PiRate Ratings College Basketball For January 22, 2020

Spreads For Games Being Played Wednesday

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Xavier	Georgetown	2.6
Auburn	South Carolina	10.9
Louisville	Georgia Tech	13.6
Dayton	St. Bonaventure	16.9
Michigan	Penn St.	4.0
Mississippi St.	Arkansas	1.4
Richmond	La Salle	11.7
Rhode Island	Duquesne	4.3
Fordham	George Washington	0.3
Stony Brook	Binghamton	17.9
Hartford	UMBC	4.6
Albany	UMass Lowell	4.7
Notre Dame	Syracuse	3.2
Temple	Cincinnati	0.1
Marist	Manhattan	-4.2
Loyola (MD)	American	0.4
Lafayette	Army	9.7
Boston U	Navy	5.8
Evansville	Drake	-6.1
Chattanooga	Citadel	10.2
Mercer	Western Carolina	-2.0
Furman	Samford	16.3
Maine	Vermont	-15.9
Davidson	Saint Louis	3.3
George Mason	Massachusetts	5.9
Marshall	Western Kentucky	-0.2
Wofford	VMI	11.8
Holy Cross	Lehigh	-3.5
Northwestern St.	Stephen F. Austin	-10.5
Little Rock	Troy	10.0
Incarnate Word	Lamar	-7.1
Nicholls St.	Houston Baptist	16.4
Loyola (Chi)	Indiana St.	5.1
Texas A&M-CC	New Orleans	4.6
SMU	East Carolina	15.3
Bradley	Illinois St.	11.2
SE Louisiana	McNeese St.	-3.5
South Dakota St.	North Dakota St.	3.6
Virginia Tech	North Carolina	5.4
Seton Hall	Providence	11.4
Sam Houston St.	Abilene Christian	5.3
Tulsa	Memphis	-4.5
DePaul	Creighton	0.5
Pittsburgh	Boston College	10.9
Iowa	Rutgers	5.6
Vanderbilt	Alabama	-8.3
Southern Illinois	Northern Iowa	-6.6
Colorado St.	Fresno St.	4.4
California Baptist	Chicago St.	25.3
UC Davis	Cal St. Fullerton	5.1
Long Beach St.	UC Irvine	-9.6
UCSB	Cal St. Northridge	9.9
Nevada	UNLV	5.1

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For January 15, 2020

Power Conference & Top 25 Teams Playing Wednesday

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Butler	Seton Hall	4.8
South Carolina	Kentucky	-6.1
Syracuse	Boston College	10.3
Florida St.	Virginia	7.7
Georgetown	Creighton	1.7
Georgia	Tennessee	0.1
Duquesne	Fordham	16.0
North Carolina St.	Miami (Fla.)	6.8
East Carolina	Tulsa	-3.6
Saint Bonaventure	Massachusetts	6.8
Rutgers	Indiana	3.2
Saint Joseph’s	Rhode Island	-9.6
Baylor	Iowa St.	10.4
Marquette	Xavier	5.4
Oklahoma St.	Texas	4.0
Arkansas	Vanderbilt	13.0
Providence	St. John’s	3.4
Georgia Tech	Notre Dame	1.4
Alabama	Auburn	-2.3
Minnesota	Penn St.	2.8
Temple	Wichita St.	-1.6
Houston	SMU	8.0
Air Force	Boise St.	-0.7
Colorado St.	New Mexico	-0.1
UCLA	Stanford	-3.1
UNLV	San Jose St.	13.4

PiRate College Football Ratings: Final For 2019-2020 Season

Final PiRate Ratings for 2019-2020

January 14, 2020

 

Congratulations to the LSU Tigers–2019-2020 NCAA FBS National Champions

 

PiRate Ratings
#	Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average
1	L S U	142.1	140.5	142.9	141.8
2	Ohio St.	141.3	140.2	142.0	141.2
3	Clemson	139.0	137.5	140.2	138.9
4	Alabama	130.2	127.4	130.7	129.4
5	Georgia	126.5	124.9	126.7	126.0
6	Florida	125.1	122.8	124.9	124.2
7	Michigan	124.2	122.6	124.3	123.7
8	Wisconsin	122.6	122.5	123.0	122.7
9	Oregon	122.1	122.0	122.9	122.3
10	Notre Dame	122.1	121.4	122.5	122.0
11	Utah	121.8	120.9	122.4	121.7
12	Penn St.	121.5	120.8	121.8	121.4
13	Auburn	121.7	119.9	121.2	120.9
14	Oklahoma	121.1	120.5	120.8	120.8
15	Iowa	120.1	118.8	119.9	119.6
16	Minnesota	118.4	118.0	118.0	118.1
17	Baylor	117.3	117.1	116.4	116.9
18	Washington	115.5	115.2	116.4	115.7
19	Texas	113.6	113.9	113.5	113.7
20	Texas A&M	115.0	112.5	113.2	113.6
21	Kentucky	112.5	111.6	112.0	112.0
22	Central Florida	111.7	111.2	112.2	111.7
23	Iowa St.	111.6	111.7	111.2	111.5
24	Kansas St.	111.1	111.1	110.9	111.0
25	Virginia Tech	110.4	110.2	110.8	110.5
26	Tennessee	110.7	110.4	110.1	110.4
27	North Carolina	110.2	110.1	110.9	110.4
28	Oklahoma St.	110.4	110.8	109.8	110.3
29	Memphis	110.0	110.1	110.7	110.3
30	U S C	109.3	109.7	109.9	109.7
31	Indiana	109.9	108.9	109.5	109.4
32	Appalachian St.	109.1	108.7	108.3	108.7
33	Missouri	109.9	107.5	108.5	108.6
34	Washington St.	108.8	108.1	108.7	108.5
35	T C U	107.7	109.7	107.9	108.4
36	Cincinnati	108.3	107.9	108.5	108.2
37	Virginia	108.1	107.9	108.5	108.2
38	South Carolina	109.0	107.1	108.0	108.0
39	Arizona St.	108.0	107.5	108.4	108.0
40	Mississippi St.	108.0	104.9	111.0	108.0
41	Ole Miss	107.8	106.9	108.1	107.6
42	Michigan St.	107.7	106.8	106.8	107.1
43	Air Force	105.8	107.5	106.9	106.7
44	Nebraska	106.3	106.5	105.6	106.1
45	Boise St.	105.7	106.1	106.0	105.9
46	California	104.7	104.7	105.3	104.9
47	Florida St.	104.7	104.4	104.6	104.6
48	Texas Tech	104.6	104.9	103.7	104.4
49	Florida Atlantic	103.7	103.9	105.0	104.2
50	Navy	102.9	105.1	104.4	104.1
51	Purdue	104.1	103.9	103.7	103.9
52	Louisiana	103.0	103.1	102.6	102.9
53	Wake Forest	103.1	102.4	103.2	102.9
54	Northwestern	103.4	102.6	102.1	102.7
55	SMU	102.4	102.3	103.0	102.6
56	West Virginia	102.7	102.7	102.3	102.5
57	Miami (Fla.)	102.3	101.8	102.6	102.2
58	Louisville	102.0	101.5	102.2	101.9
59	Pittsburgh	102.1	101.5	101.9	101.8
60	BYU	101.9	102.1	101.2	101.7
61	Oregon St.	101.2	102.1	101.5	101.6
62	Illinois	101.2	101.6	100.7	101.2
63	Stanford	101.6	100.6	100.8	101.0
64	Tulane	100.6	100.8	101.2	100.9
65	San Diego St.	100.1	101.7	100.1	100.6
66	Wyoming	99.7	101.4	100.1	100.4
67	Boston College	99.5	99.0	99.6	99.4
68	Syracuse	99.7	98.9	98.9	99.2
69	Duke	99.4	98.6	99.1	99.0
70	Colorado	98.6	98.5	98.7	98.6
71	U C L A	98.7	98.3	98.2	98.4
72	Ohio	98.4	97.8	98.9	98.4
73	Georgia Southern	97.9	98.0	97.5	97.8
74	Hawaii	97.0	98.3	96.4	97.2
75	Temple	96.9	96.8	98.0	97.2
76	Western Michigan	97.4	96.5	96.9	96.9
77	Arizona	97.0	96.8	96.8	96.9
78	Buffalo	95.7	96.4	97.2	96.4
79	Louisiana Tech	96.1	96.3	96.2	96.2
80	Western Kentucky	95.5	96.0	96.7	96.1
81	Houston	94.8	95.7	96.4	95.6
82	Utah St.	95.6	95.2	95.7	95.5
83	Tulsa	94.1	95.1	95.4	94.9
84	Kansas	93.7	94.7	93.8	94.1
85	Maryland	93.5	92.6	92.0	92.7
86	Fresno St.	92.4	93.4	92.2	92.7
87	Army	92.8	93.0	92.0	92.6
88	Southern Miss.	92.7	92.0	92.7	92.5
89	Marshall	91.9	91.6	92.4	92.0
90	North Carolina St.	92.3	91.4	91.6	91.8
91	Vanderbilt	92.5	90.9	90.9	91.4
92	Liberty	90.6	91.9	91.0	91.1
93	Ball St.	91.0	90.7	91.2	91.0
94	Arkansas St.	90.5	91.0	90.4	90.6
95	Miami (Ohio)	90.6	89.9	91.0	90.5
96	Central Michigan	89.6	90.2	90.6	90.1
97	Nevada	89.8	91.1	89.1	90.0
98	Georgia Tech	90.2	88.9	90.2	89.8
99	Kent St.	89.0	89.1	89.8	89.3
100	Colorado St.	88.0	91.2	88.7	89.3
101	Troy	89.6	89.8	88.1	89.2
102	South Florida	88.8	89.3	88.9	89.0
103	Middle Tennessee	88.9	88.5	89.2	88.9
104	San Jose St.	87.9	89.7	88.1	88.6
105	Florida Int’l.	88.6	88.4	88.6	88.5
106	Eastern Michigan	88.1	88.3	88.6	88.4
107	Georgia St.	88.2	89.0	87.2	88.1
108	Arkansas	88.0	87.8	87.3	87.7
109	Northern Illinois	87.5	86.9	87.8	87.4
110	U A B	86.6	88.2	87.2	87.3
111	Charlotte	87.0	87.3	87.6	87.3
112	Coastal Carolina	86.9	87.8	86.3	87.0
113	Louisiana-Monroe	86.7	87.4	86.4	86.9
114	North Texas	86.3	86.0	86.2	86.2
115	Rutgers	85.1	84.6	83.6	84.4
116	U N L V	83.7	85.4	83.5	84.2
117	Toledo	84.0	83.9	84.1	84.0
118	Rice	82.4	83.7	82.4	82.8
119	East Carolina	82.4	83.6	82.3	82.8
120	New Mexico	79.7	81.7	78.6	80.0
121	Texas St.	79.2	79.9	78.9	79.3
122	South Alabama	77.0	79.5	77.0	77.8
123	Texas-San Antonio	76.1	77.9	76.5	76.8
124	New Mexico St.	75.6	77.3	75.2	76.0
125	Old Dominion	73.5	73.5	73.2	73.4
126	Connecticut	71.3	73.9	70.8	72.0
127	U T E P	68.5	71.8	68.6	69.6
128	Bowling Green	68.1	67.5	67.8	67.8
129	Akron	62.8	62.5	61.7	62.3
130	Massachusetts	56.7	58.2	55.7	56.9

 

By Conference

 

