Ratings 11/20/04
The "adult" conferences are going to have to invite the Utes to their big BCS party! Utah finished off an unbeaten season and have a stranglehold on the #6 slot in the BCS. A non-BCS conference team in the top 6 gets an automatic spot in the 4 BCS bowls. And now unbeaten Boise State is #7! If Texas loses this week to Texas A&M or Cal loses later at Southern Miss, Boise State could move up to #6 and then both Texas and Cal would be out. The Rose Bowl would not be happy about that. Michigan-Cal would be a good matchup of teams from the right conferences, but I doubt they want Michigan-Boise. So today's BCS question is whether that's fair. Cal could finish a 10-1 season with only one narrow loss at #1 USC and be bumped by the Utes and the Boises.
One nice thing about the current bowl system is that more bowls wait until all games have been played to finalize their choices. The general speculation is that the winner of the Virginia - Virginia Tech game gets the Peach Bowl and the loser goes to Orlando for the Champs Sports Bowl. The big bowls are very much up in the air, with USC and Auburn having losable games left. Oklahoma plays either Iowa State or Nebraska in the Big 12 championship. And the smaller bowls are very dependent on how the big bowls shake out. If Texas and Cal become available, that changes a lot of situations.
Rivalry Week part 2 is your standard sequel, with some good moments but not the bang of the original. The Hoos-Hokies winner gets at least a share of the ACC. Texas A&M could knock Texas out of the BCS. Notre Dame could pull the biggest upset of all. The following predictions are straight from the ratings, with 4 points added for home field.
Virginia Tech over Virginia by 4 (both teams looked great last week, big pressure this week)
Georgia over Georgia Tech by 11 (the Dawgs may have underachieved, but look to finish strong)
Boston College over Syracuse by 12 (BC could take the Big East title ... to the ACC next year)
Iowa State over Missouri by 10 (the Cyclones take the Big 12 North with a win)
Colorado over Nebraska by 3 (the Huskers need a win to be bowl eligible)
Texas over Texas A&M by 8 (the Horns could finish a quiet 10-1)
Texas Tech and Oklahoma State even (another good Big 12 matchup)
Southern Cal over Notre Dame by 25 (can anybody beat the Trojans?)
Bowling Green over Toledo by 6 (winner shares the MAC West)
Mississippi over Mississippi State by 7 (two 3-7 teams scramble for the Egg Bowl)
1 | Southern Cal | 71.99 |
2 | Oklahoma | 68.38 |
3 | California | 68.25 |
4 | Arizona St | 64.31 |
5 | Utah | 64.17 |
6 | Texas | 63.98 |
7 | Auburn | 61.85 |
8 | Miami F | 61.48 |
9 | Texas A&M | 59.49 |
10 | Boise St | 59.42 |
11 | Louisville | 59.14 |
12 | Iowa | 57.96 |
13 | Oklahoma St | 57.65 |
14 | Virginia | 57.46 |
15 | Virginia Tech | 57.35 |
16 | Michigan | 56.51 |
17 | Florida State | 56.39 |
18 | Georgia | 55.35 |
19 | LSU | 54.76 |
20 | Oregon St | 54.32 |
21 | Purdue | 54.17 |
22 | Tennessee | 54.03 |
23 | Texas Tech | 53.77 |
24 | UCLA | 52.57 |
25 | Wisconsin | 52.36 |
26 | Ohio State | 51.69 |
27 | Notre Dame | 51.11 |
28 | UTEP | 50.75 |
29 | Colorado | 50.04 |
30 | Fresno St | 49.40 |
31 | New Mexico | 49.17 |
32 | Florida | 49.03 |
33 | UNC | 48.70 |
34 | Arkansas | 48.63 |
35 | Clemson | 48.11 |
36 | Georgia Tech | 48.02 |
37 | Stanford | 48.00 |
38 | Boston College | 47.67 |
39 | West Virginia | 47.34 |
40 | Northwestern | 47.32 |
41 | Oregon | 47.10 |
42 | Iowa State | 46.80 |
43 | BYU | 46.69 |
44 | Minnesota | 46.57 |
45 | Bowling Green | 46.38 |
46 | Washington St | 46.00 |
47 | Alabama | 45.94 |
48 | NC State | 45.45 |
49 | Kansas | 45.21 |
50 | UAB | 45.18 |
51 | S Carolina | 44.69 |
52 | Cincinnati | 44.36 |
53 | Michigan St | 43.81 |
54 | Memphis | 43.12 |
55 | Nebraska | 42.82 |
56 | Wyoming | 42.35 |
57 | Maryland | 42.22 |
58 | Kansas State | 41.98 |
59 | Pittsburgh | 41.84 |
60 | Penn State | 41.57 |
61 | Wake Forest | 41.38 |
62 | TCU | 41.36 |
63 | Navy | 41.35 |
64 | Air Force | 41.09 |
65 | Missouri | 41.06 |
66 | UConn | 40.20 |
67 | Colorado St | 40.00 |
68 | Syracuse | 39.95 |
69 | Miami O | 39.82 |
70 | Southern Miss | 39.56 |
71 | Arizona | 39.14 |
72 | Troy | 38.77 |
73 | La Tech | 38.74 |
74 | North.Illinois | 38.08 |
75 | San Diego St | 38.00 |
76 | Ole Miss | 36.92 |
77 | Toledo | 36.70 |
78 | Baylor | 36.42 |
79 | Marshall | 36.10 |
80 | South Florida | 35.96 |
81 | Illinois | 35.47 |
82 | Indiana | 34.92 |
83 | North Texas | 34.24 |
84 | Washington | 33.83 |
85 | Miss St | 33.51 |
86 | Houston | 33.40 |
87 | New Mexico St | 32.98 |
88 | Duke | 32.87 |
89 | Hawaii | 32.77 |
90 | Tulane | 32.52 |
91 | Rutgers | 31.90 |
92 | UNLV | 31.53 |
93 | Rice | 30.84 |
94 | Vanderbilt | 30.76 |
95 | Kentucky | 30.46 |
96 | Akron | 30.04 |
97 | Kent | 29.89 |
98 | Tulsa | 29.66 |
99 | Nevada | 29.16 |
100 | SMU | 28.89 |
101 | Army | 28.82 |
102 | Middle Tenn | 27.66 |
103 | Temple | 27.57 |
104 | La-Monroe | 27.23 |
105 | East Carolina | 26.56 |
106 | Ohio | 26.17 |
107 | La-Lafayette | 25.18 |
108 | Utah State | 24.95 |
109 | San Jose | 24.21 |
110 | Arkansas St | 23.11 |
111 | Cent.Michigan | 21.87 |
112 | East.Michigan | 20.69 |
113 | Idaho | 20.33 |
114 | Ball State | 19.43 |
115 | West.Michigan | 17.15 |
116 | Buffalo | 16.71 |
117 | Central Florida | 15.96 |