Ratings 11/15/08  
Ratings (11/15)

The next two weeks will be fun. Lots of BCS-important games, conference championships to decide, rivalry games and grudge matches. There are so many scenarios for the BCS title games that it's almost silly to talk about them until after the Texas Tech - Oklahoma game. I think it's great that the game of the year (well, this week's game of the year) is between two teams with suspect defenses and 50-points-a-game passing offenses. Flag football comes to prime time! The Raiders could lose and still win. A Sooner win makes a three-way, which I suppose means the polls decide, but OU still has to play Oklahoma State. I would think that Texas Tech holds the tie-breaker over Texas. So, how is this for a possibility? OU beats TT but then loses to Missouri; Oregon State wins out; somehow both Alabama and Florida lose. Then Texas Tech plays Southern Cal for the title, even though neither team wins their conference! Maybe "almost" needs to be removed from the third sentence.

One of the BCS possibilities that this week's games could mostly determine involves the BCS-busters. There are three unbeaten outsiders left: Utah, Boise State and Ball State. The blue Boise are likely to win out, but Utah hosts BYU in a huge game and Ball State is at Central Michigan for the MAC West Division title. In both cases, major bowls are possible; in both cases, not even winning their conference is possible. Tough circumstances.

A Cincinnati win over Pitt would almost clinch the Big East title, with only Syracuse left to play. A Miami win at Georgia Tech would do the same in the ACC Coastal. The ACC Atlantic is an NP-complete problem. (Sorry, that's a math joke, i.e. clever but not funny) Too bad the major bowls have to take somebody from the Big East and ACC when some great teams from the Big 12 and SEC will be left out. I would imagine the TV folks are rooting for Miami. How about Ball State versus Maryland, guys? Fear the turtle. (And I keep hearing the biddy in The Music Man saying BallState.)

The following predictions are straight from the ratings, with 4 points added for home field.

Oklahoma over Texas Tech by 3 (Bradford 38Td, 3406yds, 6Int; Harrell 36Td, 4077yds, 5Int. Wow.)
Ball State over Central Michigan by 4 (Wednesday night is football night ... in the MAC.)
Georgia Tech over Miami by 1 (A Mud-dobber win would throw the ACC race into chaos. So it's guaranteed.)
Virginia Tech over Duke by 9 (The Duke football team seems to have realized it's basketball season.)
Florida over The Citadel by 52 (I think the Gators are safe this week.)
Wisconsin over Cal Poly by 14 (The Badgers are less safe than you might think. A SLO upset?)
Maryland over Florida State by 1 (A 3-way tie if the Noles win, with the winner of ...)
Wake Forest over Boston College by 4 (Two tough teams that keep hanging in there. Classic ACC.)
Ohio State over Michigan by 24 (The Buckeyes would be happy to add one more to Michigan's record 8-loss season.)
Purdue over Indiana by 9 (Both teams kicked the Old Oaken Bucket several games back.)
Penn State over Michigan State by 12 (For the Land Grant Trophy - voted ugliest trophy - and the Big 10 title.)
Utah over BYU by 10 (A big game in a big rivalry; big o' me to notice, huh?)
Washington over Washington State by 2 (Somebody gets to win! The computer likes #124 over #160.)
Cincinnati over Pitt by 3 (A win puts the Bearcats in the rumble seat driving to a major bowl.)
Oregon State over Arizona by 3 (The Cats could ruin OSU's Rose Bowl plans.)

