Griz vs Cats Strength of Schedule through Week 9

[hm.grwn.grizfan]

Central Washington is rolling teams. We are their only loss. They were #7 in D2 heading into this weekend and won yesterday over the #16 D2 squad. They were for sure better than Indiana state, who just beat South Dakota state . Central Washington has good football team. Just because they’re D2 does t mean squat. Tarleton was also D2 just a couple years ago, Ferris is D2 and would be top 15 in the FCS if they moved up today. Anybody watch any of their games this year? Ferris once again has some dudes who will be getting some looks by FBS programs. Hell their qb that came to Missoula is the starter now at fucking Ol Miss

 

[AZDoc]

I haven’t paid much attention but if people are claiming Cats are better simply because of SOS then you’re right, that’s ridiculous. For some reason people like to focus on the schedule season after season after season. It’s silly.

But strength of schedule is still a real thing. If the Cats played 4 FBS teams and got killed by all of them, and and Griz played 4 D2 teams and killed all of them, it’d still be ok, and correct to say that the Cats had a more difficult schedule. Definitely wouldn’t make them a better team because of it; but it’d still be true.

So it is kinda funny to see a comment that if you take away the top 10 FBS team the Cats played, and you take away the D2 teams the Griz played, the Griz have a more difficult SOS!

I forget how entertaining these boards get as we near the big game.

It isn’t funny…it is comparing teams based on their level of competition.

 

[ilovethecats]

It isn’t funny…it is comparing teams based on their level of competition.

That is correct. I agree. What part of my post was suggesting otherwise?

 

[uofmman1122]

The SOS stuff is largely unimportant, but when people are making conclusions from this suggesting that the cats are winning bigger against a harder schedule (many people are doing this lol), the idea that removing Oregon from that analysis is unfair or biased and not common standard practice in this sort of thing is hilarious. All of the wins are against a weaker schedule, which is the basis for the entire argument.

Thankfully we play each other and we didn't have to do this same stupid exercise with Tarleton State fans lol

 

[AZGrizFan]

Who is talking about credit? But the schedule is the schedule and cherry picking games in and out and then calling it a schedule comparison is a bit disengenuois.

So’s pumping up a mediocre SOS with one money game. But hey, you do you. Same program that has their starting QB in up 48-0 and their starting RB taking carries up 55-0…

Whatever floats your boat.

 

[HookedonGriz]

I haven’t paid much attention but if people are claiming Cats are better simply because of SOS then you’re right, that’s ridiculous. For some reason people like to focus on the schedule season after season after season. It’s silly.

But strength of schedule is still a real thing. If the Cats played 4 FBS teams and got killed by all of them, and and Griz played 4 D2 teams and killed all of them, it’d still be ok, and correct to say that the Cats had a more difficult schedule. Definitely wouldn’t make them a better team because of it; but it’d still be true.

So it is kinda funny to see a comment that if you take away the top 10 FBS team the Cats played, and you take away the D2 teams the Griz played, the Griz have a more difficult SOS!

I forget how entertaining these boards get as we near the big game.

All fair and good. This started because one of the cats posters claimed the Griz schedule is the easiest and weakest schedule he has ever seen. So it got me thinking, what does the cats schedule actually look like without Oregon. And it’s worse the the Griz FCS schedule, although they are similar.

 

[ilovethecats]

All fair and good. This started because one of the cats posters claimed the Griz schedule is the easiest and weakest schedule he has ever seen. So it got me thinking, what does the cats schedule actually look like without Oregon. And it’s worse the the Griz FCS schedule, although they are similar.

I gotcha. It gets pretty silly thus time of year. It’s funny cause it seems to go back and forth each year. Last year I thought the cats had one of the easiest schedules I’ve seen. The year before I thought the griz had a similar one. Before this season with the Cats having Oregon, SDSU, Davis, NAU on the road and Griz on the road, I thought our schedule looked different on paper.

All moot. We’ll roll Weber and Davis and then have an epic battle in Missoula. SOS is silly

 

[rocklobster]

It’s actually true. There is a rankings system that ranks every single college football team from all levels and CWU was above Mercyhurst and very close to San Diego

Kind of like when we played a really good Ferris team in 2023. That team, too, was better than a lot of FCS teams. The Griz were good enough that year to go on to play for the National championship that year, inspite of playing Ferris. BTW, that Ferris team beat a school called Mercyhurst 54-12 that year, so obviously all FCS teams are better than division 2 teams.

 

[Da Boyz Mom]

SOS is silly

I think SOS can have very limited applications. For example, if both the Cats and the Griz had played an all FCS schedule, and both were undefeated, then it might be worthwhile to look at each other's SOS to compare where they stood with each other. But It's quite rare that both teams have similar schedules, and this year is no different which makes SOS pretty much meaningless.

 

[Skookum-Jim]

Didn't he say FCS games? How is that cherry-picking? If the Cats/you want to include the blowout loss to Oregon for SOS, then you want "credit". That is a fact.

Remember last year when you and Everett griz were telling everyone how much harder the griz schedule was compared to the cats because the sagarin rankings said so? Does that still apply or are you just full of crap like usual?

