Ratings 11/8/08
The BCS is happy. Two major unbeatens is the ideal. Alabama got by LSU and Texas Tech looks outstanding. This idyllic situation should last at least ... one week. Texas Tech goes to Oklahoma then. And the week after that Alabama plays Florida in the SEC title game. So, we probably need to start preparing for the 1-loss debate. My computer still likes Florida and Texas, with Southern Cal a close third. Should Oklahoma win out, they will move up, as winning out would include Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Missouri. This would also impress the human polls, presumably, so there are a lot of scenarios left.
There are many ways to measure parity. You could count the number of 5-5 teams, or teams with 3-3 conference records. Or, you can look at the top of the standings. How about the ACC with (in the loss column) 3 teams tied for the lead in each division? The Big 10 and Big East each with a 3-team tie? Ties in the Pac 10 (tie-breaker to Oregon State, by the way) and both divisions of the MAC? Utah leads the Mountain West, but there's a 3-team tie for second. The Big 12 South is a 3-team tie in waiting. The conference races are interesting.
In spite of that, there aren't that many games of note this week. The ACC has good matchups, but several teams at the top of the polls take the week off in preparation for big games the following week.
The following predictions are straight from the ratings, with 4 points added for home field.
Miami over Virginia Tech by 6 (Both teams improving. VT has the tie-breaker over UNC, Miami does not.)
North Carolina over Maryland by 7 (The ratings don't account for teams like Maryland that only show up half the time.)
Florida State over Boston College by 10 (Are the Noles really back? They still trail Wake in the division.)
Florida over South Carolina by 21 (Spurrier would love to ruin his alma mater's season.)
Navy over Notre Dame by 5 (Can the Middies extend their win streak over the Irish ... to 2?)
Southern Cal over Stanford by 20 (Harbaugh's gang punched a hole in the Trojans season last year. Revenge time?)
Northwestern over Michigan by 6 (At the Big House. Not especially believable, but fun to write.)
Oregon State over Cal by 3 (The Beavers control their destiny but this is a tough matchup.)
1 | Florida | 101.41 |
2 | Texas | 99.53 |
3 | Southern Cal | 98.90 |
4 | Texas Tech | 97.18 |
5 | Oklahoma | 96.44 |
6 | Penn State | 94.33 |
7 | Alabama | 93.44 |
8 | Utah | 91.60 |
9 | Missouri | 91.46 |
10 | Georgia | 90.42 |
11 | North Carolina | 89.87 |
12 | Oklahoma St | 88.87 |
13 | Ohio State | 88.73 |
14 | TCU | 87.94 |
15 | Boise St | 87.45 |
16 | California | 85.75 |
17 | Florida St | 85.58 |
18 | Miami FL | 85.34 |
19 | Michigan St | 85.28 |
20 | Oregon St | 85.18 |
21 | Wake Forest | 85.11 |
22 | Ball St | 84.47 |
23 | Brigham Young | 84.24 |
24 | Pittsburgh | 83.95 |
25 | Iowa | 83.84 |
26 | South Carolina | 83.83 |
27 | LSU | 83.76 |