American Athletic Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	AAC	Overall
Central Florida	111.7	111.2	112.2	111.7	6-2	10-3
Cincinnati	108.3	107.9	108.5	108.2	7-1	11-3
Temple	96.9	96.8	98.0	97.2	5-3	8-5
South Florida	88.8	89.3	88.9	89.0	2-6	4-8
East Carolina	82.4	83.6	82.3	82.8	1-7	4-8
Connecticut	71.3	73.9	70.8	72.0	0-8	2-10
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	AAC	Overall
Memphis	110.0	110.1	110.7	110.3	7-1	12-2
Navy	102.9	105.1	104.4	104.1	7-1	11-2
SMU	102.4	102.3	103.0	102.6	6-2	10-3
Tulane	100.6	100.8	101.2	100.9	3-5	7-6
Houston	94.8	95.7	96.4	95.6	2-6	4-8
Tulsa	94.1	95.1	95.4	94.9	2-6	4-8
AAC Averages	97.0	97.6	97.6	97.4
Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	ACC	Overall
Clemson	139.0	137.5	140.2	138.9	8-0	14-1
Florida St.	104.7	104.4	104.6	104.6	4-4	6-7
Wake Forest	103.1	102.4	103.2	102.9	4-4	8-5
Louisville	102.0	101.5	102.2	101.9	5-3	8-5
Boston College	99.5	99.0	99.6	99.4	4-4	7-6
Syracuse	99.7	98.9	98.9	99.2	2-6	5-7
North Carolina St.	92.3	91.4	91.6	91.8	1-7	4-8
Coastal Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	ACC	Overall
Virginia Tech	110.4	110.2	110.8	110.5	5-3	8-5
North Carolina	110.2	110.1	110.9	110.4	4-4	7-6
Virginia	108.1	107.9	108.5	108.2	6-2	9-5
Miami (Fla.)	102.3	101.8	102.6	102.2	4-4	6-7
Pittsburgh	102.1	101.5	101.9	101.8	4-4	8-5
Duke	99.4	98.6	99.1	99.0	3-5	5-7
Georgia Tech	90.2	88.9	90.2	89.8	2-6	3-9
ACC Averages	104.5	103.9	104.6	104.3
Big 12 Conference
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	B12	Overall
Oklahoma	121.1	120.5	120.8	120.8	8-1	12-2
Baylor	117.3	117.1	116.4	116.9	8-1	11-3
Texas	113.6	113.9	113.5	113.7	5-4	8-5
Iowa St.	111.6	111.7	111.2	111.5	5-4	7-6
Kansas St.	111.1	111.1	110.9	111.0	5-4	8-5
Oklahoma St.	110.4	110.8	109.8	110.3	5-4	8-5
T C U	107.7	109.7	107.9	108.4	3-6	5-7
Texas Tech	104.6	104.9	103.7	104.4	2-7	4-8
West Virginia	102.7	102.7	102.3	102.5	3-6	5-7
Kansas	93.7	94.7	93.8	94.1	1-8	3-9
Big 12 Averages	109.4	109.7	109.0	109.4
Big Ten Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Ohio St.	141.3	140.2	142.0	141.2	9-0	13-1
Michigan	124.2	122.6	124.3	123.7	6-3	9-4
Penn St.	121.5	120.8	121.8	121.4	7-2	11-2
Indiana	109.9	108.9	109.5	109.4	5-4	8-5
Michigan St.	107.7	106.8	106.8	107.1	4-5	7-6
Maryland	93.5	92.6	92.0	92.7	1-8	3-9
Rutgers	85.1	84.6	83.6	84.4	0-9	2-10
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Wisconsin	122.6	122.5	123.0	122.7	7-2	10-4
Iowa	120.1	118.8	119.9	119.6	6-3	10-3
Minnesota	118.4	118.0	118.0	118.1	7-2	11-2
Nebraska	106.3	106.5	105.6	106.1	3-6	5-7
Purdue	104.1	103.9	103.7	103.9	3-6	4-8
Northwestern	103.4	102.6	102.1	102.7	1-8	3-9
Illinois	101.2	101.6	100.7	101.2	4-5	6-7
Big Ten Averages	111.4	110.7	110.9	111.0
Conference USA
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	CUSA	Overall
Florida Atlantic	103.7	103.9	105.0	104.2	7-1	11-3
Western Kentucky	95.5	96.0	96.7	96.1	6-2	8-5
Marshall	91.9	91.6	92.4	92.0	6-2	8-5
Middle Tennessee	88.9	88.5	89.2	88.9	3-5	4-8
Florida Int’l.	88.6	88.4	88.6	88.5	4-4	6-7
Charlotte	87.0	87.3	87.6	87.3	5-3	7-6
Old Dominion	73.5	73.5	73.2	73.4	0-8	1-11
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	CUSA	Overall
Louisiana Tech	96.1	96.3	96.2	96.2	6-2	10-3
Southern Miss.	92.7	92.0	92.7	92.5	5-3	7-6
U A B	86.6	88.2	87.2	87.3	6-2	9-5
North Texas	86.3	86.0	86.2	86.2	3-5	4-8
Rice	82.4	83.7	82.4	82.8	3-5	3-9
Texas-San Antonio	76.1	77.9	76.5	76.8	3-5	4-8
U T E P	68.5	71.8	68.6	69.6	0-8	1-11
CUSA Averages	87.0	87.5	87.3	87.3
FBS Independents
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	Conf.	Overall
Notre Dame	122.1	121.4	122.5	122.0	x	11-2
BYU	101.9	102.1	101.2	101.7	x	7-6
Army	92.8	93.0	92.0	92.6	x	5-8
Liberty	90.6	91.9	91.0	91.1	x	8-5
New Mexico St.	75.6	77.3	75.2	76.0	x	2-10
Massachusetts	56.7	58.2	55.7	56.9	x	1-11
Indep. Averages	89.9	90.6	89.6	90.1
Mid-American Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MAC	Overall
Ohio	98.4	97.8	98.9	98.4	5-3	7-6
Buffalo	95.7	96.4	97.2	96.4	5-3	8-5
Miami (Ohio)	90.6	89.9	91.0	90.5	6-2	8-6
Kent St.	89.0	89.1	89.8	89.3	5-3	6-6
Bowling Green	68.1	67.5	67.8	67.8	2-6	3-9
Akron	62.8	62.5	61.7	62.3	0-8	0-12
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MAC	Overall
Western Michigan	97.4	96.5	96.9	96.9	5-3	7-6
Ball St.	91.0	90.7	91.2	91.0	4-4	5-7
Central Michigan	89.6	90.2	90.6	90.1	6-2	8-6
Eastern Michigan	88.1	88.3	88.6	88.4	3-5	6-7
Northern Illinois	87.5	86.9	87.8	87.4	4-4	5-7
Toledo	84.0	83.9	84.1	84.0	3-5	6-6
MAC Averages	86.9	86.6	87.1	86.9
Mountain West Conference
Mountain Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MWC	Overall
Air Force	105.8	107.5	106.9	106.7	7-1	11-2
Boise St.	105.7	106.1	106.0	105.9	8-0	12-2
Wyoming	99.7	101.4	100.1	100.4	4-4	8-5
Utah St.	95.6	95.2	95.7	95.5	6-2	7-6
Colorado St.	88.0	91.2	88.7	89.3	3-5	4-8
New Mexico	79.7	81.7	78.6	80.0	0-8	2-10
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MWC	Overall
San Diego St.	100.1	101.7	100.1	100.6	5-3	10-3
Hawaii	97.0	98.3	96.4	97.2	5-3	10-5
Fresno St.	92.4	93.4	92.2	92.7	2-6	4-8
Nevada	89.8	91.1	89.1	90.0	4-4	7-6
San Jose St.	87.9	89.7	88.1	88.6	2-6	5-7
U N L V	83.7	85.4	83.5	84.2	2-6	4-8
MWC Averages	93.8	95.2	93.8	94.3
Pac-12 Conference
North Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	P12	Overall
Oregon	122.1	122.0	122.9	122.3	8-1	12-2
Washington	115.5	115.2	116.4	115.7	4-5	8-5
Washington St.	108.8	108.1	108.7	108.5	3-6	6-7
California	104.7	104.7	105.3	104.9	4-5	8-5
Oregon St.	101.2	102.1	101.5	101.6	4-5	5-7
Stanford	101.6	100.6	100.8	101.0	3-6	4-8
South Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	P12	Overall
Utah	121.8	120.9	122.4	121.7	8-1	11-3
U S C	109.3	109.7	109.9	109.7	7-2	8-5
Arizona St.	108.0	107.5	108.4	108.0	4-5	8-5
Colorado	98.6	98.5	98.7	98.6	3-6	5-7
U C L A	98.7	98.3	98.2	98.4	4-5	4-8
Arizona	97.0	96.8	96.8	96.9	2-7	4-8
Pac-12 Averages	107.3	107.0	107.5	107.3
Southeastern Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SEC	Overall
Georgia	126.5	124.9	126.7	126.0	7-1	12-2
Florida	125.1	122.8	124.9	124.2	6-2	11-2
Kentucky	112.5	111.6	112.0	112.0	3-5	8-5
Tennessee	110.7	110.4	110.1	110.4	5-3	8-5
Missouri	109.9	107.5	108.5	108.6	3-5	6-6
South Carolina	109.0	107.1	108.0	108.0	3-5	4-8
Vanderbilt	92.5	90.9	90.9	91.4	1-7	3-9
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SEC	Overall
L S U	142.1	140.5	142.9	141.8	8-0	15-0
Alabama	130.2	127.4	130.7	129.4	6-2	11-2
Auburn	121.7	119.9	121.2	120.9	5-3	9-4
Texas A&M	115.0	112.5	113.2	113.6	4-4	8-5
Mississippi St.	108.0	104.9	111.0	108.0	3-5	6-7
Ole Miss	107.8	106.9	108.1	107.6	2-6	4-8
Arkansas	88.0	87.8	87.3	87.7	0-8	2-10
SEC Averages	114.1	112.4	113.9	113.5
Sunbelt Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SBC	Overall
Appalachian St.	109.1	108.7	108.3	108.7	7-1	13-1
Georgia Southern	97.9	98.0	97.5	97.8	5-3	7-6
Troy	89.6	89.8	88.1	89.2	3-5	5-7
Georgia St.	88.2	89.0	87.2	88.1	4-4	7-6
Coastal Carolina	86.9	87.8	86.3	87.0	2-6	5-7
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SBC	Overall
Louisiana	103.0	103.1	102.6	102.9	7-1	11-3
Arkansas St.	90.5	91.0	90.4	90.6	5-3	8-5
Louisiana-Monroe	86.7	87.4	86.4	86.9	4-4	5-7
Texas St.	79.2	79.9	78.9	79.3	2-6	3-9
South Alabama	77.0	79.5	77.0	77.8	1-7	2-10
SBC Averages	90.8	91.4	90.3	90.8

 

Conference Power Ratings
#	League	Average
1	Southeastern	113.5
2	Big Ten	111.0
3	Big 12	109.4
4	Pac-12	107.3
5	Atlantic Coast	104.3
6	American	97.4
7	Mountain West	94.3
8	Sun Belt	90.8
9	Independents	90.1
10	Conference USA	87.3
11	Mid-American	86.9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Welcome to the inaugural post for the 2019-2020 College Basketball Season.  In past years, we did not issue power ratings until past January 1, because our ratings need a substantial sample size before the variance is negligible.

For those of you new to our basketball ratings, they are nothing like our football ratings.  We use an algorithm based on the Four Factors of basketball combined with schedule strength.  We spent a couple years testing out a system and tweaking the variables until we ended up with what we hope is accurate enough ratings to predict game outcome and maybe, if lucky, a comparison to the Nevada Spread.

Our inspiration comes from baseball sabermetric genius Tom Tango aka Tango Tiger, who we would really love to meet one day after having traded some ideas via the Baseball-Fever site many years ago.  Tango created the Weighted On-Base Average, which is about as positively correlated to run scoring among the well-known sabermetric runs formulas.

Our basketball ratings apply weights to the four factors and then adjust these weights to schedule strength.  It takes about 1,750 games before schedule strength adjustment variance lowers to a minimum number in our calculating loop.  

Since we are beginning our ratings’ publication early this year, we have not yet decided on a set schedule for when we will release updated ratings.  

Starting in January, this is what we will present weekly in our basketball category.

1. Twice Weekly Power Rating Updates

2. Predicted Spreads of Games Played Between Power Conference Teams

3. Weekly Bracketology Updates

4. Occasional Editorial Or Other Written Information

We went back and looked at what our most read posts were for the 2018-19 season, and by far you chose our feature naming the top 20 candidates to move up to Power Conference head coaching jobs.  In that post, we rated Eric Musselman, then of Nevada, as not only the top coach that could potentially move up to a Power Conference job, we named him the overall best college basketball coach at the present time, ahead of all the legends still coaching.

