Ratings 11/12/05
Who would have thought that the state of South Carolina would take out the state of Florida? The winners play this week, the losers have the week off before playing the consolation game. Those results also have the interesting consequence of making South Florida the second-rated team from Florida in this week's rankings. If you think that's Bull, you're right; they are the South Florida Bulls, and if they win their last 3 games they get a BCS bowl as Big East champs. In other news, the ranks of the 0's declined, with Alabama losing and Buffalo and Rice winning. That leaves SC and Texas unbeaten, Temple and New Mexico State winless. The Aggies have a bottom-4 showdown with San Jose State this week. Finally, Southern Miss is completing their schedule by cramming a Tuesday-Sunday-Saturday sequence together. They won (in OT, naturally) on Tuesday and lost by 3 on Sunday.
This is Rivalry Weekend, part 1. Virginia is bowl eligible and hoping to take the Hokies down another notch. Some experts have Tech still in line for a BCS bowl as the other at-large pick. Penn State and Michigan State battle for the coveted Land Grant Trophy. I don't know what this looks like, but the real significance of the game is Penn State trying to become Big 10 champs and Michigan State trying to become bowl eligible. Ohio State and Michigan also have shots at the championship as they play in the Big House. Clemson and South Carolina will try to stay bowl eligible in their grudge match. The Beehive Boot is on the line as BYU plays Utah, two teams rapidly heading in opposite directions in the ratings. Washington and Washington State play for the Apple Cup, Cal and Stanford play the Big Game, Oregon and Oregon State renew the Civil War, and Alabama and Auburn play the Iron Bowl as they both hope for somebody to beat LSU. Southern Cal hosts Fresno State. The computer doesn't expect it to be close, but Fresno is 8-1, with only a 3-point loss at Oregon. The Ducks have quietly gone 9-1, losing only to SC. It could be interesting.
You'll notice that the computer has it "right" this time, with Texas and Southern Cal 1-2. Barring upsets, that's a controversy-free idea. It must be tough on the sports talk hosts, having to actually talk about real issues instead of BCS-bashing. Which is why they need a TO, baby!
The following predictions are straight from the ratings, with 4 points added for home field -- except for the first game, where I didn't add home field points because I didn't want to.
Clemson over South Carolina by 2 (two teams on a roll)1 | Texas | 72.38 |
2 | Southern Cal | 69.45 |
3 | Penn State | 69.30 |
4 | Ohio State | 67.07 |
5 | Virginia Tech | 65.61 |
6 | Miami F | 64.71 |
7 | Notre Dame | 62.11 |
8 | Michigan | 61.76 |
9 | Minnesota | 60.15 |
10 | Louisville | 59.18 |
11 | Oregon | 58.29 |
12 | Wisconsin | 57.84 |
13 | LSU | 57.79 |
14 | Auburn | 56.89 |
15 | Alabama | 56.77 |
16 | West Virginia | 56.71 |
17 | UCLA | 56.20 |
18 | Boston College | 56.01 |
19 | Texas Tech | 55.86 |
20 | Colorado | 55.62 |
21 | Northwestern | 55.35 |
22 | Georgia | 55.18 |
23 | TCU | 54.67 |
24 | Oklahoma | 54.12 |
25 | South Florida | 53.89 |
26 | Iowa | 53.77 |
27 | Florida State | 53.61 |
28 | Florida | 52.95 |
29 | Georgia Tech | 52.42 |
30 | Clemson | 52.30 |
31 | Arizona St | 51.75 |
32 | Iowa State | 51.70 |
33 | Michigan St | 51.12 |
34 | S Carolina | 50.77 |
35 | Fresno St | 50.64 |
36 | Virginia | 50.17 |
37 | Maryland | 50.10 |
38 | Purdue | 49.03 |
39 | UNC | 48.77 |
40 | California | 48.70 |
41 | Missouri | 48.35 |
42 | UTEP | 47.66 |
43 | Tennessee | 47.32 |
44 | Nebraska | 47.11 |
45 | NC State | 46.79 |
46 | Stanford | 46.43 |
47 | BYU | 46.07 |
48 | Toledo | 46.03 |
49 | Pittsburgh | 45.05 |
50 | Tulsa | 44.82 |
51 | Texas A&M | 44.82 |
52 | Miami O | 44.10 |
53 | Kansas | 44.09 |
54 | Central Florida | 44.05 |
55 | Southern Miss | 43.43 |
56 | Colorado St | 43.32 |
57 | Oregon St | 43.17 |
58 | New Mexico | 43.08 |
59 | Wake Forest | 42.56 |
60 | Rutgers | 42.50 |
61 | Boise St | 42.49 |
62 | Indiana | 42.39 |
63 | Houston | 42.23 |
64 | Northern Illinois | 42.18 |
65 | Central Michigan | 41.35 |
66 | Washington St | 40.90 |
67 | Baylor | 40.83 |
68 | Arizona | 40.67 |
69 | Arkansas | 40.66 |
70 | Navy | 40.22 |
71 | Utah | 40.11 |
72 | San Diego St | 40.11 |
73 | Oklahoma St | 39.82 |
74 | Kansas State | 39.35 |
75 | UConn | 39.21 |
76 | West.Michigan | 39.06 |
77 | Vanderbilt | 38.68 |
78 | Memphis | 38.21 |
79 | Cincinnati | 38.10 |
80 | Washington | 37.36 |
81 | Bowling Green | 37.11 |
82 | Wyoming | 37.00 |
83 | Kentucky | 35.57 |
84 | Nevada | 35.48 |
85 | Ole Miss | 35.32 |
86 | Marshall | 35.32 |
87 | Ohio | 35.30 |
88 | La Tech | 35.25 |
89 | UAB | 34.76 |
90 | Miss St | 33.98 |
91 | Illinois | 33.67 |
92 | Ball State | 33.64 |
93 | Army | 33.39 |
94 | Air Force | 33.29 |
95 | Akron | 32.70 |
96 | East Carolina | 32.56 |
97 | Hawaii | 32.02 |
98 | East.Michigan | 31.80 |
99 | Arkansas St | 31.63 |
100 | Syracuse | 30.75 |
101 | SMU | 30.55 |
102 | Middle Tenn | 30.37 |
103 | La-Lafayette | 29.71 |
104 | Duke | 28.69 |
105 | La-Monroe | 26.88 |
106 | Tulane | 25.64 |
107 | Troy | 25.22 |
108 | Rice | 25.15 |
109 | Florida Atlantic | 23.64 |
110 | UNLV | 23.49 |
111 | Temple | 22.52 |
112 | Utah State | 22.33 |
113 | Kent State | 21.68 |
114 | Idaho | 20.39 |
115 | Buffalo | 19.52 |
116 | San Jose | 19.38 |
117 | North Texas | 19.38 |
118 | New Mexico St | 19.25 |
119 | Florida Int. | 19.05 |