 

[AZDoc]

That is correct. I agree. What part of my post was suggesting otherwise?as I td-read it…nothing hahahah. I read it as still arguing can’t remove teams. That’s on me! Hahaha

Um…nothing…I read it as still arguing can’t remove teams. That’s on me! Hahaha

 

[EverettGriz]

In the only ranking I can find that lists every college football program relative to every other one (all 766), it has Central Washington rated higher than 55 FCS teams, including:

Sacred Heart
Idaho State
Cal Poly
Weber State
Northern Colorado
Indiana State
Mercyhurst
Portland State

Central beats all of those teams, and absolutely blows out any of the teams listed below weber.

 

[Wolf777]

Cats fans are all up in arms because they’re ranked behind 2 undefeated teams. The most important stat determining the rankings right now is 9-0 vs 7-2. It’s all just noise until the 22nd anyways.

 

[EverettGriz]

I haven’t paid much attention but if people are claiming Cats are better simply because of SOS then you’re right, that’s ridiculous. For some reason people like to focus on the schedule season after season after season. It’s silly.

But strength of schedule is still a real thing. If the Cats played 4 FBS teams and got killed by all of them, and and Griz played 4 D2 teams and killed all of them, it’d still be ok, and correct to say that the Cats had a more difficult schedule. Definitely wouldn’t make them a better team because of it; but it’d still be true.

So it is kinda funny to see a comment that if you take away the top 10 FBS team the Cats played, and you take away the D2 teams the Griz played, the Griz have a more difficult SOS!

I forget how entertaining these boards get as we near the big game.

I think it's the opposite: They're discounting the GRIZ because of their "soft" schedule. To be frank, the cats have not beaten anyone. What's their best win? Idaho state?

 

[garizzalies]

Who is talking about credit?

You?
You said this in the other thread:

The truth is that the bobcats have definitely had the harder schedule.

 

[Blgs Griz Fan]

So’s pumping up a mediocre SOS with one money game. But hey, you do you. Same program that has their starting QB in up 48-0 and their starting RB taking carries up 55-0…

Whatever floats your boat.

Running up the score is a cat thing. It gives them a chance to pound their chest, beat their junk and say " Look at us."

 

[mthoopsfan]

55-0 Cats, with drive starting with 9 minutes left in game:

"1st and 10 at UNC29 - No Huddle-Shotgun Jones,Adam rush middle for 7 yards gain to the UNC22 (Smedley,KJ)."

I had to look this up to believe it.

 

[EverettGriz]

55-0 Cats, with drive starting with 9 minutes left in game:

"1st and 10 at UNC29 - No Huddle-Shotgun Jones,Adam rush middle for 7 yards gain to the UNC22 (Smedley,KJ)."

I had to look this up to believe it

As any astute observer would quickly note, this is because their backups are better then their starters, and they didn’t want to expose them to injury.

 

[jacobj6]

I haven’t paid much attention but if people are claiming Cats are better simply because of SOS then you’re right, that’s ridiculous. For some reason people like to focus on the schedule season after season after season. It’s silly.

But strength of schedule is still a real thing. If the Cats played 4 FBS teams and got killed by all of them, and and Griz played 4 D2 teams and killed all of them, it’d still be ok, and correct to say that the Cats had a more difficult schedule. Definitely wouldn’t make them a better team because of it; but it’d still be true.

So it is kinda funny to see a comment that if you take away the top 10 FBS team the Cats played, and you take away the D2 teams the Griz played, the Griz have a more difficult SOS!

I forget how entertaining these boards get as we near the big game.

I think HookedonGriz is not trying to change the SOS but instead trying to create a true comparison and take out the outliers (remove the noise) to create a true FCS SOS. Very scientific - removing the variables.

If cats had a better SOS and WON those games, that would matter and then Ilovethecats point would be valid. But the cats lost the only 2 games that increase the cats SOS.

He’s trying to make sense of SOS and use it help create a new measuring stick - Stength Of Team…

 

[mthoopsfan]

I haven’t paid much attention but if people are claiming Cats are better simply because of SOS then you’re right, that’s ridiculous. For some reason people like to focus on the schedule season after season after season. It’s silly.

But strength of schedule is still a real thing. If the Cats played 4 FBS teams and got killed by all of them, and and Griz played 4 D2 teams and killed all of them, it’d still be ok, and correct to say that the Cats had a more difficult schedule. Definitely wouldn’t make them a better team because of it; but it’d still be true.

So it is kinda funny to see a comment that if you take away the top 10 FBS team the Cats played, and you take away the D2 teams the Griz played, the Griz have a more difficult SOS!

I forget how entertaining these boards get as we near the big game.

There are many different kinds of criteria for SOS. There’s no god-given definition. Hooked and others are trying to use a more meaningful type of SOS.

I don’t think any common SOS measures only how good each opponent was. They also factor in result or score to some extent.

I assume no common SOS uses only wins. But that could be a way to measure SOS.

To me, taking Oregon out is the best way to measure the Cats and Griz Schedules and components this year. A blowout FBS is not relevant.