Is Mullen really 2-15 all time vs ranked teams?

Slevin

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According to Wikipedia he has victories over:

2nd ranked Auburn
6th ranked A&M
8th ranked LSU
7th ranked A&M
12th ranked LSU
22nd Florida

15 losses against ranked teams, 9 of which were to Nick Saban led Alabama

But do you know who actually is 2-15 all time vs ranked teams? Willie Taggart.
 

Captain Sasquatch

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“If it’s a lie, then we fight on that lie.”

New motto of the board brought to you by Slim Charles.
 

lagator

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Is Mullen really 2-15 all time vs ranked teams?

According to Wikipedia he has victories over:

2nd ranked Auburn
6th ranked A&M
8th ranked LSU
7th ranked A&M
12th ranked LSU
22nd Florida

15 losses against ranked teams, 9 of which were to Nick Saban led Alabama

But do you know who actually is 2-15 all time vs ranked teams? Willie Taggart.

Not 2-15, 6-30 for a winning percentage of 16.7. Taggart's percentage is 15.4. Mullen's record is 1.3% better so that's certainly something to be proud of.

http://www.fbschedules.com/2017/07/which-college-football-head-coaches-best-worst-vs-top-25/
 

Captain Sasquatch

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Slim Charles is a character on The Wire. "The lie" is people saying Mullen has only won 2 ranked games. People just run with that number like it's gospel, no matter how untrue it is. So they fight on that lie.

(interestingly enough, the line from the show was an allusion to the Iraq War that was happening at the time, the lie being Iraq possessing WMDs)
 

InstiGATOR1

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According to Wikipedia he has victories over:

2nd ranked Auburn
6th ranked A&M
8th ranked LSU
7th ranked A&M
12th ranked LSU
22nd Florida

15 losses against ranked teams, 9 of which were to Nick Saban led Alabama

But do you know who actually is 2-15 all time vs ranked teams? Willie Taggart.

The problem with this type of stat is whether you are counting:

1. Wins and losses against teams ranked at the time you play them.
2. Wins and losses against teams ultimately ranked that season.
3. Wins and losses against teams ranked to start that season.
4. Wins and losses against some muddle combination of 1-3.

All of this is before you start worrying about whether ranked means in the polls, in the power rankings, ie Sagarin etc., the BCS rankings, some muddle combination of the polls, power rankings and the BCS or something else all together.
 

TheDouglas78

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Where did tight pants no ball get the stat that Mullen was 2-15 against ranked opponents. He played Alabama and LSU for 9 years all during Saban's run. Went to a few bowl games.... and he only played 17 ranked teams?

Mullens record is high suspect against ranked teams, but looking at 17 total ranks teams over 9 years in the West... should have been the first sign that stat was questionable.
 

Gator Fever

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Just crunched the numbers with the actual AP rankings when the games were played and it showed the following:

Mullen was 7-32 against top 25 AP ranked teams.
Mullen was 3 -16 against top 25 AP ranked opponents when his team was also a top 25 AP ranked team.
 

Slevin

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Where did tight pants no ball get the stat that Mullen was 2-15 against ranked opponents. He played Alabama and LSU for 9 years all during Saban's run. Went to a few bowl games.... and he only played 17 ranked teams?

Mullens record is high suspect against ranked teams, but looking at 17 total ranks teams over 9 years in the West... should have been the first sign that stat was questionable.
Literally all of our rivals claim hes 2-15. It pops up just about every day, actually.

Also, **** you. Nothing gayer than a man who cant quite stop talking about another mans privates
 

Theologator

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According to Wikipedia he has victories over:

2nd ranked Auburn
6th ranked A&M
8th ranked LSU
7th ranked A&M
12th ranked LSU
22nd Florida

15 losses against ranked teams, 9 of which were to Nick Saban led Alabama

But do you know who actually is 2-15 all time vs ranked teams? Willie Taggart.

I’m pretty sure the 2-15 stat is when BOTH MSU and their opponent were ranked. That’s different from overall vs. ranked.
 

Gator Fever

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I’m pretty sure the 2-15 stat is when BOTH MSU and their opponent were ranked. That’s different from overall vs. ranked.

This - I came up with 3-16 when both were ranked but they may be using something different than the AP rankings.
 

Swamp Donkey

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According to Wikipedia he has victories over:

2nd ranked Auburn
6th ranked A&M
8th ranked LSU
7th ranked A&M
12th ranked LSU
22nd Florida

15 losses against ranked teams, 9 of which were to Nick Saban led Alabama

But do you know who actually is 2-15 all time vs ranked teams? Willie Taggart.
I think it was 2-15 ranked vs ranked, which seems more fair because if he was unranked, it doesn't mean much for him to lose to say #1 or #2 Bammer. Obviously, plenty of MAC/cusa/sunbelt coaches are 0 and whatever vs ranked teams.
 

soflagator

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I think it was 2-15 ranked vs ranked, which seems more fair because if he was unranked, it doesn't mean much for him to lose to say #1 or #2 Bammer. Obviously, plenty of MAC/cusa/sunbelt coaches are 0 and whatever vs ranked teams.

It's a tough stat to swallow any way you look at it. But, as you point out, I bet 9 of those were to an Alabama team that was top 5-7 at the time. So even if he takes Msu to an 8-4 type season and is ranked, say 24th, it's still a very likely loss as he's just completely outmatched.

By the same token, he typically got Lsu and Aub early in the year, so who knows how some of those teams finished their season(last year for example). I personally think all of these stats should be based off of end of regular season rankings, which could benefit him, or make it worse. Either way, it would be more accurate.

I've posted before how many NC winners or runners up he faced, and it's pretty startling. The games that concern me much more are the evenly matched--or close to it--games like OM last season. I just don't think you can lose games like that, especially with a fill-in head coach on the other sideline.
 

Swamp Donkey

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It's a tough stat to swallow any way you look at it. But, as you point out, I bet 9 of those were to an Alabama team that was top 5-7 at the time. So even if he takes Msu to an 8-4 type season and is ranked, say 24th, it's still a very likely loss as he's just completely outmatched.
Losing to Alabama and even LSU (at Cowbell) doesn't bother me.

Losing half the games vs Ole Piss and Arky does a lot. He even lost to that mouthbreather Matt Luke WHILE Ole Piss was on probation.

And none of it would bother me much, even losing 5 or 6 games THIS season, if we were recruiting like we should be.
 

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