Josh Pate argues that Kentucky deserves to be ranked ahead of Notre Dame
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Many college football fans think SEC schools get favorable media treatment for their conference slates. Naysayers shout, “when they win, they get extra credit for doing so. And when they lose, they’re not punished as severely.”
These days, you won’t really change anyone’s mind on anything. Prior convictions seemingly always outweigh the evidence. To Josh Pate, that’s the only reason the Kentucky Wildcats are behind the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Week 8 AP poll.
“I don’t think Kentucky should be any lower than fourth… maybe fifth,” Pate said on his namesake college football show. “Notre Dame should, in no world, be ahead of Kentucky right now. In no resume, merit-based world, should Notre Dame be ahead of Kentucky.”
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Pate knows what analytics will tell people about the two squads. In his opinion, what transpires on the field should trump any theoretical matchups.
“You can… tell me, ‘Notre Dame would be favored on a neutral field… I’d pick Notre Dame to pick Kentucky.’ I don’t care,” Pate continued. “You probably suck at picking games, just like we all do… frankly, I don’t even care who I think would win the game. What I do care about is their resume. And if I did a blind resume test, you would put Kentucky’s ahead of Notre Dame’s ten times out of ten.”
The Wildcats are No. 1 in ESPN’s strength of record metric. UCLA and Miami, two of the sport’s remaining three unbeaten teams, are second and third in that category. Kentucky — who’s currently alone in first place in the SEC — is on bye this weekend before a trip to Tennessee on Nov. 7.
