Week 14 Provides Zero Clarity

I've been watching football and eating turkey all week. I'm exhausted. Here go the rankings.

1. Florida
2. USC
3. Boise State
4. Alabama
5. Texas
6. Ball State
7. Oklahoma
8. Utah
9. Penn State
10. Texas Tech

If you compare this to the AP Poll (which was my original goal), you'll see that other than some slight order differences, the only glaring anomalies are Ball State's presence and Boise State's position. Clearly, there needs to be some sort of penalty assessed for playing in the weakest four conferences.

The other difference is that the YFTS rankings continue to penalize or reward teams (respectively) throughout the year based on whether their SOS increases or decreases. Boise State beats one of the best teams on its schedule by 51, and they still go down in the rankings. OU steamrolls everyone, but Washington's continued... uh... suck brings down OU's ranking.

Also, the SEC finally surpassed the Big 12 in the conference rankings for the first time in forever. I'm going to blame the Big 12 North for this.

Washington Sucks So Hard, It Actually Brings Other Teams Down

So Oklahoma finally exposed Tech for the overrated pirate ship of misfits it was. Having only one loss to a fantastic Texas team, you would think Oklahoma would rocket into the Top 5. But they have Washington on the schedule, which is a little like having a giant sinkhole in the middle of the highway. Because Washington is STILL winless, OU's SOS lags.

Top 25 Rankings

1. Florida (10-1)
   
2. Boise State (11-0)
   
3. USC (9-1)
   
4. Alabama (11-0)
   
5. Texas (10-1)
   
6. Ball State (11-0)
   
7. Utah (12-0)
   
8. Oklahoma (10-1)
   
9. Penn State (11-1)
   
10. Texas Tech (10-1)
    
11. Missouri (9-2)
    
12. Ohio State (10-2)
    
13. TCU (10-2)
    
14. BYU (10-2)
    
15. Georgia (9-2)
    
16. Oklahoma State (9-2)
    
17. Iowa (8-4)
    
18. Tulsa (9-2)
    
19. Cincinnati (9-2)
    
20. Michigan State (9-3)
    
21. Boston College (8-3)
    
22. Florida State (8-3)
    
23. Western Michigan (9-2)
    
24. Oregon State (8-3)
    
25. Georgia Tech (8-3)
    

Missing the cut: West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Northwestern, Mississippi, Oregon

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This Week's Slate Sucked

I fell asleep during the Oregon State-Cal game. Twice. And it was actually a good game. I guess for all the fantastic weeks we had last year and most of this year, we were due for a dud.

The rankings stayed relatively stable this week. As of right now, I haven't factored in the UCLA-Washington score (still in the 4th quarter), but it literally cannot affect the rankings.

Top 25 Rankings

1. Florida (+1) -- 36.5 average margin of victory in their 9 wins. Yikes.
2. Boise State (-1) -- 26.8 average margin of victory in 10 wins.
3. USC (nc) -- the Trojans don't even have to play the first half anymore.
4. Texas (+1) -- waiting for someone to screw up.
5. Alabama (-1) -- winning unimpressively, but winning.
6. Texas Tech (+1) -- two I-AA opponents killing them. Lay off the cupcakes, guys.
7. Ball State (-1) -- #119 SOS. See Tulsa.
8. Utah (nc) -- hanging in there for a BCS bid.
9. Penn State (nc)
10. Oklahoma (nc) -- backloaded schedule only thing keeping them down.
11. BYU (nc) -- jeez, these rankings aren't changing much.
12. Missouri (nc)
    
13. Ohio State (nc)
    
14. TCU (nc)
    
15. Georgia (+3) -- finally, some movement!
16. Michigan State (+1)
17. Oklahoma State (+2)
18. Pittsburgh (+2)
19. Tulsa (-4)
20. North Carolina (-4)
21. Cincinnati (+1)
22. Western Michigan (+2)
23. Boston College (NR)
24. Central Michigan (+1)
25. Air Force (-4)

Missing the cut: Oregon State, Nebraska, Oregon, Georgia Tech, Connecticut

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Penn State Saves the Country from Another Championship Game That Sucks

First, Penn State beat Ohio State, ensuring the Buckeyes would not return to the championship game for the third consecutive year. Then, the Nittany Lions graciously lost by one point on a last-second field goal to spare the nation from witnessing another Big Ten beatdown in the championship game. JoePa fell on a grenade for all of us. He is a hero.

