MRISports.com: MRI Football 2007

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October 30, 2007

MRI Football 2007 - Rankings Week 6

Les Miles had a week to sit on the couch, but he kept his #1 rating in the MRI. (AP Photo/Tim Mueller) A week off, some time to sit back and relax, and time to thank goodness you are still #1. That is what Les Miles had over the weekend. Despite a week off, no team was able to make up the distance between the LSU Tigers and the rest of the pack to move them out of the #1 rating. Now, with a few players out for the coming week against Alabama, that may change, but for now, LSU is still sitting pretty.

One of the most interesting things in this week's ratings is that the Top 10 have all the same players, but a little different order. The biggest shock will be that Florida was able to stay in that lead pack despite another loss over the weekend, this time to Georgia. Despite only dropping to #10, they did leave the majority of the lead pack which now looks to be about 6 teams before a drop off to Oklahoma and Boston College in the #7 and #8 spots..

Moving up to #2 this week is West Virginia, whose only blemish was against South Florida. The Mountaineers may want the Bulls to stop losing so that loss continues to be one of quality. However, with Pat White appearing to return to his good form (read not hurt), it looks like West Virginia can put a serious challenge to the Tigers.

Also moving up was Ohio State who got what could be considered maybe their first big win of the season against Penn State. The Buckeyes may not have the offensive power of last year's team but you wouldn't know it from the way they played on Saturday. The schedule continues to be a little tougher the rest of the way out for Ohio State so don't expect them to fall away.

Rounding out the Top 5 are two PAC-10 teams which garnered big wins over the weekend. Oregon got over the USC hump while Arizona State took down a Cal team which is just spiraling out of control. Wouldn't you know it, Oregon and Arizona State meet this weekend in Eugene. Look for major shake-ups from that game in next week's rankings.

Since their are 6 real leaders here, you have to give mention to Kansas who overcame another obstacle which they seemed destined to trip over. The Jayhawks defeated Texas A&M and in doing so, cleared what might have been the toughest game left before they face MRI #9 Missouri to close out the season. I have to keep reminding myself that this is not the basketball MRI ratings when I see Kansas up there. This is truly the "upset" special of the year.

Check out all the rankings in Week 6 of the football MRI.

And Now the Rankings

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	MRI	LW
1	LSU	7-1	95.20	1
2	West Virginia	7-1	94.33	3
3	Ohio State	9-0	90.99	4
4	Oregon	7-1	90.97	2
5	Arizona State	8-0	86.38	5
6	Kansas	8-0	83.53	6
7	Oklahoma	7-1	77.90	7
8	Boston College	8-0	74.12	8
9	Missouri	7-1	66.05	10
10	Florida	5-3	65.69	9
11	South Florida	6-2	65.37	11
12	Hawaii	8-0	64.42	14
13	Connecticut	7-1	63.75	13
14	USC	6-2	63.44	12
15	Boise State	7-1	62.16	16
16	Clemson	6-2	61.09	19
17	Kansas State	5-3	60.85	NR(26)
18	Michigan	7-2	59.81	22
19	Penn State	6-3	56.94	15
20	Cincinnati	6-2	55.69	21
21	Alabama	6-2	54.65	23
22	Purdue	7-2	54.56	NR(37)
23	Texas	7-2	53.74	25
24	Auburn	6-3	52.94	NR(31)
25	Texas Tech	6-3	51.44	18

Teams Dropped From The Top 25: Rutgers (LW #17, TW #32), Kentucky (LW #20, TW #41), Michigan State (LW #24, TW #31)

Other Teams People Might Care About

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	MRI	LW
27	Georgia Tech	5-3	50.54	29
31	Michigan State	5-4	47.85	24
34	Wisconsin	7-2	46.06	49
35	Florida State	5-3	45.99	45
43	Illinois	6-3	41.97	48
45	Texas A&M	6-3	39.61	36
47	UCLA	5-3	37.32	27
52	Tennessee	5-3	35.47	52
55	Vanderbilt	5-3	34.70	56
56	Miami	5-3	34.60	53
64	Indiana	5-4	22.55	54
65	Iowa	4-5	22.09	70
66	Maryland	4-4	21.80	63
69	Northwestern	5-4	19.82	65
72	Pittsburgh	3-5	17.08	67
77	Washington State	3-5	11.34	95
80	Miami(Ohio)	4-5	8.73	79
84	Nebraska	4-5	6.81	81
103	Duke	1-7	-9.87	93
107	Notre Dame	1-7	-17.01	106
118	Northern Illinois	1-8	-40.62	115

Last Place this week: Florida International (0-8) at -52.65. 5th week in a row.

Biggest Gain this week: Washington State gained 13.81 points. (Beat UCLA, 27-7)
Biggest Loss this week: Northern Illinois lost 15.47 points. (Lost to Toledo, 70-21)

Conference rankings this week: Big East, SEC, PAC-10, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, Mountain West, WAC, C-USA, MAC, Sun Belt