Ratings 10/14  
Ratings (October 14)

At my age, it can be refreshing to return to some old classics: the Salem High School band playing Sinatra and Sammy Davis tunes at the Friday night football games, Nebraska and Oklahoma ranked 1-2, Virginia not being competitive with Clemson, ... , some things just feel right.

The ratings have mostly settled down. Oklahoma jumped from #10 to #2 with a big win over Kansas State, but that mirrors the official polls pretty well. Ohio State dropped after falling in a Gopher hole, but only from #3 to #7. Florida moved up from #15 to #10 (not a good strength of schedule for the Gators). There have been several surprises this year. The Gamecocks of South Carolina are up to #13. Western Michigan is hanging in there at #20, although like #17 TCU their weak conference makes it almost impossible to improve their rating. As you look through the list, remember that strength of schedule plays a very important role.

This is not a week of big games. The really big games are played the following two weeks. This is more of an alignment week as the conference races clear up. Minnesota and Oregon State can continue their march towards the Rose Bowl (as ABC explores programming options should they make it there), Miami and Florida State mark time until their showdowns with Virginia Tech and Clemson, and Alabama and Tennessee try to figure out what's gone wrong. The following predictions are based on the ratings (take the difference in ratings and add 4 to the home team).


Virginia Tech by 16 at Syracuse
Florida State by 28 over Virginia
Clemson by 15 at North Carolina
Minnesota by 11 at Indiana
Wisconsin by 5 over PurDrew
UCLA by 5 over Oregon State
Oregon by 9 over Arizona
Tennessee by 1 over Alabama

1 Nebraska 66.58
2 Oklahoma 64.71
3 Florida State 64.31
4 Miami F 64.06
5 Virginia Tech 62.49
6 Washington 61.83
7 Ohio State 61.79
8 Oregon 61.58
9 Mississippi State 60.95
10 Florida 60.74
11 Kansas State 59.18
12 Clemson 57.18
13 South Carolina 56.83
14 Arizona 56.77
15 Michigan 54.86
16 UCLA 54.47
17 TCU 54.32
18 Oregon State 53.73
19 Georgia 53.6
20 Western Michigan 53.48
21 Wisconsin 53.27
22 Iowa State 53.25
23 Minnesota 52.77
24 Southern Miss 52.57
25 Northwestern 52.24
26 Purdue 52.09
27 Auburn 51.93
28 West Virginia 51.5
29 Notre Dame 51.31
30 NC State 50.58
31 Arizona State 50.32
32 Illinois 49.79
33 Georgia Tech 49.6
34 Colorado State 49.51
35 Texas A&M 49.42
36 Alabama 49.34
37 Southern Cal 49.28
38 Louisville 48.92
39 Toledo 48.01
40 Boston College 47.59
41 Fresno State 46.92
42 Tennessee 46.84
43 Arkansas 46.29
44 Texas 45.61
45 UNLV 45.52
46 Air Force 45.15
47 LSU 44.96
48 East Carolina 44.49
49 Northern Illinois 44.33
50 Texas El Paso 44.13
51 Ohio 44.03
52 Stanford 43.36
53 Mississippi 43.22
54 Michigan State 43.08
55 Washington State 42.97
56 Texas Tech 42.92
57 BYU 42.62
58 San Jose State 42.55
59 Colorado 41.81
60 Pittsburgh 41.51
61 Syracuse 41.13
62 California 41
63 Virginia 40.66
64 Boise State 40.03
65 UAB 39.99
66 Temple 39.95
67 Kansas 39.86
68 Penn State 39.22
69 Maryland 39.05
70 Memphis 38.63
71 North Carolina 38.17
72 Akron 38.01
73 Idaho 37.89
74 Iowa 37.34
75 Indiana 37.24
76 Utah 37.16
77 Central Florida 36.57
78 Kentucky 35.76
79 Missouri 35.71
80 New Mexico 35.07
81 Miami O 35.01
82 Marshall 32.64
83 Baylor 32.5
84 San Diego State 32.47
85 Middle Tennessee 32.3
86 Cincinnati 32.26
87 Oklahoma State 31.94
88 Vanderbilt 31.86
89 Utah State 31.81
90 New Mexico State 31.81
91 Rutgers 30.65
92 Tulane 29.88
93 Rice 29.77
94 Ball State 28.82
95 Nevada 28.35
96 Tulsa 26.52
97 Navy 26.12
98 North Texas 25.85
99 Arkansas State 24.13
100 Duke 24.12
101 Houston 22.68
102 Eastern Michigan 22.46
103 SMU 21.54
104 Louisiana Tech 21.09
105 Wyoming 21.06
106 Connecticut 20.81
107 Bowling Green 20.58
108 Hawaii 20.34
109 Wake Forest 18.98
110 Central Michigan 18.66
111 Army 17.91
112 Kent 16.78
113 Louisiana Monroe 15.15
114 Buffalo 12.31
115 Louisiana Lafayette 10.38