1 Florida 102.34
2 Texas 99.39
3 Southern Cal 98.04
4 Texas Tech 96.33
5 Oklahoma 95.56
6 Penn State 93.16
7 Alabama 92.21
8 Missouri 90.84
9 Utah 90.56
10 Georgia 89.88
11 Oklahoma St 88.52
12 Ohio State 88.38
13 North Carolina 87.55
14 TCU 87.30
15 Oregon St 86.36
16 Boise St 86.21
17 Michigan St 84.98
18 Miami FL 84.94
19 Brigham Young 84.78
20 California 84.15
21 Oregon 84.11
22 Nebraska 83.40
23 Iowa 83.37
24 LSU 83.26
25 Pittsburgh 83.09
26 Florida St 83.07
27 Mississippi 82.97
28 South Carolina 82.66
29 Ball St 82.48
30 Cincinnati 82.05
31 Wake Forest 81.98
32 Boston College 81.96
33 Georgia Tech 81.46
34 Vanderbilt 81.25
35 Connecticut 81.18
36 Virginia Tech 81.09
37 West Virginia 80.60
38 James Madison 80.42
39 Maryland 79.96
40 Northwestern 79.72
41 Virginia 79.56
42 Arizona 79.40
43 Clemson 79.38
44 Tulsa 78.98
45 Wisconsin 78.86
46 Kansas 78.71
47 Notre Dame 78.33
48 Air Force 78.22
49 Minnesota 76.73
50 Duke 76.53
51 Rutgers 76.41
52 Kentucky 76.30
53 South Florida 76.17
54 Navy 76.10
55 Illinois 76.08
56 Appalachian St 75.92
57 Stanford 75.18
58 Western Michigan 75.08
59 Rice 74.98
60 Central Michigan 74.71
61 Baylor 74.40
62 Houston 74.24
63 Buffalo 73.99
64 Nevada 73.94
65 Auburn 73.38
66 East Carolina 73.22
67 Arkansas 73.18
68 Arizona St 73.16
69 North Carolina St 72.89
70 Colorado 72.77
71 Richmond 72.37
72 Villanova 71.24
73 Hawai`i 71.21
74 Kansas St 71.00
75 UNLV 70.58
76 Tennessee 70.58
77 Colorado St 70.51
78 Wofford 70.42
79 Purdue 70.28
80 Southern Miss 69.88
81 Louisville 69.86
82 Fresno St 69.82
83 Texas A&M 69.18
84 UTEP 69.14
85 Troy 69.13
86 New Mexico 69.08
87 Bowling Green 68.92
88 Akron 68.89
89 Montana 68.88
90 Michigan 68.87
91 UCLA 68.81
92 Louisiana Tech 68.47
93 Weber St 68.40
94 Cal Poly SLO 68.33
95 New Hampshire 67.83
96 Northern Illinois 67.82
97 Elon 67.20
98 San José St 66.89
99 William & Mary 66.77
100 Mississippi St 66.07
101 Temple 65.51
102 Memphis 65.43
103 Florida Atlantic 65.30
104 Indiana 65.04
105 Northern Iowa 64.82
106 Louisiana-Lafayette 64.73
107 Marshall 64.16
108 Maine 63.83
109 Furman 63.63
110 Arkansas St 63.36
111 Iowa St 63.30
112 Massachusetts 63.25
113 Florida Int'l 63.18
114 Central Florida 63.07
115 Southern Illinois 62.74
116 Syracuse 62.62
117 Wyoming 62.44
118 Georgia Southern 62.39
119 Middle Tennessee St 61.90
120 Samford 61.57
121 Harvard 61.46
122 Army 61.36
123 Utah St 60.29
124 Washington 59.97
125 Ohio U. 59.42
126 Central Arkansas 59.23
127 Toledo 59.07
128 McNeese St 59.04
129 Kent St 58.73
130 Liberty 58.66
131 New Mexico St 58.14
132 Holy Cross 57.61
133 Delaware 57.45
134 Miami OH 57.43
135 Jacksonville St 57.39
136 Eastern Washington 57.34
137 South Carolina St 57.32
138 Tulane 57.24
139 Western Illinois 57.11
140 South Dakota St 57.02
141 Alabama-Birmingham 56.57
142 North Dakota St 56.55
143 Colgate 56.47
144 Montana St 56.32
145 Lafayette 56.30
146 Tennessee-Martin 56.24
147 SMU 55.77
148 Western Kentucky 55.73
149 Brown 55.72
150 Eastern Michigan 55.65
151 San Diego St 54.90
152 The Citadel 54.41
153 Northern Arizona 54.38
154 Hofstra 54.37
155 Tennessee St 54.20
156 Yale 54.09
157 Louisiana-Monroe 54.08
158 Sacramento St 53.88
159 Eastern Kentucky 53.85
160 Washington St 53.76
161 Texas St-San Marcos 53.03
162 Pennsylvania 52.58
163 Northeastern 51.54
164 Albany NY 51.25
165 Northwestern St 50.85
166 UC-Davis 50.70
167 Coastal Carolina 50.61
168 Sam Houston St 50.28
169 Grambling St 49.85
170 Idaho 49.81
171 Florida A&M 49.53
172 Stony Brook 49.47
173 SE Louisiana St 48.31
174 Missouri St 47.94
175 Towson 47.84
176 Charleston Southern 47.84
177 Western Carolina 47.63
178 Bethune-Cookman 47.40
179 Lehigh 47.32
180 Gardner-Webb 47.23
181 Eastern Illinois 46.99
182 North Texas 46.96
183 Prairie View A&M 46.92
184 South Dakota 46.73
185 Rhode Island 46.39
186 Southern Utah 46.28
187 Princeton 45.78
188 Nicholls St 45.56
189 Fordham 45.51
190 Monmouth NJ 45.17
191 Cornell NY 44.99
192 Morgan St 44.95
193 Stephen F. Austin 44.94
194 Illinois St 44.87
195 Portland St 44.85
196 Southern U. 43.58
197 Northern Colorado 43.52
198 Central Conn St 43.47
199 Youngstown St 43.40
200 Jacksonville FL 43.29
201 Chattanooga 42.96
202 VMI 42.70
203 Hampton 42.47
204 Presbyterian 42.40
205 Dayton 41.85
206 Delaware St 41.48
207 Norfolk St 41.37
208 San Diego 41.14
209 Columbia 40.58
210 SE Missouri St 39.62
211 Murray St 39.58
212 Austin Peay 39.57
213 Bucknell 39.21
214 North Dakota 39.20
215 Jackson St 38.59
216 Tennessee Tech 38.46
217 Sacred Heart 38.19
218 Idaho St 37.17
219 Robert Morris 35.03
220 Bryant 34.72
221 Alabama A&M 34.39
222 North Carolina Central 34.07
223 Dartmouth 33.88
224 Georgetown DC 33.36
225 Butler 33.18
226 Winston-Salem St 31.56
227 Alabama St 30.43
228 Duquesne 30.35
229 Morehead St 30.11
230 Marist 29.52
231 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 28.05
232 Drake 27.56
233 Alcorn St 27.56
234 Indiana St 27.55
235 North Carolina A&T 26.78
236 Wagner 25.08
237 Howard 24.73
238 Davidson 23.72
239 Texas Southern 23.22
240 Savannah St 22.92
241 Mississippi Valley St 20.30
242 Valparaiso 20.00
243 Iona 17.53
244 St Francis PA 16.73
245 Campbell 3.48