2011 Ratings, Week 4

Quick update, since is so late in the week already and the ratings are still only 11% reliable.

Upset of the week:  Not many big upsets this week, but I’m going with Temple’s win at Maryland, 38-7.  Temple continues to improve, even with the departure of Al Golden in the offseason to take over at Miami, but I don’t think anyone expected them to dominate a BCS opponent on the road like they did here.  The Owls led 31-0 at halftime and never looked back.

Yawner of the week:  Thankfully, not many of these either.  Houston’s 56-0 win over Georgia St is the obvious pick.

Comeback of the week:  Oklahoma St trailed 20-3 at halftime at Texas A&M before launching a brilliant second-half comeback to win 30-29.  The Aggies are going to have plenty of angry motivation when they host Arkansas this weekend.  The Cowboys can’t afford to overlook their next opponent (Kansas), though it would be tempting as their following game is at Texas.

Game of the week:  LSU over West Virginia, 47-21.  LSU has already faced 3 ranked opponents this year, and has dominated every team it has faced.  It’s no wonder the AP voters have them at #1, something that is unlikely to change even after they play their next ranked opponent (Florida) in 2 weeks.

The rankings:

Rank	Team		W-L	Value	STR	Last Week	AP
1	Michigan		4-0	3.389	STR-8	Last-1	AP-19
2	South Carolina		4-0	3.289	STR-10	Last-12	AP-10
3	Oklahoma St		4-0	3.097	STR-14	Last-6	AP-5
4	Nebraska		4-0	3.043	STR-17	Last-16	AP-8
5	Alabama		4-0	3.021	STR-18	Last-21	AP-3
6	Texas		3-0	2.927	STR-20	Last-7	AP-17
7	LSU		4-0	2.908	STR-30	Last-15	AP-1
8	South Florida		4-0	2.772	STR-33	Last-8	AP-16
9	Illinois		4-0	2.767	STR-34	Last-11	AP-24
10	Oklahoma		3-0	2.611	STR-44	Last-2	AP-2
11	Baylor		3-0	2.549	STR-48	Last-9	AP-15
12	Iowa St		3-0	2.541	STR-51	Last-13	AP-29
13	Clemson		4-0	2.471	STR-53	Last-20	AP-13
14	Georgia Tech		4-0	2.334	STR-65	Last-24	AP-21
15	Boise St		3-0	2.269	STR-68	Last-19	AP-4
16	Florida		4-0	2.004	STR-83	Last-18	AP-12
17	Virginia Tech		4-0	1.988	STR-85	Last-29	AP-11
18	Stanford		3-0	1.916	STR-92	Last-32	AP-6
19	Arizona St		3-1	1.869	STR-13	Last-39	AP-25
20	Penn St		3-1	1.766	STR-16	Last-41	AP-33
21	Houston		4-0	1.733	STR-100	Last-23	AP-27
22	USC		3-1	1.728	STR-21	Last-3	AP-38
23	Washington		3-1	1.710	STR-22	Last-53	AP-35
24	North Carolina		3-1	1.650	STR-28	Last-10
25	LA Lafayette		3-1	1.649	STR-27	Last-57
26	Texas A&M		2-1	1.635	STR-9	Last-4	AP-14
27	Florida Intl		3-1	1.588	STR-29	Last-5
28	Kansas St		3-0	1.570	STR-106		AP-31
29	Auburn		3-1	1.463	STR-31		AP-28
30	San Diego St		3-1	1.454	STR-40	Last-17
31	Tennessee		2-1	1.340	STR-19		AP-36
32	West Virginia		3-1	1.272	STR-49	Last-14	AP-22
33	Wyoming		3-1	1.269	STR-55
34	Notre Dame		2-2	1.249	STR-2		AP-36
35	Wisconsin		4-0	1.239	STR-115		AP-7
36	Vanderbilt		3-1	1.196	STR-60
37	Oregon		3-1	1.192	STR-58		AP-9
38	Syracuse		3-1	1.128	STR-67
39	TCU		3-1	1.124	STR-72		AP-20
40	Kansas		2-1	1.044	STR-39
41	Rutgers		2-1	1.031	STR-41
42	California		3-1	1.021	STR-70	Last-25
43	Ball St		3-1	1.012	STR-77
44	Iowa		3-1	0.998	STR-81
45	Texas Tech		3-0	0.977	STR-118
46	Temple		3-1	0.823	STR-87
47	Utah		2-1	0.820	STR-56		AP-32
48	Arkansas		3-1	0.811	STR-91		AP-18
49	SMU		3-1	0.761	STR-95
50	Cincinnati		3-1	0.721	STR-98
51	Louisville		2-1	0.716	STR-64
52	Wake Forest		2-1	0.577	STR-79
53	Ohio		3-1	0.527	STR-104	Last-22
54	Rice		1-2	0.447	STR-1
55	Ohio St		3-1	0.442	STR-103		AP-30
56	Navy		2-1	0.438	STR-86		AP-38
57	Southern Miss		3-1	0.389	STR-107
58	W Michigan		2-2	0.381	STR-23
59	Washington St		2-1	0.348	STR-97
60	Bowling Green		3-1	0.321	STR-113
61	Michigan St		3-1	0.305	STR-112		AP-26
62	Mississippi St		2-2	0.277	STR-32		AP-40
63	Georgia		2-2	0.276	STR-37		AP-34
64	Florida St		2-2	0.274	STR-38		AP-23
65	Arkansas St		2-2	0.270	STR-36
66	BYU		2-2	0.253	STR-46
67	UCLA		2-2	0.166	STR-47
68	Air Force		2-1	0.113	STR-109
69	Fresno St		2-2	0.090	STR-52
70	East Michigan		2-2	0.065	STR-50
71	UTEP		2-2	0.018	STR-59
72	Connecticut		2-2	-0.005	STR-69
73	Northern Illinois		2-2	-0.013	STR-66
74	Colorado St		3-1	-0.118	STR-121
75	Missouri		2-2	-0.127	STR-73		AP-40
76	Kentucky		2-2	-0.196	STR-82
77	East Carolina		1-2	-0.215	STR-4
78	Tulsa		1-3	-0.219	STR-3
79	Virginia		2-2	-0.243	STR-89
80	Miami FL		1-2	-0.278	STR-15
81	Pittsburgh		2-2	-0.278	STR-88
82	UCF		2-2	-0.358	STR-96
83	Northwestern		2-1	-0.393	STR-119
84	Marshall		1-3	-0.395	STR-5
85	Purdue		2-1	-0.395	STR-120
86	Maryland		1-2	-0.417	STR-24
87	NC St		2-2	-0.453	STR-102
88	Hawaii		2-2	-0.503	STR-101
89	Duke		2-2	-0.503	STR-105
90	Nevada		1-2	-0.507	STR-45
91	Troy		1-2	-0.539	STR-25
92	North Texas		1-3	-0.576	STR-7
93	Kent St		1-3	-0.683	STR-11
94	Arizona		1-3	-0.703	STR-12
95	Army		1-3	-0.795	STR-26
96	Colorado		1-3	-0.867	STR-42
97	Utah St		1-2	-0.878	STR-74
98	Tulane		2-2	-0.890	STR-116
99	Toledo		1-3	-0.971	STR-43
100	Louisiana Tech		1-3	-1.113	STR-54
101	Akron		1-3	-1.133	STR-61
102	LA Monroe		1-3	-1.170	STR-63
103	UNLV		1-3	-1.236	STR-76
104	San Jose St		1-3	-1.249	STR-78
105	Idaho		1-3	-1.256	STR-75
106	Mississippi		1-3	-1.309	STR-80
107	Memphis		1-3	-1.337	STR-84
108	Buffalo		1-3	-1.388	STR-94
109	Cent Michigan		1-3	-1.394	STR-93
110	Indiana		1-3	-1.484	STR-99
111	New Mexico St		1-3	-1.529	STR-108
112	Boston Coll		1-3	-1.553	STR-111
113	Minnesota		1-3	-1.843	STR-117
114	Florida Atlantic		0-3	-1.964	STR-6
115	FCS		6-81	-1.985	STR-57
116	Middle Tenn St		0-3	-2.277	STR-35
117	UAB		0-3	-2.366	STR-62
118	New Mexico		0-4	-2.384	STR-71
119	Oregon St		0-3	-2.506	STR-90
120	Miami OH		0-3	-2.565	STR-110
121	West Kentucky		0-3	-2.624	STR-114

