College Football

After all is said and done, I must, begrudgingly, accept Alabama as my national champion.

Perhaps if LSU had kept it closer, they might have an argument for a split title. Perhaps if Oklahoma State didn’t need overtime to beat an overrated Stanford team, they might have an argument for a split title. But Alabama did what they need to, and now they’re the national champions.

Frankly, this is one of those years where the best solution might be no national champion. None of the teams involved are all that attractive. One good thing about a potential playoff system is that at least any potential champion has spent time building an aura of “champion-ness” by winning the games we consider to have the most value. Perhaps Alabama, or Oklahoma State, or even LSU would seem more legitimate by beating some number of teams along the way.

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		’06 Boise St.
	12-1	LW: #3	A Rat: .796	B Rating:	67.874	C Rating:	59.634	AP: 1	BCS: 1
	Say what you will about the BCS system, it is true what the Tide fans are saying: they won the one that counted.
2	LSU					SEC #2		SEC Champ.
	13-1	LW: #1	A Rat: .720	B Rating:	64.064	C Rating:	56.912	AP: 2	BCS: 2
	On the plus side, Les Miles proved this year that his first national championship wasn’t just the result of inheriting Nick Saban’s players.
3	Oklahoma State					B12 #1		Fiesta Bowl
	12-1	LW: #2	A Rat: .651	B Rating:	55.805	C Rating:	47.798	AP: 3	BCS: 3
	Sorry, but national championship teams don’t need overtime to beat teams that didn’t win their conference. Can I seriously expect you to have beaten Alabama?
4	Boise State					MWC #1		Maaco Bowl
	12-1	LW: #5	A Rat: .717	B Rating:	47.456	C Rating:	38.482	AP: 8	Coaches: 6
	Kellen Moore ended his college career with a bang, blowing out an Arizona State team that looked like the third-best team in the Pac-10 at one point this season.
5	Wisconsin					B10 #1		Big 10 Champ.
	11-3	LW: #4	A Rat: .594	B Rating:	36.909	C Rating:	29.645	AP: 10		Coaches: 11
	The Badgers kept it close enough against the Ducks that they don’t move below them.
6	Houston					USA #1		TicketCity
	13-1	LW: #8	A Rat: .695	B Rating:	38.024	C Rating:	29.006	AP: 18	Coaches: 14
	Houston proved their season wasn’t a fluke in demolishing a good Penn State team.
7	Oregon					P12 #1		Rose Bowl
	12-2	LW: #6	A Rat: .611	B Rating:	34.317	C Rating:	28.226	AP: 4	Coaches: 4
	The win over Wisconsin wasn’t impressive and the Pac-12 didn’t do that great in the bowls, but it took Stanford losing to a top-3 team for people to realize, “Wait, Oregon won this conference and Stanford didn’t for a reason.”
8	Oklahoma					B12 #2		Insight Bowl
	10-3	LW: #7	A Rat: .534	B Rating:	31.655	C Rating:	26.064	AP: 16	Coaches: 15
	Big win over Iowa didn’t do much to impress the voters in the final standings.
9	Michigan					B10 #2		Sugar Bowl
	11-2	LW: #10	A Rat: .586	B Rating:	22.677	C Rating:	18.480	AP: 12	Coaches: 9
	Yes, it was Virginia Tech. Yes, it took overtime. But Michigan did their darndest to prove how deserving of a BCS bowl they really were.
10	Stanford					P12 #2		Fiesta Bowl
	11-2	LW: #9	A Rat: .617	B Rating:	23.190	C Rating:	17.428	AP: 7	Coaches: 7
	Luck and the Cardinal gave all they could, but Oklahoma State, in the end, was the better team, even if marginally so.
11	Southern Miss					USA #2		Hawaii Bowl
	12-2	LW: #11	A Rat: .586	B Rating:	21.956	C Rating:	14.893	AP: 20	Coaches: 19
	The win over Nevada did move them up a couple of spots in the polls, even though it was by only a touchdown.
12	South Carolina					SEC #3		Capital One
	11-2	LW: #13	A Rat: .576	B Rating:	15.962	C Rating:	12.501	AP: 9	Coaches: 8
	Big win over a good Huskers team isn’t enough to put the Cocks in the top ten, but Spurrier has definitely built an elite program.
13	Arkansas					SEC #4		Cotton Bowl
	11-2	LW: #14	A Rat: .557	B Rating:	16.227	C Rating:	11.767	AP: 5	Coaches: 5
	Arkansas didn’t quite blow K-State out of the water, and South Carolina is still ahead of them, but they do move up across the board even if they were overrated already.
14	TCU					MWC #2		MWC Champ.
	11-2	LW: #12	A Rat: .606	B Rating:	17.332	C Rating:	11.036	AP: 14	Coaches: 13
	Sorry, but I’m not going to give TCU the benefit of the doubt when they needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat Louisiana Tech.
15	USC					P12 #3		’09 Boise St.
	10-2	LW: #15	A Rat: .559	B Rating:	11.199	C Rating:	6.697	AP: 6	SBNBlog: 12
	As I expected, with almost everyone back and the team off probation people are talking up USC as a preseason national championship favorite… so why am I hearing about so many transfers leaving?
16	Florida State					ACC #1		Chmps Sprts
	9-4	LW: #20	A Rat: .483	B Rating:	9.244	C Rating:	5.335	AP: 23	Coaches: 23
	It was a low-scoring, tight game, but it was over a very good team, ranked ahead of them in the rankings, so a big move for the Seminoles.
17	Toledo					MAC #1		Military Bowl
	9-4	LW: #19	A Rat: .422	B Rating:	8.725	C Rating:	5.136	—	—
	Bit too close for comfort against a 7-6 team to justify ranking them for half the year, but at least they won, which teams below them can’t say.
18	Georgia							SEC #5
	10-4	LW: #16	A Rat: .462	B Rating:	7.658	C Rating:	4.876	AP: 19	Coaches: 20
	Georgia fought valiantly for three overtimes before falling to a very good Spartans team.
19	Notre Dame
	8-5	LW: #17	A Rat: .361	B Rating:	6.954	C Rating:	4.242	—	—
	The Golden Domers should have mixed feelings about their season. On one hand, they’re 8-5. On the other, their losses were like their Champs Sports bowl: they fought hard to the end.
20	Texas A&M					B12 #3		Meineke C. C.
	6-6	LW: #23	A Rat: .336	B Rating:	6.519	C Rating:	2.957	—	—
	A&M not only showed Northwestern how good they’ve really been, they did so in a big way, albeit close to home. But still no one is noticing.
21	Virginia Tech							ACC #2
	11-3	LW: #18	A Rat: .502	B Rating:	5.976	C Rating:	2.893	AP: 21	Coaches: 17
	Virginia Tech fought hard to prove they belonged in a BCS bowl, but the only reason it went to overtime was that people had doubts about their opponent too.
22	West Virginia*					BST #1		Prncton/Yale
	10-3	LW: #29	A Rat: .470	B Rating:	4.565	C Rating:	1.812	AP: 17	Coaches: 18
	What an embarrassment for the ACC. What a statement by the Mountaineers.
23	Northern Illinois					MAC #2		GoDaddy.com
	11-3	LW: #27	A Rat: .473	B Rating:	4.414	C Rating:	-.614	—	—
	One of the Huskies’ strongest seasons during their recent run even earned them quite a few poll votes.
24	Missouri*					B12 #4		Independence
	8-5	LW: #31	A Rat: .380	B Rating:	.432	C Rating:	-1.991	—	—
	The Tigers say goodbye to the Big 12 on a high note with a big win over North Carolina.
25	Rutgers (9-4, .428, -.361, -2.804)					BST #2		Pinstripe

