Ratings 11/6/04  
Ratings (November 6)

Welcome to the bogus (er, bonus) edition of By the Numbers. Part of the fun of a ratings system is playing "What If". I ran into one of my readers today who, in spite of having a son attending Virginia, asked me, "For God's sake, could you get Virginia Tech ahead of Virginia?" So I played with this a little.

In scenario one, I changed the results of the Virginia Tech / NC State game. In the real game, Tech kicker Brandon Pace missed a 43-yard field goal on the last play of the game that would have won the game. So, I decided that in fact NC State was guilty of roughing the kicker. In spite of the fact that Pace's leg was broken on the play, the refs only called it a 5-yard penalty. A Tech player clapped his hands when the penalty was called, earning a 15-yard celebration penalty. But backup kicker Nic Schmitt, from Salem High School, nailed a 53-yarder to win the game.

The ratings are below. You'll notice that Tech jumps to #13, ahead of Virginia. Also, Miami and Florida State swap positions. That makes some sense since Miami's win over NC State counts for less if State loses an extra game.

I checked to make sure that Clemson, which also beat State and doesn't play Tech, didn't drop. They hadn't, but they were one spot behind South Carolina. That's clearly wrong, so I changed the outcome of the Clemson / Georgia Tech game, which GT won only due to rampant cheating. However, this moved Virginia back above Virginia Tech. (Move Clemson up and you improve Virginia's strength of schedule.) So I put Clemson back at 5-4 and gave them 24 extra points for mental suffering from the GT game. And that's what produced the ratings below. One oddity. When I only changed the VT / NCS game, Michigan jumped above UVa. I have no idea why that happened. Giving Clemson exra points moved UVa back in front of Michigan.

So, if you're a Tech fan, enjoy what might have been (if you'd let the Salem High guy kick).

1 Southern Cal 73.45
2 Oklahoma 69.88
3 California 69.55
4 Arizona St 64.89
5 Texas 64.40
6 Utah 63.89
7 Auburn 61.04
8 Boise St 61.03
9 Florida State 59.13
10 Miami F 59.04
11 Texas A&M 58.85
12 Wisconsin 58.55
13 Virginia Tech 58.49
14 Louisville 58.43
15 Virginia 58.23
16 Michigan 57.90
17 Georgia 57.53
18 Tennessee 57.08
19 Oklahoma St 57.00
20 Iowa 55.29
21 Notre Dame 54.27
22 Texas Tech 54.25
23 LSU 53.83
24 Purdue 53.07
25 Oregon St 51.96
26 UCLA 51.84
27 Oregon 51.41
28 UTEP 51.21
29 Clemson 50.88
30 West Virginia 50.84
31 Ohio State 50.84
32 Stanford 50.81
33 BYU 50.50
34 S Carolina 50.47
35 Colorado 48.89
36 Alabama 48.78
37 Arkansas 48.49
38 Northwestern 48.48
39 Georgia Tech 47.71
40 Minnesota 47.52
41 New Mexico 47.37
42 UNC 47.17
43 Washington St 46.62
44 Fresno St 46.37
45 Florida 46.25
46 Bowling Green 46.03
47 Boston College 45.86
48 Southern Miss 44.91
49 Iowa State 44.74
50 UAB 44.73
51 Maryland 44.69
52 Wyoming 44.13
53 Wake Forest 44.09
54 Kansas State 44.08
55 Cincinnati 44.07
56 Michigan St 43.71
57 NC State 43.66
58 Syracuse 43.56
59 Kansas 42.97
60 Missouri 42.77
61 Nebraska 42.76
62 Memphis 42.51
63 UConn 41.80
64 Air Force 41.66
65 Colorado St 40.85
66 North.Illinois 40.38
67 TCU 39.90
68 Navy 39.73
69 Ole Miss 39.64
70 Arizona 39.55
71 Pittsburgh 39.37
72 Troy 39.29
73 Miami O 39.11
74 La Tech 38.55
75 Penn State 38.45
76 Indiana 37.72
77 South Florida 37.52
78 Marshall 37.27
79 UNLV 36.76
80 Illinois 36.46
81 Baylor 35.72
82 San Diego St 35.52
83 Houston 34.76
84 Toledo 34.72
85 New Mexico St 34.44
86 Hawaii 33.83
87 Rutgers 33.46
88 Washington 33.36
89 Miss St 33.04
90 North Texas 32.62
91 Nevada 31.97
92 Vanderbilt 31.86
93 Tulane 31.57
94 Duke 31.36
95 Army 30.98
96 Kentucky 30.08
97 Rice 29.97
98 East Carolina 29.31
99 Tulsa 29.30
100 Akron 29.00
101 La-Monroe 28.21
102 Kent 27.15
103 Middle Tenn 26.98
104 La-Lafayette 26.87
105 Ohio 26.68
106 SMU 26.37
107 Utah State 25.70
108 Temple 24.84
109 Cent.Michigan 24.31
110 Idaho 23.47
111 San Jose 23.39
112 East.Michigan 23.34
113 Arkansas St 23.29
114 Ball State 19.48
115 Central Florida 17.81
116 West.Michigan 17.38
117 Buffalo 14.43