We have an interloper in the Alabama-LSU-Oklahoma oligarchy in the C Ratings. Boise State picked up right where they left off in the Mountain West, winning their first conference game big over Colorado State. It’s not the conference they thought they were joining, but for this year at least it’ll provide a formidible challenge when they face TCU. If they survive that game and run the table, who’s going to argue against them for the national championship?
Meanwhile, Kansas State has finally put every undefeated team in the Top 25, and Northern Illinois is once again in positive B Points. This week’s rankings don’t include the Sun Belt teams that played Tuesday, or the Thursday night game.
How the C Ratings are tabulated: First, A Ratings are tabulated by multiplying the total score ratio, which is expressed by (points-opponents’ points)/points, by the winning percentage. Score ratio minimizes the effect of running up the score. Next, B Points for each game are tabulated by (margin of victory)/(opponent’s A rating)+/-1 for wins, and -(margin of loss)/(1-opponent’s A Rating)+/-1 for losses. The “+/-” is + for road games and – for home ones. The total number of B Points is multiplied by the A Rating to get the B Rating. Finally, the C Rating is tabulated by taking one-tenth the difference between the team’s B Rating and the average of his opponents’ B Ratings and taking the result off the B Rating. The three ratings go A, B, C across. Click here to see the complete ratings.
| 1 |  Alabama |
SEC #1 | BCS Title | ||||||
| 7-0 | LW: #1 | A Rat: .906 | B Rating: | 44.930 | C Rating: | 38.779 | AP: 2 | BCS: 2 | |
| Alabama owned a mediocre Ole Miss team, but other teams are creeping closer, and Tennessee is no Ole Miss. | |||||||||
| 2 |  LSU |
SEC #2 | ’06 Boise St. | ||||||
| 7-0 | LW: #2 | A Rat: .846 | B Rating: | 40.859 | C Rating: | 36.063 | AP: 1 | BCS: 1 | |
| Great job dispatching Tennessee. Suspending key players may be bad, but Auburn is overrated, and it seemed to work for them before. | |||||||||
| 3 |  Boise State |
MWC #1 | BCS Title | ||||||
| 6-0 | LW: #5 | A Rat: .821 | B Rating: | 38.907 | C Rating: | 33.944 | AP: 5 | BCS: 5 | |
| The Broncos started life in their new conference in a big way, blowing out Colorado State on the road. Mediocre Air Force and horrid UNLV will be their preparation for the TCU game. | |||||||||
| 4 |  Oklahoma |
B12 #1 | BCS Title | ||||||
| 6-0 | LW: #3 | A Rat: .803 | B Rating: | 35.762 | C Rating: | 30.918 | AP: 3 | BCS: 3 | |
| OU slips a spot with a concerning score-ratio game against a pretty bad Kansas team. They might want to find areas of improvement before Texas Tech comes to Norman. | |||||||||
| 5 |  Stanford |
P12 #1 | BCS Title | ||||||
| 6-0 | LW: #7 | A Rat: .873 | B Rating: | 29.293 | C Rating: | 24.267 | AP: 7 | BCS: 8 | |
| Big win over Wazzu makes up for last week’s slip, and they want national championship respect. But the Cougars’ rivals will not go away easily. | |||||||||
| 6 |  Wisconsin |
B10 #1 | BCS Title | ||||||
| 6-0 | LW: #4 | A Rat: .907 | B Rating: | 29.274 | C Rating: | 24.044 | AP: 4 | BCS: 6 | |
| Indiana’s A Rating is so horrid that even blowing them out leaves the Badgers open to Boise’s and Stanford’s hard charges. But now comes a big test against Michigan State. | |||||||||
| 7 |  Oklahoma State |
B12 #2 | BCS Title | ||||||
| 6-0 | LW: #8 | A Rat: .705 | B Rating: | 23.093 | C Rating: | 19.701 | AP: 6 | BCS: 4 | |