We based that accolade on the fact that Musselman has improved the overall efficiency of close to 100% of the players he has coached at the college level that have also played for other Division 1 Head Coaches.

Musselman is living up to this accolade in his first year at Arkansas, where the Razorback players that played for another Division 1 Head Coach (either players he inherited at Arkansas or transfers from other teams) have enjoyed massive improvement in total efficiency, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

We will post a new list sometime in February.  Believe it or not, it takes longer to study efficiency ratings for players from one year to the next than it does to figure all the power ratings for 353 teams.

Here are our Opening PiRate Ratings for Christmas Eve, 2019

Power Ratings  12/24/19

 

#	Team	Conference	PiRate
1	Duke	Atlantic Coast	120.7
2	Kansas	Big 12	120.1
3	Ohio St.	Big Ten	119.6
4	Michigan St.	Big Ten	118.9
5	Gonzaga	West Coast	118.4
6	Louisville	Atlantic Coast	117.7
7	Maryland	Big Ten	116.3
8	Arizona	Pac-12	115.9
9	Baylor	Big 12	115.3
10	Dayton	Atlantic 10	115.0
11	Oregon	Pac-12	114.9
12	Butler	Big East	114.8
13	Auburn	Southeastern	114.6
14	Michigan	Big Ten	114.6
15	Florida St.	Atlantic Coast	114.3
16	Kentucky	Southeastern	114.0
17	Memphis	American Athletic	113.7
18	Seton Hall	Big East	113.6
19	San Diego St.	Mountain West	113.5
20	Villanova	Big East	113.5
21	Purdue	Big Ten	113.3
22	Iowa	Big Ten	113.3
23	Penn St.	Big Ten	113.1
24	West Virginia	Big 12	112.7
25	Marquette	Big East	112.6
26	BYU	West Coast	112.5
27	Florida	Southeastern	112.3
28	Texas Tech	Big 12	112.3
29	Indiana	Big Ten	112.1
30	Wichita St.	Big East	112.1
31	Houston	American Athletic	112.0
32	Xavier	Big East	111.8
33	Arkansas	Southeastern	111.7
34	Tennessee	Southeastern	111.6
35	LSU	Southeastern	111.5
36	Iowa St.	Big 12	111.5
37	North Carolina St.	Atlantic Coast	111.5
38	Utah St.	Mountain West	111.4
39	Saint Mary’s	West Coast	111.4
40	North Carolina	Atlantic Coast	111.4
41	Georgetown	Big East	111.3
42	Washington	Pac-12	111.1
43	Virginia	Atlantic Coast	111.1
44	Colorado	Pac-12	111.0
45	Minnesota	Big Ten	110.8
46	Illinois	Big Ten	110.8
47	Creighton	Big East	110.6
48	Oklahoma St.	Big 12	110.5
49	VCU	Atlantic 10	110.1
50	Rutgers	Big Ten	110.1
51	Oklahoma	Big 12	110.0
52	Temple	American Athletic	109.7
53	Wisconsin	Big Ten	109.7
54	Missouri	Southeastern	109.6
55	Alabama	Southeastern	109.4
56	Connecticut	American Athletic	109.2
57	Cincinnati	American Athletic	109.1
58	Stanford	Pac-12	109.0
59	Notre Dame	Atlantic Coast	108.8
60	Syracuse	Atlantic Coast	108.6
61	Mississippi St.	Southeastern	108.6
62	USC	Pac-12	108.5
63	Texas	Big 12	108.3
64	East Tennessee St.	Southern	108.3
65	Virginia Tech	Atlantic Coast	108.0
66	Duquesne	Atlantic 10	107.9
67	Liberty	Atlantic Sun	107.9
68	TCU	Big 12	107.9
69	DePaul	Big East	107.8
70	Yale	Ivy	107.7
71	Davidson	Atlantic 10	107.7
72	Oregon St.	Pac-12	107.7
73	St. John’s	Big East	107.5
74	Arizona St.	Pac-12	107.3
75	UNC Greensboro	Southern	107.2
76	Mississippi	Southeastern	107.1
77	Belmont	Ohio Valley	107.1
78	Pittsburgh	Atlantic Coast	107.1
79	Providence	Big East	107.0
80	Louisiana Tech	Conference USA	107.0
81	Rhode Island	Atlantic 10	107.0
82	Richmond	Atlantic 10	107.0
83	Northern Iowa	Missouri Valley	106.9
84	Furman	Southern	106.8
85	Miami (Fla.)	Atlantic Coast	106.8
86	Georgia	Southeastern	106.7
87	Vermont	American East	106.6
88	Western Kentucky	Conference USA	106.3
89	Kansas St.	Big 12	106.1
90	New Mexico	Mountain West	106.1
91	South Carolina	Southeastern	105.9
92	Clemson	Atlantic Coast	105.7
93	San Francisco	West Coast	105.6
94	Nevada	Mountain West	105.5
95	SMU	American Athletic	105.4
96	Harvard	Ivy	105.2
97	Saint Louis	Atlantic 10	105.1
98	Toledo	Mid-American	105.1
99	Kent St.	Mid-American	105.0
100	Wake Forest	Atlantic Coast	104.9
101	New Mexico St.	Western Athletic	104.8
102	Utah	Pac-12	104.8
103	Boise St.	Mountain West	104.6
104	Northwestern	Big Ten	104.5
105	Akron	Mid-American	104.5
106	UCLA	Pac-12	104.5
107	Georgia Tech	Atlantic Coast	104.4
108	Central Florida	American Athletic	104.3
109	Penn	Ivy	103.9
110	Wright St.	Horizon	103.8
111	Loyola (Chi.)	Missouri Valley	103.8
112	Ball St.	Mid-American	103.8
113	South Florida	American Athletic	103.6
114	Georgia St.	Sun Belt	103.3
115	Fresno St.	Mountain West	103.2
116	George Mason	Atlantic 10	103.1
117	Northern Colorado	Big Sky	102.7
118	Bradley	Missouri Valley	102.7
119	Northern Kentucky	Horizon	102.7
120	UC Irvine	Big West	102.6
121	Murray St.	Ohio Valley	102.6
122	Vanderbilt	Southeastern	102.6
123	Tulsa	American Athletic	102.5
124	Washington St.	Pac-12	102.5
125	North Texas	Conference USA	102.4
126	Radford	Big South	102.3
127	Nebraska	Big Ten	102.3
128	Eastern Washington	Big Sky	102.2
129	Boston College	Atlantic Coast	102.2
130	St. Bonaventure	Atlantic 10	102.1
131	Indiana St.	Missouri Valley	102.1
132	Buffalo	Mid-American	102.0
133	Wofford	Southern	101.9
134	Stephen F. Austin	Southland	101.9
135	Oral Roberts	Summit	101.8
136	UT Arlington	Southland	101.7
137	Hofstra	Colonial Athletic	101.6
138	Colorado St.	Mountain West	101.6
139	Appalachian St.	Sun Belt	101.6
140	Texas St.	Sun Belt	101.6
141	UTEP	Conference USA	101.5
142	Colgate	Patriot	101.5
143	Rider	Metro Atlantic	101.4
144	Missouri St.	Missouri Valley	101.4
145	Bowling Green	Mid-American	101.2
146	Northeastern	Colonial Athletic	101.1
147	Texas A&M	Southeastern	101.0
148	Pepperdine	West Coast	100.9
149	Drake	Missouri Valley	100.9
150	Charleston	Colonial Athletic	100.8
151	Towson	Colonial Athletic	100.8
152	La Salle	Atlantic 10	100.7
153	Stony Brook	American East	100.7
154	UC Santa Barbara	Big West	100.6
155	North Dakota St.	Summit	100.5
156	Southern Utah	Big Sky	100.5
157	Santa Clara	West Coast	100.4
158	Georgia Southern	Sun Belt	100.3
159	Coastal Carolina	Sun Belt	100.2
160	UAB	Conference USA	100.2
161	Florida Int’l.	Conference USA	100.2
162	California Baptist	Western Athletic	100.1
163	Valparaiso	Missouri Valley	100.1
164	Hawaii	Big West	100.0
165	Little Rock	Sun Belt	100.0
166	Northern Illinois	Mid-American	99.9
167	Delaware	Colonial Athletic	99.9
168	Western Carolina	Southern	99.9
