2016: TUCFC Week 10

The Washington Huskies faced their biggest challenge of the year and came up with a very important win, in what was a fun game to watch.  I had asked last week whether or not we could see five undefeated teams lose and we did see four lose.  Nebraska, Baylor, West Virginia, and Bose State all lost.  This eliminates the Big 12 completely from the talk of the playoffs, at least for now, and helps our friends at Western Michigan. 

I wanted to talk this week about something I found very interesting.  I was looking at Kenneth Massey's Computer Ranking Comparison and saw something very interesting.  I went there initially to see where other ranking systems had Western Michigan.  Like the TUCFC Power Ratings there were a number of systems that had them at number 4.  But what struck me as odd was the conference rating system at the bottom of the page.  The top conference is no surprise it's the SEC, the real surprise was the second highest ranked conference, the Pac 12.  In fact here is the current ranking of the power five conferences.  SEC, Pac 12, ACC, Big 10, Big 12.  That's right the Big 10 is fourth.  I had been assuming all along that the Big 10 was the best conference.  Well now I have to wonder.  It's always fun to see how the AP sees things compared to everything else.  If you went by the AP top 25, which is all we have to go on, here is how the conferences would rank:  Big 12, SEC, Big 10, ACC, Pac 12.

OK so how is it that the Pac 12 can be the number 2 conference when compiling 86 ranking systems and yet somehow the AP take on things is closer to how the conferences are generally being discussed?  I'm not sure what the answer is, but I do think it's the heavy influence of things like the AP and the USA Today Coach's poll that hurts schools like Western Michigan and their chance to actually make the playoffs. 


Games to Watch

Western Michigan (8-0) at Ball State (4-4)
After a week off Western Michigan comes back to play on prime time television on Thursday night.  You have a choice you can watch the NFL game, Falcons vs Buccaneers, or you can check out Western Michigan and see if you think they deserve a playoff thought. 

Alabama (8-0) at LSU (5-2)
Not only is the TUCFC up for grabs, but this should be a good game.  LSU has been playing much better and it's in Baton Rouge. 

Nebraska (7-1) at Ohio State (7-1)
This game has lost a lot of its luster, but it could still turn out to be a very critical game for the playoff picture.

Georgia (4-4) at Kentucky (5-3)
A win at home this week and Kentucky is bowl eligible. 


Week 10 Power Ratings

Despite what the power ratings show here you can expect Washington to end the season in the top four assuming they remain undefeated.  Surprisingly their WP rating is still slightly weaker than Western Michigan's.  I decided to increase the number of teams to 32 just because I still dream of a 32 team tournament.  The Colorado, Troy game in the first round would be a lot of fun.    

Rank	Team	Record	WP	WDiffP	LP	LDiffP	Power
1	Alabama	8-0	443.000	550.663	0.000	0.000	993.663
2	Michigan	8-0	326.719	526.513	0.000	0.000	853.231
3	Clemson	8-0	365.188	442.625	0.000	0.000	807.813
4	Texas A&M	7-1	298.969	372.225	1.000	19.000	651.194
5	Ohio State	7-1	263.906	425.888	11.188	34.125	644.481
6	Washington	8-0	213.063	385.975	0.000	0.000	599.038
7	Louisville	7-1	200.125	383.713	1.000	6.000	576.838
8	Western Michigan	8-0	213.188	350.788	0.000	0.000	563.975
9	Auburn	6-2	167.125	311.663	4.000	28.500	446.288
10	Penn State	6-2	257.125	307.925	25.656	103.813	435.581
11	Wisconsin	6-2	206.438	251.675	7.531	27.750	422.831
12	Nebraska	7-1	192.250	246.175	5.750	14.563	418.113
13	Washington State	6-2	199.094	242.950	10.094	25.688	406.263
14	Boise State	7-1	218.938	245.713	14.688	50.438	399.525
15	Florida	6-1	192.906	269.888	15.906	61.188	385.700
16	Colorado	6-2	176.344	283.925	14.438	81.563	364.269
17	Troy	6-1	123.656	205.675	1.000	6.000	322.331
18	Tennessee	5-3	270.844	249.788	43.906	157.125	319.600
19	Virginia Tech	6-2	217.781	334.888	63.781	204.500	284.388
20	Houston	7-2	185.469	333.013	55.531	186.313	276.638
21	West Virginia	6-1	123.406	202.875	18.531	50.750	257.000
22	Southern California	5-3	186.875	248.850	27.219	153.313	255.194
23	South Florida	7-2	181.594	290.388	47.906	170.125	253.950
24	Louisiana State	5-2	99.406	193.775	10.000	29.813	253.369
25	Florida State	5-3	177.563	223.888	26.438	124.125	250.888
26	Oklahoma	6-2	128.438	248.775	26.406	100.438	250.369
27	Baylor	6-1	107.563	246.413	35.063	87.563	231.350
28	Iowa	5-3	102.500	171.675	18.250	38.500	217.425
29	Stanford	5-3	154.969	190.563	16.594	113.625	215.313
30	Oklahoma State	6-2	161.188	256.550	60.563	153.250	203.925
31	Tulsa	6-2	117.875	226.863	25.906	121.438	197.394
32	Northwestern	4-4	118.844	128.100	14.156	38.813	193.975