Ratings 11/22/08  
Ratings (11/22)

You didn't really want it to be easy, did you? Texas Tech, Maryland, Miami and Central Michigan could have wrapped up division titles. Only Central Michigan managed to keep their game close. Which makes Rivalry Week even better. Along with the Chicken Ranch Tilt on Turkey Day and Big Thursday on Saturday, we have the Backyard Brawl, Bedlam, the Egg Bowl(?), the Iron Bowl, the Civil War and the Border War. Oddly, Florida / Florida St and Georgia / Georgia Tech don't seem to have names for their SEC/ACC battles.

Oklahoma's big win over Texas Tech guarantees a big argument about the title game. Unless Auburn upsets Alabama, it seems likely that the Alabama/Florida winner gets one spot. Unless Missouri shows an upset in the Big 12 Championship, the Big 12 winner probably gets the other spot. So, the title game argument is about the Big 12 South champion. It might be unprecedented that four legitimate top ten teams are in the same 6-team conference. If Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State, then there is a three-way tie at the top. Who goes to the Championship Game? The tiebreaker is the BCS rankings. Currently, Texas is #2, Oklahoma #3 and Texas Tech #7. So it's between Texas and Oklahoma. Would a Sooner victory over a very good Cowboy team be enough to jump the Horns? I know, you're going to say that Texas beat Oklahoma so they should go. But Texas lost to Texas Tech and Oklahoma killed the Red Raiders. My guess is that Oklahoma needs a BIG win Saturday. And it will be a battle to get a win of any sort. Of course, if Oklahoma loses then it's only a two-way tie and Texas Tech wins the tiebreaker. So all three teams are still alive. Unless Missouri gets in the way or Southern Cal somehow hijacks the human polls, the tiebreaker winner gets into the BCS Title game.

The fun starts Tuesday night with Ball State playing Western Michigan for a division title. Then on Thursday after the pro games on Thursday there's Texas and the Aggies. Several games are on Friday, as well. Enjoy the family, food and football!

The following predictions are straight from the ratings, with 4 points added for home field.

Ball State over Western Michigan by 11 (Nate Davis versus Tim Hiller - fun on Tuesday night.)
Texas over Texas A&M by 34 (Would Texas be tempted to run up the score? Surely not.)
Pitt over West Virginia by 4 (Even matchup, but a big revenge game for West Virginia.)
Mississippi over Miss State by 20 (A good year for the Rebels, topped with an Egg Bowl cream?)
Virginia Tech over Virginia by 8 (The Hokies go to Tampa if they win. Maybe no offensive td's, but many offensive plays.)
Boston College over Maryland by 9 (A rematch of last year's Tampa rematch if BC wins.)
Florida over Florida State by 11 (Prime time for the Noles. Are they ready for it?)
Georgia over Georgia Tech by 10 (Another double-digit ACC underdog. Little respect given, or earned.)
Tennessee over Kentucky by 1 (A nice "upset" of Kentucky to send Coach Fullmer on his way?)
Alabama over Auburn by 23 (Wilson sometimes struggles at home. Might be closer than 23.)
Missouri over Kansas by 16 (Too much Chase Daniel for the Fat Man in the Border War.)
Southern Cal over Notre Dame by 26 (SC's got great defense, not enough O for polls.)
Oregon State over Oregon by 7 (Would send the Beavers to the Rose Bowl. TV wants some Aflac.)
Oklahoma over Oklahoma State by 5 (Big-time Bedlam! The Cowboys have done well against Stoops.)