169	Charlotte	Conference USA	99.6
170	Central Michigan	Mid-American	99.6
171	Sam Houston St.	Southland	99.6
172	Pacific	West Coast	99.6
173	UNLV	Mountain West	99.5
174	Winthrop	Big South	99.5
175	Ohio	Mid-American	99.4
176	San Diego	West Coast	99.4
177	California	Pac-12	99.4
178	South Dakota St.	Summit	99.3
179	Old Dominion	Conference USA	99.2
180	Marshall	Conference USA	99.0
181	North Florida	Atlantic Sun	99.0
182	South Dakota	Summit	98.9
183	William & Mary	Colonial Athletic	98.9
184	St. Francis (PA)	Northeast	98.8
185	Massachusetts	Atlantic 10	98.7
186	South Alabama	Sun Belt	98.7
187	Oakland	Horizon	98.7
188	Sacred Heart	Northeast	98.7
189	Tulane	American Athletic	98.6
190	Southern Illinois	Missouri Valley	98.6
191	Siena	Metro Atlantic	98.4
192	Dartmouth	Ivy	98.3
193	Iona	Metro Atlantic	98.2
194	Rice	Conference USA	98.1
195	Lafayette	Patriot	98.1
196	Eastern Illinois	Ohio Valley	98.1
197	Eastern Michigan	Mid-American	98.1
198	Sacramento St.	Big Sky	98.1
199	Austin Peay	Ohio Valley	98.0
200	UTSA	Conference USA	98.0
201	Omaha	Summit	97.8
202	Evansville	Missouri Valley	97.8
203	Loyola Marymount	West Coast	97.8
204	Lipscomb	Atlantic Sun	97.7
205	Florida Atlantic	Conference USA	97.6
206	Miami (O)	Mid-American	97.5
207	Portland St.	Big Sky	97.4
208	Air Force	Mountain West	97.4
209	Montana	Big Sky	97.4
210	Loyola (MD)	Patriot	97.4
211	Illinois St.	Missouri Valley	97.3
212	Chattanooga	Southern	97.2
213	Green Bay	Horizon	97.1
214	Samford	Southern	97.0
215	Princeton	Ivy	97.0
216	American	Patriot	96.9
217	Boston U	Patriot	96.9
218	Missouri-KC	Western Athletic	96.9
219	Bryant	Northeast	96.7
220	UC Riverside	Big West	96.7
221	Grand Canyon	Western Athletic	96.6
222	North Dakota	Summit	96.5
223	Columbia	Ivy	96.4
224	Arkansas St.	Sun Belt	96.3
225	Bucknell	Patriot	96.2
226	Nicholls St.	Southland	96.1
227	George Washington	Atlantic 10	96.1
228	Gardner-Webb	Big South	96.1
229	Canisius	Metro Atlantic	96.0
230	Brown	Ivy	96.0
231	Tennessee St.	Ohio Valley	96.0
232	Jacksonville	Atlantic Sun	96.0
233	Youngstown St.	Horizon	95.9
234	Illinois Chicago	Horizon	95.9
235	Albany	American East	95.9
236	Fairfield	Metro Atlantic	95.8
237	Seattle	Western Athletic	95.8
238	Monmouth	Metro Atlantic	95.8
239	Abilene Christian	Southland	95.8
240	James Madison	Colonial Athletic	95.7
241	Purdue Fort Wayne	Summit	95.7
242	Campbell	Big South	95.6
243	Prairie View A&M	Southwestern Athl.	95.6
244	UMass Lowell	American East	95.6
245	Montana St.	Big Sky	95.6
246	Cal St. Bakersfield	Western Athletic	95.6
247	Northern Arizona	Big Sky	95.5
248	Navy	Patriot	95.5
249	Long Island	Northeast	95.5
250	Drexel	Colonial Athletic	95.4
251	Southern Miss.	Conference USA	95.4
252	Saint Joseph’s	Atlantic 10	95.3
253	East Carolina	American Athletic	95.2
254	Milwaukee	Horizon	95.2
255	Fordham	Atlantic 10	95.2
256	Jacksonville St.	Ohio Valley	95.2
257	UC Davis	Big West	95.1
258	Lehigh	Patriot	95.0
259	UNC Asheville	Big South	94.9
260	Louisiana	Sun Belt	94.8
261	Utah Valley	Western Athletic	94.8
262	Quinnipiac	Metro Atlantic	94.8
263	McNeese St.	Southland	94.7
264	Middle Tennessee	Conference USA	94.6
265	Lamar	Southland	94.6
266	Texas Southern	Southwestern Athl.	94.4
267	Western Michigan	Mid-American	94.4
268	Louisiana Monroe	Sun Belt	94.3
269	Mercer	Southern	94.3
270	Weber St.	Big Sky	94.3
271	Cal St. Northridge	Big West	94.2
272	Troy	Sun Belt	94.1
273	UT Rio Grande Valley	Western Athletic	94.0
274	Portland	West Coast	93.9
275	Manhattan	Metro Atlantic	93.9
276	UM Baltimore Co.	American East	93.8
277	Morehead St.	Ohio Valley	93.8
278	NJIT	Atlantic Sun	93.8
279	VMI	Southern	93.7
280	New Orleans	Southland	93.5
281	New Hampshire	American East	93.3
282	Robert Morris	Northeast	93.2
283	Cal St. Fullerton	Big West	93.2
284	Cornell	Ivy	93.2
285	Mount St. Mary’s	Northeast	93.2
286	Saint Peter’s	Metro Atlantic	92.8
287	Bethune Cookman	Mideastern Athletic	92.5
288	Merrimack	Northeast	92.4
289	North Alabama	Atlantic Sun	92.3
290	Texas A&M CC	Southland	92.2
291	Grambling	Southwestern Athl.	92.1
292	Long Beach St.	Big West	91.9
293	Army	Patriot	91.9
294	Norfolk St.	Mideastern Athletic	91.9
295	Wyoming	Mountain West	91.8
296	Citadel	Southern	91.8
297	Fairleigh Dickinson	Northeast	91.6
298	Idaho St.	Big Sky	91.6
299	UNC Wilmington	Colonial Athletic	91.5
300	Detroit	Horizon	91.4
301	Longwood	Big South	91.3
302	UT-Martin	Ohio Valley	91.2
303	Coppin St.	Mideastern Athletic	91.2
304	SE Missouri	Ohio Valley	91.1
305	Western Illinois	Summit	91.0
306	IUPUI	Horizon	90.8
307	Morgan St.	Mideastern Athletic	90.8
308	Charleston Southern	Big South	90.5
309	Wagner	Northeast	90.3
310	St. Francis (NY)	Northeast	90.3
311	Elon	Colonial Athletic	90.1
312	Niagara	Metro Atlantic	90.0
313	Binghamton	American East	90.0
314	Central Arkansas	Southland	89.9
315	Hampton	Big South	89.8
316	Cleveland St.	Horizon	89.8
317	Denver	Summit	89.6
318	Hartford	American East	89.6
319	Alcorn St.	Southwestern Athl.	89.6
320	North Carolina Central	Mideastern Athletic	89.5
321	Cal Poly	Big West	89.3
322	North Carolina A&T	Mideastern Athletic	89.2
323	Florida Gulf Coast	Atlantic Sun	89.2
324	Florida A&M	Mideastern Athletic	89.2
325	Jackson St.	Southwestern Athl.	89.1
326	Eastern Kentucky	Ohio Valley	89.1
327	Stetson	Atlantic Sun	89.0
328	San Jose St.	Mountain West	89.0
329	Tennessee Tech	Ohio Valley	89.0
330	Southern	Southwestern Athl.	88.9
331	SE Louisiana	Southland	88.9
332	Idaho	Big Sky	88.5
333	Houston Baptist	Southland	88.3
334	Holy Cross	Patriot	88.2
335	Maine	American East	87.7
336	Alabama St.	Southwestern Athl.	87.3
337	Marist	Metro Atlantic	87.3
338	USC Upstate	Big South	87.3
339	South Carolina St.	Mideastern Athletic	86.7
340	High Point	Big South	86.5
341	Alabama A&M	Southwestern Athl.	86.4
342	Presbyterian	Big South	86.4
343	Kennesaw St.	Atlantic Sun	85.8
344	Northwestern St.	Southland	85.7
345	SIU Edwardsville	Ohio Valley	85.1
346	Arkansas Pine Bluff	Southwestern Athl.	84.8
347	Howard	Mideastern Athletic	83.9
348	Incarnate Word	Southland	83.4
349	MD Eastern Shore	Mideastern Athletic	82.1
350	Central Connecticut	Northeast	81.6
351	Delaware St.	Mideastern Athletic	81.2
352	Chicago St.	Western Athletic	80.3
353	Mississippi Valley St.	Southwestern Athl.	77.5