2010 TCU Title: #31 Baylor (10-3), .447, -1.730, -4.030

Best game of year: LSU @ Alabama / BCS Championship Game: Alabama v. LSU (tie)

For the past few weeks I’ve been resigned to the fact that an LSU-Alabama rematch was probably the least bad option for the national title game. It would pit two teams from the same conference that met in an unwatchable snoozefest in the regular season and include a non-conference champion, but none of the other one-loss teams were that attractive.

However… is there any sort of serious case to be made against Oklahoma State?

The main case against Oklahoma State seems to be that they lost to an Iowa State team that’s barely bowl-eligible. That’s it. I’m pretty sure teams have made the national title game with worse single losses. Forget about conference champions; Oklahoma State might have a better resume than Alabama even discounting the championship question. I suspect the real reason people dismiss Oklahoma State for the national title game is because they’re not one of the biggest name teams. As I said some weeks ago, people don’t quite believe that the “little brother” in the Bedlam rivalry is really a national title contender. Suppose we took Oklahoma State’s resume and applied it to Oklahoma, or even took Oklahoma’s resume and removed losses to Baylor and Oklahoma State, meaning their one loss would be even worse: to non-bowl-eligible Texas Tech. Would anyone seriously think Oklahoma wouldn’t make the national title game over Alabama?

It’s becoming more and more apparent that the BCS isn’t even about handing out the plum picks to the top five or six conferences, but about protecting the standing of the most prestigious schools. Alabama making the national title game over Oklahoma State proves that the BCS discriminates even against teams with moderately big names, let alone the small non-BCS schools, to protect a small cadre of name teams. It tells you everything you need to know about both why there has been so much realignment chaos the past two years, and why all of it is ultimately beside the point. At that point, perhaps it’s time to just admit it, and put the most prestigous schools together in the top level of a promotion-relegation system.

As it turns out, in a year that threatened to emulate every single BCS controversy from years past, the most similar case to this year would probably be 2006. People that year were gearing up for a national championship game between an undefeated team and a team from the same conference the undefeated team beat in the regular season. Then in the last week, a champion of a different conference was moved ahead of the non-champion despite the non-champion not playing. The difference between Ohio State-Michigan and LSU-Alabama? In 2006, Florida was a name team. Oklahoma State is not. Is it really that simple?

Rankings include the Army-Navy game, but not any of the bowls that have been played so far.

