Bloodless Coup

I just love the hate for WVU. WVU loses on the road to an undefeated team now ranked #6 with their star player out and drops to #14. Florida loses at home to a 2-2 team, and Oklahoma loses to a similarly bad 2-2 team, yet they remains ranked about the mountaineers. In what world does that make sense?

In a world in which tradition reigns. WVU is not Oklahoma nor is it Florida. And a lot of the rankings always favor the teams that are traditionally atop them.

Plus I think it hurt WVU trememdously that its loss was on Friday night when everyone was concentrated on the 1 loss, as opposed to on a day when it would've merely been 1 of 7 or 8 or so big losses.

Now none of that makes it right - but I think it makes it vaguely understandable (if still wrong).

in fairness, florida lost to a 2-2 team that nonetheless started out highly ranked (5, i believe -- and auburn itself lost to USF), and along the way crushed a #22 team (Tenn. in week 3), and oklahoma crushed miami. WVU, by contrast, faced of note only Maryland and didn't beat them nearly as bad as the abovementioned victories for the two complained-of teams (not a knock on WVU, obviously, since the Terps beat my boys outright.

also, USF is obviously a bit of a wild card right now, as the AP has them at 6 and USA Today at 9.

i'm not sure why losing your star player (at the half, notably) should affect your ranking either way. you've got an opponent to deal with -- either you measure up or you don't. you wouldn't make the same argument if, say, a star blind-side tackle went down, even if that is nearly as important to your success as a quarterback (on a running team). i don't think any quarterback going down changes the fact that the rankings measure who's best, not who's best when they have their full complement on the field.

a wild weekend, in any event.

Ummmm okay - but that doesn't change the fact that WVU lost an away game to the #6 team in the country and plunged out of the top 10, whereas Florida and Oklahoma lost games to teams that still aren't ranked in the top 25 and yet both remain in the top 10 (and Florida was playing at home).

Considering that in the next three weeks, nearly all the teams ranked above WVU play each while the eers have Syracuse, bye, Miss State, we should easily re-enter the top 10 in that time, and if we win out, a top 5 finish is still possible.