Ratings 11/1/08  
Ratings (11/1)

It's almost decision time. Everybody is keeping track of voter tendencies nationwide. Pennsylvania is a blue state; Alabama is a red state. Over the weekend, Texas turned red. What's that you ask? Well, I'm talking about college football; Penn State, Alabama, Texas Tech. I don't know much about that thing in Ireland between McCain and O'Bama.

Where does my computer stand on the big three? It's taking a big pass, by proclaiming a top three of Florida, Texas and Southern Cal. I can't argue too much that Florida's demolitions of Kentucky and Georgia are impressive; that Texas going 3-1 with a nice point differential against Oklahoma, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech is impressive. It's a question of criteria. The BCS is about who deserves to play for the national championship, not who's got the best team. My computer ratings are about whose season-long record is the most impressive, given its schedule.

The ACC has become easy to pick. Based on current record and home field advantage, figure out who ought to win and then pick the other team. Which is good if you root for Clemson, maybe not so good if your allegiance is in Virginia. But, another week full of crucial games is here. When everybody is 3-2 or 2-2, all games are crucial. The Hokies host the Twerps on Thursday night, which usually means great things for VT. This year, who knows? Maryland could take a big lead in the Atlantic Division, Tech needs a win to stay alive in the Coastal. UVA and Wake also play an important interdivisional game. Nationally, the big three all play tough games. Southern Cal, which does not control its destiny in the Pac 10 (Oregon State does), hosts Cal and Utah faces a big hurdle to remain unbeaten.

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

Virginia Tech over Maryland by 5 (If the Hokies have a QB, it could be a horrible night for Hitchcock-look-alike Friedgen)
Wake Forest over Virginia by 6 (Both teams went overtime last week. Sounds about right for this one.)
Texas Tech over Oklahoma State by 7 (Another storming of the field or two in Lubbock? Too much celebration, perhaps.)
Oklahoma over Texas A&M by 20 (The other matchup of Oklahomans and Texans is not nearly as interesting ... yet.)
Penn State over Iowa by 11 (The Hawks can be tough at home, and certainly didn't use it all up last week.)
Alabama over LSU by 5 (4 points for home field; how many for revenge as Saban returns to the Bayou?)
Utah over TCU by 5 (The Frogs put a wart on BYU's perfect season. Will the Utes also kiss a perfect season goodbye?)
North Carolina over Georgia Tech by 8 (Yet another game to take "control" of an ACC division.)

