Sagarin says

[BisonHorns]

I saw it computes with bye weeks and home field advantage, but where do you enter Strength of the Herd!

[bisonaudit]

I saw it computes with bye weeks and home field advantage, but where do you enter Strength of the Herd!

Can't put a number on that. Here's some inspiration (and perhaps a little dread):

[HerdBot]

Isn't it like 13 straight years the OVC hasn't won a playoff game or something ridiculous? I'd laugh if EIU laid an egg in their first game again lol

Yet they get 1 more team in than the mvfc

[bisonboone11]

Damn, that is serious computer love, right there. I am officially scared of these guys, bad conference or not.

Are they getting so much love from the computers because they continue to run up the score against poor competition? I do realize they beat some good teams, but it looks like Garoppolo plays into the 4th quarter in many of these games even when they are up by 30+ points.

And they keep passing the ball when they are up by that much, whereas most teams go into clock killing mode.

[bisonaudit]

Are they getting so much love from the computers because they continue to run up the score against poor competition? I do realize they beat some good teams, but it looks like Garoppolo plays into the 4th quarter in many of these games even when they are up by 30+ points.

And they keep passing the ball when they are up by that much, whereas most teams go into clock killing mode.

I'm going to use this opportunity to make a tangential point. It's a farce that the NCAA doesn't let the computers in the FCS or FBS to use margin of victory. 2/3 of the BCS is human polls and the last three weeks of the year every year there's always talk about how so-and-so has to pound this-and-that in order to impress the voters. It's ridiculous to think that teams are going to run up the scores more if we let the computers make better estimates. They're already doing it nakedly in order to influence voters.

More to your point. We ran series of no-huddle a couple of different times against weaker opponents and no one seemed to think we were doing it to run up the score. Having seen zero minutes of EIU football (maybe some others here have), I don't know what EIU did or when and I'm not in a position to make judgements about their motivations for whatever it was that may or may not have happened.

Finally, their average margin was within a couple of tenths of a point of NDSU's. Which isn't to say they couldn't have just stomped a couple of teams and won some other games closer. I just don't have the details or the sequence of events, and even if I did I don't think I could reliably determine their motivation.

[Mayville Bison]

Are they getting so much love from the computers because they continue to run up the score against poor competition? I do realize they beat some good teams, but it looks like Garoppolo plays into the 4th quarter in many of these games even when they are up by 30+ points.

And they keep passing the ball when they are up by that much, whereas most teams go into clock killing mode.

I had a similar question a week or so ago when looking at Brock vs. Garoppolo for the Walter Payton award. Honestly, I was surprised by the lack of TD passes in the 4th quarter he has thrown. It's a lot less than you would think.

Positive to that - we know Brock will deliver with everything on the line. I don't think anyone knows what Jimmy and EIU will do if they are down 4 late in the 4th simply because they haven't had that many opportunities to show it.

[THEsocalledfan]

I don't think anyone knows what Jimmy and EIU will do if they are down 4 late in the 4th simply because they haven't had that many opportunities to show it.

Well, we might get a chance to see what he will do down by 21 in the 4th quarter in Texas...

[NDSUBowler]

I'm more excited and scared about a potential EIU battle in the NC than I ever was about SHSU. I hope it runs out this way so I can see what NDSU's defense can do!

[THEsocalledfan]

I'm more excited and scared about a potential EIU battle in the NC than I ever was about SHSU. I hope it runs out this way so I can see what NDSU's defense can do!

Best part will be seeing Jimmy sitting on his ass as the NDSU offense grinds out one 8 min drive after another.....

[bisonboone11]

Are they getting so much love from the computers because they continue to run up the score against poor competition? I do realize they beat some good teams, but it looks like Garoppolo plays into the 4th quarter in many of these games even when they are up by 30+ points.

And they keep passing the ball when they are up by that much, whereas most teams go into clock killing mode.

It looks like I was mistaken. Out of curiosity, I went through and checked how many points they have scored and allowed in 4th quarters this season. Right now, they are at 90-85. For some perspective, NDSU is 68-6 in the 4th quarter this season. It looks like they don't run up the score at all in the 4th quarters.