Ratings 10/27/07  
Ratings (10/27)

So, what did you think of the entire Georgia football team running onto the field to celebrate the first touchdown of their 42-30 victory over Florida? Not to cast doubt on the intelligence of the current Georgia scholar-athlete (we Clemson grads rarely do that, it's usually a very direct insult) but isn't that what you do after a last-second TD wins the game? I wonder how the refs decided to call exactly two unsportsmanlike penalties, instead of 80 or so. My favorite inappropriate celebration came in 1976. Lee Corso (of "not so fast my friends" ESPN fame) was coach at Indiana and the Hoosiers scored a TD to take a 7-6 first quarter lead at Ohio State. This was the first lead of any sort in 25 years for Indiana over the Buckeyes, so Corso called timeout and had the team pose for a picture in front of the scoreboard. Of course, Ohio State won 47-7, but Corso had the biggest laugh. By the way, in looking on the internet to "verify" this story, I read that Corso was a very good defensive back at Florida State, holding the school record for interceptions until it was broken by one Deion Sanders. Corso's roomate at FSU was Burt Reynolds, speaking of scholar-athletes.

I'm not sure anybody knows yet what's going on this year. The state of Virginia was ruined by late touchdown passes. The Hokies and Hoos better regroup fast if their season-ending game is to be meaningful. At the national level, it reminds me of basketball season when you expect everybody to lose. If that comparison holds, maybe it is time for a playoff. Playoffs determine a champion, but the champion does not have to be the best team. (And often is not the best team.) It seems to me that the BCS is still trying to determine the best team. If that changes every week, why not have a fun playoff?

The Hokies and Hoos still lead Miami by a game, so this week's games are crucial. UConn tries to continue its amazing Big East run, but West Virginia still awaits them. Ohio State and Michigan lead the Big 10 by two games and Kansas leads the Big 12 North. The Texas/Oklahoma matchups may clear up the Big 12 South, led by Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The biggest games nationally are LSU versus Alabama in Tuscaloosa and Arizona State versus Oregon in Eugene. Navy is favored over Notre Dame. Maybe the Middies laid an egg against Delaware because of looking ahead to this game. The last Navy QB to beat Notre Dame? Roger Staubach. Enjoy the games!

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

Virginia Tech over Georgia Tech by 1 (the Mud-dobbers had the week off; the Hokies took a break 2 minutes early)
Virginia over RC@WS by 2 (the Deacs are playing well, both teams need wins to stay in the title chase)
Boston College over Florida State by 15 (After Blacksburg, Ryan is in clear and present danger of not winning the Heisman)
Connecticut over Rutgers by 8 (last year's surprise champs versus this year's? )
Michigan over Michigan State by 5 (Michigan won the Little Brown Jug last week; plus the Paul Bunyan Trophy this week?)
Ohio State over Wisconsin by 17 (remember when it was the Big 2 with Ohio State and Michigan always winning?)
Penn State over Purdue by 5 (third place and a pretty good bowl game at stake in Happy Valley)
Oklahoma over Texas A&M by 15 (I wasn't going to show this one, but Alabama fans love watching Franchione suffer.)
Texas over Oklahoma State by 5 (historically a high-scoring, fun game for the upset-minded Cowboys)
Oregon over Arizona State by 5 (can the Ducks' day-glo uniforms bedevil unbeaten ASU? #2 versus #3 on the computer)
LSU over Alabama by 6 (the first Saban Bowl, as Nick Saban takes on his old team for 1st place in the SEC West)
Navy over Notre Dame by 1 (old sports adage: it's hard to beat a good team 44 straight times)

