2012-11-02 07:55

You remember my ranking article?

No? Hmmm. Doesn't matter. LOL.

At the moment all eyes are on three rankings:
- AP poll (they do crown a relevant national champion at the end of the season, regardless what the BCS-Championship game does bring)
- The USA Today Coaches Poll (The crown a relevant national champion based on the BCS-Championship game)
- The BCS-Standings (It determines the two BCS-Championship-Participants)

The BCS-Standings are based on Coaches-Poll, The Harris-Poll (both human made polls) and six computer rankings.
The Harris-Poll is based on a secret ranking method, based on weekly randomly picked human (around 100, coaches, journalists, and other College Football people) out of around 300 in a pool.
Those computer rankings get some spotlight, but are not often analysed as single rankings, more as the average of it.
Those computer rankings are most of the time also a big secret, since many of their developers do make a living out of it.

But there are LOTs of more rankings and there are a lot of more people thinking about rankings.

Today I just wanted to give you a link to a site which tries to do a META ranking based on DOZENDS of rankings.

Some are public known rankings, with open computing, some are secrets.

College Football Ranking Comparison

This site is provided by Kenneth Massey, his rankings are also part of the BCS-Computer-Polls.

Just browse a little bit in his site; you will see (if you are interested in such stuff) that he has some decent information and some very nice links there.

Have fun!

The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 10

This week is dominated by two games, the rest is more or less second tier.
That's not said out of disrespect, but out of media coverage.

Still, some fine games beside the two blockbuster games so don't miss them.

#20 Nebraska @ Michigan State
The Cornhuskers are the leader in the Big Ten Legends Division.
But they did lose already two games overall, one in the Big Ten.
So they are beatable and now they have to go to Michigan State with their fine Defense and have to win.
If they lose, the win last week against Michigan is then only for the books, since Michigan would probably jump them and eventually never give them the chance again to regain the lead.
Michigan State has only outsider chances to win the Legends, but they can play spoiler for all others and they can climb the overall ladder to get into a better bowl position (and first getting bowl eligible).
So don't expect a nice game.
Expect a tough fight and at the end we might see a change in the Big Ten, again.
Nebraska is a favourite with a tiny margin by 1.5 points.
I pick the Huskers, because they seem to be more consistent and Michigan State Offense is not that good.
Nebraska probably need an A-game day, but THAT I expect, no less.

#4 Oregon @ #17 USC
This was supposed to be THE clash of the PAC12-Titans and the preview of the PAC 12 Championship game.
It was supposed to be the meeting of two unbeaten teams looking for a National Championship, knowing that only one can maybe make it to the National Final.
Oregon did all it can to keep the promises.
They are 8-0 and did basically beat everything by a mile.
Fresno State did had the lowest margin with 17, the rest did worse.
USC on the other hand lost two games, close ones, against Stanford and Arizona.
Some might say, they are ALMOST unbeaten, but none of the beaten opponents has a better record than .500 at the moment.
The did show skills and talent, but something is missing.
Last year, USC did win against Oregon in Oregon by 3 points.
This year, it could be a loss at home by a very high margin.
The Ducks not only look impressive on offense (fast and deadly), no they also play a quite good defense and THAT might cost USC a lot.
I'm can't see here a Ducks loss.
It might get closer than expected, but an upset would surprise me and probably the whole planet.
Ducks win.

#1 Alabama @ #4 LSU
This is again a deciding game. Last year it was a defense battle, which LSU did win (9-3 OT), only to meet the red elephants in the National Championship game AGAIN and get beaten (21-0).
You don't have to say REVENGE here, those two programs play each other since the 19th century and since Nick Saban became the Crimson Tide coach after his NFL "career" and being the former LSU coach, this game is called the SABAN-BOWL.
They are 3-3 since then and it will be nice to see, what happens this week.
It's said that LSUs home site at Baton Rouge, Louisiana is the loudest place to play by far, makes it the toughest place to play, hence the nickname DEATH VALLEY (some call it DEAF VALLEY).
That's the only reason from my point of view that might help LSU this year.
Alabama did show so many skills, it's hard to imagine they might lose.
If this game would be in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, this would have Tide-Win written all over it.
But you don't play in Baton Rouge and win easily. At least not often.
Alabama is a 10-point-favourite in this.
I give then 14 points. LOL.
They are too good on offense and too good on defense.
LSU is very good at defense, but not quite good on offense, so they will simple not score enough points to match the points they will have to take.
Alabama win.

#24 Oklahoma State @ #2 Kansas State
Another week for the Wildcats to show they are legit contenders.
And Oklahoma State is a very good team.
But the lost twice this season, at home against Texas and at Tucson, Arizona against THEIR Wildcats.
That said, I think this elusive Cowboys offense will have to score a lot to keep up with the Colin Klein lead offense of KSU.
And there is the problem ... KSU has a way better defense.
Expect a high scoring game, decided by around 10 points.
Still ... KSU will win.

#22 Arizona @ UCLA
The battle of the first year coaches?
Rich Rodriguez vs Jim Mora junior?
Both did great on turning around struggling programs.
Arizona was 4-8 last season and their best seasons in the last 10 years were 8-5 in 2008 and 2009.
UCLA record was 6-8 last season, they won the PAC 12 south by default, since USC could not compete, and got beaten in the PAC 12 Championship game and in the Bowl.
Their best record in the last 10 years was 10-2, but that was before Rick Neuheisel was hired. Neuheisel was let go after the loss to Illinois in the Bowl.
Now both teams are in the winning area, 5-3 for the Wildcats, 6-2 for the Bruins.
Arizona is ranked, because they have beaten and lost to more ranked teams than UCLA.
But that is only temporary, since the rankings at the end are important.
What do we have here?
Two hot teams, which did lose some games, because they are not yet consistent.
I can't figure out a clear favourite here, both teams can win.
In doubt I tend to give the home team the advantage.
So, the Bruins win.

‘Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

Tags: Block of Granite