Topic: 2024 Overall Records

[HerdEcon]

First, I am thankful for winning the SB Conf Championship and it is not my intent to disparage that accomplishment or the players.

It just hit me that Marshall only beat two (2) FBS teams with a winning record.  JMU is the only FBS team we beat with a winning record during the regular season and we beat ULL in the championship. There were only 3 teams in the Sun Belt East that ended the season above .500 overall namely Marshall, JMU, and Ga Southern. 

VT did not finish the regular season above .500.

We played 4 teams total that ended the regular season above .500 (OSU, Ga. Southern, JMU, and ULL).  So we finished .500 vs teams with a winning record.

I am proud of the accomplishments this season and the championship.  However, looking at things with a little more detail does change my perspective on some things, including recent events.

[muherd34]

First, I am thankful for winning the SB Conf Championship and it is not my intent to disparage that accomplishment or the players.

It just hit me that Marshall only beat two (2) FBS teams with a winning record.  JMU is the only FBS team we beat with a winning record during the regular season and we beat ULL in the championship. There were only 3 teams in the Sun Belt East that ended the season above .500 overall namely Marshall, JMU, and Ga Southern. 

VT did not finish the regular season above .500.

We played 4 teams total that ended the regular season above .500 (OSU, Ga. Southern, JMU, and ULL).  So we finished .500 vs teams with a winning record.

I am proud of the accomplishments this season and the championship.  However, looking at things with a little more detail does change my perspective on some things, including recent events.

Absolutely caught lightning in a bottle with Braxton and a down year in the SBC.  Still great job by players and staff so not to take anything away from them. 

[SuperAnjario]

Absolutely caught lightning in a bottle with Braxton and a down year in the SBC.  Still great job by players and staff so not to take anything away from them.

Exactly--we also got gifted a walkover in the SBC championship game when the second-string QB got knocked out of the game.  The admin realized this, and didn't forget years 1-3 of Huff. 

[herdorbust2]

Exactly--we also got gifted a walkover in the SBC championship game when the second-string QB got knocked out of the game.  The admin realized this, and didn't forget years 1-3 of Huff.

Lol another dig!!! Going to be fun seeing where Huff and Gibby take their programs from here.

[muherd34]

Lol another dig!!! Going to be fun seeing where Huff and Gibby take their programs from here.

It?s like you want MU to fail.  Weird

[herdorbust2]

It?s like you want MU to fail.  Weird

Nah just tired of the Huff bashing!!

[herd2win]

Nah just tired of the Huff bashing!!

Only a few people know all of the details but it is clear that Smith and Spears were done with Huff and were not going forward with him.  I appreciate winning the SBC but I believe we see what kind of person Huff is by how he went against a signed contract and took the USM job before we even played JMU much less the championship game.  I see blame on both sides and some patience by both parties would have likely benefitted both Huff and MU.

I am moving on to the Gibson led Herd and hoping when I wake up Monday, Gibson has secured Braxton and not that he signed with USM while visiting there this weekend.  He is a key component to us having a winning season next year.

Southern Miss will have a winning season as their out of conference is easy.  Mississippi St at home, Jacksonville St at home and La Tech on the road.  I guess they will pick up an FCS for the 4th OOC game.  With a heavy load of transfers, they could get off to a 4-0 start.

[herdorbust2]

Only a few people know all of the details but it is clear that Smith and Spears were done with Huff and were not going forward with him.  I appreciate winning the SBC but I believe we see what kind of person Huff is by how he went against a signed contract and took the USM job before we even played JMU much less the championship game.  I see blame on both sides and some patience by both parties would have likely benefitted both Huff and MU.

I am moving on to the Gibson led Herd and hoping when I wake up Monday, Gibson has secured Braxton and not that he signed with USM while visiting there this weekend.  He is a key component to us having a winning season next year.

Southern Miss will have a winning season as their out of conference is easy.  Mississippi St at home, Jacksonville St at home and La Tech on the road.  I guess they will pick up an FCS for the 4th OOC game.  With a heavy load of transfers, they could get off to a 4-0 start.

And other than Georgia outside Missouri St, Eastern Kentucky and Middle Tennessee. Talk about 3 easy teams wow!!!

[SuperAnjario]

Only a few people know all of the details but it is clear that Smith and Spears were done with Huff and were not going forward with him.  I appreciate winning the SBC but I believe we see what kind of person Huff is by how he went against a signed contract and took the USM job before we even played JMU much less the championship game.  I see blame on both sides and some patience by both parties would have likely benefitted both Huff and MU.

I am moving on to the Gibson led Herd and hoping when I wake up Monday, Gibson has secured Braxton and not that he signed with USM while visiting there this weekend.  He is a key component to us having a winning season next year.

Southern Miss will have a winning season as their out of conference is easy.  Mississippi St at home, Jacksonville St at home and La Tech on the road.  I guess they will pick up an FCS for the 4th OOC game.  With a heavy load of transfers, they could get off to a 4-0 start.

Man, USM will be lucky to go 2-2 during that OOC stretch. 

[Johnnyherd]

I don?t know how fair it is to add a road game against Ohio State  onto the measuring tape.  I?d say we were 2-1 and should have been 3-0 against teams in our level that had winning records.  For some reason the west had most of the winning teams this year.

[puma]

It was a down year for the Sun Belt East and the Herd also had a very advantageous home schedule. We really should have been in the running for an NY6 berth with the amount of future NFL talent on the team. Despite their record, beating Virginia Tech would have been considered a very solid win.

