Can someone explain to me why ESPN thinks the Iron Bowl is bigger than MSU/Bama?

[ShotgunDawg]

This lady's article just irritates me. She ranks MSU/Bama 2nd and the Iron Bowl 1st, while saying that if MSU wins against the Bama, the Iron Bowl means virtually nothing unless Auburn wins and becomes the 2nd team in the playoff.

It's like the media keeps forgetting that MSU has to lose TWO games for Auburn to have a shot at Atlanta.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11817147/ranking-season-remaining-impact-games

[Political Hack]

because everyone expects us to lose in TTown.

[TUSK]

This lady's article just irritates me. She ranks MSU/Bama 2nd and the Iron Bowl 1st, while saying that if MSU wins against the Bama, the Iron Bowl means virtually nothing unless Auburn wins and becomes the 2nd team in the playoff.

It's like the media keeps forgetting that MSU has to lose TWO games for Auburn to have a shot at Atlanta.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11817147/ranking-season-remaining-impact-games

I'd guess it's a combination of things... as things stand right now...

History being one... especially recent history with the IB having directly/indirectly deciding the NC for the last 5 years...

Second, the IB still has 2 teams that can win the NC this year, where as the Egg likely only has one...

I'm gonna say the IB is still a bigger game this year, although the disparity between it and the Egg isn't what it has been.

[TrapGame]

because everyone expects us to lose in TTown.

This.^^^

But, we ain't.

[ShotgunDawg]

I'd guess it's a combination of things... as things stand right now...

History being one... especially recent history with the IB having directly/indirectly deciding the NC for the last 5 years...

Second, the IB still has 2 teams that can win the NC this year, where as the Egg likely only has one...

I'm gonna say the IB is still a bigger game this year, although the disparity between it and the Egg isn't what it has been.

I understand, but the Iron Bowl relevancy, to some extent, depends on the outcome of the Bama/MSU game. Therefore, the priority has to be the Bama/MSU because other games depend on it's outcome.

[TUSK]

I understand, but the Iron Bowl relevancy, to some extent, depends on the outcome of the Bama/MSU game. Therefore, the priority has to be the Bama/MSU because other games depend on it's outcome.

dude, I misread your post... I thought your question was "egg bowl vs iron bowl"... sorry...

Hack is right, the ONLY reason has to be that "they" are assuming the Tide beats you guys...

Hell, I'm not assuming we win in BR... although I believe we will, of course...

[MetEdDawg]

because everyone expects us to lose in TTown.

This I don't get. Everyone has said Bama has the easier path to the West and Bama is way better and on and on. Look at their schedule and look at ours. Bama still has @LSU, MSU, and Auburn on their schedule. We have @Bama, Vandy, @OM. I would take ours over theirs every single day no question. Yet Bama somehow still has an easier road according to the talking heads.

Then let's look at the wins. We have already won in Baton Rouge by 5(had a 24 point lead), beat TAMU at home by 17 (up by 31), beat Auburn at home by 15, went on the road and beat UK by 14, and beat Arkansas at home by 7. Bama beat TAMU by 59 at home and UT on the road by 14. Then what? A road win in Fayetteville by 1. A road LOSS to OM by 6, and a home win against UF by 21. That to me is less than impressive and it's less impressive than what we've done against the competition we've played.

This is a history and recruiting play 100%. Bama has been there, Bama has the better players. Hanging on the past because of who Bama is. We might lose, but for everyone in the media to say Bama has the easier path and is clearly the better team is a grave injustice to what we've already accomplished this year and how we've done it.

[TUSK]

This I don't get. Everyone has said Bama has the easier path to the West and Bama is way better and on and on. Look at their schedule and look at ours. Bama still has @LSU, MSU, and Auburn on their schedule. We have @Bama, Vandy, @OM. I would take ours over theirs every single day no question. Yet Bama somehow still has an easier road according to the talking heads.

Then let's look at the wins. We have already won in Baton Rouge by 5(had a 24 point lead), beat TAMU at home by 17 (up by 31), beat Auburn at home by 15, went on the road and beat UK by 14, and beat Arkansas at home by 7. Bama beat TAMU by 59 at home and UT on the road by 14. Then what? A road win in Fayetteville by 1. A road LOSS to OM by 6, and a home win against UF by 21. That to me is less than impressive and it's less impressive than what we've done against the competition we've played.

This is a history and recruiting play 100%. Bama has been there, Bama has the better players. Hanging on the past because of who Bama is. We might lose, but for everyone in the media to say Bama has the easier path and is clearly the better team is a grave injustice to what we've already accomplished this year and how we've done it.

