Hack Poll College Football Ratings

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Week 3 is in the books! Thanks, Alan, for your comments, and yes, Lucy, they are the Hilltoppers. I may sound like I make this stuff up, but really I don’t. Mostly…

Without further ado, the weekly awards:

Upset of the Week: This is a tough one. I’m tempted to say Mississippi St’s 19-14 win at Auburn, the second week in a row that the highly touted Tigers lost a home game. I’m tempted to say Florida Atlantic’s 42-39 win over Minnesota, but the Golden Gophers have really been a program in chaos of late. I’m tempted to say 0-2 Iowa St’s 15-13 win over 2-0 Iowa, but the Hawkeyes have not lived up to expectations ever since their big loss to Ohio St last year. I would like to have said UCF over Texas, but the Longhorns did manage to outlast the Golden Knights (yes, Lucy, the Golden Knights) in the end by a score of 35-32. So instead I’m going to go with Kentucky’s 40-34 win over Louisville. Kentucky has quietly put together a 3-0 start, jumped into the national rankings, and upset a team that was expected to be strongly in the running for a BCS bid. The Wildcats have their work cut out for them though: four of their next five games are against Arkansas, South Carolina, LSU, and Florida!

Comeback of the Week: There were no comebacks from oppressively huge deficits this week, but Alabama wins the award for their 41-38 victory over Arkansas. The Crimson Tide led by as many as 21 points earlier in the game, but late in the fourth quarter found themselves trailing the Razorbacks until getting a touchdown pass with 8 seconds to go to win it. The Tide preserved their undefeated season and looks forward to another big SEC test – Georgia – next week.

Yawner of the Week: As always at this time of year, there are lots of candidates for this award. I’m going with Rutgers’ 59-0 win over Norfolk St. The Scarlet Knights rolled up 42 points in the second quarter alone, and they have everyone believing that they will be every bit as in the thick of the BCS conversation as they were last year. They haven’t really played anyone of consequence yet, but that will change quickly, as four of their next five opponents are Maryland, Cincinnati, South Florida, and West Virginia. Oddly enough, however, all four of those games are at home!

Game of the Week: Gotta go with the Alabama win over Arkansas, a great game providing some early season definition to the SEC.

And now, with 6.2% reliability, here are this week’s rankings, with last week’s rankings and this week’s AP rankings provided for comparison:

