It's Just Money: LAMoneyGuy's College Football Computer Ranking Week 8

So, what are we calling last weekend? Survival Saturday? "Phew, that was close" Saturday? Eight of the top ten BCS teams went into games last week (USC and Florida had bye weeks), heavily favored and five of them came away with closer than expected wins. Not to mention Tennessee at #11 doing the same. The monumental upsets didn't happen, but it became ever more clear that this year consists of Ohio State and everybody else.

As far as my picks are concerned, this week reminded me why I make predictions on paper (keyboard) and not in a Vegas sportsbook. Here are my results and my updated rankings for the week:

(9)WVU at (80)UConn, Line: WVU -23. "Slaton will rush for 200 and White will pass/run for another couple of Benjamins, leading the 'Eers to a more than 23 point win." Result: WVU 37, UConn 11. Slaton only had one Benjamin, but White did pass/run for two bills. Record: 1-0

(48)Indiana at (2)Ohio State, Line: OSU -30.5. "Don't expect it to be a blowout. Well, at least not a thirty and a half point blowout. Take the Hoosiers and the points." Wrong, wrong and more wrong. Result: OSU 44, Hoosiers: 3. I meant to say, at least not a 41.5 point blowout. Ah heck, I over rated Indiana based on one win. Record: 1-1

(16)Texas at (21)Nebraska, Line: Texas -7. "Colt McCoy throws for three TDs and the Longhorn D stuffs Marlon Lucky in a win, covering the spread." Colt threw two TDs but what happened to Marlon Lucky? He only had three runs for five yards. Even so, Texas not only did not cover, but they were rather lucky to win. Result: Horns 22, Huskers 20. Record: 1-2

(49)Miami FL at (116)Duke, Line: Miami -18. "Miami minus the points." I forgot about half of the Hurricanes being suspended. Oh well, Result: Canes 20, Dukies 15. Record: 1-3

(43)UCLA at (14)Notre Dame, Line: ND -14. "Irish win, but don't cover." Finally! I got one. Record: 2-3

(31)Iowa at (3)Michigan, Line: Michigan -14. "I would take the Maize and Blue minus the points." I hate ties. This is why Americans don't watch soccer. Result: Michigan 20, Iowa 6. Record: 2-3-1

(36)Alabama at (10)Tennessee, Line: Vols -11. "They'll lose to Tennessee and it won't be within 11 points." Tennessee needed ten 4th quarter points to get the win. Result: Vols 16, Tide 13. Record: 2-4-1

(18)Oregon at (30)Washington State, Line: Mighty Ducks -4. "What? Why is this line so small? ... unless snow comes early to the Palouse this year, Oregon covers." Well, no snow, but we learned why this line was so small. Oregon away from Autzen is a pretty average team. Result: Wazzou 34, Ducks 23. Record: 2-5-1

(6)Rutgers at (26)Pittsburgh, Line: Pitt -6.5. "You can keep overlooking the Scarlet Knights, but they're not going anywhere. Their confidence is riding high, and they will not only beat the spread, but win outright." Man, I feel such vindication for each one that I get. Result: Knights 20, Panthers 10. Record: 3-5-1

(23)Georgia Tech at (15)Clemson, Line: Tigers -7.5. "After surprising the country by losing a close game to preseason #2, Notre Dame, the Yellow Jackets have gone undefeated, but squeaked by the Terps with two 4th quarter TDs. Clemson covers." Phew, needed that one to keep it close. Result: Clemson 31, Tech 7. Record: 4-5-1

This was a losing week. An $11 bet on each of these games in Vegas would have netted a loss of $15. On the season I am 11-8-1 against the spread. Still not bad.

Notes on rankings: Ohio State moves back to the #1 spot. It's not so much their convincing win over the Hoosiers as much as Texas, Sparty (how 'bout that comeback?), Penn State and the Bearcats winning their games. USC remains #2 over Michigan based on the strength of their schedule due to Arkansas and Nebraska continuing to have impressive seasons. Also, they have only played one team with a losing record, Arizona.

Here's what I don't get. Why do the pollsters have Boston College so low? Maybe they're not the #7 team, as I have them, but they beat Clemson, FSU, a good BYU team and resoundingly beat Va Tech.

