Ratings 11/25
For some reason, I've taken a strong disliking to the conference championship games this year. Not that I ever thought they were a great idea, but this year they really annoy me. All three games are rematches, all three seem unnecessary and two of the three are holding up the bowl selections. I think that's where my irritation comes from. With the BCS (oops, almost dropped a letter there) quantifying the bowl selection process, I'm more impatient to find out the match-ups and more inclined to argue the relative merits of Florida State and Miami. Of course, if K-State beats Oklahoma then both Florida teams make the championship game and there's no argument (unless you're a Washington or Oklahoma fan). So, do we need to argue or not? It's annoying not to know. I think that there's a Pentium phenomenon here: with progress I want my results immediately, and any holdup is intolerable.
I've noticed several media people becoming more strength-of-schedule literate this year. Several people commented on the importance of the Virginia-Virginia Tech and Georgia-Georgia Tech games as they might affect Florida State and Miami. But I haven't heard anyone mention the advantage some teams get by playing an extra game. Oklahoma and company all get a nice bonus on their strength of schedules by playing another game against top competition. I'm not sure it matters much this year, but the effect could change a BCS ranking some year.
Here are predictions for all five games this week. Home team gets
4 points extra:
Army and Navy even
UNLV by 8 over Hawaii
Oklahoma by 5 over Kansas State
Florida by 8 over Auburn
Western Michigan by 17 over Marshall
1 | Florida State | 67.99 |
2 | Miami F | 64.48 |
3 | Oklahoma | 63.81 |
4 | Washington | 61.14 |
5 | Nebraska | 60.71 |
6 | Virginia Tech | 59.38 |
7 | Oregon State | 58.24 |
8 | Kansas State | 58.18 |
9 | Florida | 58.16 |
10 | Notre Dame | 55.97 |
11 | Oregon | 55.85 |
12 | Michigan | 55.17 |
13 | Georgia Tech | 55.16 |
14 | Clemson | 54.95 |
15 | Ohio State | 54.64 |
16 | Texas | 53.74 |
17 | TCU | 53.19 |
18 | Purdue | 52.69 |
19 | Northwestern | 52.52 |
20 | Wisconsin | 51.81 |
21 | Texas A&M | 51.58 |
22 | Auburn | 50.38 |
23 | Tennessee | 49.55 |
24 | UCLA | 49.32 |
25 | Toledo | 48.49 |
26 | Georgia | 48.2 |
27 | Western Michigan | 48.18 |
28 | Louisville | 47.96 |
29 | Mississippi State | 47.94 |
30 | Iowa State | 47.46 |
31 | South Carolina | 47.43 |
32 | Arizona | 47.05 |
33 | Arizona State | 46.53 |
34 | LSU | 46.46 |
35 | Stanford | 46.45 |
36 | Syracuse | 46.4 |
37 | Pittsburgh | 46.01 |
38 | Colorado State | 45.96 |
39 | West Virginia | 45.87 |
40 | East Carolina | 45.04 |
41 | Texas El Paso | 44.79 |
42 | Boston College | 44.64 |
43 | Michigan State | 44.35 |
44 | NC State | 44.28 |
45 | Boise State | 44.15 |
46 | Texas Tech | 44.13 |
47 | Southern Cal | 43.92 |
48 | Southern Miss | 43.74 |
49 | Minnesota | 43.69 |
50 | Mississippi | 43.52 |
51 | Fresno State | 43.39 |
52 | Virginia | 43.29 |
53 | North Carolina | 43.17 |
54 | Air Force | 42.35 |
55 | Illinois | 41.99 |
56 | Arkansas | 41.7 |
57 | Colorado | 41.3 |
58 | Penn State | 41.27 |
59 | Cincinnati | 41.04 |
60 | Maryland | 40.56 |
61 | Washington State | 40.44 |
62 | California | 40.21 |
63 | Northern Illinois | 39.7 |
64 | San Jose State | 39.6 |
65 | UAB | 39.32 |
66 | BYU | 39.04 |
67 | UNLV | 38.44 |
68 | Central Florida | 38.37 |
69 | Iowa | 38.24 |
70 | Alabama | 38.14 |
71 | Ohio | 38.04 |
72 | Kansas | 37.46 |
73 | Indiana | 36.86 |
74 | Temple | 35.52 |
75 | Marshall | 35.51 |
76 | Utah | 34.7 |
77 | Missouri | 34.49 |
78 | New Mexico | 34.34 |
79 | Tulane | 33.05 |
80 | Oklahoma State | 32.41 |
81 | Vanderbilt | 32.37 |
82 | Akron | 32.35 |
83 | Middle Tennessee | 32.26 |
84 | Idaho | 31.85 |
85 | San Diego State | 31.51 |
86 | Kentucky | 31.17 |
87 | Miami O | 31 |
88 | Tulsa | 30.65 |
89 | Rice | 30.39 |
90 | Memphis | 30.3 |
91 | Rutgers | 29.87 |
92 | Utah State | 28.34 |
93 | Houston | 26.78 |
94 | Wake Forest | 26.49 |
95 | New Mexico State | 26.35 |
96 | Baylor | 26.02 |
97 | Ball State | 26.01 |
98 | Hawaii | 25.69 |
99 | Louisiana Tech | 24.81 |
100 | SMU | 24.16 |
101 | Duke | 23.98 |
102 | Eastern Michigan | 23.25 |
103 | Army | 22.24 |
104 | Bowling Green | 22.23 |
105 | Navy | 22.03 |
106 | North Texas | 21.37 |
107 | Arkansas State | 21.27 |
108 | Nevada | 21.04 |
109 | Wyoming | 19.18 |
110 | Central Michigan | 18.81 |
111 | Connecticut | 16.44 |
112 | Buffalo | 14.73 |
113 | Kent | 14.47 |
114 | Louisiana Lafayette | 11.56 |
115 | Louisiana Monroe | 8.53 |