Rank

Team

Wins

Losses

Value

STR

Last Week

AP

1

Texas

3

0

2.745

5

3

7

2

Michigan St

3

0

2.537

15

15

36

3

USC

2

0

2.469

21

5

1

4

LSU

3

0

2.355

26

1

2

5

Florida

3

0

2.320

27

20

3

6

Kentucky

3

0

2.230

34

19

21

7

Alabama

3

0

2.181

38

12

16

8

Boston Coll

3

0

2.037

48

32

14

9

Ohio St

3

0

2.018

47

10

8

10

Missouri

3

0

1.889

54

6

25

11

Cincinnati

3

0

1.880

58

17

29

12

Wisconsin

3

0

1.872

57

7

9

13

Oregon

3

0

1.769

65

76

13

14

Air Force

3

0

1.703

69

49

32

15

California

3

0

1.626

73

16

6

16

Clemson

3

0

1.593

81

21

15

17

Hawaii

3

0

1.473

85

13

19

18

Rutgers

3

0

1.350

91

8

11

19

Tulsa

2

0

1.348

89

29

36

20

Virginia Tech

2

1

1.290

13

27

17

21

South Carolina

3

0

1.276

98

9

12

22

West Virginia

3

0

1.258

97

48

5

23

Indiana

3

0

1.228

92

40

24

Texas Tech

3

0

1.208

101

4

31

25

South Florida

2

0

1.189

105

22

23

26

Texas A&M

3

0

1.157

102

14

20

27

Oklahoma

3

0

1.124

109

23

4

28

Washington

2

1

1.000

31

11

35

29

Purdue

3

0

0.988

112

33

30

Kansas

3

0

0.988

111

18

36

31

Florida St

2

1

0.926

33

34

32

Connecticut

3

0

0.918

113

33

Nebraska

2

1

0.912

41

24

34

Arizona St

3

0

0.881

114

25

28

35

Vanderbilt

2

1

0.857

36

36

Oregon St

2

1

0.855

39

37

Penn St

3

0

0.820

117

10

38

Washington St

2

1

0.784

42

39

Boise St

2

1

0.755

46

40

Kent St

2

1

0.733

49

41

Pittsburgh

2

1

0.711

50

42

Mississippi St

2

1

0.682

53

43

Arkansas

1

1

0.651

7

26

44

Georgia

2

1

0.651

59

22

45

Bowling Green

1

1

0.606

10

46

UCF

1

1

0.604

11

47

Arkansas St

1

1

0.596

9

48

Wyoming

2

1

0.560

67

24

49

Virginia

2

1

0.535

66

50

West Kentucky

2

1

0.528

68

51

New Mexico

2

1

0.479

71

52

Louisville

2

1

0.463

74

18

53

New Mexico St

2

1

0.416

78

54

Georgia Tech

2

1

0.373

83

27

55

UCLA

2

1

0.373

80

2

30

56

Tennessee

1

2

0.348

3

57

Illinois

2

1

0.319

87

58

Maryland

2

1

0.315

88

59

TCU

1

2

0.278

4

60

Houston

1

1

0.193

28

61

Miami FL

2

1

0.162

96

62

Ball St

2

1

0.108

94

63

Southern Miss

2

1

0.099

93

64

Utah

1

2

0.064

6

65

Ohio

2

1

0.034

108

66

UTEP

1

2

0.018

8

67

Northwestern

2

1

-0.002

107

68

Duke

1

2

-0.071

14

69

Mississippi

1

2

-0.115

12

70

Akron

1

2

-0.137

17

71

Florida Atlantic

2

1

-0.180

116

72

Fresno St

1

2

-0.208

18

73

Louisiana Tech

1

2

-0.208

19

74

Troy

1

2

-0.265

20

75

Baylor

2

1

-0.267

118

76

UNLV

1

2

-0.291

25

77

Miami OH

1

2

-0.295

29

78

Wake Forest

1

2

-0.308

30

79

UAB

1

2

-0.331

23

80

Cent Michigan

1

2

-0.376

35

81

Kansas St

2

1

-0.403

120

82

Idaho

1

2

-0.434

44

83

Buffalo

1

2

-0.438

45

84

NC St

1

2

-0.478

43

85

Stanford

1

1

-0.478

106

86

BYU

1

2

-0.484

61

87

Colorado

1

2

-0.494

40

88

Auburn

1

2

-0.536

95

89

Oklahoma St

1

2

-0.554

63

90

East Carolina

1

2

-0.587

64

91

SMU

1

2

-0.603

52

92

Memphis

1

1

-0.653

115

93

Minnesota

1

2

-0.662

76

94

Navy

1

2

-0.676

75

95

Iowa

2

1

-0.690

121

96

Nevada

1

2

-0.745

84

97

Iowa St

1

2

-0.815

90

98

Arizona

1

2

-0.938

99

99

East Michigan

1

2

-0.940

104

100

North Carolina

1

2

-0.963

103

101

Michigan

1

2

-0.991

100

102

Army

1

2

-1.085

110

103

W Michigan

0

3

-1.290

1

104

LA Monroe

0

3

-1.308

2

105

Others-Normal

0.346

2.537333

-1.334

55

106

San Diego St

0

2

-1.568

16

107

Middle Tenn St

0

3

-1.636

22

108

Toledo

0

3

-1.659

24

109

Florida Intl

0

3

-1.667

32

110

Utah St

0

3

-1.758

37

111

San Jose St

0

3

-1.793

62

112

Syracuse

0

3

-1.799

60

113

Colorado St

0

2

-1.800

51

114

North Texas

0

2

-1.817

56

115

Notre Dame

0

3

-1.845

72

116

Tulane

0

2

-1.847

70

117

Marshall

0

3

-1.906

77

118

LA Lafayette

0

3

-1.911

79

119

Temple

0

3

-1.923

82

120

Rice

0

3

-1.932

86

121

Northern Illinois

0

3

-2.136

119

Most overrated team: Penn St (3-0, AP#10, Hack#37). The Nittany Lions may very well be a top-10 team, but so far they have played the 5th easiest schedule in the country – their opponents have gone a paltry 1-8. Now admittedly, no one expected Notre Dame to be 0-3 at this point, and that is dragging down Penn St’s strength of schedule considerably. Nevertheless, they will need to prove themselves against more worthy opposition before they make my radar screen. Mark your calendars for October 13 when they host Wisconsin, another highly touted but (in my opinion) overrated team.

Most underrated team: Michigan St (3-0, AP#36, Hack#2). I’m gritting my teeth as I do this because the Spartans always seem to let me down right after I give them props. But they have won convincingly over a respectable schedule (their opponents are 4-1 when they are not playing Michigan St), and they have a chance this weekend to deal Notre Dame an unbelievable fourth straight loss. Is this the year they finally overcome the label of “great potential”?

By the way, don’t look now, but Duke actually won a game! On the road! At Northwestern! This has been a good week for traditionally strong basketball schools on the football field (Duke, Kentucky, Florida, North Car.. [oh well, 3 out of 4 isn’t bad…])

Interesting games next week:

(27) Oklahoma vs. (19) Tulsa [Tulsa riding high after shootout win over BYU]

(21) South Carolina vs. (4) LSU [Tough road test for the Gamecocks]

(38) Penn St vs. (101) Michigan [Neither team can afford to lose this game]

(98) Arizona vs. (15) California [Bears eager for revenge as Wildcats knocked them out of the Rose Bowl last year]