2011 Ratings, Week 6

There was no significant movement in the top-15 of the HackPoll since last week – even with Oklahoma’s beatdown of Texas the Longhorns only dropped to #9.  Cal lost on Thursday to Oregon and dropped to #55, while the Ducks still didn’t crack the top-25 because to date, Cal is still the best opponent Oregon has beaten.  Next week’s game between Oregon and Arizona St should change that, assuming the Ducks are able to keep their conference winning streak alive.

The weekly awards:

Upset of the week:  Not many candidates for this award this week.  I refuse to say Wake Forest’s 35-30 win over Florida St, since I’ve been panning FSU for the last couple of weeks (even though I did think they would beat Wake).  That leaves only Utah St’s 63-19 win over Wyoming.  USU has suffered some tough-luck losses this season; it’s good to see them come out with a good performance and a convincing win.

Yawner of the week:  Temple over Ball St, 42-0.  Temple’s defense really should be garnering more attention – the only opponent this year to score more than 14 on them was Toledo (36).

Comeback of the week:  Nebraska achieved its first ever Big-10(plus 2) conference win over Ohio St, 34-27, a game which they trailed 27-6 in the 3^rd quarter.  The Huskers should have an easier time with Minnesota next week before heading on the road for a big divisional showdown with Michigan St.

Game of the week:  The Wake Forest Demon Deacons have quietly put together a strong first half, and they are now 4-1 thanks to a 35-30 win over Florida St.  Clemson is getting all the attention in the Atlantic Division of the ACC, and rightfully so, but Wake could just as easily be undefeated in conference when they travel to Clemson on November 12.

And now, with 37.5% reliability, this week’s ratings:

Rank	Team		W-L	Value	STR	Last Week	AP
1	Alabama		6-0	4.596	STR-8	Last-1	AP-2
2	Oklahoma		5-0	4.327	STR-13	Last-5	AP-3
3	Oklahoma St		5-0	4.151	STR-21	Last-6	AP-6
4	LSU		6-0	4.143	STR-25	Last-8	AP-1
5	Michigan		6-0	3.982	STR-28	Last-2	AP-11
6	Boise St		5-0	3.865	STR-34	Last-9	AP-5
7	Illinois		6-0	3.684	STR-52	Last-7	AP-16
8	Clemson		6-0	3.515	STR-62	Last-3	AP-8
9	Texas		4-1	3.441	STR-2	Last-4	AP-22
10	Georgia Tech		6-0	3.306	STR-72	Last-10	AP-12
11	Kansas St		5-0	3.107	STR-86	Last-12	AP-17
12	Stanford		5-0	2.956	STR-89	Last-11	AP-7
13	Wisconsin		5-0	2.891	STR-96	Last-17	AP-4
14	North Carolina		5-1	2.735	STR-31	Last-16	AP-32
15	Nebraska		5-1	2.711	STR-41	Last-13	AP-14
16	Baylor		4-1	2.675	STR-23	Last-32	AP-20
17	Houston		6-0	2.671	STR-105	Last-24	AP-25
18	Arkansas		5-1	2.644	STR-37	Last-31	AP-10
19	Rutgers		4-1	2.636	STR-22	Last-20
20	South Carolina		5-1	2.627	STR-30	Last-14	AP-15
21	Arizona St		5-1	2.562	STR-46	Last-22	AP-18
22	Penn St		5-1	2.547	STR-49	Last-26	AP-30
23	Notre Dame		4-2	2.496	STR-1	Last-25	AP-28
24	Virginia Tech		5-1	2.391	STR-53	Last-21	AP-19
25	West Virginia		5-1	2.282	STR-65	Last-19	AP-13
26	Washington		4-1	2.275	STR-48	Last-18	AP-27
27	Oregon		4-1	2.093	STR-63		AP-9
28	USC		4-1	2.077	STR-64		AP-31
29	Auburn		4-2	2.023	STR-7	Last-15	AP-24
30	South Florida		4-1	2.002	STR-59		AP-33
31	Texas A&M		3-2	1.947	STR-4		AP-21
32	LA Lafayette		5-1	1.937	STR-87
33	Georgia		4-2	1.672	STR-24		AP-29
34	SMU		4-1	1.590	STR-90		AP-36
35	Southern Miss		5-1	1.541	STR-102		AP-35
36	W Michigan		4-2	1.497	STR-36
37	Wake Forest		4-1	1.459	STR-98		AP-34
38	Syracuse		4-2	1.454	STR-45
39	Florida		4-2	1.449	STR-35		AP-26
40	Michigan St		4-1	1.270	STR-106		AP-23
41	TCU		4-2	1.248	STR-57
42	BYU		4-2	1.205	STR-54
43	Texas Tech		4-1	1.172	STR-113		AP-37
44	Vanderbilt		3-2	1.020	STR-29
45	Florida Intl		4-2	1.000	STR-74
46	Iowa St		3-2	0.945	STR-47
47	Cincinnati		4-1	0.937	STR-118		AP-38
48	San Diego St		3-2	0.868	STR-50	Last-23
49	Temple		4-2	0.804	STR-85
50	UCLA		3-3	0.801	STR-9
51	Tennessee		3-2	0.755	STR-61
52	Arkansas St		4-2	0.652	STR-97
53	Iowa		3-2	0.481	STR-79
54	Tulsa		2-3	0.362	STR-3
55	California		3-2	0.362	STR-88
56	Pittsburgh		3-3	0.344	STR-39
57	Toledo		3-3	0.339	STR-38
58	Ohio		4-2	0.331	STR-111
59	Air Force		3-2	0.212	STR-91
60	Virginia		3-2	0.201	STR-99
61	UCF		3-2	0.200	STR-94
62	Duke		3-2	0.167	STR-95
63	Ball St		3-3	0.122	STR-56
64	Wyoming		3-2	0.057	STR-104
65	Utah		2-3	0.024	STR-11
66	Kansas		2-3	0.012	STR-10
67	Mississippi St		3-3	-0.063	STR-67
68	NC St		3-3	-0.069	STR-70
69	Ohio St		3-3	-0.080	STR-69
70	Rice		2-3	-0.105	STR-15
71	Nevada		2-3	-0.159	STR-18
72	Missouri		2-3	-0.191	STR-16
73	Washington St		3-2	-0.195	STR-114
74	Florida St		2-3	-0.218	STR-17
75	East Michigan		3-3	-0.228	STR-80
76	Purdue		3-2	-0.234	STR-115
77	Maryland		2-3	-0.250	STR-20
78	Marshall		2-4	-0.309	STR-6
79	Hawaii		3-2	-0.318	STR-116
80	UTEP		2-3	-0.345	STR-33
81	Troy		2-3	-0.406	STR-26
82	Miami FL		2-3	-0.433	STR-42
83	Bowling Green		3-3	-0.486	STR-101
84	Northern Illinois		3-3	-0.638	STR-109
85	Utah St		2-3	-0.688	STR-68
86	Northwestern		2-3	-0.699	STR-55
87	Mississippi		2-3	-0.808	STR-77
88	Navy		2-3	-0.817	STR-76
89	Louisville		2-3	-0.833	STR-73
90	San Jose St		2-4	-0.854	STR-40
91	Colorado St		3-2	-0.870	STR-121
92	Kentucky		2-4	-0.906	STR-32
93	North Texas		2-4	-0.928	STR-27
94	Connecticut		2-4	-1.086	STR-60
95	Fresno St		2-4	-1.235	STR-75
96	Louisiana Tech		2-4	-1.264	STR-78
97	Cent Michigan		2-4	-1.317	STR-84
98	Buffalo		2-4	-1.382	STR-92
99	East Carolina		1-4	-1.459	STR-5
100	New Mexico St		2-3	-1.559	STR-119
101	Army		2-4	-1.611	STR-108
102	Tulane		2-4	-1.837	STR-117
103	Kent St		1-5	-1.869	STR-12
104	Arizona		1-5	-1.986	STR-19
105	Colorado		1-5	-2.009	STR-44
106	UNLV		1-4	-2.116	STR-82
107	Oregon St		1-4	-2.116	STR-66
108	LA Monroe		1-4	-2.202	STR-81
109	Indiana		1-5	-2.205	STR-43
110	Boston Coll		1-5	-2.207	STR-51
111	Akron		1-5	-2.337	STR-71
112	Middle Tenn St		1-4	-2.399	STR-100
113	Miami OH		1-4	-2.434	STR-112
114	Minnesota		1-5	-2.488	STR-83
115	Memphis		1-5	-2.612	STR-103
116	Idaho		1-5	-2.671	STR-110
117	West Kentucky		1-4	-2.711	STR-120
118	FCS		6-83	-2.953	STR-58
119	Florida Atlantic		0-5	-3.200	STR-14
120	New Mexico		0-5	-3.630	STR-93
121	UAB		0-5	-3.731	STR-107