 

Alphabetical

 

#	Team	Conf.	PiRate
1	Abilene Christian	Southland	95.8
2	Air Force	Mountain West	97.4
3	Akron	Mid-American	104.5
4	Alabama	Southeastern	109.4
5	Alabama A&M	Southwestern Athl.	86.4
6	Alabama St.	Southwestern Athl.	87.3
7	Albany	American East	95.9
8	Alcorn St.	Southwestern Athl.	89.6
9	American	Patriot	96.9
10	Appalachian St.	Sun Belt	101.6
11	Arizona	Pac-12	115.9
12	Arizona St.	Pac-12	107.3
13	Arkansas	Southeastern	111.7
14	Arkansas Pine Bluff	Southwestern Athl.	84.8
15	Arkansas St.	Sun Belt	96.3
16	Army	Patriot	91.9
17	Auburn	Southeastern	114.6
18	Austin Peay	Ohio Valley	98.0
19	Ball St.	Mid-American	103.8
20	Baylor	Big 12	115.3
21	Belmont	Ohio Valley	107.1
22	Bethune Cookman	Mideastern Athletic	92.5
23	Binghamton	American East	90.0
24	Boise St.	Mountain West	104.6
25	Boston College	Atlantic Coast	102.2
26	Boston U	Patriot	96.9
27	Bowling Green	Mid-American	101.2
28	Bradley	Missouri Valley	102.7
29	Brown	Ivy	96.0
30	Bryant	Northeast	96.7
31	Bucknell	Patriot	96.2
32	Buffalo	Mid-American	102.0
33	Butler	Big East	114.8
34	BYU	West Coast	112.5
35	Cal Poly	Big West	89.3
36	Cal St. Bakersfield	Western Athletic	95.6
37	Cal St. Fullerton	Big West	93.2
38	Cal St. Northridge	Big West	94.2
39	California	Pac-12	99.4
40	California Baptist	Western Athletic	100.1
41	Campbell	Big South	95.6
42	Canisius	Metro Atlantic	96.0
43	Central Arkansas	Southland	89.9
44	Central Connecticut	Northeast	81.6
45	Central Florida	American Athletic	104.3
46	Central Michigan	Mid-American	99.6
47	Charleston	Colonial Athletic	100.8
48	Charleston Southern	Big South	90.5
49	Charlotte	Conference USA	99.6
50	Chattanooga	Southern	97.2
51	Chicago St.	Western Athletic	80.3
52	Cincinnati	American Athletic	109.1
53	Citadel	Southern	91.8
54	Clemson	Atlantic Coast	105.7
55	Cleveland St.	Horizon	89.8
56	Coastal Carolina	Sun Belt	100.2
57	Colgate	Patriot	101.5
58	Colorado	Pac-12	111.0
59	Colorado St.	Mountain West	101.6
60	Columbia	Ivy	96.4
61	Connecticut	American Athletic	109.2
62	Coppin St.	Mideastern Athletic	91.2
63	Cornell	Ivy	93.2
64	Creighton	Big East	110.6
65	Dartmouth	Ivy	98.3
66	Davidson	Atlantic 10	107.7
67	Dayton	Atlantic 10	115.0
68	Delaware	Colonial Athletic	99.9
69	Delaware St.	Mideastern Athletic	81.2
70	Denver	Summit	89.6
71	DePaul	Big East	107.8
72	Detroit	Horizon	91.4
73	Drake	Missouri Valley	100.9
74	Drexel	Colonial Athletic	95.4
75	Duke	Atlantic Coast	120.7
76	Duquesne	Atlantic 10	107.9
77	East Carolina	American Athletic	95.2
78	East Tennessee St.	Southern	108.3
79	Eastern Illinois	Ohio Valley	98.1
80	Eastern Kentucky	Ohio Valley	89.1
81	Eastern Michigan	Mid-American	98.1
82	Eastern Washington	Big Sky	102.2
83	Elon	Colonial Athletic	90.1
84	Evansville	Missouri Valley	97.8
85	Fairfield	Metro Atlantic	95.8
86	Fairleigh Dickinson	Northeast	91.6
87	Florida	Southeastern	112.3
88	Florida A&M	Mideastern Athletic	89.2
89	Florida Atlantic	Conference USA	97.6
90	Florida Gulf Coast	Atlantic Sun	89.2
91	Florida Int’l.	Conference USA	100.2
92	Florida St.	Atlantic Coast	114.3
93	Fordham	Atlantic 10	95.2
94	Fresno St.	Mountain West	103.2
95	Furman	Southern	106.8
96	Gardner-Webb	Big South	96.1
97	George Mason	Atlantic 10	103.1
98	George Washington	Atlantic 10	96.1
99	Georgetown	Big East	111.3
100	Georgia	Southeastern	106.7
101	Georgia Southern	Sun Belt	100.3
102	Georgia St.	Sun Belt	103.3
103	Georgia Tech	Atlantic Coast	104.4
104	Gonzaga	West Coast	118.4
105	Grambling	Southwestern Athl.	92.1
106	Grand Canyon	Western Athletic	96.6
107	Green Bay	Horizon	97.1
108	Hampton	Big South	89.8
109	Hartford	American East	89.6
110	Harvard	Ivy	105.2
111	Hawaii	Big West	100.0
112	High Point	Big South	86.5
113	Hofstra	Colonial Athletic	101.6
114	Holy Cross	Patriot	88.2
115	Houston	American Athletic	112.0
116	Houston Baptist	Southland	88.3
117	Howard	Mideastern Athletic	83.9
118	Idaho	Big Sky	88.5
119	Idaho St.	Big Sky	91.6
120	Illinois	Big Ten	110.8
121	Illinois Chicago	Horizon	95.9
122	Illinois St.	Missouri Valley	97.3
123	Incarnate Word	Southland	83.4
124	Indiana	Big Ten	112.1
125	Indiana St.	Missouri Valley	102.1
126	Iona	Metro Atlantic	98.2
127	Iowa	Big Ten	113.3
128	Iowa St.	Big 12	111.5
129	IUPUI	Horizon	90.8
130	Jackson St.	Southwestern Athl.	89.1
131	Jacksonville	Atlantic Sun	96.0
132	Jacksonville St.	Ohio Valley	95.2
133	James Madison	Colonial Athletic	95.7
134	Kansas	Big 12	120.1
135	Kansas St.	Big 12	106.1
136	Kennesaw St.	Atlantic Sun	85.8
137	Kent St.	Mid-American	105.0
138	Kentucky	Southeastern	114.0
139	La Salle	Atlantic 10	100.7
140	Lafayette	Patriot	98.1
141	Lamar	Southland	94.6
142	Lehigh	Patriot	95.0
143	Liberty	Atlantic Sun	107.9
144	Lipscomb	Atlantic Sun	97.7
145	Little Rock	Sun Belt	100.0
146	Long Beach St.	Big West	91.9
147	Long Island	Northeast	95.5
148	Longwood	Big South	91.3
149	Louisiana	Sun Belt	94.8
150	Louisiana Monroe	Sun Belt	94.3
151	Louisiana Tech	Conference USA	107.0
152	Louisville	Atlantic Coast	117.7
153	Loyola (Chi.)	Missouri Valley	103.8
154	Loyola Marymount	West Coast	97.8
155	Loyola (MD)	Patriot	97.4
156	LSU	Southeastern	111.5
157	Maine	American East	87.7
158	Manhattan	Metro Atlantic	93.9
159	Marist	Metro Atlantic	87.3
160	Marquette	Big East	112.6
161	Marshall	Conference USA	99.0
162	Maryland	Big Ten	116.3
163	Massachusetts	Atlantic 10	98.7
164	McNeese St.	Southland	94.7
165	MD Eastern Shore	Mideastern Athletic	82.1
166	Memphis	American Athletic	113.7
167	Mercer	Southern	94.3
168	Merrimack	Northeast	92.4
169	Miami (Fla.)	Atlantic Coast	106.8
170	Miami (O)	Mid-American	97.5
171	Michigan	Big Ten	114.6
172	Michigan St.	Big Ten	118.9
173	Middle Tennessee	Conference USA	94.6
174	Milwaukee	Horizon	95.2
175	Minnesota	Big Ten	110.8
176	Mississippi	Southeastern	107.1
177	Mississippi St.	Southeastern	108.6
178	Mississippi Valley St.	Southwestern Athl.	77.5
179	Missouri	Southeastern	109.6
180	Missouri-KC	Western Athletic	96.9
181	Missouri St.	Missouri Valley	101.4
182	Monmouth	Metro Atlantic	95.8
183	Montana	Big Sky	97.4
184	Montana St.	Big Sky	95.6
185	Morehead St.	Ohio Valley	93.8
186	Morgan St.	Mideastern Athletic	90.8
187	Mount St. Mary’s	Northeast	93.2
188	Murray St.	Ohio Valley	102.6
189	Navy	Patriot	95.5
190	Nebraska	Big Ten	102.3
191	Nevada	Mountain West	105.5
192	New Hampshire	American East	93.3
193	New Mexico	Mountain West	106.1
194	New Mexico St.	Western Athletic	104.8
195	New Orleans	Southland	93.5
196	Niagara	Metro Atlantic	90.0
197	Nicholls St.	Southland	96.1
198	NJIT	Atlantic Sun	93.8
199	Norfolk St.	Mideastern Athletic	91.9
200	North Alabama	Atlantic Sun	92.3
201	North Carolina	Atlantic Coast	111.4
202	North Carolina A&T	Mideastern Athletic	89.2
203	North Carolina Central	Mideastern Athletic	89.5
204	North Carolina St.	Atlantic Coast	111.5
205	North Dakota	Summit	96.5
206	North Dakota St.	Summit	100.5
207	North Florida	Atlantic Sun	99.0
208	North Texas	Conference USA	102.4
209	Northeastern	Colonial Athletic	101.1
210	Northern Arizona	Big Sky	95.5
211	Northern Colorado	Big Sky	102.7
212	Northern Illinois	Mid-American	99.9
213	Northern Iowa	Missouri Valley	106.9
214	Northern Kentucky	Horizon	102.7
215	Northwestern	Big Ten	104.5
216	Northwestern St.	Southland	85.7
217	Notre Dame	Atlantic Coast	108.8
218	Oakland	Horizon	98.7
219	Ohio	Mid-American	99.4
220	Ohio St.	Big Ten	119.6
221	Oklahoma	Big 12	110.0
222	Oklahoma St.	Big 12	110.5
223	Old Dominion	Conference USA	99.2
224	Omaha	Summit	97.8
225	Oral Roberts	Summit	101.8
226	Oregon	Pac-12	114.9
227	Oregon St.	Pac-12	107.7
228	Pacific	West Coast	99.6
229	Penn	Ivy	103.9
230	Penn St.	Big Ten	113.1
231	Pepperdine	West Coast	100.9
232	Pittsburgh	Atlantic Coast	107.1
233	Portland	West Coast	93.9
234	Portland St.	Big Sky	97.4
235	Prairie View A&M	Southwestern Athl.	95.6
236	Presbyterian	Big South	86.4
237	Princeton	Ivy	97.0
238	Providence	Big East	107.0
239	Purdue	Big Ten	113.3
240	Purdue Fort Wayne	Summit	95.7
241	Quinnipiac	Metro Atlantic	94.8
242	Radford	Big South	102.3
243	Rhode Island	Atlantic 10	107.0
244	Rice	Conference USA	98.1
245	Richmond	Atlantic 10	107.0
246	Rider	Metro Atlantic	101.4
247	Robert Morris	Northeast	93.2
248	Rutgers	Big Ten	110.1
249	Sacramento St.	Big Sky	98.1
250	Sacred Heart	Northeast	98.7
251	Saint Joseph’s	Atlantic 10	95.3
252	Saint Louis	Atlantic 10	105.1
253	Saint Mary’s	West Coast	111.4
254	Saint Peter’s	Metro Atlantic	92.8
255	Sam Houston St.	Southland	99.6
256	Samford	Southern	97.0
257	San Diego	West Coast	99.4
258	San Diego St.	Mountain West	113.5
259	San Francisco	West Coast	105.6
260	San Jose St.	Mountain West	89.0
261	Santa Clara	West Coast	100.4
262	SE Louisiana	Southland	88.9
263	SE Missouri	Ohio Valley	91.1
264	Seattle	Western Athletic	95.8
265	Seton Hall	Big East	113.6
266	Siena	Metro Atlantic	98.4
267	SIU Edwardsville	Ohio Valley	85.1
268	SMU	American Athletic	105.4
269	South Alabama	Sun Belt	98.7
270	South Carolina	Southeastern	105.9
271	South Carolina St.	Mideastern Athletic	86.7
272	South Dakota	Summit	98.9
273	South Dakota St.	Summit	99.3
274	South Florida	American Athletic	103.6
275	Southern	Southwestern Athl.	88.9
276	Southern Illinois	Missouri Valley	98.6
277	Southern Miss.	Conference USA	95.4
278	Southern Utah	Big Sky	100.5
279	St. Bonaventure	Atlantic 10	102.1
280	St. Francis (NY)	Northeast	90.3
281	St. Francis (PA)	Northeast	98.8
282	St. John’s	Big East	107.5
283	Stanford	Pac-12	109.0
284	Stephen F. Austin	Southland	101.9
285	Stetson	Atlantic Sun	89.0
286	Stony Brook	American East	100.7
287	Syracuse	Atlantic Coast	108.6
288	TCU	Big 12	107.9
289	Temple	American Athletic	109.7
290	Tennessee	Southeastern	111.6
291	Tennessee St.	Ohio Valley	96.0
292	Tennessee Tech	Ohio Valley	89.0
293	Texas	Big 12	108.3
294	Texas A&M	Southeastern	101.0
295	Texas A&M CC	Southland	92.2
296	Texas Southern	Southwestern Athl.	94.4
297	Texas St.	Sun Belt	101.6
298	Texas Tech	Big 12	112.3
299	Toledo	Mid-American	105.1
300	Towson	Colonial Athletic	100.8
301	Troy	Sun Belt	94.1
302	Tulane	American Athletic	98.6
303	Tulsa	American Athletic	102.5
304	UAB	Conference USA	100.2
305	UC Davis	Big West	95.1
306	UC Irvine	Big West	102.6
307	UC Riverside	Big West	96.7
308	UC Santa Barbara	Big West	100.6
309	UCLA	Pac-12	104.5
310	UM Baltimore Co.	American East	93.8
311	UMass Lowell	American East	95.6
312	UNC Asheville	Big South	94.9
313	UNC Greensboro	Southern	107.2
314	UNC Wilmington	Colonial Athletic	91.5
315	UNLV	Mountain West	99.5
316	USC	Pac-12	108.5
317	USC Upstate	Big South	87.3
318	UT Arlington	Southland	101.7
319	UT Rio Grande Valley	Western Athletic	94.0
320	UT-Martin	Ohio Valley	91.2
321	Utah	Pac-12	104.8
322	Utah St.	Mountain West	111.4
323	Utah Valley	Western Athletic	94.8
324	UTEP	Conference USA	101.5
325	UTSA	Conference USA	98.0
326	Valparaiso	Missouri Valley	100.1
327	Vanderbilt	Southeastern	102.6
328	VCU	Atlantic 10	110.1
329	Vermont	American East	106.6
330	Villanova	Big East	113.5
331	Virginia	Atlantic Coast	111.1
332	Virginia Tech	Atlantic Coast	108.0
333	VMI	Southern	93.7
334	Wagner	Northeast	90.3
335	Wake Forest	Atlantic Coast	104.9
336	Washington	Pac-12	111.1
337	Washington St.	Pac-12	102.5
338	Weber St.	Big Sky	94.3
339	West Virginia	Big 12	112.7
340	Western Carolina	Southern	99.9
341	Western Illinois	Summit	91.0
342	Western Kentucky	Conference USA	106.3
343	Western Michigan	Mid-American	94.4
344	Wichita St.	Big East	112.1
345	William & Mary	Colonial Athletic	98.9
346	Winthrop	Big South	99.5
347	Wisconsin	Big Ten	109.7
348	Wofford	Southern	101.9
349	Wright St.	Horizon	103.8
350	Wyoming	Mountain West	91.8
351	Xavier	Big East	111.8
352	Yale	Ivy	107.7
353	Youngstown St.	Horizon	95.9

 

Ratings By Conference

 

