D4 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11 , 2021
hands of Georgia; the
Razorbacks are ranked 25th.
“It becomes self-fulfilling,”
Aresco said. “You don’t rank our
teams that deserve to be ranked,
and then when our teams win
those games, you say, ‘Well, you
didn’t beat a ranked team.’ It’s
exactly what’s happened over the
years.”
The upside: There’s a path. If
neither the SEC nor the Big Ten
finishes with two one-loss teams
or Oregon loses again and
Cincinnati runs the table, then —
hurrah! — the Bearcats could get
in. Unless the committee decides
it prefers a two-loss Alabama
team that pushed Georgia for the
SEC title. Or some other form of
mental gymnastics.
But this isn’t just about
Cincinnati. Nor is it just about- It’s about a sport that
presents itself as an equal-
opportunity operation, then
spends the season slamming the
door in the faces of half its
participants, all with a smile on
its face. Root for the Bearcats on
Friday at South Florida — and for
the rest of the season. Root, too,
for change in a sport that badly
needs it.
[email protected]
For more by Barry Svrluga, visit
washingtonpost.com/svrluga.victories by an average of more
than 21 points. (Houston is not
on Cincinnati’s regular season
schedule, but the teams could
face each other in the AAC title
game.)
So if the committee keeps
Houston out of the rankings it
can say, “Cincinnati’s conference
doesn’t even feature another
ranked team.”
It could leave a commissioner
from a locked-out league — or a
coach or a bunch of players —
feeling as if the deck is stacked
because Barta and his cronies are
out there in public, brazenly and
unapologetically sliding in eight
aces.
Take some teams the
committee deemed worthy of
ranking ahead of Houston this
week. Auburn has three losses
and needed a fourth-quarter
comeback to beat Georgia State;
the Tigers are ranked 17th.
Wisconsin has three losses,
including by four touchdowns to
Notre Dame, and beat Army by
six points at home; the Badgers
are ranked 18th. Purdue has
three losses, including by 17 to
Wisconsin; the Boilermakers are
ranked 19th. Utah has three
losses, including to 5-4 Oregon
State; the Utes are ranked 24th.
Arkansas has three losses,
including a 37-0 pasting at thethe same when considering the
Ducks.
“The win [at Ohio State] was a
really impressive win. When you
look at who they’ve played after
that, who else did they beat?”
Well, um, 4-5 Washington by
10, 5-4 UCLA by three, 3-6 Cal by
seven. Oh, and here’s something
the committee must consider
when examining Oregon that it
thus far can’t consider when
examining Cincinnati: a loss.
Oregon’s loss came Oct. 2 at
Stanford in overtime. Stanford is
3-6. Stanford just lost to Utah by- Stanford is not good.
“You’re saying, ‘We’re just
going to favor the P-Five,’ ”
Aresco said. “ ‘We don’t care if
they have a really bad loss.’ I’ll
put Tulsa against Stanford on a
neutral field right now. It’s not
like the Pac-12 is a powerful
conference this year.”
Remember, he’s not going to
get worked up.
Here’s the other problem with
Barta’s “Who else did they beat?”
snobbery: The system is
essentially rigged to say that,
other than Notre Dame,
Cincinnati beat no one. Because
Houston is not in this week’s
2 5-team ranking, even though
Houston is 8-1 and, after a
season-opening loss to Texas
Tech, has run off eight straight
FROM NEWS SERVICES
AND STAFF REPORTSA former girlfriend of Dalvin
Cook accused the Minnesota Vi-
kings’ star running back of as-
sault, battery and false imprison-
ment in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in
Minnesota. In turn, Cook por-
trayed himself as the victim in the
situation during a news confer-
ence Wednesday.
The woman’s lawsuit, which
was filed in District Court in Hen-
nepin County, states Cook and
Gracelyn Trimble, a U.S. Army
sergeant, met on a Florida beach
in 2018 and had a sporadic, occa-
sionally rocky relationship. It
states that she traveled to Cook’s
home to end their relationship
Nov. 19, 2020, angering Cook with
a request for his help in gathering
her belongings. Her lawsuit
claims that Cook “grabbed her
arm, and slung her whole body
over the couch, slamming her face
into the coffee table and causing
her lower forehead and the bridge
of her nose to bust open.” It says
that Cook later “slammed her on
the floor... jumped on top of
[her]... pinned her to the
ground, and repeatedly screamed
at her and told her she was going
to die.”
Cook addressed the allegations
when he spoke with reporters
after Vikings practice Wednesday.
