Ratings 11/20/04  
Ratings (November 20)

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