28 | Oregon | 83.60 |
29 | Tulsa | 83.34 |
30 | Nebraska | 83.18 |
31 | Mississippi | 83.15 |
32 | Virginia Tech | 83.13 |
33 | Cincinnati | 82.43 |
34 | Georgia Tech | 82.21 |
35 | West Virginia | 81.53 |
36 | Arizona | 81.39 |
37 | Connecticut | 81.34 |
38 | Virginia | 80.76 |
39 | Vanderbilt | 80.60 |
40 | Kansas | 80.26 |
41 | Northwestern | 80.21 |
42 | Air Force | 80.19 |
43 | James Madison | 79.93 |
44 | Boston College | 79.85 |
45 | South Florida | 79.54 |
46 | Duke | 79.29 |
47 | Navy | 78.92 |
48 | Wisconsin | 78.56 |
49 | Minnesota | 78.31 |
50 | Maryland | 78.28 |
51 | Kentucky | 78.04 |
52 | Illinois | 77.52 |
53 | Notre Dame | 77.47 |
54 | Clemson | 77.43 |
55 | East Carolina | 76.27 |
56 | Rice | 76.06 |
57 | Appalachian St | 75.81 |
58 | Western Michigan | 75.77 |
59 | Stanford | 75.27 |
60 | Central Michigan | 75.06 |
61 | Rutgers | 74.67 |
62 | Arkansas | 74.20 |
63 | Buffalo | 73.86 |
64 | Colorado | 73.75 |
65 | Baylor | 73.68 |
66 | Auburn | 73.35 |
67 | Kansas St | 73.32 |
68 | Arizona St | 73.18 |
69 | Villanova | 72.91 |
70 | Richmond | 72.58 |
71 | Nevada | 72.45 |
72 | New Mexico | 71.82 |
73 | Texas A&M | 71.73 |
74 | Montana | 71.55 |
75 | Houston | 71.53 |
76 | Louisville | 71.43 |
77 | North Carolina St | 71.33 |
78 | Hawai`i | 71.26 |
79 | Purdue | 70.94 |
80 | Tennessee | 70.72 |
81 | Akron | 70.39 |
82 | UNLV | 70.25 |
83 | Troy | 69.98 |
84 | Michigan | 69.84 |
85 | Wofford | 69.64 |
86 | Bowling Green | 69.62 |
87 | Weber St | 69.38 |
88 | Northern Illinois | 69.18 |
89 | Colorado St | 69.14 |
90 | UTEP | 69.10 |
91 | Fresno St | 69.01 |
92 | San José St | 68.70 |
93 | Temple | 68.46 |
94 | Elon | 68.40 |
95 | William & Mary | 68.33 |
96 | Southern Miss | 68.21 |
97 | Cal Poly SLO | 68.14 |
98 | Louisiana Tech | 67.98 |
99 | UCLA | 67.75 |
100 | Louisiana-Lafayette | 67.10 |
101 | Northern Iowa | 66.58 |
102 | Memphis | 66.54 |
103 | Furman | 66.41 |
104 | Marshall | 66.38 |
105 | New Hampshire | 66.33 |
106 | Massachusetts | 65.69 |
107 | Mississippi St | 65.59 |
108 | Indiana | 65.50 |
109 | Florida Int'l | 64.45 |
110 | Arkansas St | 64.24 |
111 | Syracuse | 64.23 |
112 | Florida Atlantic | 64.18 |
113 | Samford | 63.83 |
114 | Wyoming | 63.78 |
115 | Maine | 63.55 |
116 | Iowa St | 63.46 |
117 | Southern Illinois | 62.66 |
118 | Army | 62.52 |
119 | Central Florida | 61.78 |
120 | Georgia Southern | 61.40 |
121 | Washington | 61.30 |
122 | Middle Tennessee St | 61.28 |
123 | Harvard | 61.22 |
124 | Utah St | 60.92 |
125 | Central Arkansas | 60.50 |
126 | Tulane | 60.27 |
127 | Toledo | 60.10 |
128 | Ohio U. | 60.08 |
129 | McNeese St | 59.61 |
130 | New Mexico St | 58.95 |
131 | South Dakota St | 58.60 |
132 | Delaware | 58.20 |
133 | Liberty | 58.16 |
134 | Western Illinois | 57.77 |
135 | Western Kentucky | 57.74 |
136 | SMU | 57.62 |
137 | Lafayette | 57.59 |
138 | Colgate | 57.28 |
139 | Tennessee-Martin | 57.21 |
140 | Northern Arizona | 57.15 |
141 | Miami OH | 57.09 |
