Ratings 11/12/05  
Ratings (11/12)

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)
Virginia Tech over Virginia by 10 (can the Hokies handle the pressure?)
Miami over Georgia Tech by 16 (a rescheduled game with extra importance)
Penn State over Michigan State by 14 (10-1 for JoePa? amazing)
Ohio State over Meechigan by 1 (two great finishes after poor starts)
Auburn over Alabama by 4 (low-scoring and close, that's the SEC)
BYU over Utah by 10 (Utah is 5-5 after last year's unbeaten season)
Southern Cal over Fresno State by 23 (we're still wondering how good SC is)
Oregon over Oregon State by 19 (no insurance points needed?)
Stanford over Cal by 1 (this year, the trombone makes the play)
Washington over WSU by 1 (a down year for both teams)
San Jose over New Mexico State by 4 (well, we can't have both of them losing)
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