MRISports.com: MRI Football 2007

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November 26, 2007

MRI Football 2007 - Rankings Week 10

Scooter Berry knows who is #1 in the MRI Just when you thought it couldn't get any stranger, you have #1 and #2 go down in the same week. Of course, LSU had such a lead, that they didn't fall very far, but Kansas picking up their first loss of the season sure hurt them.

Yes, we are in for a wild last week, with massive repercussions if a number of upsets occur in the championship games. This has been the season for the upset so I am not ruling anything out. If Oklahoma wins (they are favored), and Tennessee wins over LSU, and Boston College beats Virginia Tech, you are going to definitely have one of those BCS groups which leave people scratching their head. Imagine even further that somehow, Pittsburgh figures out how to beat West Virginia in Morgantown, and you have two teams playing for the National Championship, who didn't play on the final week of the season.

Yes, it is a mess this year, and even with West Virginia winning, and playing in the title game against... well, someone, I am not sure that the coaches should have to vote for the winner of the National Championship game as the #1 team. Mostly I feel that way because I can't honestly say that there is a #1 team this season. There are a bunch of #3 and #4 teams (since #2 always loses, I would say Notre Dame should just be #2). And please don't tell me that there should be a playoff because of this year. If anything, I would rather see us go back to the way it was before where everyone just took a guess at the end of the season at the #1 team.

If you want to know the extent of the mess, just keep in mind that there is a scenario on the table which would put Kansas and Oklahoma both in the Fiesta Bowl, playing a conference game!

Since I can't stop that, let's look at what happened because of LSU losing this weekend in the MRI.

West Virginia clinched the Big East title and also most likely a spot in the BCS championship game with their crushing of Connecticut on Saturday. They only have Pittsburgh between them and a shot at the National Title. My guess is that we have our #1 MRI team for the remainder of the season. And don't say I didn't tell you that West Virginia would be in the title game a few weeks back. I knew it then, I just felt I needed to remind you given my bad picks in the Big XII this season.

Dropping into the #2 slot is LSU. The team hasn't lost a game in regulation all season, so they are at least as good as Kentucky (not a good sign), or Arkansas (an even worse sign). Eh, what can you do? They proved to be better than most of the SEC, which is something, although their actual conference record was the same as Tennessee (again, not good) and Georgia (ok, now we are getting somewhere). Seems like a waste of talent, but Ryan Perrilloux can only carry you so far when used sparingly.

#3 brings us Florida, who is the odd man out despite only losing by 19 total points this season in their three losses (which contributes to their high ranking overall in the MRI). They will not be in line for a BCS bid, either being hopped by LSU or Georgia based on the outcome of the SEC title game. It is too bad. There is not a more interesting team to watch on the field this season, especially with the "should be" Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow at quarterback. Instead they are likely to get the Outback or Cotton Bowl. I would love to see them trounce Missouri in Dallas, as opposed to a weak Wisconsin or Michigan team in Orlando.

At #4 we have Oklahoma who has a chance to redeem itself with a repeat win over Missouri. Something tells me that this one is destined towards a different outcome, or at least a closer score than the last time. But again, my picks in the Big XII this season have been all over the place. Look for Oklahoma to be #2 in the MRI next week.

Closing out the Top 5 is Kansas, who despite its loss stayed in the hallowed "recap group". Todd Reesing basically played himself out of the Heisman race with the loss. However, Kansas probably endeared themselves to a few bowl committees based on their not quitting when down big (28-7) at the end of the 3rd. Heck, I even give them credit for that. This is the best season for a Kansas team in over 100 years. They deserve at least a nice bowl out this one. And that shouldn't be a conference game against Oklahoma.

And with that, check out all the rankings in week 10 of the football MRI.

And Now the Rankings

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	MRI	LW
1	West Virginia	10-1	111.65	3
2	LSU	10-2	105.45	1
3	Florida	9-3	103.40	6
4	Oklahoma	10-2	100.04	8
5	Kansas	11-1	95.96	2
6	Missouri	11-1	95.71	5
7	Ohio State	11-1	94.81	4
8	USC	9-2	85.49	13
9	Virginia Tech	10-2	81.67	12
10	South Florida	9-3	79.91	10
11	Oregon	8-3	79.59	7
12	Clemson	9-3	78.70	11
13	Arizona State	9-2	74.60	9
14	Cincinnati	9-3	74.00	15
15	Georgia	10-2	71.25	17
16	Boston College	10-2	70.15	18
17	Hawaii	11-0	69.95	19
18	Boise State	10-2	69.51	14
19	Penn State	8-4	67.84	16
20	BYU	9-2	67.08	21
21	Texas Tech	8-4	58.80	24
22	Utah	8-4	57.49	23
23	Arkansas	8-4	57.41	NR(27)
24	Troy	8-3	56.85	NR(43)
25	Illinois	9-3	56.67	25

Teams Dropped From The Top 25: Connecticut (LW #20, TW #27), Texas (LW #22, TW #30)

Other Teams People Might Care About

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	MRI	LW
29	Michigan State	7-5	54.35	26
30	Texas	9-3	53.76	22
31	Wisconsin	9-3	51.96	29
33	Michigan	8-4	51.36	30
34	Tennessee	9-3	50.81	33
35	Auburn	8-4	47.82	40
42	Georgia Tech	7-5	42.85	38
43	Purdue	7-5	42.43	46
47	Florida State	7-5	39.47	37
48	UCLA	6-5	39.13	55
51	Texas A&M	7-5	34.89	57
52	Maryland	6-6	34.61	62
56	Indiana	7-5	30.52	54
68	Vanderbilt	5-7	19.16	66
69	Iowa	6-6	18.52	71
70	Pittsburgh	4-7	17.81	67
71	Miami	5-7	16.73	72
77	Miami(Ohio)	6-6	12.50	76
79	Northwestern	6-6	11.03	79
80	Washington State	5-7	10.59	82
83	Nebraska	5-7	9.28	77
102	Notre Dame	3-9	-12.64	104
112	Duke	1-11	-31.86	111
115	Northern Illinois	2-10	-38.18	116

Last Place this week: Florida International (0-11) at -64.41. 9th week in a row.

Biggest Gain this week: West Virginia gained 14.78 points. (Beat Connecticut, 66-21)
Biggest Loss this week: North Carolina State lost 11.97 points. (Lost to Maryland, 37-0)

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