FanPost

Week 12 OCR

I always find it interesting to look at the combined records of opponents on a given team's schedule. It really puts into perspective how difficult that team's schedule really is. I've been keeping track of this for a few weeks, and I decided to make this a weekly thing. For this week, I had originally tried to figure FCS opponent's records out of the opponent combined records (OCR), but it skewed the view of everyone's OCR. For instance, if a team played an FCS team with a winning record, I tried taking that out of the equation and it made the team's OCR look worse, which is what I was going for; however, if a team played an FCS team with a losing record, taking the FCS record out made the team's OCR look better, which makes no sense at all. So I chose to omit that potential change. Moving on.

The number in parentheses is the W/L margin for those who don't like to do quick math, and the number after that is the number of P5 schools in their non-conference schedule. Without further ado, here are the opponent combined records for the CFP top 25:

^Clemson 64-56 (8) 2

*^Bama 76-44 (32) 1

*OU 59-58 (1) 1

^Iowa 57-64 (-7) 2

*MSU 65-56 (9) 1

*ND 63-56 (7) 2…

*^Baylor 50-58 (-8) 0

*OSU 59-63 (-4) 1

**Stanford 63-60 (3) 2

**Mich 63-58 (5) 3

*^OkSt 57-60 (-3) 0

*Fla 57-62 (-5) 0

**FSU 61-59 (2) 1

*^^UNC 57-64 (-7) 2

*^Navy 61-49 (12) 1

**^NU 72-49 (23) 2

***^Ore. 73-48 (25) 1

***^Ole Miss 72-47 (25) 0

**^TCU 54-64 (-10) 1

***^>Wazzu 63-60 (3) 1

***^Miss. St. 70-49 (21) 0

***UCLA 64-59 (5) 1

***Utah 66-56 (10) 1

*%+Toledo 46-62 (-16) 2

**%Temple 52-69 (-17) 2

*One-loss team, **Two-loss team, ***Three-loss team, ^Played FCS team, ^^Played two FCS teams, >Lost to FCS team, %Non-P5 team, +Game against FCS opp. canceled

...B1G rules for P5 consideration, meaning BYU, Army, Navy, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, and Connecticut qualify as P5 schools. Since ND is a 1A independent, it was simulated that they would have four non-conference games. Considering the fact the ND is a P5 school, and that they only play to non-P5 schools, their non-conference would have two P5 schools on their non-conference schedule.

LSU, Houston, Memphis, USC, and Wisconsin dropped out of the top 25 this week, while UCLA, Temple, and Mississippi State are back after dropping out last week. Additionally, Toledo has made its way back in to the top 25 after two weeks of being out. And - as predicted - Wazzu has found its way into the CFP top 25 for the first time.

According to OCR, Bama has the most difficult schedule with an W/L margin of +32. So difficult that Bama could not come away without at least one loss. This week they face an underwhelming Auburn. On the other end of the spectrum, Toledo and Temple, 24 and 25 respectively, have similarly bad OCRs with W/L margins of -16 and -17. Toledo finishes the regular season against Western Michigan, and Temple finishes with Connecticut, who recently dashed Houston's dream of a perfect season.

Pitt is still left on the outside looking in with only three losses, all to top 25 teams. With a win over Miami, they could easily be in next week. Wisconsin, after dropping out this week, is another prospect to make it back in next week with a win over Minnesota. That will not come easy though as the Gophers are fighting for bowl eligibility.

Iowa plays an equally tough game on Friday against a Nebraska team that is also fighting for bowl eligibility. Not only that, but Iowa was also featured on the SI regional cover *GASP* Although Iowa is fighting for a perfect season and a reason to be kept in the top four. Should be an exciting game over in Lincoln. Until then, see you next week!

Unless otherwise expressly indicated by BHGP editors, this FanPost is strictly the viewpoint of the author and is not endorsed by BHGP in any way.