Most overrated:  With FSU out of the AP top-25, they are no longer eligible for this award.  Instead, this week it goes to Michigan St (4-1, AP #23, Hack #40).  Another hot start in East Lansing has Spartan faithful praying to avoid the seemingly inevitable annual breakdown, but the hot start has been against Youngstown St, Florida Atlantic, Central Michigan, and 3-3 Ohio St, sandwiched around a crushing loss to Notre Dame.  This amounts to the 15^th easiest schedule in the country to date.  The next 3 weeks will be the key – the Spartans face Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nebraska in a row, and should be underdogs to all three.

Most underrated:  North Carolina (5-1, AP #32, Hack #14).  The Tar Heels are basically being ignored because they already lost to Georgia Tech and so no longer control their own fate concerning trying to reach the ACC championship game.  But their schedule strength is respectable (#31) and they have a win over 4-1 Rutgers, so they are definitely worthy of some attention.  They face a struggling Miami next week before going on the road for a tough matchup at Clemson.

Interesting games this week:

(5) Michigan vs. (40) Michigan St  [The Wolverines are for real, but are the Spartans?]

(3) Oklahoma St vs (9) Texas  [Longhorns got a big bloody nose last week against Oklahoma, and they are a young team, so OSU has a chance to capitalize on the immaturity while Texas is down]

(21) Arizona St vs. (27) Oregon  [A lot of people are looking at this as a preview of the first ever Pac-12 championship game]

(16) Baylor vs. (31) Texas A&M  [A&M has already blown 2 big second half leads this year, spoiling their top-10 hopes]

(28) USC vs. (55) California  [The Bears play on Thursday night for the 2^nd week in a row]

(10) Georgia Tech vs. (60) Virginia  [The Cavaliers have had an extra week to prepare for the Jackets]