| People are getting excited over Little Brother in Stillwater, and Bedlam is going to be must-see. Some close calls suppress their ranking vis-a-vis the BCS, but they’re still a force to be reckoned with. | |||||||||
| 8 |  Clemson |
ACC #1 | Prncton/Yale | ||||||
| 7-0 | LW: #9 | A Rat: .713 | B Rating: | 15.960 | C Rating: | 12.927 | AP: 7 | BCS: 8 | |
| Good win over Maryland, but North Carolina is not to be underestimated, especially with G-Tech and main division challenger Wake Forest ahead. | |||||||||
| 9 |  Oregon |
P12 #2 | ’09 Boise St. | ||||||
| 5-1 | LW: #12 | A Rat: .604 | B Rating: | 14.429 | C Rating: | 12.700 | AP: 9 | BCS: 10 | |
| Oregon is making a hard charge after the opening loss to one of the best teams in the country, and suddenly they’re the nation’s best one-loss team. Now they travel to hapless Colorado. | |||||||||
| 10 |  Michigan |
B10 #2 | BCS Title | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #6 | A Rat: .637 | B Rating: | 13.651 | C Rating: | 10.966 | AP: 18 | BCS: 18 | |
| Party time in East Lansing, and the Wolverines pick up the pieces. But they’re still a very good team, and they should bounce back against Purdue. | |||||||||
| 11 |  Texas A&M |
B12 #3 | Big 12 Title | ||||||
| 4-2 | LW: #16 | A Rat: .443 | B Rating: | 12.292 | C Rating: | 10.322 | AP: 17 | BCS: 17 | |
| Baylor came in 4-1 and in the Top 25 both in polls and C Ratings, and A&M blew them out of the water, sending the Aggies shooting up the ratings. Now Iowa State serves as a warm-up for Missouri. | |||||||||
| 12 |  Notre Dame |
BCS Bowl | |||||||
| 4-2 | LW: #10 | A Rat: .429 | B Rating: | 9.677 | C Rating: | 8.054 | — | — | |
| A drop for idle hands, and Michigan losing doesn’t help. Will they start getting the respect they deserve after beating one-loss USC? | |||||||||
| 13 |  Nebraska |
B10 #3 | Big 10 Title | ||||||
| 5-1 | LW: #18 | A Rat: .526 | B Rating: | 8.335 | C Rating: | 6.871 | AP: 13 | BCS: 13 | |
| Idle hands work the other way for Nebraska, as Washington gets poll respect and Ohio State beats a good Illinois team. | |||||||||
| 14 |  Virginia Tech |
ACC #2 | Big 12 Title | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #33 | A Rat: .574 | B Rating: | 8.098 | C Rating: | 6.292 | AP: 16 | BCS: 12 | |
| Heading into last week V-Tech was only two spots ahead of Wake Forest, but you wouldn’t know the way they blew them out of the water. Now they’re the big Tech on campus and control their own Coastal destiny. | |||||||||
| 15 |  Houston |
USA #1 | C-USA Title | ||||||
| 6-0 | LW: #20 | A Rat: .729 | B Rating: | 9.345 | C Rating: | 6.245 | AP: 21 | BCS: 19 | |
| Houston shoots up the rankings without even playing; losses by other teams help, but so does UTEP blowing out Tulane and East Carolina beating Memphis handily. | |||||||||
| 16 |  West Virginia |
BST #1 | Big East Title | ||||||
| 5-1 | LW: #14 | A Rat: .587 | B Rating: | 7.884 | C Rating: | 5.996 | AP: 11 | BCS: 15 | |
| West Virginia drops for idle hands, as they prep for a showdown in the Carrier Dome. | |||||||||
| 17 |  Penn State |
B10 #4 | Big 10 Title | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #19 | A Rat: .594 | B Rating: | 6.828 | C Rating: | 5.729 | Coaches: 22 | BCS: 21 | |
| Gotta do better than that against mediocre Purdue, but a win is a win. But they better get better against Northwestern before Illinois – and certainly before Nebraska – come to town. | |||||||||