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	LSU					SEC #1		’06 Boise St.
	13-0	LW: #1	A Rat: .835	B Rating:	76.655	C Rating:	67.552	AP: 1	BCS: 1
	LSU won the first game on Bama’s home turf. Now they’ll have near-home field advantage for the rematch.
2	Oklahoma State					B12 #1		AP Title
	11-1	LW: #3	A Rat: .662	B Rating:	56.201	C Rating:	47.768	AP: 3	BCS: 3
	Little Brother beat Big Brother so convincingly it created a national title groundswell – that wasn’t enough. Now Luck and the Cardinal await in the Fiesta.
3	Alabama					SEC #2		BCS Title
	11-1	LW: #2	A Rat: .780	B Rating:	54.428	C Rating:	47.050	AP: 2	BCS: 2
	It’ll be a tall order for the Tide to get their revenge.
4	Wisconsin					B10 #1		Big 10 Chmp.
	11-2	LW: #5	A Rat: .661	B Rating:	44.210	C Rating:	35.929	AP: 9	BCS: 10
	Sparty kept it close, but the Badgers pulled it out and the polls moved them into the top 10. But Wisconsin could do even more against Oregon in their second straight Rose Bowl.
5	Boise State					MWC #1		Maaco Bowl
	11-1	LW: #4	A Rat: .711	B Rating:	43.928	C Rating:	35.298	AP: 8	BCS: 7
	A #7 BCS ranking nets the Broncos a date with an Arizona State squad that fumbled away a potential trip to the Pac-12 Title Game down the stretch.
6	Oregon					P12 #1		Pac-12 Chp.
	11-2	LW: #8	A Rat: .612	B Rating:	36.178	C Rating:	29.920	AP: 6	BCS: 5
	Oregon impressed everyone with their demolition of UCLA, but the Badgers will be a tall order in the Rose Bowl.
7	Oklahoma					B12 #2		Insight Bowl
	9-3	LW: #6	A Rat: .516	B Rating:	29.405	C Rating:	23.918	AP: 19	BCS: 14
	Demolished, but by a national title contender; people continue to overreact to their two tight losses. How bad might Iowa end up looking?
8	Houston					USA #1		TicketCity
	12-1	LW: #7	A Rat: .689	B Rating:	32.712	C Rating:	23.802	AP: 20	BCS: 19
	Losing to a ranked team should not be that horrible… but Penn State may be the next-best opponent they’ve played all season. How did the TicketCity bowl get two teams THAT good?
9	Stanford					P12 #2		Fiesta Bowl
	11-1	LW: #9	A Rat: .686	B Rating:	27.329	C Rating:	20.817	AP: 4	BCS: 4
	Stanford will be trying to prove they’re even better than the polls have them – and that Luck should have still won the Heisman – against Oklahoma State.
10	Michigan					B10 #2		Sugar Bowl
	10-2	LW: #10	A Rat: .590	B Rating:	24.777	C Rating:	20.474	AP: 13	BCS: 13
	A little surprised there’s enough support for the Wolverines to put them in a BCS bowl, but you have to imagine it’s more for the name value than what the ratings say.
11	Southern Miss					USA #2		C-USA Chmp.
	11-2	LW: #18	A Rat: .586	B Rating:	21.956	C Rating:	14.893	AP: 22	BCS: 21
	What does the huge upset net the Eagles? A move up the polls of 2-3 spots and a trip to Hawaii to face Nevada, while Houston gets set to face Penn State. No respect, I tells ya.
12	TCU					MWC #2		MWC Champ.
	10-2	LW: #14	A Rat: .604	B Rating:	16.459	C Rating:	9.972	AP: 16	BCS: 18
	The Poinsettia Bowl will be a showdown of champions between TCU and the champions of the WAC, Louisiana Tech.
13	South Carolina					SEC #3		Capital One
	10-2	LW: #16	A Rat: .560	B Rating:	12.248	C Rating:	9.160	AP: 10	BCS: 9
	The Gamecocks move up considerably without even playing and with only two of the teams they passed playing and losing, thanks to Clemson’s big win. Now Nebraska awaits.
14	Arkansas					SEC #4		Cotton Bowl
	10-2	LW: #15	A Rat: .545	B Rating:	13.190	C Rating:	8.910	AP: 7	BCS: 6
	Kansas State is way overrated. How will it look if the Razorbacks blow them out of the water?
15	USC					P12 #3		’09 Boise St.
	10-2	LW: #13	A Rat: .559	B Rating:	13.086	C Rating:	8.799	AP: 5	SBNBlog: 9
	Matt Barkley, come back. With USC off probation and Luck and James NFL-bound, the Pac-12 is yours for the taking.
16	Georgia					SEC #5		Outback Bowl
	10-3	LW: #12	A Rat: .506	B Rating:	9.744	C Rating:	6.765	AP: 18	BCS: 16
	With regard to the polls, was Georgia hurt by playing in the conference title game? No matter: the SEC’s tie-in structure means it all works out.
17	Notre Dame							Chmps Sprts
	8-4	LW: #17	A Rat: .402	B Rating:	9.125	C Rating:	6.264	—	—
	An ACC-heavy schedule for the Golden Domers will continue against Florida State.
18	Virginia Tech					ACC #1		Sugar Bowl
	11-2	LW: #11	A Rat: .549	B Rating:	9.543	C Rating:	6.215	AP: 17	BCS: 11
	You want to know what enabled the outrage of V-Tech going to a BCS bowl? The BCS keeping them knocking on the door of the top 10.
19	Toledo					MAC #1		Military Bowl
	8-4	LW: #19	A Rat: .412	B Rating:	8.182	C Rating:	4.590	—	—
	What does Toledo have to show for their season? A showdown against an Air Force team that’s barely bowl-eligible (and continung what’s becoming a tradition of the Military Bowl picking service academies).
20	Florida State					ACC #2		Chmps Sprts
	8-4	LW: #20	A Rat: .470	B Rating:	7.930	C Rating:	4.152	AP: 25	Coaches: 25
	Poll respect aside, Notre Dame will be a tall order for the Seminoles.
21	Nebraska					B10 #3		Capital One
	9-3	LW: #21	A Rat: .475	B Rating:	4.320	C Rating:	2.513	AP: 21	BCS: 20
	Probably their best bowl fit, but the Huskers will have a tall order trying to stop the Gamecocks.
22	Clemson*					ACC #2		Prncton/Yale
	10-3	LW: #31	A Rat: .457	B Rating:	4.998	C Rating:	1.924	AP: 14	BCS: 15
	Stumbles down the stretch don’t matter now, becaue the Tigers are ACC Champions and headed to the BCS.
23	Texas A&M					B12 #3		Meineke C. C.
	6-6	LW: #22	A Rat: .310	B Rating:	4.757	C Rating:	1.307	—	—
	I wonder if A&M will show Northwestern how good they’ve really been?
24	Michigan State					B10 #4		Outback Bowl
	10-3	LW: #23	A Rat: .507	B Rating:	2.188	C Rating:	-1.066	AP: 12	BCS: 17
	The Spartans kept it close enough against a good Wisconsin team that they move in lockstep with the surrounding teams that didn’t play. But good luck against the Bulldogs.
25	Penn State (9-3, .456, -.489, -1.811)					B10 #5		TicketCity

2010 TCU Title: #35 Baylor (9-3), .435, -3.743, -5.744

Best bowl: BCS Championship Game, LSU v. Alabama, 1/9 5:30pm PT, ESPN
Best non-Championship Game bowl: Rose Bowl, Wisconsin v. Oregon, 1/2 2pm PT, ESPN
Best non-BCS bowl: TicketCity Bowl, Houston v. Penn State, 1/2 9am PT, ESPNU

The bowls if selections were based on my C Ratings, out soon. If two teams are separated by an “or”, then I’m weighing whether teams would select based strictly on the standings, or if non-BCS teams have to be conference champions. An asterisk denotes teams filling for conferences and alternate conferences unable to fill all tie-ins. Not going to bowls despite being bowl-eligible: Purdue and Ball State.

