The Big Winners and Big Disappointments

[Roundball Shaman]

So, who were the 2019 season winners and disappointers?

AP Top 25 - Preseason Ranking to Final Ranking:
1 Clemson (Final Ranking #2) Move down -1 spot
2 Alabama (Final Ranking #8) Move down -6 spots
3 Georgia (Final Ranking #4) Move down -1 spot
4 Oklahoma (Final Ranking #7) Move down -3 spots
5 Ohio State (Final Ranking #3) Move up +2 spots
6 LSU (Final Ranking #1) Move up +5 spots
7 Michigan (Final Ranking #18) Move down -11 spots
8 Florida (Final Ranking #6) Move up +2 spots
9 Notre Dame (Final Ranking #12) Move down -3 spots
10 Texas (Final Ranking #25) Move down -15 spots

Conclusions...

LSU the top team to exceed expectations (since they won it all over 5 giants ahead of them)

Biggest movers up:
Minnesota from unranked pre-season to #10 finish
Baylor from unranked to #13 finish

Exceeded Expectations:
Wisconsin ended 8 spots higher from preseason poll
Penn State ended 6 spots higher from preseason poll
Iowa ended 5 spots higher from preseason poll
(All making the Huskers’ journey that much harder, along with good seasons from Minnesota and Wisconsin and that place from Ohio)

Unranked teams move up to a Top 25 finish:
Air Force
Appalachian State
Boise State
U Central Florida
Cincinnati,
Memphis
Navy

Biggest Top 10 disappointment - Texas, down 15 spots from preseason poll
Next biggest Top 10 disappointment - Michigan, down 11 spots from preseason poll

Huskers’ preseason came in at #24 and... well, you know the rest. Disappointment team from pre-season hopes. Were initially ranked too high and did not approach Top 25 during season.

Texas was shown too much pre-season love. Another bitter taste for the Sometimes-Not-Too-Long Horns. Limphorns?

Bottom Line: Lots of surprise teams showing up in final Top 25. Teams that grew and came together during the season. The unpredictable nature of sports. That's why they play the games.

 

[NUance]

A couple more that I'd suggest:  

Biggest disappointment:  Miami Hurricanes.  Went 6-7 with losses to 3-9 Ga Tech and FIU.  They sucked just as bad as they used to in the pre-Schnellenberger years.  

Exceeded Expectations:  Virginia Cavaliers.  Went 9-5.  Would have finished in the top 20, except they got screwed in the bowl selection.  Somehow got match with #9 Florida.  (f#&%ing SEC always gets favorable bowl selections.)

 

[10_point_buck]

So, who were the 2019 season winners and disappointers?

(All making the Huskers’ journey that much harder, along with good seasons from Minnesota and Wisconsin and that place from Ohio)

Huskers’ preseason came in at #24 and... well, you know the rest. Disappointment team from pre-season hopes. Were initially ranked too high and did not approach Top 25 during season.

Texas was shown too much pre-season love. Another bitter taste for the Sometimes-Not-Too-Long Horns. Limphorns?.

Our journey at Nebraska is uphill, to be nice.  Even as our division rivals lose people to the draft and graduation, we are still trying to figure it out.  We can’t even begin to talk about the East as we are an even longer way off from OSU, PSU, and U of Mich. 

If we really looking at how far people fell.....going from pre-season #24 to final ranking of around #100, I’d argue that NU laid the biggest turd while Tex@ss and Michigan may be unhappy, but are light years ahead of us.

 

[grandpasknee]

I'll be the numbers version of the Grammar Nazi.  If a team moved down -10 spots, that means they moved up 10 spots.  They either moved down 10 spots, or had a -10 outcome with respect to their initial ranking.  

Tomorrow...probability and statistics or matrix theory.  You choose.