Mandel's Mailbag

[brado09]

Today's mailbag column from Stewart Mandel on Three Teams that could start rising:

3) Arizona. The Wildcats don't deserve serious poll consideration yet because they lost to New Mexico and beat up on a bunch of cellar-dwellers, yet something tells me Mike Stoops' team could wind up finishing as high as second in the Pac-10. Willie Tuitama is playing like a four-year QB should and the defense seems to be coming around.

I made a bet with a couple of ASU fans that at any point during the season, we would be ranked ahead of ASU. If we can win our next 2 games, we're in the top 25.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...x.html?eref=T1

[T-Bone]

Technically, you already won your bet if you count votes in the AP.

[Merkin]

True, ASU has no points, UA has points in both polls, although not top 25. So UA is ranked higher.

[kylecollins]

Or if you look at a poll that goes past 25.

http://www.sportsline.com/collegefoo...lls/120/index2

[brado09]

I know, but I didn't include the 'Other Receiving Votes' category when making the bet. So we have to get into the top 25.

[Arnold Booke]

Hard to do when the *majority* of voters are in the eastern half of the country and constantly bombarded with the infomercial known as ESPN - some of whom may actually believe in chupacabra or the easter bunny.

A cursory glance at the current Top 25 is a clear indication the "polls" are still little more than a weekly beauty pageant that reflects the bias of indigenous types who are simply fanatical about "anything east or anything ACC is better than anything Pac10," and other flat-earth hypotheses.

[Drayhound]

We are going to have to win the next two games for us to be ranked in the top 25. If we do that then we have a chance going into the USC game.

[brado09]

Originally Posted by Drayhound

We are going to have to win the next two games for us to be ranked in the top 25. If we do that then we have a chance going into the USC game.

Agreed. If we were 5-0, we'd be 24 or 25 right now. But when you've played a cupcake schedule thus far, and lost even one of those games, you aren't going to be ranked when you started so far down to begin with.

I don't think it has anything to do with an east coast bias in this case, as the previous poster mentioned.

[Whitus004]

Originally Posted by brado09

I don't think it has anything to do with an east coast bias in this case, as the previous poster mentioned.

agreed! Is there an east coast bias? yes
are they to blame for the holocaust, WWII, 9/11 and us not being ranked... no

[Basketcats]

Originally Posted by brado09

Agreed. If we were 5-0, we'd be 24 or 25 right now. But when you've played a cupcake schedule thus far, and lost even one of those games, you aren't going to be ranked when you started so far down to begin with.

I don't think it has anything to do with an east coast bias in this case, as the previous poster mentioned.

I kind of agree with this. Currently there are 2 teams in the top 10 with an SoS of 100 or worse (LSU SoS 103, BYU SoS 118 and throw in Texas Tech SoS 95 just for fun). Those teams are 5-0 with the majority of wins coming on their home fields. Florida is 4-1 with an SoS of 93 and they lost at home to Ole Miss. Florida is ranked 11 I believe. Ole Miss is carrying around an SoS of 5. Ole Miss is below Arizona in votes for AP ranking yet neither are even close to entering the top 25.

I think there is not necessarily an east coast bias, but more so a focused hatred towards the PAC 10 this season. The media was looking for a strong showing from the PAC this year and when all the teams they thought would make noise started to sputter they switched their focus to the other conferences. Now it's going to be an uphill fight to regain some respectability, not just for Arizona, but for the PAC 10 as a whole.