• Gildan New Mexico Bowl: MWC #4 (Wyoming or Air Force) v. Pac-12 #7 (UCLA or *Western Kentucky)
• Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: MAC #3 (Ohio) v. WAC (Utah State)
• R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: C-USA #5 (*Illinois or Marshall) v. Sun Belt #1 (Arkansas State)
• Beef’O’Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl: Big East #6 (Pittsburgh) v. C-USA #4 (Marshall or SMU)
• San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl: MWC #2 (San Diego State or Boise State) v. WAC (Nevada)
• MAACO Bowl Las Vegas: MWC #1 (TCU) v. Pac-12 #5 (California or Washington)
• Sheraton Hawaii Bowl: C-USA #2? (Tulsa or Southern Miss) v. Hawaii/WAC (Louisiana Tech)
• AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl (Shreveport): ACC #7 (Virginia) v. MWC #3 (Air Force or San Diego State)
• Little Caesar’s Bowl (Detroit): Big 10 #8/Sun Belt (Northwestern or Illinois) v. MAC #1 (Toledo)
• Belk Bowl (Charlotte): ACC #5 (Georgia Tech) v. Big East #3 (Rutgers)
• Military Bowl (Washington DC): ACC #8/MAC #4 (Wake Forest) v. Navy/Big 12 #8 (*Temple)
• Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl (San Diego): Big 12 #5 (Baylor) v. Pac-12 #3 (Arizona State or Utah)
• Champs Sports Bowl (Orlando): ACC #3 (Florida State) v. Big East #2 (Notre Dame)
• Valero Alamo Bowl (San Antonio): Big 12 #3 (Missouri) v. Pac-12 #2 (Stanford or Arizona State)
• Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (Dallas): C-USA #3 (SMU or Tulsa) v. BYU
• New Era Pinstripe Bowl (New York): Big 12 #7 (Iowa State) v. Big East #4 (Cincinnati)
• Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: ACC #6 (NC State) v. SEC #7/8 (Auburn)
• Insight Bowl (Tempe): Big 12 #4 (Kansas State) v. Big 10 #5 (Penn State or Iowa)
• Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas (Houston): Big 12 #6 (Texas) v. Big 10 #6 (Iowa or Ohio State)
• Hyundai Sun Bowl (El Paso): ACC #4 (North Carolina; would be Miami (FL)) v. Pac-12 #4 (Utah or California)
• AutoZone Liberty Bowl (Memphis): C-USA #1 (Southern Miss or Houston) v. SEC #7/8 (Mississippi State)
• Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (San Francisco): Pac-12 #6/ACC #9 (Washington or UCLA) v. Army/ACC #9 (*Western Michigan)
• Chick-fil-A Bowl (Atlanta): ACC #2 (Virginia Tech) v. SEC #5 (Vanderbilt)
• TicketCity Bowl (Dallas): Big 10 #7/Big 12 #8 (Ohio State or Northwestern) v. C-USA #7/Big 12 #8 (*Western Kentucky or *Wyoming)
• Outback Bowl (Tampa): Big 10 #3 (Nebraska or Michigan State) v. SEC #3-4 (East) (Georgia)
• Capitol One Bowl (Orlando): Big 10 #2 (Michigan or Nebraska) v. SEC #2 (South Carolina)
• TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl (Jacksonville): Big 10 #4 (Michigan State or Penn State) v. SEC #6 (Florida)
• Rose Bowl Game pres. by Vizio (Pasadena, CA): Big 10 #1 (Wisconsin) v. Pac-12 #1 (Oregon)
• Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, AZ): Big 12 #1 (Oklahoma) v. BCS (Boise State or Stanford)
• Allstate Sugar Bowl (New Orleans): SEC #1 (Alabama) v. BCS (Houston or Michigan)
• Discover Orange Bowl (Miami): ACC #1 (Clemson) v. BCS/Big East #1? (West Virginia)
• AT&T Cotton Bowl (Cowboys Stadium): Big 12 #2 (Texas A&M) v. SEC #3-4 (West) (Arkansas)
• BBVA Compass Bowl (Birmingham): Big East #5 (Louisville) v. SEC #9/Sun Belt (Louisiana-Lafayette)
• GoDaddy.com Bowl (Mobile): MAC #2 (Northern Illinois) v. Sun Belt #2 (Florida International)
• BCS National Championship Game: BCS #1 (LSU) v. BCS #2 (Oklahoma State)

How lame is this college football season? We have a team in negative B Points in the Top 25 for about the second or third time since I started keeping track. It’s possible no game this weekend will affect the national title game, meaning if Georgia wins the SEC Title Game, we’ll have two teams playing for the national championship and neither won their conference. It’s not a lack of one-loss alternatives; it’s just that no one trusts an Oklahoma State team that lost to Iowa State, a Stanford or Boise State team that won’t win their conference either, a Virginia Tech team that would win a conference no one trusts and doesn’t have the parity of years past, or a Houston team that hasn’t even won the respect of a BYU, Boise State, or TCU.

This week’s rankings are a bit later than I would have liked because I lost the USB drive containing the database I use to calculate the rankings last week.

