Quote:I think overall body of work means more than single game results. No one is going to say Pitt > Penn St. because Pitt beat Penn St. head to head. If only head to head mattered, you run into problems like:


Penn St. 24 - Ohio St. 21 (regulation)

Michigan 49 - Penn St. 10 (regulation)

Ohio St. 30 - Michigan 27 (double OT)


So who is better based on head to head?

 

Nobody says Pitt is better than Clemson either. If head to head results were more important, Pitt would be a top 10 team because of those two wins.

 

Using the overall body of work instead of HTH results is what helped Oklahoma State completely recover from a shocking loss to Central Michigan. The Cowboys finished with a higher ranking than before losing a non-conference game on one crazy play. It is an example of why you need to look beyond the box scores. If only HTH results mattered the Cowboys would have remained unranked the remainder of the season - all because of one play that never should have happened. This is consistent with the CFP committee disregarding the loss at Penn State - which, if you think about it, can be blamed on one play despite everything else that happened - when Ohio State was selected as a final four team.

 

Based only on HTH, you would have to pick your favorite team because Michigan dominated Penn State and was one play away from beating Ohio State after leading most of that game. But Michigan lost to Iowa, who lost to North Dakota State and never recovered. Then it goes back to that Cowboys loss in September . . .

---