| 18 |  Toledo |
MAC #1 | MAC Title | ||||||
| 4-3 | LW: #26 | A Rat: .343 | B Rating: | 6.160 | C Rating: | 5.012 | — | — | |
| Bowling Green is a respectable win, but this climb into the Top 25 is more about other teams losing. Two of their losses were close and on the road and the third was against Boise State. Aren’t they worthy of consideration? | |||||||||
| 19 |  Georgia Tech |
ACC #3 | ACC Title | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #11 | A Rat: .576 | B Rating: | 7.067 | C Rating: | 4.844 | AP: 20 | BCS: 22 | |
| Tight loss to a half-decent Virginia team, but come on. The biggest drop always comes with the first loss. | |||||||||
| 20 |  South Carolina |
SEC #3 | SEC Title | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #23 | A Rat: .569 | B Rating: | 6.532 | C Rating: | 4.347 | AP: 14 | BCS: 14 | |
| Tight win against a mediocre Mississippi State team, but other teams outright lost. Now they catch Tennessee reeling. | |||||||||
| 21 |  Arizona State |
P12 #3 | Pac-12 Title | ||||||
| 5-2 | LW: #13 | A Rat: .444 | B Rating: | 4.593 | C Rating: | 3.969 | AP: 24 | Coaches: 25 | |
| And the Devils lose every single spot they gained last week after getting blown out by Oregon. They could leave the Top 25 for idle hands, but perhaps a bad Colorado team can get them back on track. | |||||||||
| 22 |  Rutgers |
BST #2 | Big East Title | ||||||
| 5-1 | LW: #15 | A Rat: .555 | B Rating: | 4.199 | C Rating: | 3.266 | — | — | |
| A tight pull-out against a mediocre Navy team, and they might as well not have played at all. Now Louisville will serve as prep for a huge clash with West Virginia. | |||||||||
| 23 |  Kansas State |
B12 #4 | 2010 TCU | ||||||
| 6-0 | LW: #34 | A Rat: .661 | B Rating: | 4.634 | C Rating: | 3.133 | AP: 12 | BCS: 11 | |
| You’ll have to pardon me for not believing in a team that beat FCS Eastern Kentucky by 3 and whose only win by more than 7 came against Kent State, but the Cardiac Cats do keep winning, and several teams losing finally put them in the Top 25. | |||||||||
| 24 |  TCU |
MWC #2 | MWC Title | ||||||
| 4-2 | LW: #25 | A Rat: .456 | B Rating: | 5.126 | C Rating: | 3.078 | — | — | |
| Other teams losing + Arkansas also on bye = actually gaining a spot. But they better blow New Mexico out of the water. | |||||||||
| 25 |  Arkansas |
SEC #4 | SEC Title | ||||||
| 5-1 | LW: #24 | A Rat: .567 | B Rating: | 4.536 | C Rating: | 2.534 | AP: 10 | BCS: 9 | |
| Swap places with TCU because New Mexico lost to a mediocre-to-bad Nevada team. Now they’re back in action against Ole Miss. | |||||||||
31 teams total with positive C Rating (none with negative B Rating)
Off Top 25: #30 Texas (was #22), #34 Illinois (was #17), #51 Baylor (was #21)
Watch List: #26 Georgia, #27 Southern Miss, #28 Florida State*, #29 Missouri*, #30 Texas, #31 Washington, #32 Miami (FL)*, #33 Michigan State*
Other Positive B Ratings: #35 USC*, #37 Utah State, #38 Iowa*, #39 Temple*, #41 Ohio*, #42 Northern Illinois (*=Newly Positive)
No Longer Positive: #34 Illinois, #36 North Carolina, #40 Tennessee, #44 Florida International, #48 Wake Forest, #51 Baylor, #61 Pittsburgh, #68 Western Michigan, #76 Duke
Bottom 10: #111 Central Michigan, #112 Buffalo, #113 Idaho, #114 Akron, #115 UNLV, #116 Florida Atlantic, #117 Tulane, #118 New Mexico, #119 UAB, #120 Memphis
Best game of week: Oklahoma State @ Missouri, 9am PT, FX