I dig what you're saying and I'd rather have MSU's slate, than Bammer's, for sure...

Maybe they are just going by who they think the favorites will be???

I dunno...

[CadaverDawg]

This I don't get. Everyone has said Bama has the easier path to the West and Bama is way better and on and on. Look at their schedule and look at ours. Bama still has @LSU, MSU, and Auburn on their schedule. We have @Bama, Vandy, @OM. I would take ours over theirs every single day no question. Yet Bama somehow still has an easier road according to the talking heads.

Then let's look at the wins. We have already won in Baton Rouge by 5(had a 24 point lead), beat TAMU at home by 17 (up by 31), beat Auburn at home by 15, went on the road and beat UK by 14, and beat Arkansas at home by 7. Bama beat TAMU by 59 at home and UT on the road by 14. Then what? A road win in Fayetteville by 1. A road LOSS to OM by 6, and a home win against UF by 21. That to me is less than impressive and it's less impressive than what we've done against the competition we've played.

This is a history and recruiting play 100%. Bama has been there, Bama has the better players. Hanging on the past because of who Bama is. We might lose, but for everyone in the media to say Bama has the easier path and is clearly the better team is a grave injustice to what we've already accomplished this year and how we've done it.

Bama DOES have the easier road. They get us and Auburn in Tuscaloosa. If Bama is who they and everybody else thinks they are, LSU should not be a close game. If it IS a close game, then they better be worried about us.

[ShotgunDawg]

dude, I misread your post... I thought your question was "egg bowl vs iron bowl"... sorry...

Hack is right, the ONLY reason has to be that "they" are assuming the Tide beats you guys...

Hell, I'm not assuming we win in BR... although I believe we will, of course...

Yeah, the Egg Bowl is dependent on a few other games. The Egg Bowl could be a glorified scrimmage if MSU beats Bama

[Covercorner2]

It's because Bama is the public's #1 team in Vegas (the team the public bets the most quantity and frequency on). Therefore Bama is literally favored in every single game, and are expected to beat MSU, and then be favored against Auburn, and so on....

[Goat Holder]

because everyone expects us to lose in TTown.

And this is a good thing. I hope the coaches are using it.

[MetEdDawg]

Bama DOES have the easier road. They get us and Auburn in Tuscaloosa. If Bama is who they and everybody else thinks they are, LSU should not be a close game. If it IS a close game, then they better be worried about us.

They still have to play the #1,#3, and #14 teams in the country. We play the #4 and #12 teams. Both may be on the road, but I wouldn't switch that for anything, especially with Bama having one loss already. Having to go undefeated against three top 15 teams in the last four weeks of the season sounds pretty terrible to me.

[Covercorner2]

They still have to play the #1,#3, and #14 teams in the country. We play the #4 and #12 teams. Both may be on the road, but I wouldn't switch that for anything, especially with Bama having one loss already. Having to go undefeated against three top 15 teams in the last four weeks of the season sounds pretty terrible to me.

The public thinks they can do it, though, because they are "Bama." They also think there's no way we run the table because we are "State."

[CadaverDawg]

They still have to play the #1,#3, and #14 teams in the country. We play the #4 and #12 teams. Both may be on the road, but I wouldn't switch that for anything, especially with Bama having one loss already. Having to go undefeated against three top 15 teams in the last four weeks of the season sounds pretty terrible to me.

Most would disagree with you. Home field is huge. Plus, Bama is favored in all remaining games, we won't be favored against them or maybe even OM. Us and Auburn destroyed LSU, so Bama should not be a bit worried about them if they are what they claim to be. And their last two are at home and they will be favored. So you're saying you would rather play 2 games against Top 12 opponents on the road where you will not be favored to win, vs playing 2 home games and one road game where you will be favored in all 3? Not me, and not with Bama's talent and coach.

[MetEdDawg]

Most would disagree with you. Home field is huge. Plus, Bama is favored in all remaining games, we won't be favored against them or maybe even OM. Us and Auburn destroyed LSU, so Bama should not be a bit worried about them if they are what they claim to be. And their last two are at home and they will be favored. So you're saying you would rather play 2 games against Top 12 opponents on the road where you will not be favored to win, vs playing 2 home games and one road game where you will be favored in all 3? Not me, and not with Bama's talent and coach.

After this year, being favored means zero to me. We weren't favored in the LSU or Auburn game and we were barely favored in the TAMU game by 1 point. We are good enough to where being favored or being the underdog doesn't matter. We are the #1 team in the country. You go out and you play against good teams and you either win or lose. I would rather play a top 12 team and a top 5 team on the road than play a top 15 team on the road and two top 3 teams at home to end the season.