“I know there’s a lot of ques-
tions about the reports and the
things that came out yesterday,”
Cook said. “I just want everybody
to know I’m the victim in this
situation, and the truth and the
details about the situation will
come out at a future time.... I
don’t want to go into further de-
tails about it. I know the facts of
the situation will come out and
clear everything up that you all
are trying to get answers to.”
— C indy Boren
l PANTHERS: Sam Darnold
will miss at least four weeks with
a right shoulder injury, meaning
P.J. Walker will take over at quar-
terback for Carolina.
l BROWNS: Cleveland signed
three-time Pro Bowl left guard
Joel Bitonio to a three-year,
$48 million contract extension.
l PACKERS: Green Bay offen-
sive tackle David Bakhtiari was
activated from the physically un-
able to perform list.
l MISC.: Attorneys for former
Raiders wide receiver Henry Rug-
gs III launched a bid to keep his
medical records out of the hands
of prosecutors charging him with
driving under the influence in a
fiery crash that killed a Las Vegas
woman and cost Ruggs his spot
on the team.
Ruggs didn’t appear in person
in court as a prosecutor filed addi-
tional felony charges of DUI caus-
ing substantial injury and misde-
meanor possession of a gun while
under the influence that could
mean additional prison time if
the 22-year-old former first-
round draft pick is convicted.
Outside court, Clark County
District Attorney Steve Wolfson
said Ruggs would serve at least a
mandatory two years behind bars
and could get more than 50 years
if he’s found guilty of DUI causing
death or substantial injury and
felony reckless driving.
— Associated PressNFL NOTESVikings’
Cook sued
by former
girlfriend
er, a critical part of Washington’s
presnap adjustments who suf-
fered a season-ending leg injury
at Denver.
“One of the main jobs of a
center in this offense is to be able
to [identify the middle linebacker
and set the protection and] han-
dle the mental part,” coordinator
Scott Turner said before Roulli-
er’s injury, pointing out some
teams lean more on the quarter-
back. Roullier will be replaced in
the starting lineup by Wes
S chweitzer or Tyler Larsen.
For several of the returning
players, the individual stakes are
high. Cosmi and Brown, two
rookies, are expected to be cor-
nerstones of this unit and must
develop. Scherff, who will turn 30
in December, has missed at least
three games in each of the past
four seasons and is eligible for
free agency after the season. Sam-
uel, whom the team signed dur-
ing free agency to a lucrative
contract, hasn’t made an impact.
One of the offense’s issues in
the first half of the season, left
tackle Charles Leno Jr. pointed
out after the loss at Denver, was
its lack of identity. Rivera said
that, during the team’s self-scout-
ing process during the bye week,
it noticed that the offense ex-
celled at certain things, such as in
the running or short passing
games, only to sputter in those
areas the next week.
The lack of consistency wasat the same level with the same
level of consistency... to give us
an opportunity.”
On Sunday, Washington ap-
pears poised to get back a pair of
starting offensive linemen in
guard Brandon Scherff (knee)
and tackle Sam Cosmi (ankle). It
also could see the return of wide
receiver Dyami Brown (knee) and
see the benefit of rest for running
back Antonio Gibson (shin) and
wide receiver Cam Sims (ham-
string).
The offense might not neces-
sarily be at full speed. Wide re-
ceiver Curtis Samuel (groin) and
tight end Logan Thomas (ham-
string) didn’t practice Wednesday
and aren’t locks to play Sunday.
There also is no timetable for
Fitzpatrick’s return from the par-
tial hip dislocation he suffered in
the season opener, and Rivera
said Wednesday that he didn’t
show much progress in his recent
MRI exam.
Washington will stick with Tay-
lor Heinicke at quarterback, with
the hope he can find success
leading a somewhat-restored of-
fense. Rivera reiterated his confi-
dence in the quarterback
Wednesday and noted he saw
growth in recent losses to the
Denver Broncos and Green Bay
Packers. One new challenge for
Heinicke will be compensating
for the loss of center Chase Roulli-
WASHINGTON FROM D1
WFT moves closer
to o≠ensive health
their schedule by an average of
nearly 24 points. Specifically, last
week the Bearcats beat Tulsa,
2 8-20. Tulsa is only 3-6, so
struggling against a middling
AAC team is a mark against
Cincinnati, right? Except earlier
in the season, Tulsa held a
fourth-quarter lead at Oklahoma
State before falling by five. And
except earlier in the season, Tulsa
was within 27-20 of Ohio State in
the fourth quarter in Columbus
before the Buckeyes pulled away.
