Bracketology (Week 9)

[Byrd430]

New look brackets this week with some big wins and critical losses changing things up. Also, a new rule to be applied this year...no two team from any one conference will be allowed to play each other within the first two rounds of the tournament. And finally, I included the location of the games above them in parenthesis, just to give you an idea of any homefield advantages.

East
(Pittsburgh, PA)
#1 Boise State v. #16 Purdue
#8 UL-Lafayette v. #9 Syracuse
(Knoxville, TN)
#4 South Carolina v. #13 Eastern Michigan
#5 Michigan v. #12 North Carolina
(Durham, NC)
#3 Virginia Tech v. #14 Ohio State
#6 Georgia v. #11 Baylor
(Morgantown, WV)
#2 Clemson v. #15 California
#7 West Virginia v. #10 Arkansas State

West
(Columbia, MO)
#1 Alabama v. #16 UTEP
#8 Illinois v. #9 Washington
(College Station, TX)
#4 Texas A&M v. #13 Tulsa
#5 Penn State v. #12 Ball State
(San Diego, CA)
#3 Oklahoma v. #14 Florida
#6 Arizona State v. #11 San Diego State
(Corvallis, OR)
#2 Stanford v. #15 Vanderbilt
#7 Cincinnati v. #10 Iowa

North
(Buffalo, NY)
#1 Oklahoma State v. #16 NC State
#8 BYU v. #9 TCU
(Champaign, IL)
#4 Wisconsin v. #13 Notre Dame
#5 Texas Tech v. #12 Temple
(University Park, PA)
#3 Michigan State v. #14 Northern Illinois
#6 Auburn v. #11 Wyoming
(Toledo, OH)
#2 Kansas State v. #15 South Florida
#7 Southern Cal v. #10 Wake Forest

South
(Birmingham, AL)
#1 LSU v. #16 Florida International
#8 Georgia Tech v. #9 SMU
(Denton, TX)
#4 Nebraska v. #13 Miami
#5 Houston v. #12 Ohio
(Athens, GA)
#3 Arkansas v. #14 Florida State
#6 Texas v. #11 Toledo
(Colorado Springs, CO)
#2 Oregon v. #15 Nevada
#7 Southern Miss v. #10 Rutgers

[Byrd430]

The North looks stacked IMO.

You've got unbeaten Oklahoma State and Kansas State at the top. The four-seed is Wisconsin, a very dangerous team, and right above them is the team that handed them their only loss of the season in Michigan State. Follow that up with a Texas Tech team that beat Oklahoma and the defending champion Auburn plus a 6-1 team who doesn't get mentioned because of their probation in USC.

[jrdrylie]

I think you have Ohio State a little bit low. I don't think Eastern Michigan, Tulsa, Ball State, Wyoming, Ohio, or Toledo should be higher seeds than them.

[Byrd430]

As the season gets closer to the end, I think things will begin to even themselves out. Those MAC teams are getting victories off their D2/FCS foes along with some of the weakest teams in the country.

I was actually surprised that Ohio State wasn't higher in CBSSports.com Top 120 poll (which is what I use to rank seeds after winning percentages.)

Ohio State is not that bad, and I agree they should be higher, but that's what the process came up with.