I'm not saying that road games don't matter. Clearly they do. But would you really like to replace Vanderbilt with Auburn and change the Bama game to a home game? That's essentially what you would be doing. And we HAVE to sweep. No margin for error. You lose and you are done in the West and done in the playoff picture. There's no way I would do that. I'll take my chances with Bama on the road and a rivalry road game any day of the week over having two Top 5 programs at home both with playoff aspirations on my schedule at the end of the year.

[Political Hack]

And this is a good thing. I hope the coaches are using it.

yep.

[missouridawg]

It is bigger. The winner of the game will be in the conversation for the second SEC spot in the playoff behind us.

The Egg Bowl is merely a formality on our way to Atlanta as New Orleans.

[smootness]

Any talking head claiming Bama is the best team in the country right now needs to be fired. It is the definition of laziness and simply a regurgitation of past history. 'Bama is #1 because they've been #1 several times recently.'

They destroyed A&M; congrats, join the party. Then people are also pointing to the Tennessee game for some reason, which was not overly impressive. Other than that, what, exactly have they done? They have a decent win over a pretty good West Virginia team (who subsequently beat Maryland by all of 3 two weeks later). They lost to Ole Miss, they struggled even more than we did with Arkansas.

Everyone is pointing to our Arkansas win as proof that we're not as good as people thought, yet Alabama's win over Arkansas is probably their second best win on the season...not the second-best they've looked on the year, but on paper probably their second best win.

As others have said, I'm totally fine with this being the narrative heading into that game; it's just really, really stupid.

[smootness]

It is bigger. The winner of the game will be in the conversation for the second SEC spot in the playoff behind us.

The Egg Bowl is merely a formality on our way to Atlanta as New Orleans.

This thread isn't about the Iron Bowl vs. the Egg Bowl. It's about the Iron Bowl vs. Bama/MSU, and it's totally right. Assuming Bama beats LSU, Bama/MSU will be guaranteed to be massive at the time it's played. The Iron Bowl could still be for essentially nothing.

[Yossarian]

because everyone expects us to lose in TTown. And everyone expected us to lose in Tiger Stadium.

[maroonmania]

This I don't get. Everyone has said Bama has the easier path to the West and Bama is way better and on and on. Look at their schedule and look at ours. Bama still has @LSU, MSU, and Auburn on their schedule. We have @Bama, Vandy, @OM. I would take ours over theirs every single day no question. Yet Bama somehow still has an easier road according to the talking heads.

Then let's look at the wins. We have already won in Baton Rouge by 5(had a 24 point lead), beat TAMU at home by 17 (up by 31), beat Auburn at home by 15, went on the road and beat UK by 14, and beat Arkansas at home by 7. Bama beat TAMU by 59 at home and UT on the road by 14. Then what? A road win in Fayetteville by 1. A road LOSS to OM by 6, and a home win against UF by 21. That to me is less than impressive and it's less impressive than what we've done against the competition we've played.

This is a history and recruiting play 100%. Bama has been there, Bama has the better players. Hanging on the past because of who Bama is. We might lose, but for everyone in the media to say Bama has the easier path and is clearly the better team is a grave injustice to what we've already accomplished this year and how we've done it.

Though I hope they do, I don't see Bama having a lot of trouble with LSU. OM was the perfect matchup for LSU. OM has a great pass defense and edge rush defense but LSU just wants to run between the tackles where OM is vulnerable. On the other side, LSU is most vulnerable to the inside running game but OM has no inside running game to take advantage. OM just wants to throw and LSU has a very good pass defense. The matchup problems aren't an issue for Bama which is fine to run between the tackles if need be and have a good interior run defense.

[Interpolation_Dawg_EX]

because everyone expects us to lose in TTown.

Honestly, I prefer it this way going in there. It seems like the national conversation has turned from being media darlings to now a bit of annoyance that we're still around. I really hope we can shut everyone up and #15 leads us to 15-0...

[Schultzy]

I think people still like our story but just don't trust us to win in Tuscaloosa yet. The thing is, we may be a little better football team, but they are going to be jacked for that game, fans and players if Bama can beat Lsu.

We will be up big time for that game too, come to think of it, MSU/Alabama is the bigger game this year. Hell, Bama fans were chanting "we want State, we want State!" after the a&m game.

[Bucky Dog]

Because both of them will be undefeated.......no wait, both of them will only have one loss.......no wait!?&@

[Dawgcentral]

Just Beat Bama. The rest is irrelevant. It'll be difficult, but we're preparing already. The biggest game, no matter who thinks what is on Nov. 15th.

