceptions or the "media" point to the exceptions in college football:  OU, FSU, Oh St.  These programs recruit on a level with the SEC elite.  They can compete with the SEC consistently. Much of their in conference competition doesn't.  We know the "media" likes to build things up till they tire of it and then tear it down.  SEC fatigue reached a peak during the Bama-LSU NC game.  This past bowl season gave them their opportunity to go after the SEC. 

The SEC was 7-5 in bowls this past season.  But since the West went 2-5, the rest of the nation including the "media" celebrated the conference isn't what it once was because an exception in college football beat Bama on top of exceptions beating AU and Bama the season before.  The competitive imbalance may be the most frustrating thing about watching college football right now.  The SEC appears to not have a dominant team right now but the difference in playing in this conference especially the West is huge vs the others.  A&M right now is projected to finish near the bottom of the division.  They have a freak of a DE who may be the best in college football and qb depth most would kill for. 

Jimbo should just enjoy being in a basketball focused conference with multiple small private universities plus public universities with somewhat higher academic standards like UVa and GT.  Enjoy the advantages you have just Oh St should be thrilled with theirs.  Stoops and OU should be ashamed they aren't dominating their conference given their advantages over everyone but UT. 

But, how does anyone know that playing in the SECW is such a buzzsaw?  I'm not saying it's not, but how do you measure that?  How do you prove that?

[HOGGISHABOUTAR]

The SEC west is the toughest division in college football top to bottom, and there is no argument.

[mizzouman]

Lol at "the sec west lost their bowl games so the division wasn't as good." Miss state got matched up with G Tech, a division champion. Ole miss got matched up with TCU, a conference champion. Auburn, an 8-4 SEC team, got matched up with Wisconsin, a division champion. If the SEC west isn't the toughest division, what is?

But, wasn't MsST ranked #1 at some point?  Ole Miss a top 10 team that beat Bama?  So, shouldn't those teams win their bowl game regardless of who they played?

[LRRandy]

Lol at "the sec west lost their bowl games so the division wasn't as good." Miss state got matched up with G Tech, a division champion. Ole miss got matched up with TCU, a conference champion. Auburn, an 8-4 SEC team, got matched up with Wisconsin, a division champion. If the SEC west isn't the toughest division, what is?

that wasn't mentioned when everyone was pounding their chest about how the sec was winning their bowl games. You can't have it both ways. The supposed toughest division in football lost all the key bowl games two years in a row. That means something. Is the secw still the toughest division top to bottom? Sure it is. Are the best teams in that division better than top teams in other conferences? Not anymore.

[mizzouman]

The SEC west is the toughest division in college football top to bottom, and there is no argument.

Not saying it isn't, but how do you prove that?

[Großer Kriegschwein]

Not saying it isn't, but how do you prove that?

Looking at the win-loss column and the feeling you get when you see that the east hasn't won the conference in quite a while (feeling not fact). So don't try to hammer that statement. I feel that the east is a little bit weaker than the west, doesn't mean that I can quantify it.

Of course that doesn't mean that Arkansas would be ranked ahead of all the teams in the east, that would be silly. Kentucky and Vanderbilt are much worse than the bottom two of the West though.

In the defense of the east, they are tougher than the ACC in-conference.