Ratings 11/6/04
Welcome to the bogus (er, bonus) edition of By the Numbers. Part of the fun of a ratings system is playing "What If". I ran into one of my readers today who, in spite of having a son attending Virginia, asked me, "For God's sake, could you get Virginia Tech ahead of Virginia?" So I played with this a little.
In scenario one, I changed the results of the Virginia Tech / NC State game. In the real game, Tech kicker Brandon Pace missed a 43-yard field goal on the last play of the game that would have won the game. So, I decided that in fact NC State was guilty of roughing the kicker. In spite of the fact that Pace's leg was broken on the play, the refs only called it a 5-yard penalty. A Tech player clapped his hands when the penalty was called, earning a 15-yard celebration penalty. But backup kicker Nic Schmitt, from Salem High School, nailed a 53-yarder to win the game.
The ratings are below. You'll notice that Tech jumps to #13, ahead of Virginia. Also, Miami and Florida State swap positions. That makes some sense since Miami's win over NC State counts for less if State loses an extra game.
I checked to make sure that Clemson, which also beat State and doesn't play Tech, didn't drop. They hadn't, but they were one spot behind South Carolina. That's clearly wrong, so I changed the outcome of the Clemson / Georgia Tech game, which GT won only due to rampant cheating. However, this moved Virginia back above Virginia Tech. (Move Clemson up and you improve Virginia's strength of schedule.) So I put Clemson back at 5-4 and gave them 24 extra points for mental suffering from the GT game. And that's what produced the ratings below. One oddity. When I only changed the VT / NCS game, Michigan jumped above UVa. I have no idea why that happened. Giving Clemson exra points moved UVa back in front of Michigan.
So, if you're a Tech fan, enjoy what might have been (if you'd let the Salem High guy kick).
1 | Southern Cal | 73.45 |
2 | Oklahoma | 69.88 |
3 | California | 69.55 |
4 | Arizona St | 64.89 |
5 | Texas | 64.40 |
6 | Utah | 63.89 |
7 | Auburn | 61.04 |
8 | Boise St | 61.03 |
9 | Florida State | 59.13 |
10 | Miami F | 59.04 |
11 | Texas A&M | 58.85 |
12 | Wisconsin | 58.55 |
13 | Virginia Tech | 58.49 |
14 | Louisville | 58.43 |
15 | Virginia | 58.23 |
16 | Michigan | 57.90 |
17 | Georgia | 57.53 |
18 | Tennessee | 57.08 |
19 | Oklahoma St | 57.00 |
20 | Iowa | 55.29 |
21 | Notre Dame | 54.27 |
22 | Texas Tech | 54.25 |
23 | LSU | 53.83 |
24 | Purdue | 53.07 |
25 | Oregon St | 51.96 |
26 | UCLA | 51.84 |
27 | Oregon | 51.41 |
28 | UTEP | 51.21 |
29 | Clemson | 50.88 |
30 | West Virginia | 50.84 |
31 | Ohio State | 50.84 |
32 | Stanford | 50.81 |
33 | BYU | 50.50 |
34 | S Carolina | 50.47 |
35 | Colorado | 48.89 |
36 | Alabama | 48.78 |
37 | Arkansas | 48.49 |
38 | Northwestern | 48.48 |
39 | Georgia Tech | 47.71 |
40 | Minnesota | 47.52 |
41 | New Mexico | 47.37 |
42 | UNC | 47.17 |
43 | Washington St | 46.62 |
44 | Fresno St | 46.37 |
45 | Florida | 46.25 |
46 | Bowling Green | 46.03 |
47 | Boston College | 45.86 |
48 | Southern Miss | 44.91 |
49 | Iowa State | 44.74 |
50 | UAB | 44.73 |
51 | Maryland | 44.69 |
52 | Wyoming | 44.13 |
53 | Wake Forest | 44.09 |
54 | Kansas State | 44.08 |
55 | Cincinnati | 44.07 |
56 | Michigan St | 43.71 |
57 | NC State | 43.66 |
58 | Syracuse | 43.56 |
59 | Kansas | 42.97 |
60 | Missouri | 42.77 |
61 | Nebraska | 42.76 |
62 | Memphis | 42.51 |
63 | UConn | 41.80 |
64 | Air Force | 41.66 |
65 | Colorado St | 40.85 |
66 | North.Illinois | 40.38 |
67 | TCU | 39.90 |
68 | Navy | 39.73 |
69 | Ole Miss | 39.64 |
70 | Arizona | 39.55 |
71 | Pittsburgh | 39.37 |
72 | Troy | 39.29 |
73 | Miami O | 39.11 |
74 | La Tech | 38.55 |
75 | Penn State | 38.45 |
76 | Indiana | 37.72 |
77 | South Florida | 37.52 |
78 | Marshall | 37.27 |
79 | UNLV | 36.76 |
80 | Illinois | 36.46 |
81 | Baylor | 35.72 |
82 | San Diego St | 35.52 |
83 | Houston | 34.76 |
84 | Toledo | 34.72 |
85 | New Mexico St | 34.44 |
86 | Hawaii | 33.83 |
87 | Rutgers | 33.46 |
88 | Washington | 33.36 |
89 | Miss St | 33.04 |
90 | North Texas | 32.62 |
91 | Nevada | 31.97 |
92 | Vanderbilt | 31.86 |
93 | Tulane | 31.57 |
94 | Duke | 31.36 |
95 | Army | 30.98 |
96 | Kentucky | 30.08 |
97 | Rice | 29.97 |
98 | East Carolina | 29.31 |
99 | Tulsa | 29.30 |
100 | Akron | 29.00 |
101 | La-Monroe | 28.21 |
102 | Kent | 27.15 |
103 | Middle Tenn | 26.98 |
104 | La-Lafayette | 26.87 |
105 | Ohio | 26.68 |
106 | SMU | 26.37 |
107 | Utah State | 25.70 |
108 | Temple | 24.84 |
109 | Cent.Michigan | 24.31 |
110 | Idaho | 23.47 |
111 | San Jose | 23.39 |
112 | East.Michigan | 23.34 |
113 | Arkansas St | 23.29 |
114 | Ball State | 19.48 |
115 | Central Florida | 17.81 |
116 | West.Michigan | 17.38 |
117 | Buffalo | 14.43 |