Ratings 11/23/02  
Ratings (November 23)

Not a good week for last second wins, as Tech, Pittsburgh, Meechigan and Washington State all came up a little short. The BCS dodged two bullets and may get a nice no-controversy Fiesta Bowl. Of course, the BCS could get stuck with a 5-loss Florida State, a 4-loss LSU and a 4-loss Colorado. At least that would give Notre Dame reasonable competition. But it would give the shaft to Kansas State (as usual) and possibly Southern Cal. By the way, don't talk to UCLA (down 52-7 in the 4th quarter) about how silly the computer is to put the Trojans on top.

Does it seem to you that an unusually large number of teams have been streaky this year? In some cases, it's a change in difficulty of schedule, in some cases injuries, in some cases even a change of weather, but it seems that many teams are on major win or loss streaks. Locally, who would have predicted at midseason that Tech and UVa would go into this week's game ranked the same? I looked up some schedules, and this year we've got Tech starting 8-0 then going 0-3 (with a possible 0-6), NC State going 9-0 and then 1-3, Minnesota 7-1 and then 0-4, Wisconsin 5-0 and then 2-6, Iowa State 6-1 and then 1-5 (including a loss to UConn), Air Force 6-0 and then 2-4, Oregon 6-0 and then 1-5. On the up side, there's Virginia going 0-2 then 8-2, UConn 2-6 then 4-0, South Florida 2-2 then 7-0, Washington 4-5 then 3-0, and North Texas 1-5 then 6-0. Then there's Oregon State, with runs of 4-0, 0-3, 4-1. Odd year, and tough on a computer program.

Although only the "Egg Bowl" (?) is now played on Thanksgiving Day, several familiar faces play on Friday. The Aggies and Horns renew the battle for the Chicken Ranch (hopefully without a killer bonfire). Tech tries to take C out of Chokies. Colorado and Georgia look for wins heading into conference championship games. The computer is not terribly impressed with Oklahoma State, but they beat Oklahoma last year and usually give them a great game. Florida and Florida State are in an odd Who Cares? situation, while Notre Dame and Southern Cal play their first meaningful game in a long time. Probation-bound Alabama gets its "bowl game" out in Hawaii.

Round two of Rivalry Week! Several rounds of State U versus Cow College, and a huge game in the Coliseum. The following predictions are straight from the ratings, with 4 points added for the home team.

Mississippi over Miss. State by 13
Texas over Texas A&M by 16
Arizona State over Arizona by 5
Colorado over Nebraska by 5
Georgia over Georgia Tech by 14
Virginia Tech over Virginia by 4
Oklahoma over Oklahoma State by 16
Miami over Syracuse by 24
Florida State over Florida by 6
Southern Cal over Notre Dame by 11
Alabama over Hawaii by 10

1 Southern Cal 67.05
2 Miami 65.75
3 Oklahoma 65.21
4 Ohio State 63.44
5 Kansas State 63.09
6 Iowa 61.55
7 Georgia 60.83
8 Texas 59.86
9 Notre Dame 59.54
10 Penn State 59.52
11 Alabama 58.73
12 Michigan 58.43
13 Florida State 58.13
14 Colorado 57.83
15 Wash State 57.23
16 Arkansas 55.97
17 Florida 55.87
18 UCLA 55.38
19 Maryland 55.06
20 Auburn 54.80
21 Oregon St 54.39
22 Colorado St 53.99
23 NC State 53.92
24 Boise 53.84
25 LSU 53.46
26 Virginia Tech 53.20
27 Virginia 52.92
28 West Virginia 52.86
29 California 52.80
30 Pittsburgh 52.66
31 Texas Tech 52.65
32 South Florida 52.00
33 Washington 51.85
34 Tennessee 51.02
35 Boston College 50.91
36 Georgia Tech 50.61
37 Iowa State 50.02
38 Kentucky 49.67
39 Wisconsin 49.63
40 Clemson 49.26
41 Oregon 49.18
42 Arizona St 49.14
43 Nebraska 48.22
44 Texas A&M 47.84
45 Purdue 47.53
46 Bowling Green 47.52
47 TCU 47.45
48 Louisville 47.43
49 Air Force 46.34
50 Wake Forest 46.27
51 Toledo 46.08
52 Missouri 45.58
53 Minnesota 45.52
54 Mississippi 45.29
55 Oklahoma St 45.22
56 Cincinnati 44.68
57 S Carolina 44.34
58 Hawaii 44.19
59 Illinois 44.13
60 North Ill 43.63
61 Miami O 43.06
62 Marshall 42.36
63 Southern Miss 42.03
64 North Texas 40.94
65 Arizona 40.51
66 Fresno 40.49
67 UConn 40.03
68 UCF 40.03
69 Utah 39.12
70 Michigan St 38.85
71 Tulane 38.71
72 Stanford 38.68
73 New Mexico 37.90
74 Syracuse 37.85
75 Temple 37.53
76 NM State 36.84
77 North Carolina 36.49
78 East Carolina 36.39
79 Miss State 36.22
80 Ball State 35.51
81 BYU 35.38
82 San Diego St 34.50
83 Nevada 34.50
84 San Jose 34.11
85 Vanderbilt 33.74
86 Western Mich 33.23
87 UNLV 33.23
88 Duke 33.06
89 UAB 32.81
90 Indiana 32.22
91 Northwestern 31.99
92 Utah State 31.84
93 La Tech 31.61
94 Houston 31.26
95 Memphis 31.10
96 Akron 30.35
97 Troy State 30.12
98 Ohio 30.05
99 Baylor 29.80
100 Wyoming 28.84
101 Mid Tenn 28.44
102 Central Mich 28.02
103 Arkansas St 28.00
104 Rice 27.94
105 La-Lafayette 26.48
106 Kansas 25.66
107 Rutgers 25.29
108 Idaho 24.79
109 Navy 24.66
110 La-Monroe 23.43
111 SMU 23.35
112 Kent State 23.08
113 Eastern Mich 20.36
114 Tulsa 19.10
115 UTEP 18.66
116 Army 18.47
117 Buffalo 17.31