142 | Jacksonville St | 57.08 |
143 | Kent St | 56.87 |
144 | Holy Cross | 56.75 |
145 | Eastern Washington | 56.32 |
146 | Eastern Michigan | 56.30 |
147 | South Carolina St | 55.95 |
148 | Brown | 55.82 |
149 | Montana St | 55.77 |
150 | Louisiana-Monroe | 55.74 |
151 | North Dakota St | 55.38 |
152 | Tennessee St | 55.35 |
153 | San Diego St | 54.97 |
154 | Alabama-Birmingham | 54.87 |
155 | The Citadel | 54.74 |
156 | Washington St | 54.59 |
157 | Northeastern | 54.39 |
158 | Sam Houston St | 54.06 |
159 | Sacramento St | 53.60 |
160 | Pennsylvania | 53.37 |
161 | Eastern Kentucky | 53.31 |
162 | Yale | 53.06 |
163 | UC-Davis | 52.80 |
164 | Texas St-San Marcos | 52.64 |
165 | Hofstra | 52.45 |
166 | Northwestern St | 52.41 |
167 | Albany NY | 52.19 |
168 | Missouri St | 50.33 |
169 | Southern Utah | 50.14 |
170 | Coastal Carolina | 50.03 |
171 | Grambling St | 49.95 |
172 | Eastern Illinois | 49.65 |
173 | Nicholls St | 49.18 |
174 | Idaho | 49.04 |
175 | Bethune-Cookman | 49.02 |
176 | Gardner-Webb | 48.69 |
177 | Stony Brook | 48.53 |
178 | Western Carolina | 48.49 |
179 | North Texas | 48.49 |
180 | Florida A&M | 48.41 |
181 | Charleston Southern | 48.16 |
182 | Cornell NY | 47.88 |
183 | Towson | 47.35 |
184 | Princeton | 47.21 |
185 | Lehigh | 47.20 |
186 | Rhode Island | 46.93 |
187 | SE Louisiana St | 46.75 |
188 | Portland St | 46.70 |
189 | Illinois St | 46.25 |
190 | Prairie View A&M | 46.23 |
191 | Stephen F. Austin | 46.17 |
192 | Dayton | 46.16 |
193 | Morgan St | 45.98 |
194 | Northern Colorado | 45.33 |
195 | Fordham | 45.05 |
196 | Monmouth NJ | 44.75 |
197 | VMI | 44.48 |
198 | Youngstown St | 44.31 |
199 | Hampton | 43.98 |
200 | Chattanooga | 43.83 |
201 | Norfolk St | 43.48 |
202 | Presbyterian | 43.33 |
203 | Jacksonville FL | 43.26 |
204 | Southern U. | 42.56 |
205 | South Dakota | 41.51 |
206 | San Diego | 41.27 |
207 | Murray St | 41.25 |
208 | Sacred Heart | 41.24 |
209 | Central Conn St | 41.22 |
210 | Bucknell | 40.96 |
211 | SE Missouri St | 40.41 |
212 | North Dakota | 39.96 |
213 | Delaware St | 39.80 |
214 | Tennessee Tech | 39.01 |
215 | Columbia | 38.19 |
216 | Austin Peay | 37.63 |
217 | Jackson St | 37.09 |
218 | Idaho St | 36.64 |
219 | Butler | 36.54 |
220 | Alabama A&M | 36.28 |
221 | Robert Morris | 35.78 |
222 | Bryant | 34.81 |
223 | Georgetown DC | 34.27 |
224 | Dartmouth | 33.91 |
225 | Winston-Salem St | 32.99 |
226 | North Carolina Central | 32.12 |
227 | Duquesne | 32.02 |
228 | Alabama St | 31.14 |
229 | Drake | 30.61 |
230 | Marist | 29.45 |
231 | Morehead St | 28.49 |
232 | Alcorn St | 28.33 |
233 | Indiana St | 27.01 |
234 | North Carolina A&T | 26.96 |
235 | Davidson | 26.25 |
236 | Arkansas-Pine Bluff | 25.62 |
237 | Wagner | 24.78 |
238 | Howard | 24.24 |
239 | Savannah St | 23.75 |
240 | Texas Southern | 23.25 |
241 | Mississippi Valley St | 22.44 |
242 | Valparaiso | 20.00 |
243 | Iona | 18.32 |
244 | St Francis PA | 17.00 |
245 | Campbell | 7.15 |