Anyway, onto the 99% complete rankings (UNLV and New Mexico are still playing, but they have practically no impact on the rankings).

Top 25 Rankings

1. Boise State (9.004) nc
2. Florida (8.744) nc
3. USC (8.112) +2
4. Alabama (8.099) -1
5. Texas (7.741) +1
6. Ball State (7.637) +1
7. Texas Tech (7.621) +1
8. Utah (7.176) +1
9. Penn State (6.839) -5
10. Oklahoma (6.830) nc
11. BYU (6.445) +1
12. Missouri (6.302) +2
13. Ohio State (6.028) +3
14. TCU (5.677) -3
15. Tulsa (5.414) nc
16. North Carolina (5.346) +3
17. Michigan State (5.255) nc
18. Georgia (5.218) nc
    
19. Oklahoma State (5.014) -6
20. Pittsburgh (4.591) +7
21. Air Force (4.354) +5
22. Cincinnati (4.248) +2
23. Florida State (4.109) NR
24. Western Michigan (3.894) NR
25. Central Michigan (3.623) +5

Missing the Cut: South Carolina, Georgia Tech, California, West Virginia, Minnesota

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No Crab Bisque for You!

Texas Tech pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the year tonight. And they go absolutely nowhere in the rankings as a result. No soup for Lubbock!

1. Boise State 8-0 (9.263) +3 -- a 49-0 shutout on the road propels the Smurfs to #1; SOS is still #111
   
2. Florida 8-1 (8.790) +1 -- a failed 4th-down conversion away from #1
   
3. Alabama 9-0 (8.468) +3 -- worst SOS in the SEC. FAIL awaits?
   
4. Penn State 9-0 (8.064) +1 -- speaking of terrible SOS...
   
5. USC 7-1 (7.834) -3 -- how bad is Washington? USC beats them 56-0 and drops three spots. The Trojans have allowed opponents scores of 0, 0, 0, 3, 7, 10, 10, and the 27-point debacle at Corvallis. The Pac-10 is really, really bad.
   
6. Texas 8-1 (7.633) -5 -- Colt left one too many seconds on the clock.
   
7. Ball State 8-0 (7.506) nc -- don't look now, but another MAC team is ranked.
   
8. Texas Tech 9-0 (7.341) nc -- if they had just scheduled North Texas instead of UMass, they'd easily be in the Top 5.
   
9. Utah 9-0 (7.085) nc -- Utah's playing like BYU. It's not helping their cause.
   
10. Oklahoma 8-1 (6.778) +1 -- defense killing OU's chances.
    
11. TCU 9-1 (6.658) +1
12. BYU 8-1 (6.568) +1
13. Oklahoma State 8-1 (6.098) +2
14. Missouri 7-2 (5.914) +2
15. Tulsa 7-1 (5.373) -5
16. Ohio State 7-2 (5.339) +2
17. Michigan State 8-2 (5.083) +2
18. Georgia 7-2 (5.026) -4
19. North Carolina 6-2 (4.590) +2
20. Georgia Tech 7-2 (4.562) +2
21. Minnesota 7-2 (4.534) -4
22. California 6-2 (4.425) +2
23. West Virginia 6-2 (4.214) NR
24. Cincinnati 6-2 (3.907) NR
25. Northwestern 7-2 (3.900) NR

Missing the cut: Air Force, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Kansas, Central Michigan

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