[TUSK]

man, you cats are making this waaaaay to difficult.

1) MSU, Bama & AU are all presently top 3-5 teams...
2) the smart money is on Bammer to win at LSU/vs MSU & go 10-1... and for AU to win at UGA and go 10-1...
3) IF #2 AU meets #3 Bammer in the game (IB) that has been a de facto playoff game for the last 5 National Championships; it's a big freaking deal...

It's NOT a slight on MSU's accomplishments thus far... it's just sound inductive reasoning.

[Goat Holder]

It's NOT a slight on MSU's accomplishments thus far... it's just sound inductive reasoning.

This is correct.

[Covercorner2]

man, you cats are making this waaaaay to difficult.

1) MSU, Bama & AU are all presently top 3-5 teams...
2) the smart money is on Bammer to win at LSU/vs MSU & go 10-1... and for AU to win at UGA and go 10-1...
3) IF #2 AU meets #3 Bammer in the game (IB) that has been a de facto playoff game for the last 5 National Championships; it's a big freaking deal...

It's NOT a slight on MSU's accomplishments thus far... it's just sound inductive reasoning.

The smart money isn't on Bama, it's the public money. That's why they are favored in every game. Read my earlier post.

[TUSK]

The smart money isn't on Bama, it's the public money. That's why they are favored in every game. Read my earlier post.

you think the smart money is on LSU vs Bammer?

if so, I'll take some of that action, since Aces pussied out.

[smootness]

man, you cats are making this waaaaay to difficult.

1) MSU, Bama & AU are all presently top 3-5 teams...
2) the smart money is on Bammer to win at LSU/vs MSU & go 10-1... and for AU to win at UGA and go 10-1...
3) IF #2 AU meets #3 Bammer in the game (IB) that has been a de facto playoff game for the last 5 National Championships; it's a big freaking deal...

It's NOT a slight on MSU's accomplishments thus far... it's just sound inductive reasoning.

But the weight of the Iron Bowl is fully dependent on what happens in the State/Bama game. If State wins, the Iron Bowl becomes far less significant. State/Bama is essentially guaranteed to be huge. That is why, as of now, State/Bama is bigger.

[IMissJack]

Ratings push already started.

[TUSK]

But the weight of the Iron Bowl is fully dependent on what happens in the State/Bama game. If State wins, the Iron Bowl becomes far less significant. State/Bama is essentially guaranteed to be huge. That is why, as of now, State/Bama is bigger.

"They" aren't banking on "ifs".... they are deducing what is the most likely outcomes...

caveat: I think Bammer vs MSU is a HUGE game, especially to MSU... If a #1 undefeated MSU clips bammer in TitleTown, it would be their biggest win ever (>1980, imo)...

[smootness]

"They" aren't banking on "ifs".... they are deducing what is the most likely outcomes...

caveat: I think Bammer vs MSU is a HUGE game, especially to MSU... If a #1 undefeated MSU clips bammer in TitleTown, it would be their biggest win ever (>1980, imo)...

But once you get through all the %s, Bama and Auburn winning out before the Iron Bowl definitely isn't the most likely scenario. Auburn beating Georgia and Bama beating LSU and State isn't likely. Bama beating LSU is.

[TUSK]

But once you get through all the %s, Bama and Auburn winning out before the Iron Bowl definitely isn't the most likely scenario. Auburn beating Georgia and Bama beating LSU and State isn't likely. Bama beating LSU is.

that's an interesting proposition... what kind of odds would you put on two 1 loss teams in the IB?

not that I'm the type that will make a bet, or anything... just talkin, is all....*

[smootness]

that's an interesting proposition... what kind of odds would you put on two 1 loss teams in the IB?

not that I'm the type that will make a bet, or anything... just talkin, is all....*

I would put the odds at no more than 20%.

[TUSK]

I would put the odds at no more than 20%.

hmmmmm, 20% = 5/1 odds....

would you be willing to risk half of that? say 5/2... for $100/$40?

if you win you have to give $40 to ED and keep $60.... if I win, I'll give all $40 to ED provided you give me one TUSK approved, high praised statement per day for a week on ED.

that's reasonable, I think.

[smootness]

hmmmmm, 20% = 5/1 odds....

would you be willing to risk half of that? say 5/2... for $100/$40?

if you win you have to give $40 to ED and keep $60.... if I win, I'll give all $40 to ED provided you give me one TUSK approved, high praised statement per day for a week on ED.

that's reasonable, I think.

No

[TUSK]

No


both sad...

and "my" line....