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MRI Football 2006 - Rankings Week 7
November 6, 2006 | By Benjamin Miraski
I am guessing that Ohio State didn't think that Illinois would give them much of a challenge. And probably even more after they went up 17-0 against the Illini. However, Illinois scored 10 points in the final quarter and tried to make a game of it at the end.
Add to that one of the worst performances by Heisman front runner Troy Smith, and you have the makings of possibly upset. Not so fast though. The Ohio State team came through it unscathed, getting to 10-0. Despite the win, the Buckeyes lost some of their lead in the MRI rankings this week. They slipped a couple of points, but managed to hold onto the #1 ranking.
Why? Well, Michigan had struggles of their own against Ball State. The Cardinals defense was able to not only hold down Michigan but also caused Michael Hart to fumble for the first time in over 650 carries of the ball. The fumble led to a safety by Ball State. Therefore, while Michigan didn't lose points in their MRI rating, they didn't gain enough to get to the top spot.
Speaking of Cardinals, Louisville did its part in winning on Thursday. However, because of the amount of yardage they gave up to the Mountaineers and the consideration of West Virginia's opponents into their rating, both teams drop from the top five this week. Neither could withstand the charge put up by two of the "1 loss" contenders.
Texas and Auburn move into the Top 5 with their big wins over Oklahoma State and Arkansas State respectively. They are joined at #3 by LSU who pull a big win on the road against Tennessee. The Tigers defense was able to hold down a Volunteers team which was playing without star quarterback Erik Ainge for most of the game. In addition, they overcame three interceptions by JaMarcus Russell. The victory was enough to keep LSU looking strong by the overall numbers.
The other two undefeated teams in the nation are Boise State and Rutgers. The Broncos come in at #8 this week while Rutgers still trails back at #15. The biggest game of the season for Rutgers comes this Thursday as they play Louisville for control of the lead in the Big East conference. It will be interesting to see how the MRI looks on Rutgers should they pull the major upset at home.
Check out all the ratings in Week 7 of the MRI.
| And Now the Rankings | |||||
 Ohio State |
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 Michigan |
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 LSU |
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 Texas |
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 Auburn |
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 Louisville |
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 West Virginia |
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 Boise State |
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 Wisconsin |
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 Florida |
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| Teams Dropped From The Top 25: Missouri (LW #18, TW #26), Tulsa (LW #19, TW #29), Pittsbugh (LW #23, TW #28) | |||||
| Other Teams People Might Care About | |||||
| Last Place this week: Temple (1-9) at -59.64. 5th week in a row. | |||||
| Biggest Gain this week: Texas Tech gained 11.32 points. (Beat Baylor, 55-21) | |||||
| Biggest Loss this week: Indiana lost 16.56 points. (Lost to Minnesota, 63-26) | |||||
| Conference rankings this week: Big East, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, PAC-10, ACC, Mountain West, C-USA, WAC, MAC, Sun Belt | |||||
The MRI Rankings are copyright 2006 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com
Posted November 6, 2006 2:30 PM
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