1 LSU 97.92
2 Oregon 95.58
3 Arizona St 94.39
4 Ohio State 94.14
5 Boston College 93.87
6 West Virginia 93.07
7 Kansas 92.88
8 S. Florida 92.03
9 Oklahoma 90.96
10 Florida 90.92
11 Auburn 89.93
12 Georgia 88.99
13 Missouri 88.12
14 Alabama 87.56
15 Virginia Tech 87.44
16 Clemson 87.16
17 UConn 86.75
18 Michigan 86.59
19 Kansas State 86.43
20 Kentucky 86.34
21 S Carolina 85.33
22 Wake Forest 85.07
23 Southern Cal 84.52
24 California 84.38
25 Penn State 84.24
26 Tennessee 83.44
27 Texas 83.41
28 Virginia 83.32
29 Purdue 83.29
30 Arkansas 82.96
31 Rutgers 82.86
32 Oklahoma St 82.66
33 Florida State 82.59
34 Vanderbilt 82.49
35 Boise St 82.31
36 Georgia Tech 82.21
37 Illinois 82.19
38 Colorado 81.60
39 Cincinnati 80.95
40 Wisconsin 80.76
41 Texas A&M 79.98
42 Oregon St 79.96
43 N Iowa 79.92
44 BYU 79.63
45 Maryland 79.59
46 UCLA 79.53
47 Troy 78.45
48 Texas Tech 78.40
49 Miss St 78.22
50 Miami F 77.83
51 Hawaii 77.42
52 UMass 76.98
53 Louisville 76.93
54 New Mexico 76.90
55 C. Florida 76.81
56 Michigan St 76.70
57 Air Force 76.31
58 Utah 75.99
59 NC State 75.93
60 Appalachian 75.10
61 Washington 74.96
62 East Carolina 74.85
63 Nebraska 74.82
64 Wyoming 74.62
65 Houston 74.48
66 UNC 73.86
67 Elon 73.81
68 Stanford 73.27
69 Fresno St 73.01
70 N Dakota St 72.63
71 Ball State 72.57
72 Navy 72.49
73 Wofford 71.94
74 S Illinois 71.69
75 Delaware 71.61
76 Northwestern 71.48
77 Washington St 71.40
78 Pittsburgh 71.38
79 Arizona 71.27
80 Indiana 71.23
81 Central Michigan 71.23
82 Ole Miss 71.22
83 TCU 71.08
84 Iowa 70.92
85 New Hampshire 70.46
86 Richmond 70.44
87 JMU 70.21
88 McNeese St 69.95
89 Tulsa 69.62
90 Ga South 69.27
91 Yale 68.57
92 Florida Atlantic 68.33
93 Middle Tenn 67.99
94 Villanova 67.24
95 Notre Dame 67.02
96 Bowling Green 66.99
97 Duke 66.77
98 Miami O 66.61
99 Holy Cross 66.48
100 Buffalo 66.27
101 Montana 66.24
102 Youngstown 65.81
103 Nevada 65.46
104 Hofstra 65.38
105 UTEP 64.96
106 Southern Miss 64.69
107 Army 64.54
108 Akron 64.44
109 Ohio 64.38
110 La Tech 64.36
111 Citadel 63.94
112 West.Kentucky 63.83
113 Toledo 63.80
114 San Diego St 63.72
115 Baylor 63.65
116 Syracuse 63.58
117 Arkansas St 63.43
118 Kent State 63.42
119 Minnesota 62.54
120 W Illinois 62.47
121 S Dakota St 62.34
122 La-Monroe 62.13
123 UNLV 61.86
124 San Jose 61.83
125 Colorado St 61.73
126 Iowa State 61.57
127 E Kentucky 61.47
128 West.Michigan 61.40
129 Temple 60.96
130 Memphis 60.90
131 Grambling 60.79
132 East.Michigan 60.67
133 Wm & Mary 60.30
134 New Mexico St 59.94
135 Harvard 59.60
136 La-Lafayette 59.02
137 Furman 58.53
138 Delaware St 57.84
139 Marshall 57.24
140 Illinois St 57.18
141 E.Wash. 57.12
142 Chattanooga 56.87
143 Tulane 56.78
144 UAB 56.42
145 Alabama A&M 56.37
146 Missouri St 56.27
147 Dayton 56.25
148 Colgate 56.24
149 Central Ark 56.22
150 SC State 55.70
151 Cal Poly 55.63
152 Towson 55.17
153 Lehigh 54.87
154 Fordham 54.82
155 Liberty 54.77
156 Sam Houston 54.31
157 Utah State 53.61
158 San Diego 53.57
159 Jacksonville St 53.30
160 Southern 53.15
161 Nicholls St 53.14
162 Florida Int. 53.01
163 Norfolk St 52.88
164 Jackson St 52.88
165 Albany 52.75
166 Cornell 52.68
167 N Arizona 52.42
168 Gardner Webb 51.97
169 E Illinois 51.89
170 W Carolina 51.88
171 Idaho 51.82
172 Montana St 51.60
173 Rice 51.59
174 SMU 51.26
175 Maine 50.94
176 Northern Illinois 50.76
177 North Texas 50.69
178 UC Davis 50.67
179 Hampton 50.44
180 Stony Brook 50.20
181 Rhode Island 50.16
182 Coastal Car 50.15
183 Northeastern 49.18
184 Brown 49.04
185 Texas St 48.83
186 Prairie View 48.07
187 Weber St 47.80
188 Winston Salem 47.63
189 Dartmouth 47.29
190 Drake 46.78
191 Lafayette 46.18
192 Iona 46.14
193 Morgan St 45.57
194 Princeton 45.43
195 Penn 44.82
196 S Utah 44.37
197 SE La 44.14
198 Sacramento St 43.97
199 Alabama St 43.91
200 Portland St 43.85
201 Tenn St 43.60
202 Howard 43.37
203 Austin Peay 42.95
204 Morehead 42.58
205 Idaho St 42.31
206 Florida A&M 41.37
207 Cen Conn 41.19
208 Davidson 41.13
209 Tenn Martin 40.86
210 Samford 39.92
211 Charleston S 39.92
212 NW State 39.86
213 Wagner 39.60
214 VMI 39.02
215 Ark PB 38.82
216 Bucknell 38.48
217 Bethune Cookman 38.20
218 Monmouth 37.95
219 Murray St 36.69
220 SF Austin 36.55
221 Miss Valley 36.51
222 Tenn Tech 35.95
223 N Colorado 35.62
224 Duquesne 35.33
225 Robert Morris 34.60
226 Georgetown 34.21
227 Alcorn 33.68
228 Columbia 32.83
229 Valparaiso 32.03
230 SE Missouri 31.72
231 Jacksonville 30.24
232 Indiana St 29.87
233 NC A&T 28.25
234 Texas Southern 25.00
235 St Francis 23.25
236 Sacred Heart 23.09
237 Butler 22.98
238 Marist 19.88
239 Savannah St 15.90
240 LaSalle 3.44