Before we begin the exercise, we are going to think about this in terms of Arizona continuing to eviscerate Arizona State. This post may or may not age well, but I think it is worthy. Especially considering where practically anyone would have never imagined such a post could exist before now.
Let's think about this.
1. Arizona will be a 3 loss team. There are other 2 Loss teams out there.
2. Arizona has 1 OT Loss @MissSt with JDL, a 1 TD loss to Wa(r)shington, and a Double OT Thriller loss to USC that was basically in Peak Position when we played them. This is important to consider if anyone wants to say Ohio State's last play Win vs Notre Dame means anything at this point.
Washington, who for our purposes in this exercise should win their Apple Cup at minimum. Whether they beat the Ducks again or not doesn't necessarily make me feel like our loss to them is better or worse.
However, if they do win vs Oregon, then our loss technically is better either way as they will be Undefeated.
There are no assumptions that we are better than Oregon, but there is a universe where someone may say we lost by 7, they lost by 3 in regular season conditions, maybe Oregon is only Slightly better in theory.
So let's reset a second. If we win today, especially in a Domination, we would be on a 6 game win streak with a chunk of Ranked wins. The close losses to Good teams at the time must be considered if a "Committee" is even going to Mutter the name Ohio State for anything.
So now we are in a situation where with #9 Louisville losing today, they could be a 3 loss team.
Penn State lost their major matchups against Ohio State and Michigan and those represent their 2 losses. Maybe they are in fact ahead of us in theory by that measurable.
#10 Missouri won a game on a prayer of a 60 yard FG... they are a 2 loss team. I don't think they are better than us at least in resume nor momentum.
#11 Ole Miss has the same type of situation going on. No marquee victory IMHO, but they did slap Miss St who we lost to WITHOUT Noah Fifita, penultimately, their losses came as expected.
#13 Oklahoma, a 2 loss team... they look their role. They lost where they should have.
#14 LSU, the first 3 loss team... Are we on their level? Probably not. Would it be fair to automatically put them ahead of us based on our Resume? Not in my opinion.
#15 Oregon State... They are done. We beat them, they are 4 losses now. We are ahead.
AGAIN. Let's reset.
Per my analysis here, I would move Penn State up to #9 and Arizona to #10. Oklahoma to #11, LSU up to #12.
Missouri is on a W3, so my "Bouncing" them out is not going to fly, but I do believe we are better and have a better case. If Louisville loses to Florida State, I do not see how they can be ahead of us on a L2. Florida St might not really be better than us even at 1 or 2 Losses (if they lost to Florida today).
So in Conclusion:
Arizona should not be any lower than #12 overall with a Win today, but I feel like if the Voters are being truly honest, there is no good nor rock solid reason why we couldn't be #10 Ranked in the next polls or even inside the Top 10 in the final polls.
If anyone here thought that was possible preseason, then I would give them a certified ARXPERT head-nod, chin-up of approval, but I am always realistic and I think that this is a MAJOR shock to CFB as a whole and anyone's outlier of a pipedream that we would be here really just doesn't seem logical above being a Homer.
ONWARD AND UP
BEARDOWN JEDD FISCH.
Yes because if you look at the CFP rankings, I think AZ would match up well with anyone from 4-14.
Put it this way. If there was a 12 team playoff, and you take into consideration all the things that have been mentioned, Arizona should crack that field. UofA, led by Fifita, has ascended to the top 10% of college football.
Quote from: |ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ| on November 25, 2023, 06:49:42 PMPut it this way. If there was a 12 team playoff, and you take into consideration all the things that have been mentioned, Arizona should crack that field. UofA, led by Fifita, has ascended to the top 10% of college football.
This ^ right here, exactly.
Quote from: arxpert on November 25, 2023, 09:34:28 PMQuote from: |ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ| on November 25, 2023, 06:49:42 PMPut it this way. If there was a 12 team playoff, and you take into consideration all the things that have been mentioned, Arizona should crack that field. UofA, led by Fifita, has ascended to the top 10% of college football.
This ^ right here, exactly.
We are a JDL OT loss and not going for 2 @ USC away from being the 2007 Kansas Jayhawks. Crazy.
Top 10 in my heart.
Quote from: |ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ| on November 25, 2023, 10:02:37 PMQuote from: arxpert on November 25, 2023, 09:34:28 PMQuote from: |ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ| on November 25, 2023, 06:49:42 PMPut it this way. If there was a 12 team playoff, and you take into consideration all the things that have been mentioned, Arizona should crack that field. UofA, led by Fifita, has ascended to the top 10% of college football.
This ^ right here, exactly.
We are a JDL OT loss and not going for 2 @ USC away from being the 2007 Kansas Jayhawks. Crazy.
100% should have went for 2 there. I really thought we would. I would have to think Jedd regrets it now. No one would have blamed him if we failed. We had the momentum in that moment.