1 Florida 97.81
2 Texas 95.76
3 Southern Cal 94.36
4 Penn State 92.58
5 Oklahoma 91.91
6 Texas Tech 90.71
7 Alabama 89.97
8 Missouri 87.48
9 Georgia 87.05
10 Oklahoma St 86.97
11 Utah 85.44
12 TCU 84.69
13 North Carolina 83.51
14 Ohio State 83.41
15 Boise St 82.89
16 California 82.51
17 Miami FL 81.22
18 LSU 81.03
19 Michigan St 80.79
20 Brigham Young 80.70
21 Oregon St 80.52
22 Wake Forest 79.75
23 Ball St 79.61
24 Georgia Tech 79.59
25 Tulsa 79.46
26 Northwestern 79.30
27 Florida St 79.28
28 South Carolina 79.16
29 Oregon 79.13
30 Mississippi 79.06
31 Duke 78.86
32 Arizona 78.49
33 West Virginia 78.41
34 Minnesota 78.23
35 Virginia 77.94
36 Pittsburgh 77.78
37 Vanderbilt 77.46
38 Iowa 77.30
39 Nebraska 77.05
40 Connecticut 77.02
41 Kansas 76.67
42 Cincinnati 76.39
43 Virginia Tech 76.21
44 Illinois 76.06
45 James Madison 75.93
46 South Florida 75.06
47 Maryland 75.00
48 Notre Dame 74.99
49 Navy 74.50
50 Kentucky 74.18
51 Air Force 74.09
52 Clemson 73.67
53 Boston College 72.85
54 Wisconsin 72.77
55 Stanford 72.76
56 Appalachian St 72.64
57 Rice 72.07
58 Central Michigan 71.78
59 Arkansas 71.76
60 Auburn 70.09
61 Western Michigan 70.07
62 Tennessee 69.71
63 Kansas St 69.58
64 Baylor 69.24
65 Louisville 69.22
66 Colorado 69.15
67 Rutgers 69.14
68 New Mexico 69.01
69 Buffalo 68.92
70 East Carolina 68.76
71 Montana 68.55
72 Richmond 68.32
73 Texas A&M 68.23
74 Purdue 68.19
75 Arizona St 68.16
76 Villanova 67.33
77 Northern Illinois 66.99
78 San José St 66.91
79 Hawai`i 66.43
80 Fresno St 66.09
81 Wofford 65.87
82 Louisiana-Lafayette 65.80
83 Weber St 65.79
84 Nevada 65.77
85 Troy 65.72
86 UCLA 65.40
87 Houston 65.40
88 Colorado St 65.24
89 Cal Poly SLO 65.19
90 Akron 64.65
91 Temple 64.46
92 Elon 64.28
93 Bowling Green 64.00
94 Indiana 63.66
95 UNLV 63.59
96 Southern Miss 63.40
97 New Hampshire 63.32
98 UTEP 63.30
99 Michigan 62.97
100 North Carolina St 62.96
101 Massachusetts 62.96
102 Arkansas St 62.51
103 William & Mary 62.31
104 Marshall 62.28
105 Mississippi St 62.20
106 Memphis 62.10
107 Northern Iowa 61.94
108 Syracuse 61.92
109 Furman 61.59
110 Louisiana Tech 61.46
111 Florida Atlantic 59.65
112 Iowa St 59.22
113 Florida Int'l 59.17
114 Georgia Southern 59.16
115 Central Florida 58.69
116 Washington 58.61
117 Southern Illinois 58.35
118 Army 58.13
119 Harvard 57.98
120 Maine 57.73
121 Tulane 57.56
122 Samford 57.45
123 Ohio U. 57.17
124 Wyoming 57.14
125 Toledo 57.10
126 Middle Tennessee St 56.76
127 Utah St 56.25
128 Western Illinois 56.23
129 New Mexico St 54.93
130 McNeese St 54.70
131 Northern Arizona 54.56
132 Western Kentucky 54.24
133 South Dakota St 54.07
134 Central Arkansas 53.99
135 Tennessee-Martin 53.97
136 Brown 53.94
137 SMU 53.86
138 Louisiana-Monroe 53.73
139 Jacksonville St 53.72
140 Liberty 53.26
141 Delaware 53.13
142 Lafayette 52.93
143 Miami OH 52.78
144 Colgate 52.67
145 Kent St 52.65
146 Eastern Michigan 52.11
147 North Dakota St 51.82
148 Northeastern 51.57
149 Holy Cross 51.46
150 UC-Davis 51.19
151 Northwestern St 51.09
152 Alabama-Birmingham 50.75
153 Washington St 50.64
154 The Citadel 50.64
155 South Carolina St 50.60
156 San Diego St 50.51
157 Eastern Kentucky 50.27
158 Eastern Washington 50.11
159 Montana St 50.01
160 Tennessee St 49.77
161 Missouri St 49.42
162 Sam Houston St 48.58
163 Eastern Illinois 48.58
164 Hofstra 48.05
165 Albany NY 47.86
166 Texas St-San Marcos 47.64
167 Pennsylvania 47.19
168 Sacramento St 47.13
169 Nicholls St 46.88
170 Gardner-Webb 46.39
171 Southern Utah 46.25
172 North Texas 46.13
173 Grambling St 45.40
174 Yale 45.31
175 Illinois St 44.63
176 Idaho 44.57
177 Coastal Carolina 44.47
178 Princeton 44.26
179 Western Carolina 44.09
180 SE Louisiana St 43.93
181 Morgan St 43.85
182 Towson 43.71
183 Stony Brook 43.57
184 Dayton 43.20
185 Stephen F. Austin 43.03
186 Lehigh 43.03
187 Bethune-Cookman 42.82
188 Florida A&M 42.80
189 Cornell NY 42.80
190 Rhode Island 42.69
191 Northern Colorado 42.54
192 Charleston Southern 42.51
193 Jacksonville FL 41.80
194 Fordham 41.73
195 Portland St 41.63
196 Presbyterian 41.10
197 Sacred Heart 40.99
198 VMI 40.80
199 Youngstown St 40.53
200 Prairie View A&M 39.98
201 Hampton 39.95
202 Monmouth NJ 39.89
203 San Diego 39.74
204 Chattanooga 39.24
205 SE Missouri St 39.19
206 Central Conn St 37.84
207 Delaware St 37.79
208 South Dakota 37.47
209 Bucknell 37.20
210 North Dakota 37.07
211 Southern U. 36.87
212 Murray St 36.87
213 Butler 36.02
214 Tennessee Tech 35.95
215 Norfolk St 35.31
216 Robert Morris 34.28
217 Austin Peay 34.21
218 Alabama A&M 33.14
219 Columbia 32.77
220 Bryant 32.15
221 Idaho St 31.62
222 Jackson St 29.94
223 Dartmouth 29.87
224 Morehead St 28.40
225 Georgetown DC 28.18
226 Duquesne 28.10
227 Marist 28.06
228 Alabama St 27.61
229 North Carolina Central 27.57
230 Drake 26.47
231 Winston-Salem St 25.80
232 Indiana St 24.35
233 Davidson 24.22
234 Wagner 23.94
235 Alcorn St 23.92
236 North Carolina A&T 22.61
237 Texas Southern 21.28
238 Valparaiso 20.00
239 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 19.44
240 Howard 19.18
241 Savannah St 18.17
242 Iona 17.42
243 St Francis PA 14.85
244 Mississippi Valley St 14.50
245 Campbell 5.04