Ratings 11/8/08  
Ratings (11/8)

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