Ratings 11/09/02  
Ratings (November 9)

Today's national sports commentary includes praise of the BCS because it's "right" this week. That is, Miami and Ohio State are the only unbeatens, so they ought to be 1-2 and they are. So will this year be controversy-free? As Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast, my friend!" The main problem is that we're not guaranteed that Miami and Ohio State will stay unbeaten. If either loses, there's a huge argument about which one-loss team is next in line. And then there's the computer angle: with everybody happy and in agreement about the top 2, my computer program still has Oklahoma #1 with twice-beaten Southern Cal #2. Oops! (To be fair, it's nearly a three-way tie for first.) What this indicates is the computer's programming to consider the entire season and not just what's happened recently. Instead of saying, "Oklahoma's lost, we're through with them" the computer's saying that Oklahoma's 8-1 record against their schedule is the most impressive record around. If they stay unbeaten, I agree that Miami and Ohio State should play for the national championship. (But, actually, I'm not sure that the computer is wrong, either.)

Two interesting trends. The number of unbeatens has gone from 8 to 4 to 2. But, unless Illinois beats Ohio State, that trend will stop. Also, the teams that have received their first loss have tended to lose again (Tech, NC State, almost Notre Dame). Baylor doesn't even Bearly have a chance to beat Oklahoma, but South Florida could beat Bowling Green.

Last week was an "almost" week, as Navy, Temple and Vanderbilt almost got wins over ranked opponents, Tech almost beat Syracuse, and Kentucky almost beat LSU (I hope you have seen the winning play from that game!).

This week is the week before rivalry week. Not too many games look all that good. Georgia needs to beat Auburn to stay on top of their division. Same for Colorado against Iowa State. Iowa State must be the weirdest team around, beating Iowa but losing to K State 56-7. Iowa needs to win at Minnesota to keep their Rose Bowl hopes alive. If Ohio State goes to the Fiesta Bowl, I hope that the Rose Bowl does the right thing and takes Iowa. Miami (the other one) and Marshall play Tuesday night for a spot in the MAC finals. The following predictions are straight from the ratings, with 4 points added for the home team.

Miami (O) over Marshall by 2
Ohio State over Illinois by 16
Colorado over Iowa State by 6
Georgia over Auburn by 3
Iowa over Minnesota by 10
NC State over Virginia by 1
Kansas State over Nebraska by 15
Florida over South Carolina by 12

1 Oklahoma 64.68
2 Southern Cal 64.51
3 Miami 64.26
4 Ohio State 63.04
5 Texas 61.92
6 Iowa 60.86
7 Kansas State 60.80
8 Georgia 59.96
9 Florida State 59.63
10 Wash State 58.84
11 Notre Dame 58.83
12 Alabama 58.71
13 Arkansas 57.87
14 Michigan 57.48
15 Penn State 57.07
16 Maryland 55.89
17 Colorado 55.80
18 LSU 55.71
19 UCLA 54.99
20 Florida 54.49
21 California 54.34
22 Virginia Tech 54.08
23 Iowa State 53.74
24 Auburn 53.35
25 NC State 53.08
26 Boise 52.62
27 Colorado St 52.58
28 Pittsburgh 52.32
29 Oregon 51.99
30 Texas Tech 51.75
31 Oregon St 51.38
32 West Virginia 50.83
33 South Florida 50.60
34 TCU 49.95
35 Georgia Tech 49.82
36 Kentucky 49.60
37 Bowling Green 49.56
38 Tennessee 49.48
39 Nebraska 49.47
40 Texas A&M 49.44
41 Clemson 48.70
42 Boston College 48.58
43 Arizona St 48.54
44 Virginia 48.14
45 Wisconsin 47.79
46 Air Force 47.60
47 Minnesota 47.31
48 Washington 46.91
49 Wake Forest 46.81
50 Miami O 46.65
51 S Carolina 46.27
52 Purdue 46.20
53 Louisville 45.89
54 Cincinnati 45.40
55 North Ill 45.18
56 Missouri 45.16
57 Southern Miss 45.14
58 Mississippi 44.63
59 Toledo 44.09
60 Oklahoma St 43.03
61 Illinois 43.02
62 Hawaii 42.61
63 Marshall 40.61
64 Michigan St 40.21
65 Tulane 39.82
66 North Texas 39.15
67 Stanford 38.75
68 Syracuse 37.77
69 NM State 37.63
70 Fresno 37.56
71 Temple 37.38
72 Miss State 36.83
73 BYU 36.79
74 Arizona 36.59
75 Utah 36.08
76 New Mexico 35.88
77 UCF 35.78
78 North Carolina 35.57
79 UConn 35.54
80 Nevada 35.25
81 East Carolina 35.16
82 Vanderbilt 33.69
83 San Jose 33.48
84 Ball State 33.45
85 Duke 33.42
86 UNLV 32.56
87 Houston 32.51
88 Northwestern 32.41
89 Indiana 32.36
90 Western Mich 31.88
91 UAB 31.74
92 Troy State 31.55
93 San Diego St 31.32
94 Central Mich 30.57
95 La Tech 30.30
96 Memphis 30.26
97 Ohio 30.04
98 Baylor 30.03
99 Utah State 29.97
100 Wyoming 28.44
101 La-Lafayette 27.76
102 Akron 27.55
103 Mid Tenn 27.29
104 Arkansas St 26.64
105 Kansas 26.58
106 Rice 26.55
107 Kent State 25.63
108 Idaho 25.35
109 Navy 24.06
110 Rutgers 24.03
111 La-Monroe 21.61
112 SMU 20.61
113 UTEP 20.18
114 Eastern Mich 20.17
115 Tulsa 19.37
116 Buffalo 17.31
117 Army 16.23