Analytical program still says Clemson No. 3 team in 2018, Bama No. 1
By: will-vandervort June 4, 2019

All I can do is laugh.

Some of these analytical people are getting a little ridiculous.

If you have not heard, SB Nation’s Bill Connelly, who invented the S&P+ analytical program, says Clemson was not 28 points better than Alabama last year.

But that is not the topper.

He also said, via Twitter on Tuesday, his formula still has Alabama as the better team, and it ranks Clemson No. 3 behind Georgia, as well.

Excuse me, but doesn’t what actually happened in the game matter more than what some formula says?

I understand using analytics can be good for making predictions and seeing who has the edge and who does this and that better. But when the ball is kicked off, none of that matters. The games are played for a reason.

And despite what Mr. Connelly’s formula says, I know what I watched from the press box at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on January 7. I watched a good old fashion butt kicking in the national championship game. And on that night, Clemson was 28 points better than Alabama and it could have been easily 35 points. I guess the formula forgot Clemson was inside the Alabama 5-yard line with under a minute to play and decided not to score.

I guess the formula also forgot Clemson took the football at its own six-yard line and proceed to have the first 10-minute drive in Clemson’s long history, as it ran out the last 10 minutes of the game. Clemson figuratively shoved the ball down Alabama’s throat.

Did the S&P+ predict that to happen?

See, no matter what analytical guys like Bill Connelly and others makeup, the one their computers will never be able to predict is human emotion. It is impossible to do.

It can’t account for raw emotions, momentum swings and how a certain player feels both physically and mentally heading into a game.

One last thing, why can’t anyone just accept that Alabama got beat and they got beat bad? Why are we talking about this to begin with?

I know Nick Saban is all hot and bothered that Clemson kicked them up and down the field that night in Saint Clara. But I can tell you this, all this nonsense that Alabama is still a better team than Clemson is only going to add fuel for Dabo Swinney.

Swinney is a master motivator and he will use what Mr. Connelly wrote and his S&P+ formula to prove that none of that matters. All that matters is what happens on the field. And the last time I checked, Clemson was 28 points better than Alabama.