I take back what I said about all full rankings coming in PDF form from now on. My laptop is incredibly slow at calculating the rankings. Even the super-slow school computers are faster. If I have to calculate the rankings at home, I’ll use the computer I’ve used from the start that only creates RTFs (unless I can get a bunch of programs closed, but I’m skeptical that’ll help).
After last weekend’s upsets, the national championship picture is starting to clear up. Barring upsets, there will be a national semifinal next week in primetime. Their opponent? Stanford, then either Boise State or a one-loss team. Oklahoma State and our other lineal title holders may have something to say about that, but most people expect the Big 12 teams and Oregon to lose (Kansas State potentially this weekend) and the ACC and Big East to be disrespected.
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 | ||||||
| 8-0 | LW: #1 | A Rat: .907 | B Rating: | 52.786 | C Rating: | 46.078 | AP: 2 | BCS: 2 | |
| Alabama showed the teams below them who’s boss with a huge blowout of Tennessee. Now they get a week to prepare for the showdown with LSU. | |||||||||
| 2 |  LSU |
SEC #2 | ’06 Boise St. | ||||||
| 8-0 | LW: #2 | A Rat: .852 | B Rating: | 46.800 | C Rating: | 41.451 | AP: 1 | BCS: 1 | |
| Huge win over an overrated Auburn team, but they will need the week off before the trip to Tuscaloosa. | |||||||||
| 3 |  Stanford |
P12 #1 | BCS Title | ||||||
| 7-0 | LW: #5 | A Rat: .868 | B Rating: | 40.987 | C Rating: | 34.271 | AP: 4 | BCS: 6 | |
| “Won’t go away easily” my ass! Blowout over the Huskies plus big upsets means the Cardinal are now in national championship position. | |||||||||
| 4 |  Boise State |
MWC #1 | BCS Title | ||||||
| 7-0 | LW: #3 | A Rat: .796 | B Rating: | 38.385 | C Rating: | 33.063 | AP: 5 | BCS: 4 | |
| Not the most impressive performance against Air Force. They’ll want to get their practice licks in against UNLV, because the TCU game is huge. | |||||||||
| 5 |  Oklahoma |
B12 #1 | BCS Title | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #4 | A Rat: .646 | B Rating: | 28.949 | C Rating: | 24.346 | AP: 11 | BCS: 9 | |
| Losing to mediocre Texas Tech at home certainly looks bad, but I always say never to overreact to a single loss, especially by a field goal. You thought they were that good, they can’t be that bad now. | |||||||||
| 6 |  Oklahoma State |
B12 #2 | BCS Title | ||||||
| 7-0 | LW: #7 | A Rat: .709 | B Rating: | 27.169 | C Rating: | 23.106 | AP: 3 | BCS: 3 | |
| I don’t think anyone really thinks Oklahoma State is really this good. But they do keep impressing with a huge win over a decent Missouri team. | |||||||||
| 7 |  Wisconsin |
B10 #1 | BCS Title | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #6 | A Rat: .718 | B Rating: | 25.048 | C Rating: | 20.074 | AP: 12 | BCS: 15 | |
| See what I said about Oklahoma, with the added element that Michigan State is substantially better than Texas Tech. Now comes a not-as-big-as-it-could-be clash with Ohio State. | |||||||||
| 8 |  Oregon |
P12 #2 | ’09 Boise St. | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #9 | A Rat: .652 | B Rating: | 20.947 | C Rating: | 17.981 | AP: 7 | BCS: 7 | |
| Impressive blowout over Colorado. But now they get progressively better opponents in the Washington schools. | |||||||||
| 9 |  Clemson |
ACC #1 | Prncton/Yale | ||||||
| 8-0 | LW: #8 | A Rat: .708 | B Rating: | 19.883 | C Rating: | 16.197 | AP: 6 | BCS: 5 | |
| Fairly tight game against an only-decent North Carolina team. But G-Tech is the best opponent they’ve faced so far. | |||||||||
| 10 |  Houston |
USA #1 | BCS Bowl | ||||||
| 7-0 | LW: #15 | A Rat: .736 | B Rating: | 14.737 | C Rating: | 10.372 | AP: 18 | BCS: 17 | |
| Marshall is pretty bad, but Houston put on a show, and combine that with losses by other teams and it’s another five-spot jump for the Cougars. | |||||||||
| 11 |  Texas A&M |
B12 #3 | Big 12 Title | ||||||
| 5-2 | LW: #11 | A Rat: .483 | B Rating: | 12.896 | C Rating: | 10.275 | AP: 16 | BCS: 16 | |
| Big win over Iowa State, but Missouri will be substantially tougher. | |||||||||
| 12 |  Michigan |
B10 #2 | BCS Title | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #10 | A Rat: .637 | B Rating: | 12.586 | C Rating: | 9.728 | AP: 17 | BCS: 18 | |
| Drop for idle hands made worse by opponents not doing their best. Now Purdue serves as a warm-up for Iowa. | |||||||||
| 13 |  Penn State |
B10 #3 | Big 10 Title | ||||||
| 7-1 | LW: #17 | A Rat: .602 | B Rating: | 9.118 | C Rating: | 7.420 | AP: 21 | BCS: 19 | |
| Not sure why a modest ten-point win over mediocre Northwestern results in such a big jump in the C Ratings and AP Poll – other teams losing don’t explain it all. But now to justify it against Illinois. | |||||||||