And yes, Florida is still above Auburn, Cal above Tennessee. Get over it. Here are the rankings:

Rank	Week 8		W	L
1	Ohio State	2.6300	8	0
2	Southern Cal	2.6293	6	0
3	Michigan	2.6020	8	0
4	Louisville	2.3295	7	0
5	Florida	2.3133	6	1
6	Auburn	2.2237	7	1
7	Boston College	2.2043	6	1
8	Boise St	2.2028	8	0
9	Rutgers	2.2019	7	0
10	West Virginia	2.1580	7	0
11	California	2.1120	7	1
12	Tennessee	2.0598	6	1
13	Clemson	2.0550	7	1
14	Missouri	2.0512	7	1
15	Texas	2.0478	7	1
16	Notre Dame	2.0117	6	1
17	Wisconsin	1.9431	7	1
18	Texas A&M	1.9209	7	1
19	Arkansas	1.8146	6	1
20	Tulsa	1.7842	6	1
21	LSU	1.7606	6	2
22	Oklahoma	1.7205	5	2
23	Washington St	1.6634	5	3
24	Oregon	1.6533	5	2
25	Nebraska	1.6467	6	2
26	Virginia Tech	1.6454	5	2
27	Brigham Young	1.6228	5	2
28	Pittsburgh	1.6215	6	2
29	Georgia Tech	1.6115	4	2
30	Wake Forest	1.6071	6	1
31	Navy	1.6043	5	2
32	South Carolina	1.5267	5	2
33	Georgia	1.4787	6	2
34	TCU	1.4662	4	2
35	Maryland	1.4636	5	2
36	Penn State	1.4488	5	3
37	Ohio U.	1.3942	5	3
38	Arizona St	1.3925	4	3
39	Alabama	1.3885	5	3
40	Texas Tech	1.3806	5	3
41	Iowa	1.3797	5	3
42	Washington	1.3726	4	4
43	Florida St	1.3197	4	3
44	Houston	1.3029	5	3
45	Oregon St	1.2988	4	3
46	Central Michigan	1.2919	5	3
47	Cincinnati	1.2793	4	4
48	Southern Miss	1.2745	4	3
49	Western Michigan	1.2614	5	2
50	UCLA	1.2584	4	3
51	Hawai`i	1.2567	4	3
52	Miami FL	1.2565	5	2
53	Kent St	1.2346	5	2
54	Michigan St	1.2230	4	4
55	Kansas St	1.2218	4	4
56	Oklahoma St	1.2177	4	3
57	Wyoming	1.2167	4	4
58	Louisiana-Lafayette	1.2002	3	2
59	Purdue	1.1953	5	3
60	Indiana	1.1848	4	4
61	Air Force	1.1640	2	3
62	Nevada	1.1355	4	3
63	South Florida	1.1326	5	3
64	Utah	1.1183	4	4
65	Syracuse	1.1061	3	5
66	Kentucky	1.1056	3	4
67	Arkansas St	1.0918	5	2
68	Northern Illinois	1.0888	5	3
69	North Carolina St	1.0866	3	4
70	New Mexico	1.0852	4	4
71	Minnesota	1.0782	3	5
72	Baylor	1.0718	4	4
73	East Carolina	1.0713	3	4
74	San José St	1.0436	4	2
75	Bowling Green	1.0417	4	4
76	Middle Tennessee St	1.0408	4	3
77	UTEP	1.0394	4	3
78	Colorado St	0.9720	4	2
79	Virginia	0.9657	3	4
80	Arizona	0.9627	3	5
81	Idaho	0.9614	4	4
82	Vanderbilt	0.9572	3	5
83	Connecticut	0.9429	3	4
84	SMU	0.9224	4	4
85	Army	0.9141	3	5
86	Rice	0.8980	3	5
87	Akron	0.8905	3	4
88	Tulane	0.8526	2	5
89	Iowa St	0.8472	3	5
90	Kansas	0.8188	3	5
91	Alabama-Birmingham	0.8159	3	5
92	Illinois	0.7987	2	6
93	Mississippi	0.7949	2	6
94	Mississippi St	0.7897	2	6
95	Louisiana Tech	0.7697	2	5
96	North Texas	0.7542	2	5
97	Fresno St	0.7287	1	6
98	Colorado	0.7253	1	7
99	San Diego St	0.7251	1	5
100	Marshall	0.7121	2	5
101	Central Florida	0.7011	2	5
102	North Carolina	0.6904	1	6
103	Florida Atlantic	0.6759	2	4
104	Troy	0.6728	2	4
105	Northwestern	0.6327	2	6
106	New Mexico St	0.6263	2	5
107	Toledo	0.6067	2	6
108	Buffalo	0.5972	1	6
109	Ball St	0.5932	2	6
110	Utah St	0.5818	1	7
111	Stanford	0.5763	0	8
112	Memphis	0.5453	1	6
113	Temple	0.5321	0	8
114	UNLV	0.5148	1	6
115	Eastern Michigan	0.5047	1	6
116	Duke	0.4862	0	7
117	Louisiana-Monroe	0.4558	1	6
118	Florida Int'l	0.4439	0	7
119	Miami OH	0.4179	0	8