Rooting Guide Week 4 2014

[scott715]

First off, tweet this: Dominating starts: BYU has outscored their 2014 opponents by a combined 78-0 before being scored upon (21-0, 34-0 and 23-0 starts).

http://www.cougarboard.com/board/messag ... d=12961964" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The goals for BYU are:

1. To win the National Championship
2. To go to a NY6 bowl game
3. To achieve the highest ranking possible
4. To win as many games as possible
5. To be bowl eligible and play the best bowl team possible
6. To be better than Utah

If you want to see these goals accomplished here is your rooting guide:

A. Cheer for BYU. Duh.

BYU over Virginia

B. Cheer for the team playing Utah. If we need help from Utah in any way then it is not worth having.

Michigan over Utah

C. Cheer for BYU’s opponents. This helps SOS.

Boise St. (2-1) over Louisiana Lafayette
Houston (1-2) over UNLV (1-2) (Houston has a higher upside than UNLV)
MTSU (2-1) over Memphis
USU (2-1) over Arkansas St.
UCF (0-2) over Bethune Cookman
UConn (1-2) over South Florida
Cal (2-0) over Arizona

D. Cheer for teams playing teams ranked ahead of BYU. If both teams are ranked cheer for the team with more probable losses in their future (Of course rules A-C trump rule D).

#22 Clemson over #1 Florida St. (Clemson has at least 1 more loss vs. South Carolina.)
Washington St. over #2 Oregon
Florida over #3 Alabama
West Virginia over #4 Oklahoma
#20 Kansas St. over #5 Auburn (KSU will have plenty of chances to lose in the Big 12. Need to move some SEC clutter)
SMU over #6 Texas A&M
Mississippi St. over #8 LSU
Eastern Michigan over #11 Michigan St.
Troy over #13 Georgia
Vanderbilt over #14 South Carolina
Indiana over #18 Missouri
Bowling Green over #19 Wisconsin
Miami over #24 Nebraska

E. Cheer for our Opponents’ opponents unless they are playing our opponents. This helps our SOS in virtually every SOS calculation. The more connected a team is to our opponents the more you should cheer for them (unless it violates rules A-D). Air Force is the most connected team to our opponents as they play 4 games against them (Boise St., Nevada, UNLV, Utah St.). The number by the team indicates how connected they are. If the numbers are equal take the team who has lost or will most likely lose to our opponents.

MWC

SDSU 3 over Oregon St.
Hawaii 3 over Colorado
Fresno St. 3 over Southern Utah
New Mexico 3 over NMSU
SJSU 3 over Minnesota
Wyoming 2 over Florida Atlantic

CUSA

Southern Miss over App St.
Old Dominion over Rice
Marshall over Akron
North Texas over Nicholls St.
FIU over Louisville

AAC

Temple 3 over Delaware St.
Tulane 3 over Duke
Cincinnati 2 over Miami Oh
East Carolina 2 over North Carolina

Pac-12

Washington over Georgia St.

Big 12

Kansas over Central Michigan

ACC

Wake Forest over Army
Pitt over Iowa
Georgia Tech over Virginia Tech

B1G

Northwestern over Western Illinois
Penn St. over Umass

MAC

Northern Illinois over Arkansas
Toledo over Ball St.
Ohio over Idaho

Sun Belt

South Alabama over Georgia Southern

F. Cheer for “nonP5” over P5

Texas St. over Illinois
Navy over Rutgers

G. Cheer for the FCS team. Because it is fun (unless it violates rules A-E)

Presbyterian over NC St.
Maine over Boston College
Southern Illinois over Purdue
Norfolk St. over Buffalo
Murray St. over Western Michigan
Northwestern St. over Louisiana Tech

[Wolverine]

I like this rooting guide, but in part D I approach things a bit differently. I fear that if a team such as #22 Clemson were to beat #1 Florida State that Clemson would then leap frog ahead of us. So I will root for any team in our immediate neighborhood to get beat. So down with #22 Clemson and #20 Kansas State as well as all the others mentioned. Move up in the polls right now and then position ourselves for the Top 10 to cannibalize each other in a few more weeks along with the sporadic upset by a P5 2-6 loss team of a top 10 team, as long as that 5-6 loss team isn't Utah BYU just needs to keep winning one week at a time as cliché as that may sound.

[urroner]

So, we should always root for any team playing the pukes.

Does that mean we shoulld be rooting for PAC-12 teams who are ranked ahead of us when they play the SNOT?

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[scott715]

Depends on the lesser of two evils. I would like to see both P5 teams lose. Just need to figure a way to achieve that.

[TulaneVandyRiceCoug]

Love the weekly rooting guide, great breakdown as always.

My main hope is to see as much chaos in the top 5 this week. Here's my crazy prediction/insane hope: each of the top 5 takes a loss this weekend.

Here's how:

#22 has a legit shot against #1 FSU. Clemson is the kind of sneaky good team that can pull it off. They're not top tier themselves, but still good enough to compete against the elites. Clemson will lose again in the season, so I see no real leapfrogging BYU issue long term.

Mike Leach has pulled off the crazy upsets before. #2 Oregon is really good, but Washington State at least has the ability to make this one a shoot out.

Florida is down lately, but they are just a mad team who wants to bring down #3 Alabama in a bad way and make a statement win to kick off SEC play. Alabama is good, but also seems over-hyped, and don't look nearly as dominant as their recent championship years.

#4 Oklahoma IMO seems to look like the best in the land. But, they have a true road test to Morgantown and hopefully WVU can pull off the unthinkable. They kept it close against Alabama in week one, and their W against Maryland was much more dominant than the 40-37 final score.

The #20 Kansas State against #5 Auburn is the most realistic top 5 loss that can happen this weekend. Auburn is a hated program. Please find a way, KSU.

One more item. My Vandy Commodores are struggling this year, but wow, a W against #14 South Carolina would downright bring tears to my eyes. Vandy is perhaps the only SEC school that SEC haters like, and they will at least have a few shots at several teams ranked ahead of BYU this year. Anchor down baby! Make it happen!

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[scott715]

Boise St. (2-1) over Louisiana Lafayette Winning
Houston (1-2) over UNLV (1-2) Houston won
MTSU (2-1) over Memphis Lost
USU (2-1) over Arkansas St. Lost
UCF (0-2) over Bethune Cookman Won
UConn (1-2) over South Florida Lost
Cal (2-0) over Arizona Winning

[BroncoBot]

Cal is going to be a beast of a team by the time BYU plays them. That was supposed to be the easy P5 pad your stats type of game to end the season. It's going to be a showdown between 2, potentially, very hungry teams.

[scott715]

Cal how did you lose that game?

[TulaneVandyRiceCoug]

Vandy losing to ranked South Carolina was rough. They opened that game with a kick off return to the house, but Hine's had more style points.

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[scott715]

That too. Cal lost on a Hail Mary pass. They gave up like 5 TDs in the 4th quarter.