Most overrated:  Tempting as it is to stay with Arkansas, I’m going to say Florida St (AP#23, Hack#64).  The Seminoles two victories came over UL-Monroe and Charleston-Southern, and they were dominated by Oklahoma and beaten convincingly (their only lead was 3-0 in the first quarter) by a frankly better Clemson team.  FSU is basically still ranked only because they were considered a national championship candidate at the beginning of the year, and they don’t play a ranked conference opponent the rest of the year, so they could conceivably continue to coast along in the AP top-25 for a few more weeks.

Most underrated:  Iowa St (AP#29, Hack#12).  The Cyclones have quietly started 3-0, including beating in-state rival Iowa and beating Connecticut on the road.  All three wins were close, which is probably why they haven’t gotten much attention.  We’ll find soon if they are truly any good – they face Texas and Baylor over the next two weeks.

Interesting games next week:

(26) Texas A&M vs. (48) Arkansas  [Both teams coming off losses to ranked opponents]

(13) Clemson vs. (17) Virginia Tech  [Clemson has won 4 straight, but all at home – this is their first road game]

(6) Texas vs. (12) Iowa St  [Texas is the team everyone in the Big-12 wants to beat this year, since their exclusive TV network is a primary reason the conference is collapsing]

(4) Nebraska vs. (35) Wisconsin  [Both teams are undefeated, but the ‘Huskers have played the 17^th hardest schedule to date, while the Badgers have played the 7^th easiest]

(5) Alabama vs. (16) Florida  [Can anyone penetrate the Alabama defense?]

(42) California vs. BYE  [Bears enjoy a week off before a brutal stretch of games against Oregon, USC, and Utah]

(105) Idaho vs. (79) Virginia  [Cavaliers try to get back on the winning track before their bye week]