A week earlier, the Bearcats
beat Tulane by three scores.
That’s as it should be because
Tulane is 1-8 and objectively
terrible. Except the Green Wave
opened the season by pushing
Oklahoma in Norman before the
Sooners escaped with a five-
point victory.
The point is the committee
picks apart Cincinnati’s schedule
in a way it doesn’t for the brand
names. Look at it this way: In
Barta’s above sentiment, use
Oregon as a replacement for
Cincinnati as the protagonist and
replace “at Notre Dame” with “at
Ohio State.” The result should bepuck drops. They’re exiled after
82 games of a regular season.
Only the results matter.
College football is some
combination of nonsensical and
unfair. Cincinnati is 9-0 and
ranked second in both the
Associated Press and coaches’
polls. In the second CFP rankings
released Tuesday night, it is
ranked fifth behind Georgia
( 9-0), Alabama (8-1), Oregon (8-1)
and Ohio State (8-1). Of course,
four teams make the playoff. The
Bearcats’ signature win came at
Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.,
where the Fighting Irish had won
26 straight games. Final:
Cincinnati 24, Notre Dame 13. It
remains Notre Dame’s only loss.
“The win at Notre Dame was a
really impressive win,”
committee chairman Gary Barta
said last week, skepticism of
outsiders woven into his DNA.
“When you look at who they’ve
played after that, who else did
they beat?”
There are a couple of ways to
answer that question. First, try
literally.
An easy answer: everyone onmatters. The programs with an
unfettered path to the four-team
College Football Playoff reside in
the Power Five conferences, plus
Notre Dame. That’s 65 teams.
The other 65 programs in the
Football Bowl Subdivision are
also-rans before the season
starts. There’s baked-in inequity.
Even the language is loaded.
“Power Five” vs. “Group of Five?”
One sounds like a gang of
marauding robots. The other
sounds like a book club.
“P-Five status does not confer
on you some kind of strength
that you don’t have,” Aresco said.
He’s right. There just isn’t
another sport that works
remotely like this.
College basketball opened this
week, and of the 358 Division I
teams, only those on probation
begin the season with zero hope
of reaching the NCAA
tournament. The NHL has
32 teams, and half will be
eliminated before the Stanley
Cup playoffs begin. But they’re
not crossed off the list before the
SVRLUGA FROM D1
BARRY SVRLUGA
C FP system is nonsensical and unfair
BY NEIL GREENBERGThe NFL’s MVP award has
been dominated by quarter-
backs: Thirteen of the past 14
lined up under center. The only
exception was Adrian Peterson
in 2012, when he r ushed for
2,097 yards, the second-highest
total in league history. This
season shouldn’t be any differ-
ent. The top 12 in the MVP odds
offered by MGM’s sportsbook
are quarterbacks, and only four
non-quarterbacks are even giv-
en odds.
The reasoning is sound. Pass-
ing dominates the football land-
scape more than ever, and quar-
terbacks have never been more
valuable. Just look at how the
earnings of the league’s top quar-
terbacks have ballooned. In 2016,
Andrew Luck inked a contract
guaranteeing him $44 million,
the most at the position at the
time. In 2021, Josh Allen is
guaranteed $100 million.
The advanced stats back the
position’s importance, too. In
each of the past five seasons, the
top five players according to the
website TruMedia’s expected
points added — a metric that
accounts for the down, distance
and field position of each play —
have been passers. The eventual
MVP winner led the league in
expected points added each of
those years, too, so its use in
judging value corresponds.
This year the leader board
looks a little different. The first
two players in expected points
added are quarterbacks: the Los
Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford
and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’
Tom Brady. But there’s a legiti-
mate MVP candidate who
doesn’t play quarterback, and
almost nobody would have con-
sidered him an MVP threat be-
fore the season.
Rams wideout Cooper Kupp —
who leads the league in recep-
tions (74), receiving yards (1,019)
and receiving touchdowns (10)
heading into Week 10 — sits third
in expected points added. No
wide receiver has won the award,
and Kupp almost certainly won’t
change that, but he has a strong
case as the most valuable non-
quarterback in the league this
season — which speaks both to
his remarkable season and to the
outsize importance of passing in
today’s NFL.
Used mostly as a slot receiver
early in his career, Kupp is now
running more routes on the
outside, using a blend of size and
athleticism to beat cornerbacks
and safeties of all types. WithStafford under center, Kupp’s
catch rate of 81 percent is close to
a career high, and his average
depth of target, 9.2 yards past the
line of scrimmage, has spiked. In
other words, he is going deeper
down the field while catching
more balls than ever, an explo-
sive combination. Indeed, Kupp
is the first player in more than
30 years to record at least
1,000 receiving yards and
10 touchdowns in his team’s first
nine games.
