{"id":110169,"date":"2018-12-03T07:06:38","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T12:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=110169"},"modified":"2018-12-03T07:07:12","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T12:07:12","slug":"monday-mailbag-december-3-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/12\/03\/monday-mailbag-december-3-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Mailbag: December 3, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n

This week\u2019s Monday Mailbag features questions from fans upset about the College Football Playoff, the MAC and a new college basketball ranking system.<\/p>\n

Q: When is the last time a MAC school didn\u2019t win a state championship in football? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: You have to go back to 2009. Coldwater and Delphos St. John\u2019s made it to their respective title games that year, but both lost. Previous to that, 2002 was the last time a MAC school didn\u2019t win a title.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Ohio State should have gotten the final playoff spot. Do you agree? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Not really, and I\u2019m an Ohio State fan.<\/em><\/p>\n

I do think Ohio State played a slightly stronger schedule and had a pair of wins over top 10 teams, while Oklahoma played no top ten teams all season.<\/em><\/p>\n

Oklahoma\u2019s only loss came to a decent Texas team, while Ohio State\u2019s embarrassing 29 point loss to Purdue stands out like a sore thumb. Then there\u2019s close games against average or below average teams like Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota and Nebraska.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, the win over Michigan was impressive but in my mind, Oklahoma wrapped up the final spot as soon as they put the finishing touches on a 39-27 win over Texas in the Big 12 championship game. The only way the Buckeyes might have gotten the final playoff spot was if they put on a completely dominating display against Northwestern, and they didn\u2019t do that.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Why does ESPN love the SEC so much? Even after Georgia lost to Alabama, it seemed like they were still pushing for the Bulldogs to get in the playoff. Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Short answer: TV ratings. It\u2019s their goal to keep as many fans interested for as long as possible, so by wondering aloud if Georgia should be in with a pair of losses, or if Ohio State or Oklahoma should get in, they\u2019re generating interest and discussion.<\/em><\/p>\n

By the way, I\u2019m of the mindset that a two loss team doesn\u2019t belong in the playoff, but it could have happened. As it turns out Georgia wound up No. 5 in the playoff rankings, one spot ahead of Ohio State.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Last week, you said \u201cLike it or not, Notre Dame seemingly has a playoff spot locked up.\u201d Do you have something against the Irish? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: No, I have nothing about Notre Dame. However, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s quite right that the team is automatically in without the benefit of playing in a conference championship game, like any other playoff qualifier.<\/em><\/p>\n

However, I do realize that if the Irish go 11-1, they\u2019ll have a tough time getting into the playoff, so it works both ways.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: What is this new Net ranking system for men\u2019s college hoops all about? Zach Profit, Van Wert<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: It\u2019s my understanding that it\u2019s replaced the RPI ranking system. Not much is known about it at this point, but there are several assessment factors that are used, including strength of schedule, winning percentage and adjusted winning percentage. From the little I know about it, the whole thing seems overly complicated.<\/em><\/p>\n

It seems like they have a few kinks to work out, because when the initial rankings were recently released, Ohio State was No. 1.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you have a question for the next Monday Mailbag, email it to sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor This week\u2019s Monday Mailbag features questions from fans upset about the College Football Playoff, the MAC and a new college basketball ranking system. Q: When is the last time a MAC school didn\u2019t win a state championship in football? Name withheld upon request A: You have to go back to 2009. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 07:35:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}