Ratings 11/25  
Ratings (November 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