“He’s beat guys on the outside.
He’s beat them inside with choice
routes, up the seam, over the top.
I mean, he’s just been able to do it
in every single fashion,” Larry
Fitzgerald, an 11-time Pro Bowl
wide receiver for the Arizona
Cardinals, said on his podcast
with Brady and Jim Gray. “He’s
big. He’s fast. He separates. He’s
got tremendous hands. The guy’sa complete player, and you can
tell he just does things the right
way.”
After considering the down,
distance and field position of
each pass to Kupp, he has ac-
counted for 54 more points than
expected this season. The next-
highest ranked wide receiver,
Tim Patrick of the Denver Bron-
cos, has accounted for 38 more
points than expected. In fact, the
last time a wideout finished in
the top five in expected points
added was Demaryius Thomas in- Working with Peyton Man-
ning, he caught 94 passes for
1,434 yards and 10 touchdowns
that season, contributing
75 more points than expected.
Expected points added isn’t
the only advanced metric that
sees tremendous value in Kupp’s
first-half eruption. Football Out-
siders’ defense-adjusted yards
above replacement metric,
which is adjusted for situation
and opponent, also ranks Kupp
far ahead of any other wide
receiver this season.
His 252 d efense-adjusted
yards above replacement are 53
more than the next wideout,
DeAndre Hopkins, with several
other stars tightly bunched be-
hind Hopkins.
Kupp probably won’t win the
MVP award, but h e’s a strong
contender for offensive player of
the year. Another candidate:
Colts running back Jonathan
Taylor, who is also making a bid
for the league’s most valuable
non-quarterback honor.
Taylor has touched the ball
163 times this season, producing
a league-leading 1,114 yards from
scrimmage with nine total touch-
downs. In the past six games,
Taylor has run for 650 yards
while averaging 6.6 yards per
carry. He had a huge night
against the New York Jets last
Thursday, rushing for 172 yards
on 19 carries, including a 78-yard
touchdown run in the third quar-
ter. Taylor also leads all running
backs with 29 expected points
added.
Defensively, it is hard to top
what cornerback Trevon Diggs
has done for the Dallas Cowboys.
The 2020 second-round pick has
been a nightmare for opposing
quarterbacks, successfully de-
fending a league-leading 12 pass-
es with seven interceptions, in-
cluding two pick-sixes. Those
interceptions have saved the
Cowboys 39 points on defense
this season, almost two touch-
downs more than the next best
cornerback, the New England
Patriots’ J.C. Jackson (27 points
saved).
Cleveland Browns defensive
lineman Myles Garrett, who
leads the league with 12 sacks,
has saved his team an estimated
21 points, but that’s still almost
three touchdowns fewer than
Diggs, showing just how valuable
the cornerback has been.
Of course, a quarterback is
likely to be named the league’s
MVP. Stafford has produced al-
most 89 more points than ex-
pected this season on his throws,
and Brady is having a solid
season as well, producing
64 more points than expected.
But while those two were name
brands entering this season,
Kupp, Taylor and Diggs have
emerged as surprising additions
on the list of most valuable
contributors.
[email protected]ANALYSIS
Rams’ Kupp won’t be the NFL’s MVP, but the wideout has a case
FRANK FRANKLIN II/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cooper Kupp leads the N FL in receptions, receiving yards and
receiving touchdowns. No w ide receiver has won the MVP award.need to uphold” no matter who’s
on the field, he admitted players
such as Scherff and Brown are
“hard to replace.”
“They’re integral parts of our
offense,” he said, adding, “Obvi-
ously, having those guys back up
front and the playmakers, that’s
huge for us.”
[email protected]going to run the ball,” Rivera said.
“When you’re in third and long
and you can convert, that’s pretty
good.”
Terry McLaurin, the team’s top
wide receiver, smiled when asked
about the expected return of
some starters. While he was quick
to point out that “there’s still a
standard of execution that wedue in part, Rivera said, to a lack
of consistency in its personnel
groupings. Having starters back
could help the offense lean less on
deception and allow it to execute
more often when the defense
knows what’s coming.
“One [signal] you’re really do-
ing things well is when you run
the ball when they know you’reJOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Tackle Sam Cosmi, who injured his ankle Oct. 10 against the Saints, could return to the lineup Sunday.