Clemson dropped from the ranks of the unbeaten last Saturday at Georgia Tech, 31-17. The Tigers are now one of two teams in the ACC with one loss, along with Virginia Tech.

On Monday’s teleconference, the Scripps Legends Poll voters discussed the top of the conference.

Bobby Ross:  Well, I saw them play against Virginia Tech physically and I thought they were a good football team.  But the one thing that has bothered me all the way through has been the number of points that they’ve been giving up.  Even though, when I saw them play against Virginia Tech they only gave up 3, but it was not a good ballgame by Virginia Tech.  Point-wise that concerned me.  Wofford almost beat them 35-27 at home, at Clemson.  And Maryland who is not having a very good year scored a lot of points on them.  So, the game did not surprise me.  I mentioned last week that they only had one week to prepare for Georgia Tech and I, quite honestly, felt that Georgia Tech would win the ballgame even though they had not been playing well.  But I think defensively they’re not of the caliber of what we’re talking about in the way of LSU and Alabama and people like that.  They’re just not of that caliber.  They have good athletes, but they’re not playing that good of defense and I think that’s the difference maker for them.

Moderator:  What about Virginia Tech?  They squeaked by Duke the other day and they’re a one loss team – just that loss to Clemson.  How do you look at them?

Ross:   Well, they’ve been kind of a funny football team.  One week they play fairly well offensively and not so good defensively and the next week it’s the exact opposite.  They haven’t done anything to knock people out of the saddle.  And I think the next three weeks are probably going to tell a lot more about them because they’re at Georgia Tech and they’ve got an open date this week to prepare for Tech.  They’ve got North Carolina and then they’ve got Virginia who appears to be improved – away.  So, I think there’s going to be more to tell.  I’ve kept them kind of right where they were because they continue to win, but again, I don’t see them in the same caliber as what we’ve been talking about with Alabama and LSU.

Moderator:  Bobby Bowden, do you have any comments on Clemson and Virginia Tech?

Bowden:  They’re just one of those teams that if they play a great game you know that they’re going to beat you.  But when you talk about a one loss team playing for the National Championship, the only team with one loss that I would think would be good enough would be whoever loses the Alabama/LSU game.  I mean, that game might be so good that whoever loses they’ve got to play them again.  Oklahoma State looks like they nearly belong.  Oklahoma looks like they do belong but they’ve already had a slip up.  And Stanford, I don’t know if those people play defense like they do down there at LSU and Alabama.

(Image courtesy of Flickr, VTCarter)

Overshadowed by the other SEC matchup (ahem… LSU-Alabama) is a top 15 showdown in Fayetteville on Saturday.

Arkansas hosts South Carolina in a battle of once-beaten teams. Vince Dooley’s former team, Georgia, stands to benefit from a Gamecock loss.

Vince Dooley: South Carolina and Arkansas are going to play each other and I believe Arkansas will win that ballgame primarily because they’re better. And, even more so now that Latimore is out.  South Carolina is struggling right now without Latimore and again, they’ve played good defense. They’ve got some big playmakers on defense, but I don’t think that they are that good. And I think that Arkansas will beat them and I think that Georgia, as the result of that, has a great chance to go ahead and be the Eastern Division Champions. In the case with Florida, they were just physically better than Florida. Up front, Florida got their quarterback, Brantley, back. He played good for about a half and then he got worn down. And so Georgia, because of a good draw on the schedule, and a pretty good team – solid – with a good quarterback – they probably will end up as the Eastern Champions.

But I think South Carolina is not as good as maybe not even in the top 10 without Latimore.

Pat Dye: I agree with Vince about South Carolina. I’ve looked at them and we’ve got them ranked No. 11. They’re probably more like down No. 17 or No. 18 in my opinion the way they’re playing offensively now. They can’t score any points.

On this week’s Legends vs. Computers, Gene Stallings and Bobby Ross asked some interesting questions of BCS computer pollster Richard Billingsley. Read the exchange below.

Stallings:  Now, let me ask you a question just for my own benefit.  When the computer poll ranks them, does the score have anything to do with the ranking?  In other words, let’s say Oklahoma State beats somebody 20-7 or they beat somebody 70-7, does that affect the ranking?

Richard:  No, Coach, it doesn’t and that’s an interesting point.  The BCS removed the margin of victory beginning in the 2002 season.  So, it really has no bearing on it at all which makes for some really interesting differences sometimes between the computer polls and the human polls.

Ross:  Richard, I had one, too.  Is it able to measure week to week injury situations?

Richard:  No, it’s not and that’s a very strong contention of mine as to why it’s very appropriate to have a human poll in conjunction with a computer poll.  Computer polls measure strength of schedule I believe more accurately than even possibly a human can because it goes to an ‘inth’ of a degree so to speak.  But there’s no way that a computer can measure injuries or weather conditions or penalties at untimely points in the game and that’s why I think it’s very, very important to have a human input.  People find it strange that I say I’ve never been in favor of a computer poll being the sole determining factor for a National Championship race because there are just too many intangibles that only a human can look at and make an accurate determination about.

Stallings:  Richard, if you were going to pick the four top things that determine rank and I understand score is one of them and then the toughness of the schedule has to have something to do with it.  But what are the other two things that have more bearing on the ranking than anything?

Richard:  Well, I do think that just the straight up wins and losses are a factor.  I don’t think it should be the determining factor because I don’t think all 5 and 2 teams are the same or all 4 and 3 teams are the same.  But I also think the side of the game is important.  I think it has some bearing on showing the strength of a team.  I think if you’re playing on the road you deserve a little bit more credit and I also believe that specific venues should give you a little bit more of a bump in your ranking.  Because I really do believe that playing at Tennessee or at Florida or at Oregon or at Alabama, I think that that is a little harder task than playing at Rice or at Kent State.

