Granted that LSU would have had to blow out Oklahoma for them to lose enough to move to #2 in the rankings, but at times during the game, it appeared that LSU might just be on the verge of doing that. Oklahoma was a good team this year, they just picked the wrong time to lose their 2 games for the year. And if you take the season as a whole, Oklahoma was just better than everyone else. What sticks in everyone's minds is that Oklahoma lost its last two games when they were supposed to be unbeatable. Oklahoma wasn't unbeatable, as we saw in the Big 12 championship and the Sugar Bowl, everyone just made them out to be that way. Sportswriting today has become such a hype business that it over-sensationalized Oklahoma to point where they were being considered the best college football team of all time. I will personally buy towels for everyone so that they can wipe the egg off their face now. They still end in the MRI as the best team this year, and I don't have a reference point from other year's data to determine if they are better or worse than any former champs. Maybe in two years I can look back and say, 'Well, Oklahoma was good, but they weren't as good as USC in 2004, or Texas in 2005'. At least I hope that they are going to be comparable. I don't think there is an adjustment to the MRI that I could make which would see them drop from the first spot. As it was they finished with a 15 point lead on USC which in MRI terms is a pretty big move to make, although a combination of another win by USC and a loss by Oklahoma could swap the two teams. Anyone for that playoff now?

The MRI also taught us that a computer should not be picking football games. Overall, the MRI finished 16-12 in the bowl games, with some pretty spectacular losses. Not all of them can be blamed on the computer though, as most humans picked Texas to beat Washington State. It just didn't work out. Kansas State's high standing in the MRI wasn't enough to make their quarterback behave himself, or to boost them over Ohio State, though they did come back twice in that game and make it close at the end with a chance to tie late. If it was any consolation to me in that game, Ohio State lost 3 spots in the MRI due to its defense collapsing for the second game in a row. What was holding them up all season in the MRI was not enough to keep them there at the end. I am still not ready to give them credit for being as good as everyone else is.

While the MRI lost a good number of games, it did prove right in a number of areas. All season, while Tennessee and Florida were getting boosted up in the AP and coach's polls and competeing for the SEC East title with Georgia, I had them languishing out of the Top 25. Tennessee finally made an appearance late in the season low in the MRI. The MRI only gave Georgia credit for being as good as they were. Tennessee and Florida proved that they did not have it in their bowl games. Even despite these losses, the SEC moved into the top rated spot in the MRI conference race. They pass a Big 12 league that went 2-6 in the bowl games. The ACC and the Pac-10 also made gains in the conference race by strong performances in the bowls.

The MRI also proved right in giving credit to teams from smaller conferences. Look at the performances of teams like Miami(Ohio), Bowling Green (although their game with Northwestern was close), and Boise State. These teams proved that they were just as good if not better than some of the big names that week after week were given more credit than them. The MRI was right about TCU although a 51 yard field goal almost proved me wrong. Maybe next year they won't whine as much. I am pretty pleased with the system's performance overall. When it came down to it, most of the games that were lost were in the lower confidence factors and some of the big ones were games that even the "experts" picked with the MRI.

I am excited about next year. Some big changes in the conferences will definitely make the season one that will be talked about, including what the standings would look like without the changes. I am not going to make any predictions, except that maybe we will all be yelling about the BCS again at this time next year. Enjoy the final rankings.

And Now the Rankings
RANK	TEAM	RECORD	MRI	LW
1	Oklahoma	12-2	143.50	1
2	USC	12-1	128.72	2
3	LSU	13-1	121.75	3
4	Miami(Ohio)	13-1	115.78	6
5	Kansas State	11-4	107.67	4
6	Michigan	10-3	104.11	5
7	Georgia	11-3	99.34	8
8	Texas	10-3	94.63	7
9	Florida State	10-3	88.57	9
10	Boise State	13-1	87.65	10
11	Miami	11-2	83.06	11
12	Maryland	10-3	82.06	18
13	Nebraska	10-3	81.91	13
14	Washington State	10-3	79.97	14
15	Minnesota	10-3	79.77	12
16	Arkansas	9-4	79.12	15
17	Iowa	10-3	71.23	22
18	Clemson	9-4	70.39	24
19	Memphis	9-4	69.79	20
20	Ohio State	11-2	69.19	17
21	Utah	10-2	68.96	NR(22)
22	Purdue	9-4	67.36	16
23	Oregon State	8-5	67.16	NR(33)
24	Virginia Tech	8-5	65.32	19
25	Bowling Green	11-3	64.36	23
Teams Dropped From The Top 25:
Tennessee (LW #21, TW #27), Cal (LW #25, TW #26)
Other Teams People Might Care About
RANK	TEAM	RECORD	MRI	LW
29	TCU	11-2	57.23	28
36	Northern Illinois	10-2	49.02	43
42	Pittsburgh	8-5	46.84	37
46	Michigan State	8-5	43.23	40
56	Georgia Tech	7-6	34.12	73
61	Notre Dame	5-7	28.86	60
63	UCLA	6-7	27.62	59
74	Kansas	6-7	15.09	64
77	Penn State	3-9	7.59	79
85	Duke	4-8	1.69	87
89	Texas A&M	4-8	-4.56	88
104	Illinois	1-11	-31.64	105
106	Indiana	2-10	-33.88	106
Last Place this week:  Army (0-13) at -75.76. 2nd week in a row
Biggest Gain this week: Georgia Tech gained 16.57 points. (Beat Tulsa in the Humanitarian Bowl)
Biggest Loss this week: New Mexico lost 11.85 points. (Lost to Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl)
Conference rankings this week:  SEC, Big 12, ACC, PAC-10, Big Ten, Big East, Mountain West, C-USA, MAC, WAC, SunBelt
Enjoy
			Copyright 2004 MRISports.com