Ratings 12/02/03
This year's By the Numbers is just a single edition, issued well after the fact. I was just too busy in 2003 to run the system regularly. But, here's how the computer stood before the bowl games. The big BCS controversy was which two of the three excellent teams (Oklahoma, USC, LSU) should be in the championship game. The computer shows the same as what everybody thought all year long, that Oklahoma was dominant. The problem was that Oklahoma was upset by Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship Game. The computers and other BCS factors nevertheless held Oklahoma at #2 in the final BCS ranking, creating a Oklahoma-LSU championship game. USC coach Pete Carroll, in one of the great spin moves of all time, simply smiled and said that USC was delighted to be playing in the Rose Bowl for the national championship. And so they did! For the record, here's what the computer thought about the 2003-2004 bowl games.
12/11 New Orleans Bowl: Memphis over North Texas by 11 | Oklahoma | 68.56 |
2 | Southern Cal | 63.83 |
3 | LSU | 63.53 |
4 | Florida State | 63.25 |
5 | Michigan | 62.51 |
6 | Texas | 61.75 |
7 | Ohio State | 59.73 |
8 | Kansas State | 59.48 |
9 | Georgia | 59.39 |
10 | Miami | 59.11 |
11 | Miami O | 58.96 |
12 | Tennessee | 58.18 |
13 | Iowa | 57.73 |
14 | Florida | 56.77 |
15 | Purdue | 56.69 |
16 | Minnesota | 55.35 |
17 | Nebraska | 55.14 |
18 | Maryland | 55.14 |
19 | Arkansas | 54.82 |
20 | Ole Miss | 54.71 |
21 | Boise State | 54.60 |
22 | Washington State | 54.31 |
23 | Utah | 54.27 |
24 | Oklahoma State | 53.46 |
25 | Michigan State | 52.51 |
26 | Clemson | 52.32 |
27 | Auburn | 51.71 |
28 | Wisconsin | 51.33 |
29 | Texas Tech | 51.33 |
30 | Bowling Green | 51.19 |
31 | Virginia | 51.16 |
32 | Virginia Tech | 51.11 |
33 | NC State | 51.11 |
34 | California | 50.93 |
35 | Missouri | 50.66 |
36 | West Virginia | 50.33 |
37 | Pittsburgh | 49.78 |
38 | New Mexico | 49.66 |
39 | Southern Miss | 49.28 |
40 | TCU | 49.20 |
41 | Oregon | 49.12 |
42 | Colorado State | 48.54 |
43 | Oregon State | 48.30 |
44 | Boston College | 47.15 |
45 | Georgia Tech | 46.75 |
46 | Northern Illinois | 46.73 |
47 | Notre Dame | 46.67 |
48 | Alabama | 46.02 |
49 | Northwestern | 45.95 |
50 | Connecticut | 45.58 |
51 | Colorado | 45.56 |
52 | South Carolina | 45.49 |
53 | UCLA | 45.05 |
54 | Air Force | 44.99 |
55 | Memphis | 44.85 |
56 | Wake Forest | 44.74 |
57 | Louisville | 44.54 |
58 | Washington | 44.31 |
59 | Marshall | 44.31 |
60 | Toledo | 44.05 |
61 | Syracuse | 43.91 |
62 | UNLV | 43.75 |
63 | North Texas | 43.49 |
64 | Kansas | 43.42 |
65 | Fresno State | 42.07 |
66 | Tulsa | 42.06 |
67 | Hawaii | 41.70 |
68 | Navy | 41.24 |
69 | Penn State | 41.05 |
70 | San Diego State | 40.80 |
71 | South Florida | 40.72 |
72 | Arizona State | 40.57 |
73 | Texas A&M | 40.26 |
74 | Houston | 39.70 |
75 | BYU | 39.61 |
76 | Rutgers | 39.56 |
77 | Kentucky | 38.51 |
78 | Stanford | 38.02 |
79 | Duke | 37.99 |
80 | Akron | 37.74 |
81 | Wyoming | 37.04 |
82 | UAB | 36.96 |
83 | Cincinnati | 36.32 |
84 | Louisiana Tech | 36.27 |
85 | Nevada | 35.95 |
86 | Troy State | 35.64 |
87 | Western Michigan | 35.39 |
88 | North Carolina | 34.15 |
89 | Vanderbilt | 33.99 |
90 | Rice | 33.91 |
91 | Tulane | 33.66 |
92 | Kent State | 33.27 |
93 | Ball State | 32.47 |
94 | Arizona | 32.37 |
95 | Iowa State | 32.04 |
96 | Illinois | 31.82 |
97 | Mississippi State | 31.20 |
98 | Indiana | 31.13 |
99 | Baylor | 30.49 |
100 | Middle Tennessee | 29.86 |
101 | Utah State | 29.05 |
102 | La-Lafayette | 27.92 |
103 | Temple | 27.46 |
104 | New Mexico State | 27.43 |
105 | San Jose State | 26.70 |
106 | Ohio | 25.76 |
107 | Central Michigan | 25.76 |
108 | Arkansas State | 25.54 |
109 | Central Florida | 25.44 |
110 | Eastern Michigan | 24.73 |
111 | Idaho | 24.65 |
112 | East Carolina | 24.38 |
113 | Buffalo | 21.00 |
114 | UTEP | 20.18 |
115 | Army | 19.58 |
116 | SMU | 19.28 |
117 | La-Monroe | 17.70 |