2 questions
by NDFAN0947 (2022-05-09 17:37:01)
Post Reply Return to Arlotta Stadium

1.) How much did playing Detroit Mercy hurt us in the end?

2.) If the answer is a lot, why did we play them?

I don't follow this that closely but couldn't that have dramatically flipped whatever dumb logic they used to select?

Ohio State played Detroit Mercy also...
by Slotts  (2022-05-09 17:45:03)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

So did Michigan, Marquette, Air Force, et.



ND beat them 24-2

Ohio State beat them 18-7
Also
by tf86  (2022-05-10 11:37:12)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Lots of teams schedule OOC cupcakes. ND certainly isn't unique in that regard. For purposes of brevity, let's take a look at the teams the committee apparently considered on the bubble: Duke, Harvard, ND and Ohio State. Sub-30 RPI OOC opponents from among that group:

Duke: High Point (32), Vermont (35), Manhattan (48).
Harvard: Michigan (45), Colgate (47), Fairfield (51), NJIT (71).
ND: Michigan (45), Marquette (49), Detroit (62).
Ohio State: Dartmouth (33 -- surprisingly high), Detroit (62), Cleveland State (66).

Looking at that, I would have to say that the bottom half of our OOC schedule didn't really hurt us (although I may have reached a different conclusion if Duke had made the field and we didn't.) Syracuse being uncharacteristically down this year may have hurt us, but we had no control over that.

I do think we didn't schedule enough games. Standing alone, that may not have been fatal -- after all, Harvard made the field while scheduling the same number of games, at an identical record. But I don't think it helped us.