Ratings 10/22/05  
Ratings (10/22)

The computer has a new number 1! The new font color is an attempt at burnt orange in honor of the Horns. While SC was mushing past a bad Washington team, Texas was dismantling Texas Tech. Not a pretty sight for Virginia Tech fans, as Texas is not likely to lose the rest of the year. As for the other unbeatens, SC has to visit Cal but the rest are home games, with Washington State, Stanford, Fresno State and UCLA. Alabama finishes with LSU at home and Auburn on the road. Georgia has Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech. UCLA (has anybody noticed that the Bruins are unbeaten?) has road games at Stanford and SC. And Virginia Tech hosts BC and MF before visiting Charlottesville. You might notice that my computer is not especially biased towards the unbeatens. The Big 10 did very well out of conference and the resulting strength of schedule overcomes a loss or two for Penn State and friends. Otherwise, I don't intend to discuss Northwestern being ranked above Florida State.

It was not a great week for field goal kickers. Or football teams in general. Neither Conner (Barth) nor Connor (Hughes) came through in the UVa-UNC classic. Both goalies made some nice pad saves, though. Auburn fell into the same Baton Rouge black hole that Oregon State found last year; John Vaughan missed 5 field goals in an OT loss. LSU has the quote of the week. Having dropped a sure touchdown pass in the fourth quarter (after which LSU missed a 28-yard field goal), LSU wide receiver Dwayne Bowe said, "Every great player drops a touchdown pass. I'm just happy I got mine out of the way early." I assume he emphasized the word "early" since in overtime, LSU wide receiver Early Doucet dropped a touchdown pass. Before Auburn missed their field goal. Word is still out on whether every great player misses field goals.

This week has a couple of important Big 10 games, several games between teams positioning themselves for bowl games, and the world's largest outdoor cocktail party. The following predictions are straight from the ratings, with 4 points added for home field.

Virginia Tech over Boston College by 14 (Hokies at home at night usually means blow-out)
Georgia Tech over Clemson by 5 (bowl scouts from Idaho will be in attendance)
Northwestern over Michigan by 2 (Basanez has been one of the best QB's in the country)
Ohio State and Minnesota even (the Gophers beat Michigan, fumbled away Wisconsin)
Nebraska over Oklahoma by 2 (an old classic, fallen into disrepair)
Tennessee over South Carolina by 9 (Fullmer vs Spurrier, see above comment)
Georgia over Florida by 5 (but the computer doesn't know about the Shockley injury)
Texas over Oklahoma State by 35 (at least it will hurt Texas' strength of schedule)
Southern Cal over Washington State by 30 (WSU has been just good enough to lose this year)
UCLA over Stanford by 11 (the Cardinal has come a long way since a loss to UC-Davis)
1 Texas 72.46
2 Southern Cal 67.87
3 Penn State 67.76
4 Virginia Tech 66.59
5 Ohio State 63.44
6 Alabama 62.48
7 LSU 61.79
8 Wisconsin 61.58
9 Miami F 60.66
10 Georgia 60.66
11 Michigan 60.23
12 UCLA 60.06
13 Notre Dame 59.96
14 Minnesota 59.43
15 Northwestern 58.43
16 Florida State 57.59
17 Oregon 57.17
18 Boston College 56.78
19 Texas Tech 56.68
20 Colorado 56.48
21 Florida 55.96
22 Auburn 54.88
23 West Virginia 54.68
24 Louisville 54.35
25 TCU 53.85
26 Michigan St 53.09
27 Oklahoma 52.85
28 Arizona St 52.72
29 Tennessee 52.62
30 Georgia Tech 51.76
31 Missouri 51.45
32 Nebraska 51.05
33 South Florida 50.70
34 Clemson 50.68
35 UTEP 50.28
36 Texas A&M 50.12
37 California 49.98
38 Fresno St 49.77
39 Maryland 49.56
40 Iowa 49.55
41 Southern Miss 48.13
42 S Carolina 47.44
43 Virginia 46.78
44 Colorado St 46.77
45 Tulsa 46.15
46 UNC 46.14
47 Toledo 45.76
48 Oregon St 45.52
49 Northern Illinois 45.28
50 New Mexico 45.05
51 Stanford 44.87
52 Iowa State 44.47
53 Indiana 44.43
54 Miami O 44.42
55 Houston 44.33
56 Baylor 44.11
57 Pittsburgh 44.07
58 Memphis 43.89
59 Purdue 43.83
60 Rutgers 43.49
61 Wake Forest 43.34
62 Wyoming 43.10
63 Central Michigan 43.01
64 BYU 42.97
65 NC State 42.88
66 Vanderbilt 42.30
67 Navy 42.24
68 Central Florida 42.19
69 UConn 42.09
70 Arkansas 41.55
71 Boise St 41.40
72 Washington St 41.36
73 Kansas State 41.28
74 Ole Miss 39.99
75 Kansas 38.42
76 Utah 38.29
77 Cincinnati 38.15
78 Bowling Green 37.94
79 Miss St 37.85
80 San Diego St 37.18
81 East Carolina 36.71
82 Air Force 36.67
83 Washington 36.45
84 Marshall 36.16
85 Nevada 36.08
86 Ohio 35.99
87 La Tech 35.15
88 East.Michigan 34.78
89 Arizona 34.52
90 UAB 34.05
91 Oklahoma St 34.01
92 Arkansas St 33.86
93 Illinois 33.46
94 West.Michigan 32.58
95 Hawaii 31.97
96 Syracuse 31.65
97 Tulane 31.36
98 Army 31.15
99 SMU 31.11
100 Akron 30.94
101 Kentucky 30.76
102 Duke 30.74
103 La-Monroe 29.44
104 Middle Tenn 29.24
105 La-Lafayette 26.83
106 Kent State 26.54
107 Troy 25.65
108 Rice 25.48
109 Ball State 24.95
110 UNLV 24.65
111 New Mexico St 23.70
112 Utah State 22.58
113 Florida Atlantic 22.50
114 Temple 22.18
115 North Texas 20.77
116 San Jose 18.72
117 Idaho 18.64
118 Florida Int. 18.37
119 Buffalo 17.67