#	American Athletic	PiRate
1	Memphis	113.7
2	Houston	112.0
3	Temple	109.7
4	Connecticut	109.2
5	Cincinnati	109.1
6	SMU	105.4
7	Central Florida	104.3
8	South Florida	103.6
9	Tulsa	102.5
10	Tulane	98.6
11	East Carolina	95.2
Avg	American Athletic	105.8
#	American East	PiRate
1	Vermont	106.6
2	Stony Brook	100.7
3	Albany	95.9
4	UMass Lowell	95.6
5	UM Baltimore Co.	93.8
6	New Hampshire	93.3
7	Binghamton	90.0
8	Hartford	89.6
9	Maine	87.7
Avg	American East	94.8
#	Atlantic 10	PiRate
1	Dayton	115.0
2	VCU	110.1
3	Duquesne	107.9
4	Davidson	107.7
5	Rhode Island	107.0
6	Richmond	107.0
7	Saint Louis	105.1
8	George Mason	103.1
9	St. Bonaventure	102.1
10	La Salle	100.7
11	Massachusetts	98.7
12	George Washington	96.1
13	Saint Joseph’s	95.3
14	Fordham	95.2
Avg.	Atlantic 10	103.6
#	Atlantic Coast	PiRate
1	Duke	120.7
2	Louisville	117.7
3	Florida St.	114.3
4	North Carolina St.	111.5
5	North Carolina	111.4
6	Virginia	111.1
7	Notre Dame	108.8
8	Syracuse	108.6
9	Virginia Tech	108.0
10	Pittsburgh	107.1
11	Miami (Fla.)	106.8
12	Clemson	105.7
13	Wake Forest	104.9
14	Georgia Tech	104.4
15	Boston College	102.2
Avg	Atlantic Coast	109.5
#	Atlantic Sun	PiRate
1	Liberty	107.9
2	North Florida	99.0
3	Lipscomb	97.7
4	Jacksonville	96.0
5	NJIT	93.8
6	North Alabama	92.3
7	Florida Gulf Coast	89.2
8	Stetson	89.0
9	Kennesaw St.	85.8
Avg	Atlantic Sun	94.5
#	Big 12	PiRate
1	Kansas	120.1
2	Baylor	115.3
3	West Virginia	112.7
4	Texas Tech	112.3
5	Iowa St.	111.5
6	Oklahoma St.	110.5
7	Oklahoma	110.0
8	Texas	108.3
9	TCU	107.9
10	Kansas St.	106.1
Avg	Big 12	111.5
#	Big East	PiRate
1	Butler	114.8
2	Seton Hall	113.6
3	Villanova	113.5
4	Marquette	112.6
5	Wichita St.	112.1
6	Xavier	111.8
7	Georgetown	111.3
8	Creighton	110.6
9	DePaul	107.8
10	St. John’s	107.5
11	Providence	107.0
Avg	Big East	111.2
#	Big Sky	PiRate
1	Northern Colorado	102.7
2	Eastern Washington	102.2
3	Southern Utah	100.5
4	Sacramento St.	98.1
5	Portland St.	97.4
6	Montana	97.4
7	Montana St.	95.6
8	Northern Arizona	95.5
9	Weber St.	94.3
10	Idaho St.	91.6
11	Idaho	88.5
#	Big Sky	96.7
#	Big South	PiRate
1	Radford	102.3
2	Winthrop	99.5
3	Gardner-Webb	96.1
4	Campbell	95.6
5	UNC Asheville	94.9
6	Longwood	91.3
7	Charleston Southern	90.5
8	Hampton	89.8
9	USC Upstate	87.3
10	High Point	86.5
11	Presbyterian	86.4
Avg	Big South	92.7
#	Big Ten	PiRate
1	Ohio St.	119.6
2	Michigan St.	118.9
3	Maryland	116.3
4	Michigan	114.6
5	Purdue	113.3
6	Iowa	113.3
7	Penn St.	113.1
8	Indiana	112.1
9	Minnesota	110.8
10	Illinois	110.8
11	Rutgers	110.1
12	Wisconsin	109.7
13	Northwestern	104.5
14	Nebraska	102.3
Avg	Big Ten	112.1
#	Big West	PiRate
1	UC Irvine	102.6
2	UC Santa Barbara	100.6
3	Hawaii	100.0
4	UC Riverside	96.7
5	UC Davis	95.1
6	Cal St. Northridge	94.2
7	Cal St. Fullerton	93.2
8	Long Beach St.	91.9
9	Cal Poly	89.3
Avg	Big West	96.0
#	Colonial Athletic	PiRate
1	Hofstra	101.6
2	Northeastern	101.1
3	Charleston	100.8
4	Towson	100.8
5	Delaware	99.9
6	William & Mary	98.9
7	James Madison	95.7
8	Drexel	95.4
9	UNC Wilmington	91.5
10	Elon	90.1
Avg	Colonial Athletic	97.6
#	Conference USA	PiRate
1	Louisiana Tech	107.0
2	Western Kentucky	106.3
3	North Texas	102.4
4	UTEP	101.5
5	UAB	100.2
6	Florida Int’l.	100.2
7	Charlotte	99.6
8	Old Dominion	99.2
9	Marshall	99.0
10	Rice	98.1
11	UTSA	98.0
12	Florida Atlantic	97.6
13	Southern Miss.	95.4
14	Middle Tennessee	94.6
Avg	Conference USA	99.9
#	Horizon	PiRate
1	Wright St.	103.8
2	Northern Kentucky	102.7
3	Oakland	98.7
4	Green Bay	97.1
5	Youngstown St.	95.9
6	Illinois Chicago	95.9
7	Milwaukee	95.2
8	Detroit	91.4
9	IUPUI	90.8
10	Cleveland St.	89.8
Avg	Horizon	96.1
#	Ivy	PiRate
1	Yale	107.7
2	Harvard	105.2
3	Penn	103.9
4	Dartmouth	98.3
5	Princeton	97.0
6	Columbia	96.4
7	Brown	96.0
8	Cornell	93.2
Avg	Ivy	99.7
#	Metro Atlantic	PiRate
1	Rider	101.4
2	Siena	98.4
3	Iona	98.2
4	Canisius	96.0
5	Fairfield	95.8
6	Monmouth	95.8
7	Quinnipiac	94.8
8	Manhattan	93.9
9	Saint Peter’s	92.8
10	Niagara	90.0
11	Marist	87.3
Avg	Metro Atlantic	94.9
#	Mid-American	PiRate
1	Toledo	105.1
2	Kent St.	105.0
3	Akron	104.5
4	Ball St.	103.8
5	Buffalo	102.0
6	Bowling Green	101.2
7	Northern Illinois	99.9
8	Central Michigan	99.6
9	Ohio	99.4
10	Eastern Michigan	98.1
11	Miami (O)	97.5
12	Western Michigan	94.4
Avg	Mid-American	100.9
#	Mideastern Athletic	PiRate
1	Bethune Cookman	92.5
2	Norfolk St.	91.9
3	Coppin St.	91.2
4	Morgan St.	90.8
5	North Carolina Central	89.5
6	North Carolina A&T	89.2
7	Florida A&M	89.2
8	South Carolina St.	86.7
9	Howard	83.9
10	MD Eastern Shore	82.1
11	Delaware St.	81.2
Avg	Mideastern Athletic	88.0
#	Missouri Valley	PiRate
1	Northern Iowa	106.9
2	Loyola (Chi.)	103.8
3	Bradley	102.7
4	Indiana St.	102.1
5	Missouri St.	101.4
6	Drake	100.9
7	Valparaiso	100.1
8	Southern Illinois	98.6
9	Evansville	97.8
10	Illinois St.	97.3
Avg	Missouri Valley	101.2
#	Mountain West	PiRate
1	San Diego St.	113.5
2	Utah St.	111.4
3	New Mexico	106.1
4	Nevada	105.5
5	Boise St.	104.6
6	Fresno St.	103.2
7	Colorado St.	101.6
8	UNLV	99.5
9	Air Force	97.4
10	Wyoming	91.8
11	San Jose St.	89.0
Avg	Mountain West	102.1
#	Northeast	PiRate
1	St. Francis (PA)	98.8
2	Sacred Heart	98.7
3	Bryant	96.7
4	Long Island	95.5
5	Robert Morris	93.2
6	Mount St. Mary’s	93.2
7	Merrimack	92.4
8	Fairleigh Dickinson	91.6
9	Wagner	90.3
10	St. Francis (NY)	90.3
11	Central Connecticut	81.6
Avg	Northeast	92.9
#	Ohio Valley	PiRate
1	Belmont	107.1
2	Murray St.	102.6
3	Eastern Illinois	98.1
4	Austin Peay	98.0
5	Tennessee St.	96.0
6	Jacksonville St.	95.2
7	Morehead St.	93.8
8	UT-Martin	91.2
9	SE Missouri	91.1
10	Eastern Kentucky	89.1
11	Tennessee Tech	89.0
12	SIU Edwardsville	85.1
Avg	Ohio Valley	94.7
#	Pac-12	PiRate
1	Arizona	115.9
2	Oregon	114.9
3	Washington	111.1
4	Colorado	111.0
5	Stanford	109.0
6	USC	108.5
7	Oregon St.	107.7
8	Arizona St.	107.3
9	Utah	104.8
10	UCLA	104.5
11	Washington St.	102.5
12	California	99.4
Avg	Pac-12	108.0
#	Patriot	PiRate
1	Colgate	101.5
2	Lafayette	98.1
3	Loyola (MD)	97.4
4	American	96.9
5	Boston U	96.9
6	Bucknell	96.2
7	Navy	95.5
8	Lehigh	95.0
9	Army	91.9
10	Holy Cross	88.2
Avg	Patriot	95.8
#	Southeastern	PiRate
1	Auburn	114.6
2	Kentucky	114.0
3	Florida	112.3
4	Arkansas	111.7
5	Tennessee	111.6
6	LSU	111.5
7	Missouri	109.6
8	Alabama	109.4
9	Mississippi St.	108.6
10	Mississippi	107.1
11	Georgia	106.7
12	South Carolina	105.9
13	Vanderbilt	102.6
14	Texas A&M	101.0
Avg	Southeastern	109.0
#	Southland	PiRate
1	Stephen F. Austin	101.9
2	UT Arlington	101.7
3	Sam Houston St.	99.6
4	Nicholls St.	96.1
5	Abilene Christian	95.8
6	McNeese St.	94.7
7	Lamar	94.6
8	New Orleans	93.5
9	Texas A&M CC	92.2
10	Central Arkansas	89.9
11	SE Louisiana	88.9
12	Houston Baptist	88.3
13	Northwestern St.	85.7
14	Incarnate Word	83.4
Avg	Southland	93.3
#	Southern	PiRate
1	East Tennessee St.	108.3
2	UNC Greensboro	107.2
3	Furman	106.8
4	Wofford	101.9
5	Western Carolina	99.9
6	Chattanooga	97.2
7	Samford	97.0
8	Mercer	94.3
9	VMI	93.7
10	Citadel	91.8
Avg	Southern	99.8
#	Southwestern Athletic	PiRate
1	Prairie View A&M	95.6
2	Texas Southern	94.4
3	Grambling	92.1
4	Alcorn St.	89.6
5	Jackson St.	89.1
6	Southern	88.9
7	Alabama St.	87.3
8	Alabama A&M	86.4
9	Arkansas Pine Bluff	84.8
10	Mississippi Valley St.	77.5
Avg	Southwestern Athletic	88.6
#	Summit	PiRate
1	Oral Roberts	101.8
2	North Dakota St.	100.5
3	South Dakota St.	99.3
4	South Dakota	98.9
5	Omaha	97.8
6	North Dakota	96.5
7	Purdue Fort Wayne	95.7
8	Western Illinois	91.0
9	Denver	89.6
Avg	Summit	96.8
#	Sun Belt	PiRate
1	Georgia St.	103.3
2	Appalachian St.	101.6
3	Texas St.	101.6
4	Georgia Southern	100.3
5	Coastal Carolina	100.2
6	Little Rock	100.0
7	South Alabama	98.7
8	Arkansas St.	96.3
9	Louisiana	94.8
10	Louisiana Monroe	94.3
11	Troy	94.1
Avg	Sun Belt	98.7
#	Western Athletic	PiRate
1	New Mexico St.	104.8
2	California Baptist	100.1
3	Missouri-KC	96.9
4	Grand Canyon	96.6
5	Seattle	95.8
6	Cal St. Bakersfield	95.6
7	Utah Valley	94.8
8	UT Rio Grande Valley	94.0
9	Chicago St.	80.3
Avg	Western Athletic	95.4
#	West Coast	PiRate
1	Gonzaga	118.4
2	BYU	112.5
3	Saint Mary’s	111.4
4	San Francisco	105.6
5	Pepperdine	100.9
6	Santa Clara	100.4
7	Pacific	99.6
8	San Diego	99.4
9	Loyola Marymount	97.8
10	Portland	93.9
Avg	West Coast	104.0

 

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PiRate College Football Ratings: November 3, 2019