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	LSU					SEC #1		’06 Boise St.
	12-0	LW: #1	A Rat: .831	B Rating:	62.549	C Rating:	54.630	AP: 1	BCS: 1
	Can LSU avoid complete BCS embarassment in their opponent’s home state?
2	Alabama					SEC #2		BCS Title
	11-1	LW: #2	A Rat: .780	B Rating:	53.170	C Rating:	45.803	AP: 2	BCS: 2
	Alabama pummeled their rivals right out of the polls. Now comes the wait to avenge their one loss.
3	Oklahoma State					B12 #1		BCS Title
	10-1	LW: #3	A Rat: .643	B Rating:	43.721	C Rating:	36.214	AP: 3	BCS: 3
	The Cowboys have their best chance in years to beat Big Brother – and while a win sends them to the Fiesta, would they even go to the Cotton over K-State?
4	Boise State					MWC #1		Bowl Position
	10-1	LW: #4	A Rat: .687	B Rating:	43.078	C Rating:	36.125	AP: 9	BCS: 7
	What good will a #7 BCS ranking do for the Broncos? How about a trip to the Poinsettia Bowl.
5	Wisconsin					B10 #1		Big 10 Title
	10-2	LW: #8	A Rat: .668	B Rating:	43.762	C Rating:	35.344	AP: 15	BCS: 15
	Wisconsin pummeled a good Penn State team into the ground, but the polls barely noticed. Will they notice if the Badgers avenge their loss to the Spartans?
6	Oklahoma					B12 #2		Big 12 Title
	9-2	LW: #5	A Rat: .605	B Rating:	41.816	C Rating:	34.593	AP: 13	BCS: 10
	The Sooners demolished the team that beat the Cowboys and actually lost ground in the polls. The Big 12 may no longer have a title game, but Bedlam will serve the same purpose.
7	Houston					USA #1		BCS Bowl
	12-0	LW: #7	A Rat: .785	B Rating:	44.168	C Rating:	33.706	AP: 7	BCS: 6
	C-USA has never sniffed the BCS. Now their title game pits two ranked teams with one playing for a BCS spot. How huge is that? It’s getting the ABC treatment.
8	Oregon					P12 #1		Pac-12 Title
	10-2	LW: #6	A Rat: .605	B Rating:	33.005	C Rating:	27.381	AP: 8	BCS: 9
	Too many points allowed to a three-win team to avoid slipping.
9	Stanford					P12 #2		BCS Title
	11-1	LW: #10	A Rat: .686	B Rating:	27.597	C Rating:	21.118	AP: 4	BCS: 4
	Big win to a ranked Notre Dame team – the last exclamation point on Andrew Luck’s Heisman campaign?
10	Michigan					B10 #2		Bowl Position
	10-2	LW: #9	A Rat: .590	B Rating:	25.000	C Rating:	20.688	AP: 17	BCS: 16
	Just a little too close for comfort against a team that’s barely bowl-eligible, but all the Wolverines fans care about is finally getting the Buckeyes’ goat.
11	Virginia Tech					ACC #1		Prncton/Yale
	11-1	LW: #13	A Rat: .635	B Rating:	20.023	C Rating:	15.459	AP: 5	BCS: 5
	Virginia isn’t terribly great, but they were poised to steal the division with a win and V-Tech blew them out of the water. Now they get a shot at revenge against the one team to beat them for a trip to the Orange Bowl.
12	Georgia					SEC #3		SEC Title
	10-2	LW: #15	A Rat: .586	B Rating:	14.379	C Rating:	10.167	AP: 12	BCS: 14
	Big win over a good G-Tech team makes it all the more plausible the Bulldogs could pull the Upset of the Century.
13	USC					P12 #3		’09 Boise St.
	10-2	LW: #17	A Rat: .559	B Rating:	13.898	C Rating:	9.650	AP: 9	SBNBlog: 13
	Not even the conference commissioner likes this title game. Couldn’t we have Oregon and USC play and just send Oregon or Stanford to the Rose Bowl should USC win?
14	TCU					MWC #2		MWC Title
	9-2	LW: #12	A Rat: .579	B Rating:	14.515	C Rating:	9.150	AP: 18	BCS: 18
	The Horned Frogs slip for idle hands, but only UNLV stands in the way of going undefeated in-conference.
15	Arkansas					SEC #4		Bowl Position
	10-2	LW: #11	A Rat: .545	B Rating:	13.296	C Rating:	9.078	AP: 6	BCS: 8
	The appraisals of the Razorbacks come back down to Earth after getting blown out by LSU, and not even the Capitol One Bowl looks like a sure thing the way Georgia’s been playing.
16	South Carolina					SEC #5		Bowl Position
	10-2	LW: #18	A Rat: .560	B Rating:	11.993	C Rating:	8.982	AP: 14	BCS: 12
	Big win over a Clemson team headed to the ACC title game sends the Cocks streaming up the rankings. Hey, you think they might meet again New Year’s Eve in the Georgia Dome?
17	Notre Dame							Bowl Position
	8-4	LW: #14	A Rat: .402	B Rating:	8.998	C Rating:	6.181	—	—
	Had they not opened the season with a three-point loss to South Florida and a four-point loss to Michigan, the Golden Domers might be going to a BCS bowl.
18	Southern Miss					USA #2		C-USA Title
	10-2	LW: #16	A Rat: .576	B Rating:	12.161	C Rating:	5.514	AP: 24	BCS: 24
	Big win, but over one of the worst teams in the country. But it got Southern Miss back in the polls for the huge showdown with Houston.
19	Toledo					MAC #1		Bowl Position
	8-4	LW: #21	A Rat: .412	B Rating:	7.918	C Rating:	4.481	—	—
	Big win over Ball State, but the Rockets have nothing to show for their only loss by more than five coming to Boise State thanks to one very ill-timed loss.
20	Florida State					ACC #2		Bowl Position
	8-4	LW: #23	A Rat: .470	B Rating:	7.603	C Rating:	3.905	AP: 25	Coaches: 24
	The Seminoles finally pick up a win over Florida and await their bowl fate.
21	Nebraska					B10 #3		Bowl Position
	9-3	LW: #24	A Rat: .475	B Rating:	4.843	C Rating:	2.998	AP: 20	BCS: 19
	Big win over Iowa, but thirty-point losses to Michigan and Wisconsin mean it matters little. They just have to wait for their bowl fate.
22	Texas A&M					B12 #3		Bowl Position
	6-6	LW: #20	A Rat: .310	B Rating:	5.221	C Rating:	2.173	—	—
	Two overtime losses, another three losses by a combined seven points, a total four losses against teams ranked in the polls at the time, and one fired coach.
23	Michigan State					B10 #4		Big 10 Title
	10-2	LW: #33	A Rat: .562	B Rating:	3.094	C Rating:	-.640	AP: 11	BCS: 13
	Sparty’s rating has always been deflated by a combination of blowout losses, their best road win being either Ohio State or Iowa, bad nonconference opponents, and beating Minnesota by only 7, but they punched their title game ticket with a bang against Northwestern.
24	Penn State (9-3, .456, -.343, -1.656)					B10 #5		Bowl Position
25	Louisiana Tech*					WAC #1		WAC Title
	8-4	LW: #31	A Rat: .415	B Rating:	1.617	C Rating:	-1.704	—	—
	With Boise State gone, Louisiana Tech wrapped up their WAC championship campaign in dominating fashion over New Mexico State. Their four losses all came at the start around an OT win over Central Arkansas, but included both C-USA title game participants (and OT to Mississippi State).

2010 TCU Title: #45 Baylor (8-3), .411, -7.648, -9.197

Best game of week: Oklahoma @ Oklahoma State, 5pm PT, ABC

All season I’ve been saying the same thing: that no one, not even the pollsters, really believes that Oklahoma State is the best non-SEC team in the country. There are a number of reasons for that – namely, a weak nonconference slate and Texas being the only team in positive B Points they beat by more than a single score – but really, what it ultimately comes down to is that it’s Oklahoma State. This is a team that has definitively been “little brother” for the longest time, maybe since Barry Sanders was at the school. Over the last decade, while Bob Stoops’ Oklahoma was contending for national and Big 12 titles, Oklahoma State, while often being good, plied its trade deep in the shadows of the Sooners. Now it’s Oklahoma State who’s contending for a national title? You’ll have to excuse me – and, I suspect, many others – for being a bit skeptical.