Stallings:  That’s because of the teams not the place.  You know, it’s a whole lot easier to play Rice anywhere than to play Alabama.  So, what’s that got to do with it?

Richard:  Well, I just think that it may be a little bit more difficult to play in front of 106,000 people screaming Rocky Top than it is playing – well, let’s give a better example perhaps – they’re both SEC venues, but I think it might be harder to play at Tennessee than it would be to play at Mississippi State or at Ole Miss.

Stallings:  Well, you look at Tennessee they’re screaming that Rocky Top right now and they’re not beating anybody.

Richard:  Well, it’s still hard to play there.

Ross:  What I’m hearing you say then is the caliber of the opponent and the site are really kind of a combination of the two, right?

Richard:  It is.  I would say it is.  And you know, Coach, it’s not just the venue itself as much as it is the capacity, I would think, that’s in the crowd.  Because you can have very large stadiums, and I think Rice is a pretty good example of this, and Rice I mean they’ve had their day back in the ‘50’s they played really great football and a couple of years ago – 2 or 3 years ago – Rice had a pretty good football team, but they’ve got a 70,000 seat stadium.  I lived in Houston for 25 years and went to every Rice home game.

Ross:  I coached there.

Richard:  But, you know, when you’ve got 15,000 people in a 70,000 seat stadium it just doesn’t have quite the impact playing there as it does, perhaps, playing at a sold out stadium in Tulsa.

Ross:  When I coached there we’d look over on the other side at A&M and Arkansas and Texas and people like that would have far more many fans in our stadium than we would.

Richard:  Yeah, some of the biggest crowds were probably the Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M crowds who came in from out of town.

Mike Griffith (KnoxNews.com):  So, Richard, am I to understand that the capacity at the game is part of your – I know all the computer formulas are different, but that’s something that factors into your computer formula?

Richard:  It actually does, but you have to remember, guys, it’s such a very, very slight part of the formula.  Every year at the end of the season I re-evaluate the NCAA attendance figures to see what the capacity of a stadium is in a particular season and make a determination at that point according to the capacity that they’re filling as to how many people are actually in the stands and are there to generate excitement and momentum for their home team.  But now you have to remember this is a fraction of a point.

Stallings:  I understand that can be a factor, but there’s something that’s got to weigh heavier than others.  What are the heavy things that you put emphasis on?

Obviously score has got to be something, but what else?  Where they play?  Toughness of schedule?    What are the top things?  That’s my question.

Richard:  The top factor, of course, is the strength of schedule and that weighs in probably 80-85% of a ratings goes into the strength of the opponent that a team is playing.

Stallings:  Okay, that makes sense.

Richard:  The other I would have to say would be the wins and losses.  As I said earlier I don’t gauge it according to just wins and losses because all 5 and 2 teams are not the same.

Moderator:  John Cooper mentioned on our call yesterday that even with Wisconsin with two losses, he still thinks they’re the best team in the Big 10.  You’re the only one that has them rated.  You’ve got them No. 20 in your poll.  None of the other computer polls even have Wisconsin in their Top 25.  There you’ve got that human factor looking at a team and he’s saying it’s the best team in the Big 10 and all the computers have totally dismissed them except yours.

Richard:  Well, I think that Wisconsin and their record may be a pretty good example of what I’m talking about when you gauge teams if you’re looking strictly at wins and losses.  Because when you look at a team like Wisconsin, Michigan State, teams that right now that have two losses, but you look at the conference they’re playing in and then you look at another group of teams like Louisiana Lafayette and Arkansas State and I don’t want to take anything away from their programs, but they have two losses.  But they’re playing in the Sunbelt and I don’t think you can really make a comparison there and say that those teams are equal.  I just don’t believe they’re equal.

It’s finally here. The game that everyone has been talking about since early in the season. No. 1 vs. No. 2. Alabama and LSU.

Our Legends gave us their thoughts on the game.

Vince Dooley:  Well, I’ve had Alabama ahead of LSU the whole time and that, plus the fact that they’re playing in Tuscaloosa gives Alabama a slight edge.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen two teams in the conference as good and as athletic and as physical as Alabama and LSU at the same time.  There have been occasions when I’ve seen one team like that, but not two at the same time.  Of course, LSU hasn’t turned the ball over.  They’ve played very methodical.  LSU seems to be more athletic.  It’s just going to be one of those games.

Gene Stallings:  Well, LSU started off the year playing two quarterbacks and were trying to decide which one and this youngster clearly performed a little bit better in the earlier games and they just went to the one quarterback.  First of all, I think that Alabama is the best football team.  The best football team doesn’t always win, I understand that.  They can run the football and they can stop the run.  And I think that’s the key to the game.  They’re playing in Tuscaloosa and that stadium is extremely loud whether or not that’ll affect anybody.  LSU’s stadium is loud, too.  I think that Alabama has an excellent return game.  They don’t have a very good punter.  They’ve got a good field goal kicker.  If it comes down to beating field goal, I think Alabama’s kicker may be a little bit better than the LSU kicker.  I just think Alabama’s a little bit better.  They’re both good football teams.  If I just had one, I’d take Alabama.

Bobby Bowden:  Well, the only reason I’d pick Alabama is they’re playing at Alabama.  That’s the only judgement I could make of picking either team is, well, I’ll have to go with Tuscaloosa.  If they were playing in Baton Rouge, I’d go with them.

Now, as I look at it, it’s one of those games to me where Alabama better not miss an assignment.  If Bama doesn’t miss an assignment – and that’s the way I’d say he coaches, perfection – if they miss an assignment one of those guys are going to get away and that’s the only way, I believe, LSU can win – somebody getting away.