That being said, the 2013, 2014, and 2020 seasons weren't exactly the SEC when it came to the strength-of-schedule or quality wins. Most of the wins in 2020 were against teams missing 10+ players in quarantine and 2014, the only only quality win (sagarin top 60) was Louisiana Tech, and several of their starters were suspended right before the CCG.

All signs point towards Gibson being a better game manager than Huff or Doc. If he wins the games he's supposed to win, doesn't allow off field drama to derail the season, and can manage the portal, then we should be looking at the division at least. I'm optimistic. He has my complete support. It's just the 6 year contract that really makes me nervous.

[HerdEcon]

I don?t know how fair it is to add a road game against Ohio State  onto the measuring tape.  I?d say we were 2-1 and should have been 3-0 against teams in our level that had winning records.  For some reason the west had most of the winning teams this year.

We have to count the OSU loss just like we count the ND win.  OSU went 10-2 and didn't make it to the Big 10 championship.  They were a bit over hyped this season.  Can they get a refund on any of that $21m?

We should have beaten .500 VT.  Coaching cost us two winnable games this season. Win them both and there is a chance we would still be playing. 

[CharlestonHerdGuy]

My take is that we played in the toughest division in the G5 according to Sagarin. The Sunbelt East was just a bunch of good teams that beat up on each other and we came out on top. Then the weakness of the Sunbelt West got exposed when we played Louisiana. Louisiana was only the best of a weak division.

[Johnnyherd]

We have to count the OSU loss just like we count the ND win.  OSU went 10-2 and didn't make it to the Big 10 championship.  They were a bit over hyped this season.  Can they get a refund on any of that $21m?

We should have beaten .500 VT.  Coaching cost us two winnable games this season. Win them both and there is a chance we would still be playing.

It is true that you are what your record says you are in college football, but we know from all professional sports that every Superbowl Champion except the 72 Dolphins were beaten by somebody, sometimes they get beat by a 4 win team.  NBA champions, MLB Champions are beaten 20,30,40 times in the season. 

The thought that Ohio State aren?t great because they lost twice may not be so true, they dominated #8 Tennessee, a 10 win SEC team, last night.

Virginia Tech basically beat Top 5 Miami in the road, and a bad referee call took the game from them.

There is probably no right way to look at it just opinions.  We can count the modern day ?Notre Dame? victories on half of one hand.  Our lifetime winning % against the big boys is probably less than .100, so my opinion is they aren?t a good measuring stick to measure our team relative to our conference record.

[Johnnyherd]

My take is that we played in the toughest division in the G5 according to Sagarin. The Sunbelt East was just a bunch of good teams that beat up on each other and we came out on top. Then the weakness of the Sunbelt West got exposed when we played Louisiana. Louisiana was only the best of a weak division.

Man if you look record for record, it looks like the Sunbelt West had the better teams cumulatively this season.

[banker]

The non renewal had nothing to do with wins and losses. He wasn?t on a performance plan for his coaching.  You don?t keep a foot with gangrene just because you were able to successfully walk up the hill. If you don?t cut it off it will kill you.

[MUther]

I don?t know how fair it is to add a road game against Ohio State  onto the measuring tape.  I?d say we were 2-1 and should have been 3-0 against teams in our level that had winning records.  For some reason the west had most of the winning teams this year.

Yeah but they lost a lot of it in the second half of the season.  ULM went 5-1 and then didn't make a bowl, including beating JMU.  Texas St crapped the bed after a good start.  USA was all over the place.  stAte started hot then fell off and eventually lost to ODU in the last game.  They all got a free win over USM.  Divisional games started 5-0, West over East and finished with the CCG 8-7, East over West.  Our margin of victory over all 3 west teams we played tells me they were inferior, as we only had one "easy" game in the East and that was App St.  Even Georgia St gave us fits for a while with that backup QB coming in.  I guess Coastal wasn't too hard once we started getting to their QB.  That was all Green.  But we took down the West champ at their house 30 whatever to 3.  And they were still winning with their backup QB the last few games.  The West strength was an illusion, for sure.

[CharlestonHerdGuy]

Man if you look record for record, it looks like the Sunbelt West had the better teams cumulatively this season.

I was just going by the Sagarin rankings:

1  SEC                 (A) =  81.99      81.61  (  1)     16      81.61  (  1)
   2  BIG TEN             (A) =  77.55      77.33  (  2)     18      77.33  (  2)
   3  BIG 12              (A) =  77.36      76.80  (  3)     16      76.80  (  3)
   4  ACC                 (A) =  73.85      73.94  (  4)     17      73.94  (  4)
   5  I-A IND.            (A) =  67.43      68.76  (  5)      3      68.76  (  5)
   6  PAC-12              (A) =  66.75      66.75  (  6)      2      66.75  (  6)
   7  SUN BELT EAST       (A) =  65.32      65.14  (  7)      7      65.14  (  7)
   8  MOUNTAIN WEST       (A) =  63.64      64.45  (  8)     12      64.45  (  8)
   9  AMERICAN ATHLETIC   (A) =  62.87      62.55  (  9)     14      62.55  (  9)
  10  SUN BELT WEST       (A) =  61.59      60.89  ( 10)      7      60.89  ( 10)
  11  MAC                 (A) =  57.84      57.47  ( 11)     12      57.47  ( 11)
  12  CONF-USA            (A) =  56.11      56.15  ( 12)     10      56.15  ( 12)