Well, not anymore. By blowing out the team that beat Oklahoma (admittedly, that hasn’t looked like they can beat anyone else) by a downright apocalyptic score (66-6), Oklahoma State has established their dominance, and with upsets to the Cardinal and Broncos, now stand as one of only three undefeated teams in the country, enough to propel them past idle Big Brother to the top spot in the C Ratings. As much as the Cowboys look like last year’s Oregon team (essentially, a sacrificial lamb for the SEC team du jour to beat), the argument over whether they should go to the national championship game is pretty much academic at this point.

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	Oklahoma State					B12 #1		BCS Title
	10-0	LW: #5	A Rat: .728	B Rating:	49.978	C Rating:	42.806	AP: 2	BCS: 2
	How many people watched the potential national championship contender Friday night in their tuneup for Bedlam?
2	Oklahoma					B12 #2		2010 TCU
	8-1	LW: #1	A Rat: .674	B Rating:	49.507	C Rating:	42.541	AP: 5	BCS: 5
	Idle hands sends the Sooners tumbling from the top spot, but not to who you’d think. And they have to face a Baylor team out to prove they deserve their ranking in the polls.
3	LSU					SEC #1		’06 Boise St.
	10-0	LW: #2	A Rat: .821	B Rating:	47.947	C Rating:	42.286	AP: 1	BCS: 1
	Playing Western Kentucky, the Tigers might as well have taken the week off, and Ole Miss won’t be much better preparation for the clash with the Hogs.
4	Alabama					SEC #2		BCS Title
	9-1	LW: #3	A Rat: .775	B Rating:	48.648	C Rating:	42.193	AP: 3	BCS: 3
	As far as the polls and BCS are concerned, Alabama is in prime position to take advantage of a Cowboy stumble… but do we really want THAT rematch in the national title game?
5	Oregon					P12 #1		’09 Boise St.
	9-1	LW: #7	A Rat: .672	B Rating:	39.919	C Rating:	34.071	AP: 4	BCS: 4
	The Ducks have lost only one game all year… and it was against a little team I like to call LSU. Now the polls and BCS are recognizing them as the national-championship-caliber team they are.
6	Boise State					MWC #1		MWC Title
	8-1	LW: #4	A Rat: .676	B Rating:	34.219	C Rating:	28.631	AP: 10	BCS: 10
	All of a sudden, the Broncos are hoping for a TCU loss just to go to the Las Vegas Bowl.
7	Wisconsin					B10 #1		Big 10 Title
	8-2	LW: #8	A Rat: .641	B Rating:	28.938	C Rating:	22.315	AP: 15	BCS: 17
	Their two losses came on the road to decent teams by tight margins, but as far as the polls are concerend, two losses are two losses. But now the Badgers control their own destiny for the conference title game.
8	Stanford					P12 #2		BCS Title
	9-1	LW: #6	A Rat: .692	B Rating:	22.831	C Rating:	16.952	AP: 8	BCS: 9
	Suddenly the Cardinal won’t even make the conference championship, and only the grace of the BCS would put them in one of those games. And rival Cal is feisty.
9	Houston					USA #1		BCS Bowl
	10-0	LW: #9	A Rat: .768	B Rating:	24.283	C Rating:	15.538	AP: 11	BCS: 11
	Houston just continues to impress, and now Gameday is coming to town – for a game that’s arguably the least challenging of the remaining games.
10	Michigan					B10 #2		Big 10 Title
	8-2	LW: #12	A Rat: .569	B Rating:	16.826	C Rating:	13.437	AP: 20	BCS: 18
	Big win over a good Illinois team sends the Wolverines cruising up the rankings. But Nebraska is coming to Ann Arbor, and they will not be easy.
11	Southern Miss					USA #2		C-USA Title
	9-1	LW: #10	A Rat: .622	B Rating:	14.578	C Rating:	10.209	AP: 22	BCS: 20
	Is Southern Miss cracking under the pressure? They let Central Florida get within one at home, and they’ll fall next week after losing to UAB.
12	Notre Dame							Bowl Position
	7-3	LW: #13	A Rat: .449	B Rating:	11.179	C Rating:	8.491	AP: 24	Coaches: 25
	Pollsters are taking note of the Golden Domers again. Another weak ACC foe will serve as tune-up for a huge clash with Stanford.
13	Virginia Tech					ACC #1		Prncton/Yale
	9-1	LW: #14	A Rat: .607	B Rating:	11.816	C Rating:	8.373	AP: 9	BCS: 8
	To look at the pollsters, you’d think V-Tech was a national title contender; honestly, no one thinks that. But they’re one Cavalier loss away, even at their own hands, from the ACC title game.
14	Georgia					SEC #3		SEC Title
	8-2	LW: #19	A Rat: .558	B Rating:	11.229	C Rating:	8.366	AP: 13	BCS: 14
	The Tigers were ranked in the polls, but they looked like complete scrubs against Georgia, who have been justifying their own ranking of late. Now to beat Kentucky to lock up a trip to the SEC title game.
15	Clemson					ACC #2		ACC Title
	9-1	LW: #11	A Rat: .584	B Rating:	11.883	C Rating:	8.241	AP: 7	BCS: 7
	Clemson was so unimpressive in edging Wake and locking up their ACC title game spot that, combined with how their past opponents did, they might as well not have played, or even lost. Will they be ready for the rival Cocks in two weeks?
16	TCU					MWC #2		MWC Title
	8-2	LW: #18	A Rat: .554	B Rating:	12.695	C Rating:	8.072	AP: 19	BCS: 19
	Lucky or not, TCU impressed the nation with their win over Boise and could be leaving the conference with a bang.
17	Arkansas					SEC #3		SEC Title
	9-1	LW: #21	A Rat: .614	B Rating:	11.888	C Rating:	7.312	AP: 6	BCS: 6
	Arkansas’ defense gave them an even bigger blowout win over Tennessee, this one big enough to actually help them in the C Ratings. They need to repeat the feat against Mississippi State to prepare for LSU.
18	Nebraska					B10 #3		Big 10 Title
	8-2	LW: #20	A Rat: .527	B Rating:	8.382	C Rating:	5.837	AP: 17	BCS: 16
	It wasn’t pretty, but the Huskers did take advantage of reeling Penn State, and while beating the Wolverines won’t be easy, if they do so they’ll be in prime position to take advantage of a Spartan stumble.
19	South Carolina					SEC #4		SEC Title
	8-2	LW: #16	A Rat: .520	B Rating:	7.007	C Rating:	4.435	AP: 14	BCS: 12
	A narrow victory over a Florida team not up to their usual standards won’t cut it. They’ll drop further next week after playing the FCS Citadel.
20	USC					P12 #3		Probation
	8-2	LW: #26	A Rat: .521	B Rating:	7.741	C Rating:	4.379	AP: 18	SBNBlog: 18
	While the rest of the South embarass themselves, USC’s blowout of Washington propel them back onto the Top 25. But Oregon will not be easy.
21	Texas A&M					B12 #3		Bowl Elgblty
	5-5	LW: #15	A Rat: .302	B Rating:	5.827	C Rating:	4.192	—	—
	All but one of A&M’s losses came to teams ranked in the polls at the time, all but one came to teams ranked in the C Ratings now, all but one was within a score… but losses are losses, and they’re nowhere near the polls and not yet bowl-eligible.
22	Florida State					ACC #3		Bowl Position
	7-3	LW: #22	A Rat: .501	B Rating:	6.729	C Rating:	3.832	AP: 23	BCS: 25
	Pedestrian four-point win over Miami (FL), and now Clemson will keep them out of the conference title game. On the plus side, they’re getting poll respect and can play spoiler in the Coastal against Virginia.
23	Penn State					B10 #3		Big 10 Title
	8-2	LW: #17	A Rat: .525	B Rating:	5.467	C Rating:	3.636	AP: 21	BCS: 21
	Pollsters may be penalizing the Nittany Lions for off-field discretions, but that doesn’t explain why the C Ratings drop Penn State so far for a tight loss against a good Nebraska team. Ohio State smells blood.
24	Toledo					MAC #1		MAC Title
	6-4	LW: #23	A Rat: .355	B Rating:	4.490	C Rating:	2.452	—	—
	Allowing over 60 points is never good for score ratio, and keeping the margin of victory tight isn’t good either, but Toledo did better than that against Central Michigan.
25	Missouri*					B12 #4		Bowl Elgblty
	5-5	LW: #31	A Rat: .298	B Rating:	.617	C Rating:	.708	—	—
	Big win over Texas propels the Tigers into positive B Points and has them replacing the Longhorns on the Top 25 – even if as just the best of a bad lot.

