Sunday, October 31, 2010

2010 WASEAN Team Ratings – Week 9

Michigan State and Missouri lost over Halloween weekend, leaving five undefeated teams. Here’s how WASEAN sees the top 10:

RK LW Team WASEAN RW RL RT
1 2 Oregon 0.9048 8 0 0
2 1 Boise State 0.8975 7 0 0
3 3 TCU 0.8857 9 0 0
4 4 Alabama 0.8472 7 1 0
5 5 Ohio State 0.8383 8 1 0
6 9 Stanford 0.8219 7 1 0
7 7 Utah 0.8211 7 0 1
8 6 Missouri 0.8109 7 1 0
9 10 Iowa 0.8054 6 2 0
10 12 Auburn 0.7959 8 0 1


I guess I have some explaining to do with BCS #1 Auburn at #10. The are ahead of everyone they’ve beaten. And they are undefeated in the SEC. I get this. But they’ve left home 3 times. Those three games saw them win 17-14 at #38 Mississippi State, 37-34 at #58 Kentucky and 51-31 at #70 Mississippi.

That road record is not typically what you’d expect of the best team in the country. #129 Vanderbilt went to Mississippi and won 28-14. #69 Fresno State went to Mississippi and won 55-38. A 51-31 win there is not a big deal.

Mississippi State is a decent team, sure. But they beat UAB at home 29-24. Kentucky only lost 24-17 there. The best team in the country goes in there and wins by more than 17-14.

At home Auburn needed a come from behind OT win to beat #42 Clemson 27-24. Clemson was winning 17-3 at halftime. They beat #16 South Carolina 35-27, #14 Arkansas 65-43 (a game they trailed in the 4th quarter) and #21 LSU 24-17.

What I (and WASEAN) see here is a good team that has been fortunate to have their toughest games (so far) at home. But when 4 other teams are undefeated and several others have one loss to good teams on the road, I don’t see how anyone can consider this the best team in the country.

Please click the ‘read more’ link to see the complete ratings.

2010 WASEAN Conference Ratings – Week 9

The Pac-10’s lead is slipping. Everyone in the league played each other this week, but it must have been a bad week for their out of conference opponents, as the conference dropped from .722 to .704. The SEC is treading water at .698 but has narrowed the gap to just .006.

The Big 12 is slowly edging away from the Big Ten, but it’s still too close to call there and the ACC has moved ahead of the Big East. The Big East clearly has a problem at the top of the league, but top-to-bottom the league is still much better than the WAC or the MWC. While there are no Boise State’s or TCU’s in the Big East, there are also no New Mexico State’s or New Mexico’s. Don’t forget that Pitt took Utah to OT on the road.

The Colonial almost pulled another upset against the ACC this weekend, but North Carolina came back to beat William & Mary 21-17.

Please click the ‘read more’ link to see the ratings.