| 14 |  South Carolina |
SEC #3 | SEC Title | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #20 | A Rat: .569 | B Rating: | 9.241 | C Rating: | 6.870 | AP: 14 | BCS: 13 | |
| Despite idle hands, big wins by their opponents (Vandy over Army, Kentucky over a I-AA team that doesn’t matter for A Rating purposes) send them rocketing up the ratings. Now to justify it against Tennessee. | |||||||||
| 15 |  Virginia Tech |
ACC #2 | Big 12 Title | ||||||
| 7-1 | LW: #14 | A Rat: .597 | B Rating: | 9.078 | C Rating: | 6.785 | AP: 15 | BCS: 12 | |
| Followed the big win over Wake Forest with a blowout over BC. Now a trip to Duke ahead of an important showdown with Georgia Tech. | |||||||||
| 16 |  Southern Miss |
USA #2 | C-USA Title | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #27 | A Rat: .600 | B Rating: | 8.372 | C Rating: | 5.403 | Coaches: 25 | — | |
| Is C-USA better than you think? A blowout win over SMU have people noticing the Golden Eagles have only a single tight loss with some pretty big wins. How big could the title game be? | |||||||||
| 17 |  Toledo |
MAC #1 | MAC Title | ||||||
| 5-3 | LW: #18 | A Rat: .384 | B Rating: | 6.961 | C Rating: | 5.318 | — | — | |
| Big win over Miami (OH). Will a Tuesday night nationally televised win over Northern Illinois cause the pollsters to take notice? | |||||||||
| 18 |  Kansas State |
B12 #4 | 2010 TCU | ||||||
| 7-0 | LW: #23 | A Rat: .684 | B Rating: | 7.929 | C Rating: | 5.286 | AP: 10 | BCS: 8 | |
| Huge win over their rivals in their first game in the Top 25. But who wants to bet the Sooners will own them? | |||||||||
| 19 |  Arizona State |
P12 #3 | Pac-12 Title | ||||||
| 5-2 | LW: #21 | A Rat: .444 | B Rating: | 4.848 | C Rating: | 4.081 | AP: 23 | BCS: 21 | |
| Teams losing (and opponents winning) mean the Sun Devils move up despite idle hands, and with woeful Colorado coming to the desert, they could move up substantially. | |||||||||
| 20 |  Notre Dame |
Bowl Elgblty | |||||||
| 4-3 | LW: #12 | A Rat: .337 | B Rating: | 5.120 | C Rating: | 4.003 | — | — | |
| We were already rating the Golden Domers far higher than most people, and after being blown out by USC this looks all the more dubious. But when they look good they look very good, and they’ll have a chance to look good against Navy. | |||||||||
| 21 |  Nebraska |
B10 #4 | Big 10 Title | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #13 | A Rat: .566 | B Rating: | 5.801 | C Rating: | 3.590 | AP: 13 | BCS: 14 | |
| Nebraska slips substantially despite winning! But a blowout of a godawful Minnesota team doesn’t outweigh the first-loss effect on Wisconsin. | |||||||||
| 22 |  USC |
P12 #4 | Probation | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #35 | A Rat: .542 | B Rating: | 4.918 | C Rating: | 3.099 | AP: 20 | SBNBlog: 21 | |
| If the Trojans are this good with nothing to play for and most of the upperclassmen having departed when the sanctions came down, imagine how good they’ll be next year! BCS or bust for the Trojans next year! Could they upset Stanford? | |||||||||
| 23 |  Rutgers |
BST #1 | Big East Title | ||||||
| 5-2 | LW: #22 | A Rat: .452 | B Rating: | 3.290 | C Rating: | 2.325 | — | — | |
| The Knights can’t slip too much losing by only two. If they beat a West Virginia team still ranked in the polls, it’ll more than make up for it. | |||||||||
| 24 |  Georgia |
SEC #4 | SEC Title | ||||||
| 5-2 | LW: #26 | A Rat: .469 | B Rating: | 2.074 | C Rating: | 1.907 | AP: 22 | BCS: 22 | |
| The Bulldogs didn’t play last week, but other teams losing put them in the top 25, just in time for the World’s Largest Cocktail Party – which they have the edge in for once. | |||||||||
| 25 |  Arkansas |
SEC #5 | SEC Title | ||||||
| 6-1 | LW: #25 | A Rat: .572 | B Rating: | 4.434 | C Rating: | 1.794 | AP: 8 | BCS: 10 | |
| Nice modest win over Ole Miss, better than some other teams did. Beat Vanderbilt to keep pace in the West. | |||||||||
29 teams total with positive C Rating (none with negative B Rating)
Off Top 25: #27 TCU (was #24), #30 Georgia Tech (was #19), #32 West Virginia (was #16)
Watch List: #26 Miami (FL), #27 TCU, #28 Florida State, #29 Michigan State, #30 Georgia Tech, #31 Syracuse*
Other Positive B Ratings: #35 Temple, #37 Iowa, #42 Ohio (*=Newly Positive)
No Longer Positive: #32 West Virginia, #33 Washington, #41 Missouri, #44 Utah State, #45 Texas, #57 Northern Illinois
Bottom 10: #111 Colorado, #112 Idaho, #113 Buffalo, #114 UNLV, #115 Akron, #116 UAB, #117 Florida Atlantic, #118 Tulane, #119 Memphis, #120 New Mexico
Best game of week: Oklahoma @ Kansas State, 12:30pm PT, ESPN