25 teams total with positive C Rating (none with negative B Rating)

Best game of week: USC @ Oregon, 5pm PT, ABC

Well, that was disappointing. Neither team is going to get the top spot coming out of it. No, Oklahoma responded to moving up to #2 by blowing out a good Texas A&M team, and as a result they, not LSU, benefit from Alabama falling out of the top spot. We’ll see if they hang onto it after a week off, but if Stanford loses and Oklahoma keeps winning I will definitely push them for a trip to the national championship game.

But let’s forget about that, and let’s forget about this week’s huge matchup between Stanford and Oregon, and let’s even forget about the mess at Penn State. I want to talk about this week’s game between Boise State and TCU.

I have another commitment, so I won’t be able to watch the game, but I would if I could and I hope you will too. And not because it’s Boise’s biggest challenge, at least for the rest of the season, towards getting another BCS bid. See, last year Boise State announced that it was leaving the WAC to join the Mountain West. This looked for all the world to create the ultimate non-BCS conference, with so many good teams there was no way anyone would stop them from becoming a full-fledged BCS conference. Utah, BYU, TCU, and Boise State? You’re going to tell me that’s any less a test of a champion than the Big East? And this was when it was looking like the Pac-10 was going to cause college football armageddon, gobbling up half the Big 12 to form the first 16-team superconference. The Mountain West was in perfect position to pick off at least some of the remainder, meaning that along with the four elite teams it already had, it would now boast some bona fide BCS conference teams on top of that. Are you going to deny BCS status to Kansas and Kansas State? Didn’t think so.

And then… the deal fell through. The Big 12 and ESPN finagled a way to keep the conference together, the Pac-10 was left with Colorado, they plucked Utah from the Mountain West to get to 12 and a championship game, and that’s when it all started going wrong. First it was Utah. Then BYU left to go independent. And then TCU announced it was leaving for the Big East, and then flipped to the Big 12 without playing a game in the Big East. Just like that, the one elite non-BCS school the Mountain West was left with was the school that thought they wouldn’t be the one elite school in the conference anymore: Boise State. The Mountain West made up for the losses by adding more WAC schools – Nevada, Fresno State – but Boise State, who thought they were joining the non-BCS conference to end all non-BCS conferences, now found themselves in a conference not much different from the WAC, and maybe worse than Conference USA. Is Air Force really that much better than Nevada?

But TCU’s move to the Big East came too late for it to take effect this season. That meant that, for one season, Boise State would come in to and TCU would remain in a depleted conference, before the Horned Frogs left for a BCS conference the following year. So this weekend’s game between Boise State and TCU is more than the biggest game of the year in the Mountain West. For all that Boise thought their move to the Mountain West would break up the BCS oligarchy, this weekend they will play the one game their move to the Mountain West amounts to.

