Ratings 11/02/02  
Ratings (November 2)

Upset Saturday took care of half the unbeaten teams. In BCS terms, Bowling Green doesn't count, so it's down to three teams for the national championship: Oklahoma, Miami and Ohio State. Or is it? In the history of the BCS, there have never been three major unbeatens, and I would bet against even two unbeatens this year. Which could put us into the awkward situation we've had the past two years of one unbeaten team and a gaggle of once-beaten teams. If, for example, Miami stays unbeaten, Ohio gags on Meechigan and Oklahoma loses in the Big 12 championship game, who plays Miami? Oklahoma would have a strong argument, but the last two years we've had controversy with a team losing late and still being in the championship game. Or, how about Miami and the Buckeyes losing; should we have a Texas-Oklahoma rematch? One reason to be thankful for the BCS: at least Notre Dame has to play by the same rules as everybody else, instead of being placed in the top two because they get good tv ratings.

Oklahoma at #1 is not going to stir much controversy. And you can't argue with the computer's #3 and #4. But what's Southern Cal doing at #2? This is a major strength of schedule statement: SC is only 6-2, but all 8 games have been against good-to-excellent teams. They beat Colorado 40-3, so maybe they're pretty good. Playing Stanford this week will drag their rating down some.

The ACC Bowdens both decided that disappointing seasons were due to very good junior QB's, so both started redshirt freshmen this past Saturday. Both were rewarded with come-from-behind victories against teams they didn't used to worry about beating. The ACC is showing some depth, with Georgia Tech wrecking the Wuffpack's unbeaten season and Wake nearly burying the Noles. Big games this week with Florida State at Georgia Tech and NC State at Maryland. After a slow start, the Turtles may be the best team in the conference.

All four unbeatens play losable road games this week, but the computer's not going out on any limbs with its predictions. I would personally take Syracuse with 20; the ratings don't account for downward trends, injuries or emotions. The following predictions are straight from the ratings, with 4 points added for the home team.

Oklahoma over Texas A&M by 19
Miami over Tennessee by 8
Ohio State over Purdue by 13
Bowling Green over Northern Illinois by 5
Virginia Tech over Syracuse by 20
Penn State over Virginia by 9
Florida State over Georgia Tech by 5
Maryland over NC State by 5
Kansas State over Iowa State by 5

1 Oklahoma 69.48
2 Southern Cal 64.18
3 Ohio State 63.36
4 Miami 63.27
5 Texas 63.26
6 Notre Dame 62.51
7 Georgia 60.67
8 Iowa 60.65
9 Florida State 60.02
10 Alabama 59.85
11 Kansas State 58.07
12 Wash State 58.01
13 Virginia Tech 57.76
14 Arkansas 57.27
15 Iowa State 56.94
16 Michigan 55.84
17 Penn State 55.69
18 Colorado 55.53
19 LSU 55.49
20 Florida 55.47
21 Maryland 55.44
22 UCLA 54.80
23 Oregon St 54.08
24 NC State 53.86
25 Oregon 53.46
26 Auburn 53.38
27 Colorado St 53.02
28 California 52.87
29 Bowling Green 52.81
30 Pittsburgh 52.40
31 Boise 52.16
32 South Florida 51.51
33 Kentucky 51.34
34 Boston College 51.01
35 Tennessee 51.00
36 Texas Tech 50.51
37 Georgia Tech 50.45
38 Arizona St 50.22
39 Virginia 50.17
40 Wisconsin 50.11
41 Nebraska 49.15
42 TCU 49.05
43 Air Force 48.78
44 West Virginia 48.37
45 Clemson 48.18
46 S Carolina 48.14
47 Minnesota 47.67
48 Louisville 47.61
49 Wake Forest 46.94
50 Miami O 46.67
51 Texas A&M 46.60
52 Missouri 46.47
53 Purdue 45.87
54 Mississippi 44.84
55 Washington 44.40
56 Oklahoma St 44.27
57 Southern Miss 44.11
58 North Ill 43.89
59 Toledo 43.22
60 Cincinnati 42.64
61 Hawaii 42.61
62 Marshall 41.92
63 Illinois 40.34
64 NM State 40.01
65 Tulane 39.68
66 Stanford 39.57
67 North Texas 39.22
68 Michigan St 38.87
69 Fresno 38.33
70 Arizona 37.48
71 North Carolina 37.04
72 Temple 36.94
73 Miss State 36.75
74 BYU 36.10
75 Nevada 35.47
76 UCF 35.34
77 UNLV 34.66
78 New Mexico 34.65
79 Indiana 34.65
80 Utah 34.50
81 Syracuse 33.96
82 Houston 33.50
83 UConn 33.49
84 Ball State 33.49
85 Duke 33.48
86 East Carolina 33.28
87 Vanderbilt 33.25
88 Central Mich 32.87
89 San Diego St 32.80
90 Northwestern 32.68
91 Western Mich 32.17
92 San Jose 31.90
93 La Tech 31.77
94 UAB 31.65
95 Troy State 31.29
96 Akron 29.89
97 Wyoming 29.70
98 Memphis 29.33
99 Ohio 28.83
100 Baylor 28.76
101 Kent State 28.09
102 Mid Tenn 28.02
103 Arkansas St 28.02
104 Kansas 27.39
105 Rice 27.08
106 Utah State 26.76
107 La-Lafayette 26.57
108 Idaho 25.37
109 Rutgers 23.67
110 Navy 22.18
111 UTEP 21.04
112 La-Monroe 20.88
113 SMU 20.48
114 Tulsa 20.43
115 Eastern Mich 20.38
116 Buffalo 17.75
117 Army 14.56