1 Florida 99.69
2 Texas 98.03
3 Oklahoma 97.13
4 Southern Cal 96.72
5 Penn State 93.57
6 Texas Tech 92.88
7 Alabama 91.66
8 Utah 90.18
9 Missouri 89.69
10 Georgia 88.59
11 Ohio State 88.29
12 Oklahoma St 87.49
13 TCU 87.26
14 Oregon St 85.79
15 Boise St 85.08
16 Florida St 85.01
17 Iowa 84.08
18 California 83.82
19 Mississippi 83.21
20 Oregon 82.95
21 Boston College 82.87
22 Georgia Tech 82.83
23 North Carolina 82.78
24 Cincinnati 82.58
25 Michigan St 82.56
26 Nebraska 82.23
27 Miami FL 82.07
28 Brigham Young 82.00
29 South Carolina 81.82
30 Ball St 81.46
31 Virginia Tech 81.06
32 Pittsburgh 80.84
33 West Virginia 80.70
34 Clemson 80.70
35 LSU 80.63
36 Wake Forest 80.28
37 Northwestern 80.00
38 James Madison 79.07
39 Tulsa 78.79
40 Connecticut 78.64
41 Vanderbilt 77.93
42 Arizona 77.82
43 Kansas 77.59
44 Wisconsin 77.53
45 Maryland 77.36
46 South Florida 77.28
47 Virginia 76.66
48 Rutgers 76.05
49 North Carolina St 75.73
50 Air Force 75.57
51 Kentucky 75.14
52 Appalachian St 74.90
53 Duke 74.73
54 Navy 74.53
55 Notre Dame 74.50
56 Rice 74.29
57 Western Michigan 74.25
58 Houston 73.80
59 Illinois 73.66
60 Central Michigan 73.59
61 Baylor 73.45
62 Buffalo 73.26
63 Minnesota 73.17
64 Stanford 72.84
65 Auburn 72.49
66 Richmond 72.40
67 East Carolina 72.29
68 Colorado 72.16
69 Nevada 71.94
70 Tennessee 71.88
71 Villanova 71.72
72 Arizona St 71.60
73 Wofford 71.33
74 Purdue 71.08
75 Arkansas 70.46
76 Kansas St 70.03
77 Troy 70.00
78 Fresno St 69.93
79 Hawai`i 69.88
80 Colorado St 69.71
81 Southern Miss 68.75
82 Louisville 68.59
83 Montana 68.29
84 New Hampshire 68.27
85 Texas A&M 68.02
86 UCLA 67.80
87 Northern Illinois 67.77
88 New Mexico 67.73
89 Louisiana Tech 67.49
90 UTEP 67.23
91 Cal Poly SLO 67.15
92 Michigan 67.09
93 Mississippi St 66.84
94 Bowling Green 66.39
95 William & Mary 66.34
96 UNLV 66.26
97 Akron 65.93
98 Elon 64.73
99 Weber St 64.58
100 Temple 64.52
101 San José St 64.42
102 Arkansas St 63.98
103 Syracuse 63.95
104 Central Florida 63.73
105 Memphis 63.37
106 Northern Iowa 63.30
107 Massachusetts 63.29
108 Maine 62.82
109 Marshall 62.55
110 Harvard 62.52
111 Florida Atlantic 62.40
112 Middle Tennessee St 62.10
113 Furman 62.05
114 Indiana 62.03
115 Southern Illinois 61.93
116 Georgia Southern 61.64
117 Liberty 61.59
118 Samford 61.47
119 Iowa St 61.44
120 Louisiana-Lafayette 61.08
121 Florida Int'l 60.67
122 Wyoming 60.64
123 Ohio U. 60.62
124 Central Arkansas 59.67
125 Toledo 59.55
126 Army 59.42
127 Utah St 58.68
128 Eastern Washington 58.01
129 Colgate 57.60
130 South Carolina St 57.19
131 Jacksonville St 57.14
132 Washington 56.91
133 Brown 56.89
134 Holy Cross 56.77
135 South Dakota St 56.56
136 New Mexico St 56.53
137 Delaware 56.42
138 Kent St 56.10
139 San Diego St 56.00
140 Alabama-Birmingham 55.80
141 McNeese St 55.66
142 Tulane 55.40
143 The Citadel 55.39
144 Western Kentucky 55.08
145 Eastern Kentucky 54.87
146 Louisiana-Monroe 54.76
147 SMU 54.69
148 Lafayette 54.63
149 Miami OH 54.56
150 Tennessee-Martin 54.48
151 North Dakota St 54.48
152 Washington St 54.10
153 Eastern Michigan 53.97
154 Pennsylvania 53.73
155 Western Illinois 53.38
156 Yale 53.35
157 Hofstra 53.34
158 Montana St 53.33
159 Northern Arizona 52.84
160 Texas St-San Marcos 52.68
161 Tennessee St 51.56
162 Albany NY 51.25
163 Northwestern St 50.55
164 Lehigh 50.33
165 Florida A&M 50.13
166 Charleston Southern 49.97
167 Stony Brook 49.78
168 Sacramento St 49.52
169 Northeastern 49.35
170 Coastal Carolina 49.05
171 Grambling St 48.60
172 Idaho 48.59
173 Sam Houston St 48.13
174 Western Carolina 48.09
175 Rhode Island 48.08
176 UC-Davis 47.88
177 Towson 47.83
178 Gardner-Webb 47.28
179 Eastern Illinois 47.15
180 Princeton 47.14
181 Missouri St 46.40
182 Prairie View A&M 46.09
183 Nicholls St 45.95
184 SE Louisiana St 45.86
185 Jacksonville FL 45.86
186 Southern Utah 45.32
187 Monmouth NJ 45.27
188 Bethune-Cookman 45.11
189 VMI 45.07
190 Youngstown St 45.03
191 San Diego 44.77
192 Cornell NY 44.74
193 North Texas 44.68
194 Portland St 44.39
195 Illinois St 44.38
196 Fordham 44.17
197 Central Conn St 43.31
198 Hampton 43.11
199 Morgan St 43.08
200 Stephen F. Austin 42.73
201 Southern U. 42.71
202 Chattanooga 42.70
203 Dayton 42.20
204 South Dakota 42.04
205 Murray St 41.32
206 Northern Colorado 41.13
207 Bucknell 41.06
208 Norfolk St 40.94
209 North Dakota 40.87
210 Presbyterian 40.63
211 Delaware St 40.40
212 SE Missouri St 40.11
213 Columbia 39.69
214 Sacred Heart 38.40
215 Idaho St 38.21
216 Jackson St 38.02
217 Austin Peay 37.88
218 Tennessee Tech 37.04
219 Robert Morris 35.52
220 Bryant 35.29
221 Alabama A&M 34.63
222 Georgetown DC 33.55
223 Dartmouth 33.51
224 North Carolina Central 33.13
225 Butler 32.17
226 Morehead St 31.65
227 Drake 31.31
228 Duquesne 30.74
229 Winston-Salem St 30.58
230 Marist 30.26
231 Alabama St 29.56
232 Davidson 28.14
233 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 27.33
234 Indiana St 27.31
235 Alcorn St 26.46
236 North Carolina A&T 25.70
237 Wagner 25.31
238 Howard 24.38
239 Texas Southern 22.97
240 Savannah St 22.38
241 Valparaiso 20.00
242 Mississippi Valley St 18.44
243 Iona 17.28
244 St Francis PA 17.02
245 Campbell 5.46