This Week’s PiRate Ratings Spreads

Tuesday	November 5
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Toledo	Kent St.	2.8	3.2	3.2
Western Michigan	Ball St.	10.9	10.5	10.8
Wednesday	November 6
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Ohio U	Miami (O)	7.4	7.8	7.5
Thursday	November 7
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Coastal Carolina	Louisiana	-11.7	-10.7	-12.1
South Florida	Temple	-3.9	-1.8	-4.3
Friday	November 8
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Oregon St.	Washington	-11.6	-10.2	-12.9
Tulsa	Central Florida	-18.6	-17.1	-18.3
Saturday	November 9
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Alabama	LSU	9.2	8.4	9.9
Arizona St.	USC	2.9	1.8	3.1
Arkansas	Western Kentucky	5.8	5.1	3.9
Army	Massachusetts	38.5	36.9	39.1
Boise St.	Wyoming	9.9	7.7	9.6
Boston College	Florida St.	2.6	2.4	3.0
BYU	Liberty	17.2	15.9	17.4
California	Washington St.	-7.1	-6.7	-7.3
Cincinnati	Connecticut	38.8	34.5	40.2
Colorado	Stanford	-5.5	-5.1	-5.6
Duke	Notre Dame	-7.7	-6.5	-7.3
Florida	Vanderbilt	28.5	26.9	29.3
Florida Atlantic	Florida Int’l.	9.4	9.5	10.9
Fresno St.	Utah St.	-1.0	0.9	-1.2
Georgia	Missouri	18.1	18.6	18.6
Hawaii	San Jose St.	12.0	11.5	11.1
Kentucky	Tennessee	2.2	1.0	2.0
Louisiana Tech	North Texas	6.4	7.1	6.2
Miami (Fla.)	Louisville	10.7	10.4	11.8
Michigan St.	Illinois	14.0	12.1	13.9
Minnesota	Penn St.	-3.9	-3.1	-4.5
New Mexico	Air Force	-21.4	-20.3	-23.4
North Carolina St.	Clemson	-35.7	-33.8	-36.9
Northwestern	Purdue	1.5	0.5	0.7
Ohio St.	Maryland	42.4	42.6	44.9
Oklahoma	Iowa St.	11.8	10.3	11.2
Old Dominion	UTSA	0.7	-1.1	0.9
Ole Miss	New Mexico St.	33.0	30.0	32.9
San Diego St.	Nevada	14.7	14.9	15.2
SMU	East Carolina	26.3	24.6	27.0
South Carolina	Appalachian St.	8.1	7.4	8.1
Southern Miss.	UAB	7.0	4.0	6.5
TCU	Baylor	-4.1	-1.7	-3.2
Texas	Kansas St.	0.7	1.0	0.6
Texas St.	South Alabama	9.8	7.8	9.8
Troy	Georgia Southern	-2.9	-2.1	-3.5
UL-Monroe	Georgia St.	-4.1	-5.0	-4.3
UTEP	Charlotte	-15.1	-11.5	-14.9
Virginia	Georgia Tech	15.8	17.6	15.9
Virginia Tech	Wake Forest	-1.5	-1.0	-1.5
West Virginia	Texas Tech	1.2	0.7	1.6
Wisconsin	Iowa	4.3	5.7	4.3

 

Special Game–150th Anniversary of College Football

Dartmouth and Princeton will play Saturday at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx at 3:30 PM EST.  The game is available on ESPNU, and both teams sport perfect 7-0 records in the FCS Division.  It will mark the 150th anniversary of college football.  Princeton (known then as the College of New Jersey until 1896) and Rutgers met for the first college game in November 6, 1869, and Rutgers won that game 6 goals to 4.

This might be the most important Ivy League game since 8-0-0 Harvard and 8-0-0 Yale battled to an unbelievable 29-29 tie to conclude the 1968 season.  Yale led 29-13 with less than a minute to play, and Harvard scored twice with successful two-point conversions to tie the game and claim part of the Ivy League Championship.

Dartmouth and Princeton have been the top two programs in recent Ivy League history.  Both teams have enjoyed some incredible seasons in the distant past as well.  The 1970 Darmouth team was the best in Ivy League history, as they won the Lambert Trophy for best overall team from the East and finished ranked in the top 20 in the nation after  finishing 9-0.  That Dartmouth team surrendered just 42 points all season, but they didn’t give up a point in their final four games.

Princeton was one of the final teams in major college football to use the old Single Wing offense.  The Tigers went 9-0 and won the Ivy League in 1964, but their 1950 and 1951 teams that went undefeated finished number six in the AP Poll, and star back Dick Kazmaier won the 1951 Heisman Trophy.

The Ivy League isn’t Division 1 any more, and the champion doesn’t even get to go to the FCS Playoffs, but this is still an incredible game worth watching if you have a second monitor to watch in addition to that other 3:30 PM game in Tuscaloosa, AL.

The PiRate Ratings do not rate FCS teams the same way as we rate FBS teams.  We can estimate a power rating based on a former PiRate Formula, which we used from 1980 to 1996.

The estimate for this game is: 

Dartmouth 19

Princeton 16

 

 

This Week’s PiRate Ratings

#	Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average
1	Ohio St.	139.0	138.1	140.1	139.1
2	Clemson	135.3	133.0	136.3	134.9
3	Alabama	135.6	132.5	136.3	134.8
4	L S U	129.4	127.1	129.3	128.6
5	Georgia	126.7	124.8	126.7	126.1
6	Penn St.	124.9	124.1	125.2	124.8
7	Utah	123.7	122.6	124.5	123.6
8	Oklahoma	123.5	122.7	123.2	123.1
9	Michigan	123.0	121.6	123.3	122.6
10	Auburn	122.5	120.8	122.3	121.9
11	Oregon	121.2	121.3	122.5	121.7
12	Florida	122.8	119.9	122.3	121.6
13	Wisconsin	120.4	120.0	120.3	120.2
14	Iowa	119.1	117.3	119.0	118.4
15	Minnesota	118.1	117.9	117.8	117.9
16	Notre Dame	116.4	114.7	116.0	115.7
17	Texas A&M	116.2	114.6	115.1	115.3
18	Iowa St.	114.8	115.4	115.0	115.1
19	Washington	114.3	114.0	115.3	114.5
20	Central Florida	113.5	112.8	114.2	113.5
21	Baylor	113.5	113.5	112.8	113.3
22	Washington St.	113.0	112.2	113.5	112.9
23	Kansas St.	112.3	112.2	112.3	112.3
24	Michigan St.	112.7	111.8	112.2	112.2
25	Mississippi St.	110.8	107.5	114.7	111.0
26	South Carolina	111.7	110.0	111.1	110.9
27	Missouri	111.6	109.2	111.1	110.6
28	Indiana	110.6	109.6	110.3	110.2
29	Oklahoma St.	110.0	110.7	109.7	110.1
30	Texas	109.9	110.2	109.9	110.0
31	Tennessee	109.5	109.3	108.6	109.1
32	T C U	107.3	109.8	107.6	108.2
33	Kentucky	108.7	107.3	107.6	107.9
34	Virginia	107.7	107.8	107.9	107.8
35	U S C	107.3	107.8	107.6	107.6
36	Miami (Fla.)	107.2	106.8	108.3	107.4
37	Arizona St.	107.2	106.5	107.7	107.2
38	Cincinnati	107.0	106.0	107.4	106.8
39	Wake Forest	106.5	106.0	107.0	106.5
40	SMU	106.2	105.9	107.1	106.4
41	Memphis	105.9	105.9	106.7	106.2
42	Appalachian St.	106.6	105.6	106.0	106.1
43	Ole Miss	106.4	105.4	106.3	106.0
44	Boise St.	106.0	105.9	106.1	106.0
45	Pittsburgh	105.7	105.3	106.0	105.7
46	North Carolina	105.4	105.2	106.1	105.6
47	Duke	105.7	105.1	105.6	105.5
48	Air Force	103.7	105.0	104.5	104.4
49	Texas Tech	104.4	104.6	103.5	104.2
50	Stanford	104.0	103.3	103.7	103.7
51	Florida St.	103.6	103.5	103.6	103.6
52	Purdue	103.6	103.4	102.9	103.3
53	BYU	103.2	103.2	103.4	103.3
54	Boston College	103.2	102.9	103.6	103.2
55	Nebraska	103.1	103.6	102.3	103.0
56	California	102.8	102.4	103.3	102.8
57	West Virginia	102.7	102.3	102.1	102.3
58	Virginia Tech	102.0	102.0	102.5	102.2
59	Illinois	101.7	102.6	101.3	101.9
60	Northwestern	102.5	101.4	101.2	101.7
61	U C L A	101.7	101.6	101.5	101.6
62	Louisiana	101.3	101.6	101.4	101.4
63	Tulane	99.7	100.5	100.2	100.1
64	Oregon St.	99.8	100.8	99.5	100.0
65	Wyoming	99.0	101.2	99.6	99.9
66	Louisville	99.6	99.4	99.5	99.5
67	Navy	97.9	100.5	98.9	99.1
68	Utah St.	99.2	98.4	99.8	99.1
69	Maryland	99.6	98.5	98.2	98.8
70	Western Michigan	98.8	97.9	98.7	98.5
71	San Diego St.	97.9	99.6	97.7	98.4
72	Temple	98.3	97.5	99.1	98.3
73	Syracuse	98.5	97.7	97.8	98.0
74	Houston	97.0	97.9	99.1	98.0
75	Georgia Southern	96.9	96.7	96.4	96.7
76	Arizona	96.7	96.5	96.2	96.5
77	North Carolina St.	96.6	96.2	96.5	96.4
78	Vanderbilt	97.3	96.0	96.0	96.4
79	Florida Atlantic	95.6	95.5	96.9	96.0
80	Kansas	95.5	96.5	95.4	95.8
81	Fresno St.	95.2	96.2	95.6	95.7
82	Hawaii	95.2	96.6	94.3	95.4
83	Colorado	95.5	95.2	95.1	95.2
84	Georgia Tech	94.8	93.2	95.0	94.3
85	Ohio	94.4	93.5	94.9	94.3
86	Southern Miss.	94.6	93.3	94.8	94.2
87	Louisiana Tech	94.0	94.4	94.3	94.2
88	Army	94.1	94.2	93.4	93.9
89	Buffalo	92.9	93.6	94.4	93.6
90	Georgia St.	92.5	93.8	92.2	92.8
91	Tulsa	91.8	92.7	92.9	92.5
92	Arkansas	92.2	92.2	91.6	92.0
93	South Florida	91.4	92.6	91.8	91.9
94	Troy	91.6	92.1	90.5	91.4
95	Arkansas St.	91.3	91.6	91.2	91.4
96	Marshall	90.8	90.4	91.6	90.9
97	U A B	90.1	91.8	90.7	90.9
98	North Texas	90.6	90.2	91.1	90.6
99	Ball St.	90.4	89.9	90.4	90.2
100	Western Kentucky	89.4	90.2	90.8	90.1
101	Liberty	89.5	90.8	89.6	89.9
102	Middle Tennessee	89.8	89.0	89.9	89.6
103	Northern Illinois	89.5	88.7	89.6	89.3
104	Miami (Ohio)	89.5	88.2	89.9	89.2
105	Toledo	88.4	88.7	89.1	88.7
106	Central Michigan	88.2	88.8	89.1	88.7
107	Colorado St.	87.1	90.7	87.7	88.5
108	San Jose St.	87.7	89.5	87.7	88.3
109	Kent St.	87.6	87.4	87.9	87.6
110	Florida Int’l.	87.7	87.5	87.5	87.6
111	Coastal Carolina	87.2	88.4	86.8	87.5
112	Nevada	86.2	87.7	85.5	86.5
113	Charlotte	86.1	86.4	86.5	86.3
114	Louisiana-Monroe	85.8	86.4	85.4	85.9
115	Eastern Michigan	84.2	84.3	84.5	84.4
116	Rutgers	84.1	83.8	82.9	83.6
117	U N L V	83.1	84.7	82.7	83.5
118	East Carolina	82.9	84.3	83.1	83.4
119	Texas St.	81.8	82.3	81.0	81.7
120	New Mexico	79.8	82.2	78.5	80.2
121	Rice	79.5	80.4	78.7	79.6
122	New Mexico St.	76.4	78.5	76.4	77.1
123	Texas-San Antonio	75.6	77.7	75.5	76.2
124	South Alabama	74.5	77.0	73.7	75.1
125	Bowling Green	74.1	73.9	74.1	74.1
126	Old Dominion	73.8	74.0	73.9	73.9
127	Connecticut	71.2	74.5	70.2	72.0
128	U T E P	68.5	72.5	69.1	70.0
129	Akron	66.9	66.7	65.6	66.4
130	Massachusetts	58.6	60.3	57.3	58.7

 