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	Oklahoma					B12 #1		2010 TCU
	8-1	LW: #2	A Rat: .674	B Rating:	51.093	C Rating:	44.248	AP: 7	BCS: 6
	Not only have the Sooners beaten multiple good teams, they’ve blown them out. You’re telling me they’d be passed up for Boise or, heaven forbid, Alabama?
2	LSU					SEC #1		’06 Boise St.
	9-0	LW: #3	A Rat: .813	B Rating:	47.166	C Rating:	42.202	AP: 1	BCS: 1
	LSU is now in pole position to cruise to the BCS title game, but they better use the Western Kentucky and Mississippi games to get ready for a potentially huge clash with Arkansas.
3	Alabama					SEC #2		BCS Title
	8-1	LW: #1	A Rat: .766	B Rating:	42.836	C Rating:	37.022	AP: 4	BCS: 3
	The Tide’s run at the top spot comes to an end along with their undefeated record. They’ll try to get back on track with a trip to Mississippi State.
4	Boise State					MWC #1		BCS Title
	8-0	LW: #4	A Rat: .794	B Rating:	41.152	C Rating:	34.650	AP: 5	BCS: 5
	Will the Broncos players savor this weekend’s game against TCU? Or will they just play for their BCS lives?
5	Oklahoma State					B12 #2		BCS Title
	9-0	LW: #6	A Rat: .703	B Rating:	38.108	C Rating:	32.783	AP: 2	BCS: 2
	The Cowboys put away a team that was unbeaten until the Oklahoma game and now turn their attention to the team that upended the Sooners.
6	Stanford					P12 #1		BCS Title
	9-0	LW: #5	A Rat: .823	B Rating:	36.517	C Rating:	29.278	AP: 3	BCS: 4
	Oregon State’s A Rating is atrocious, so Stanford slips despite the big win. But the Beavers’ rivals may be the biggest test the Cardinal face all year.
7	Oregon					P12 #2		’09 Boise State
	8-1	LW: #7	A Rat: .667	B Rating:	26.542	C Rating:	21.921	AP: 6	BCS: 7
	Oregon could be a national championship contender if they hadn’t scheduled LSU to start the year. Against Stanford, they’ll have a chance to look like one.
8	Wisconsin					B10 #1		Big 10 Title
	7-2	LW: #8	A Rat: .619	B Rating:	24.689	C Rating:	19.046	AP: 16	BCS: 18
	Wisconsin got back on track blowing out Purdue. Now Minnesota will serve as warm-up for a tough stretch run.
9	Houston					USA #1		BCS Bowl
	9-0	LW: #9	A Rat: .756	B Rating:	21.456	C Rating:	14.616	AP: 11	BCS: 11
	Another week, another blowout – two, counting the Tulane game earlier this week.
10	Southern Miss					USA #2		C-USA Title
	8-1	LW: #16	A Rat: .632	B Rating:	15.476	C Rating:	11.334	AP: 25	BCS: 22
	While the AP poll finally has no choice but to recognize the Eagles, their blowout of East Carolina propels them into the top 10 here, right behind the class of the conference.
11	Clemson					ACC #1		ACC Title
	8-1	LW: #11	A Rat: .587	B Rating:	12.734	C Rating:	9.262	AP: 9	BCS: 9
	Idle hands offset by Michigan’s problems, but now their hopes of making the conference title game may hinge on beating Wake Forest.
12	Michigan					B10 #2		Big 10 Title
	7-2	LW: #10	A Rat: .548	B Rating:	11.867	C Rating:	8.904	AP: 22	BCS: 24
	Iowa is a pretty respectable team and the Wolverines got within a score, but that’s still not a loss you want to take, especially with the Spartans now holding divisional pole position.
13	Notre Dame							Bowl Position
	6-3	LW: #19	A Rat: .419	B Rating:	8.723	C Rating:	6.678	—	—
	The Golden Domers are once again knocking on the door of the polls after a win over a good team, and now shouldn’t have any trouble with 2-7 Maryland.
14	Virginia Tech					ACC #2		ACC Title
	8-1	LW: #15	A Rat: .602	B Rating:	8.804	C Rating:	5.758	AP: 10	BCS: 10
	Idle hands outweighed by Nebraska losing. And now that they’ve dispatched Georgia Tech, if they handle North Carolina as they should Virginia will be their only obstacle for the title game.
15	Texas A&M					B12 #3		Bowl Elgblty
	5-4	LW: #17	A Rat: .342	B Rating:	6.794	C Rating:	5.284	—	—
	The Aggies get blown out by Oklahoma and somehow move up. Well, it was 16 points to the best team in the rankings. But it doesn’t get that much easier with a trip to Manhattan next.
16	South Carolina					SEC #3		SEC Title
	7-2	LW: #13	A Rat: .506	B Rating:	7.297	C Rating:	5.020	AP: 15	BCS: 13
	The Gamecocks got blown out by the Hogs, but still have a good chance to win the division. Florida comes to town next.
17	Penn State					B10 #3		Big 10 Title
	8-1	LW: #14	A Rat: .607	B Rating:	7.138	C Rating:	4.910	AP: 12	BCS: 12
	Joe Paterno ends his career on a 7-game winning streak and his team bowling, but lost his last bowl game, last year’s Outback Bowl against Florida – and will have never coached against Nebraska in a conference game, a tall act for Tom Bradley.
18	TCU					MWC #2		MWC Title
	7-2	LW: #25	A Rat: .555	B Rating:	10.132	C Rating:	4.866	Coaches: 24	—
	Huge win over Wyoming + losses by other teams = the Horned Frogs may have stopped shuffling on and off the rankings, just in time for the big showdown with Boise State.
19	Georgia					SEC #4		SEC Title
	7-2	LW: #23	A Rat: .523	B Rating:	6.062	C Rating:	4.189	AP: 14	BCS: 15
	Blowout win over New Mexico State propels the Bulldogs into the top 20, and for the moment they hold pole position in the SEC East. But Auburn isn’t New Mexico State.
20	Nebraska					B10 #4		Big 10 Title
	7-2	LW: #12	A Rat: .519	B Rating:	6.618	C Rating:	4.114	AP: 19	BCS: 19
	Aaaaand one loss to a mediocre Northwestern team later, and the Huskers have given up all the gains they made last week. Who knows what’ll happen when they play scandal-ridden Penn State?
21	Arkansas					SEC #4		SEC Title
	8-1	LW: #21	A Rat: .583	B Rating:	7.578	C Rating:	3.564	AP: 8	BCS: 8
	Blowout win over South Carolina, but they see no benefit from it. Now Tennessee and Mississippi State will serve as warm-ups for the showdown with LSU.
22	Florida State					ACC #3		ACC Title
	6-3	LW: #22	A Rat: .487	B Rating:	6.208	C Rating:	3.390	—	—
	With teams losing, Florida State stands pat despite idle hands. Now to take on their less-recently-scandal-ridden rivals.
23	Toledo					MAC #1		MAC Title
	5-4	LW: #18	A Rat: .333	B Rating:	4.921	C Rating:	3.255	—	—
	Toledo will bounce back next week after another 120-point game attracting national attention. Will it attract poll votes their way?
24	Arizona State					P12 #3		Pac-12 Title
	6-3	LW: #20	A Rat: .422	B Rating:	4.886	C Rating:	2.419	—	—
	That was a loss the Sun Devils could not take. They play nothing but bad-to-iffy teams the rest of the way, but it won’t make up for costing themselves a trip to the conference title game.
25	Texas*					B12 #4		Big 12 Title
	6-2	LW: #33	A Rat: .498	B Rating:	4.919	C Rating:	2.233	AP: 21	BCS: 16
	Blowout win over Texas Tech propels the Longhorns back into the Top 25, just in time for a tough stretch that starts with a road trip to Missouri.

28 teams total with positive C Rating (none with negative B Rating)

Best game of week: Oregon @ Stanford, 5pm PT, ABC