College Football's Relativity Problem
Trying to figure out the 1984 Kentucky Wildcats
College Football's Relativity Problem
College football has a big issue with relative team strength. And this issue really stands out if you try a major football replay project.
As you no doubt recall, a few days ago I mentioned managing Kentucky’s 1984 team in a fictional game against Auburn using Action PC Football. What I neglected to mention is that this game really was a fictional matchup. Though both teams were members of the SEC in 1984, they didn’t play each other that season.
The 1984 Kentucky team is actually a real headscratcher. They finished at 9-3 overall, though were only 3-3 in the conference, tied with Tennessee for 5th:
Kentucky finished the season ranked 19th, which is pretty good for what was already considered a basketball school. However, there are reasons to question that 19th ranking.
The reason why I’m using 1984 for this project is because the real season was so wonderfully chaotic. I figured it would be fun to see how the season would turn out if I changed everything up. One thing about the 1984 rankings, however, is that the chaos of favored teams losing week after week allowed some teams of questionable ability to sneak into the rankings.
Anyway — if you check out Kentucky’s 1984 schedule, you’ll see right away where the questions lie:
Sure — Kentucky was able to win a number of games. I’m not sure how impressive 4 point victories early in the season over Tulane and Mississippi State were, however.
Aside from the one point victory over Wisconsin in the Hall of Fame Classic, Kentucky did not win a single game against ranked opponents. And those three losses weren’t exactly close, either.
So what do you do with this season? What do you conclude about a team that finished 8-3, but with 3 bad losses to good teams? Sure, they beat up on Kent State and North Texas State — but don’t their struggles against Vanderbilt and Tennessee indicate that they might not have been as good as the record indicates?
The real problem with our college football season is that we ask these questions every single year. And that’s why I prefer to play with realignment.
Kentucky, by the way, is where future New York Giants running back George Adams played. Adams had a breakout year in the NFL 1985, but missed the entire 1986 season, and never was the same player again.