PiRate Ratings For Conference

American Athletic Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	AAC	Overall
Central Florida	113.5	112.8	114.2	113.5	4-1	7-2
Cincinnati	107.0	106.0	107.4	106.8	4-0	7-1
Temple	98.3	97.5	99.1	98.3	2-2	5-3
South Florida	91.4	92.6	91.8	91.9	2-2	4-4
East Carolina	82.9	84.3	83.1	83.4	0-5	3-6
Connecticut	71.2	74.5	70.2	72.0	0-5	2-7
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	AAC	Overall
SMU	106.2	105.9	107.1	106.4	4-1	8-1
Memphis	105.9	105.9	106.7	106.2	4-1	8-1
Tulane	99.7	100.5	100.2	100.1	3-2	6-3
Navy	97.9	100.5	98.9	99.1	5-1	7-1
Houston	97.0	97.9	99.1	98.0	1-4	3-6
Tulsa	91.8	92.7	92.9	92.5	0-5	2-7
AAC Averages	96.9	97.6	97.6	97.3
Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	ACC	Overall
Clemson	135.3	133.0	136.3	134.9	6-0	9-0
Wake Forest	106.5	106.0	107.0	106.5	3-1	7-1
Florida St.	103.6	103.5	103.6	103.6	3-4	4-5
Boston College	103.2	102.9	103.6	103.2	3-3	5-4
Louisville	99.6	99.4	99.5	99.5	3-2	5-3
Syracuse	98.5	97.7	97.8	98.0	0-5	3-6
North Carolina St.	96.6	96.2	96.5	96.4	1-3	4-4
Coastal Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	ACC	Overall
Virginia	107.7	107.8	107.9	107.8	4-2	6-3
Miami (Fla.)	107.2	106.8	108.3	107.4	3-3	5-4
Pittsburgh	105.7	105.3	106.0	105.7	3-2	6-3
North Carolina	105.4	105.2	106.1	105.6	3-3	4-5
Duke	105.7	105.1	105.6	105.5	2-3	4-4
Virginia Tech	102.0	102.0	102.5	102.2	3-2	5-3
Georgia Tech	94.8	93.2	95.0	94.3	1-4	2-6
ACC Averages	105.1	104.6	105.4	105.0
Big 12 Conference
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	B12	Overall
Oklahoma	123.5	122.7	123.2	123.1	4-1	7-1
Iowa St.	114.8	115.4	115.0	115.1	3-2	5-3
Baylor	113.5	113.5	112.8	113.3	5-0	8-0
Kansas St.	112.3	112.2	112.3	112.3	3-2	6-2
Oklahoma St.	110.0	110.7	109.7	110.1	3-3	6-3
Texas	109.9	110.2	109.9	110.0	3-2	5-3
T C U	107.3	109.8	107.6	108.2	2-3	4-4
Texas Tech	104.4	104.6	103.5	104.2	1-4	3-5
West Virginia	102.7	102.3	102.1	102.3	1-4	3-5
Kansas	95.5	96.5	95.4	95.8	1-5	3-6
Big 12 Averages	109.4	109.8	109.1	109.4
Big Ten Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Ohio St.	139.0	138.1	140.1	139.1	5-0	8-0
Penn St.	124.9	124.1	125.2	124.8	5-0	8-0
Michigan	123.0	121.6	123.3	122.6	4-2	7-2
Michigan St.	112.7	111.8	112.2	112.2	2-3	4-4
Indiana	110.6	109.6	110.3	110.2	4-2	7-2
Maryland	99.6	98.5	98.2	98.8	1-5	3-6
Rutgers	84.1	83.8	82.9	83.6	0-6	2-7
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Wisconsin	120.4	120.0	120.3	120.2	3-2	6-2
Iowa	119.1	117.3	119.0	118.4	3-2	6-2
Minnesota	118.1	117.9	117.8	117.9	5-0	8-0
Purdue	103.6	103.4	102.9	103.3	2-4	3-6
Nebraska	103.1	103.6	102.3	103.0	2-4	4-5
Illinois	101.7	102.6	101.3	101.9	3-3	5-4
Northwestern	102.5	101.4	101.2	101.7	0-6	1-7
Big Ten Averages	111.6	111.0	111.2	111.3
Conference USA
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	CUSA	Overall
Florida Atlantic	95.6	95.5	96.9	96.0	4-1	6-3
Marshall	90.8	90.4	91.6	90.9	4-1	6-3
Western Kentucky	89.4	90.2	90.8	90.1	4-2	5-4
Middle Tennessee	89.8	89.0	89.9	89.6	2-3	3-6
Florida Int’l.	87.7	87.5	87.5	87.6	3-3	5-4
Charlotte	86.1	86.4	86.5	86.3	2-3	4-5
Old Dominion	73.8	74.0	73.9	73.9	0-5	1-8
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	CUSA	Overall
Southern Miss.	94.6	93.3	94.8	94.2	3-1	5-3
Louisiana Tech	94.0	94.4	94.3	94.2	4-0	7-1
U A B	90.1	91.8	90.7	90.9	3-1	6-2
North Texas	90.6	90.2	91.1	90.6	3-2	4-5
Rice	79.5	80.4	78.7	79.6	0-5	0-9
Texas-San Antonio	75.6	77.7	75.5	76.2	2-2	3-5
U T E P	68.5	72.5	69.1	70.0	0-5	1-7
CUSA Averages	86.1	86.7	86.5	86.4
FBS Independents
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	Conf.	Overall
Notre Dame	116.4	114.7	116.0	115.7	x	6-2
BYU	103.2	103.2	103.4	103.3	x	4-4
Army	94.1	94.2	93.4	93.9	x	3-6
Liberty	89.5	90.8	89.6	89.9	x	6-3
New Mexico St.	76.4	78.5	76.4	77.1	x	0-8
Massachusetts	58.6	60.3	57.3	58.7	x	1-8
Indep. Averages	89.7	90.3	89.3	89.8
Mid-American Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MAC	Overall
Ohio	94.4	93.5	94.9	94.3	3-1	4-4
Buffalo	92.9	93.6	94.4	93.6	3-2	5-4
Miami (Ohio)	89.5	88.2	89.9	89.2	3-1	4-4
Kent St.	87.6	87.4	87.9	87.6	2-2	3-5
Bowling Green	74.1	73.9	74.1	74.1	2-3	3-6
Akron	66.9	66.7	65.6	66.4	0-5	0-9
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MAC	Overall
Western Michigan	98.8	97.9	98.7	98.5	3-2	5-4
Ball St.	90.4	89.9	90.4	90.2	3-1	4-4
Northern Illinois	89.5	88.7	89.6	89.3	2-3	3-6
Toledo	88.4	88.7	89.1	88.7	2-2	5-3
Central Michigan	88.2	88.8	89.1	88.7	4-2	6-4
Eastern Michigan	84.2	84.3	84.5	84.4	1-4	4-5
MAC Averages	87.1	86.8	87.4	87.1
Mountain West Conference
Mountain Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MWC	Overall
Boise St.	106.0	105.9	106.1	106.0	4-0	7-1
Air Force	103.7	105.0	104.5	104.4	4-1	7-2
Wyoming	99.0	101.2	99.6	99.9	3-1	6-2
Utah St.	99.2	98.4	99.8	99.1	3-1	4-4
Colorado St.	87.1	90.7	87.7	88.5	3-2	4-5
New Mexico	79.8	82.2	78.5	80.2	0-5	2-7
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MWC	Overall
San Diego St.	97.9	99.6	97.7	98.4	4-1	7-1
Fresno St.	95.2	96.2	95.6	95.7	2-2	4-4
Hawaii	95.2	96.6	94.3	95.4	2-3	5-4
San Jose St.	87.7	89.5	87.7	88.3	1-4	4-5
Nevada	86.2	87.7	85.5	86.5	2-3	5-4
U N L V	83.1	84.7	82.7	83.5	1-5	2-7
MWC Averages	93.3	94.8	93.3	93.8
Pac-12 Conference
North Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	P12	Overall
Oregon	121.2	121.3	122.5	121.7	6-0	8-1
Washington	114.3	114.0	115.3	114.5	2-4	5-4
Washington St.	113.0	112.2	113.5	112.9	1-4	4-4
Stanford	104.0	103.3	103.7	103.7	3-3	4-4
California	102.8	102.4	103.3	102.8	1-4	4-4
Oregon St.	99.8	100.8	99.5	100.0	3-2	4-4
South Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	P12	Overall
Utah	123.7	122.6	124.5	123.6	5-1	8-1
U S C	107.3	107.8	107.6	107.6	4-2	5-4
Arizona St.	107.2	106.5	107.7	107.2	2-3	5-3
U C L A	101.7	101.6	101.5	101.6	4-2	4-5
Arizona	96.7	96.5	96.2	96.5	2-4	4-5
Colorado	95.5	95.2	95.1	95.2	1-5	3-6
Pac-12 Averages	107.3	107.0	107.5	107.3
Southeastern Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SEC	Overall
Georgia	126.7	124.8	126.7	126.1	4-1	7-1
Florida	122.8	119.9	122.3	121.6	5-2	7-2
South Carolina	111.7	110.0	111.1	110.9	3-4	4-5
Missouri	111.6	109.2	111.1	110.6	2-2	5-3
Tennessee	109.5	109.3	108.6	109.1	2-3	4-5
Kentucky	108.7	107.3	107.6	107.9	2-4	4-4
Vanderbilt	97.3	96.0	96.0	96.4	1-4	2-6
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SEC	Overall
Alabama	135.6	132.5	136.3	134.8	5-0	8-0
L S U	129.4	127.1	129.3	128.6	4-0	8-0
Auburn	122.5	120.8	122.3	121.9	4-2	7-2
Texas A&M	116.2	114.6	115.1	115.3	3-2	6-3
Mississippi St.	110.8	107.5	114.7	111.0	2-4	4-5
Ole Miss	106.4	105.4	106.3	106.0	2-4	3-6
Arkansas	92.2	92.2	91.6	92.0	0-6	2-7
SEC Averages	114.4	112.6	114.2	113.7
Sunbelt Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SBC	Overall
Appalachian St.	106.6	105.6	106.0	106.1	4-1	7-1
Georgia Southern	96.9	96.7	96.4	96.7	3-1	5-3
Georgia St.	92.5	93.8	92.2	92.8	3-1	6-2
Troy	91.6	92.1	90.5	91.4	1-3	3-5
Coastal Carolina	87.2	88.4	86.8	87.5	1-3	4-4
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SBC	Overall
Louisiana	101.3	101.6	101.4	101.4	3-1	6-2
Arkansas St.	91.3	91.6	91.2	91.4	3-2	5-4
Louisiana-Monroe	85.8	86.4	85.4	85.9	2-2	3-5
Texas St.	81.8	82.3	81.0	81.7	1-3	2-6
South Alabama	74.5	77.0	73.7	75.1	0-4	1-7
SBC Averages	91.0	91.6	90.5	91.0

 

Rating The Conferences

#	League	Average
1	Southeastern	113.7
2	Big Ten	111.3
3	Big 12	109.4
4	Pac-12	107.3
5	Atlantic Coast	105.0
6	American	97.3
7	Mountain West	93.8
8	Sun Belt	91.0
9	Independents	89.8
10	Mid-American	87.1
11	Conference USA	86.4

 

PiRate Rating Guess On Initial Top 4

Prediction on Selection Committee Choices on Tuesday
1	LSU
2	Ohio St.
3	Alabama
4	Penn St.

 

 

Top 5 Group of 5
1	Memphis
2	Cincinnati
3	Boise St.
4	Navy
5	SMU

Playoffs and Bowl Projections

 

Bowl	Conf	Conf	Team	Team
Bahamas	MAC	CUSA	Buffalo	Marshall
Frisco	AAC	At-large	SMU	[Boise St.]
Cure	AAC	SBC	[Liberty]	Arkansas St.
New Mexico	CUSA	MWC	UAB	Hawaii
Boca Raton	AAC	MAC	Tulane	Ohio
Camellia	MAC	SBC	Central Michigan	Georgia St.
Las Vegas	MWC #1	Pac-12	San Diego St.	Oregon St.
New Orleans	CUSA	SBC #1	Louisiana Tech	Louisiana
Gasparilla	AAC	CUSA	Cincinnati	Florida Atlantic
Hawaii	BYU/MWC	AAC	BYU	Navy
Independence	ACC	SEC	Miami (Fla.)	[Southern Miss.]
Quick Lane	ACC	Big Ten	North Carolina	Michigan St.
Military	ACC	AAC	Boston College	Temple
Pinstripe	ACC	Big Ten	Virginia	Michigan
Texas	Big 12	SEC	Texas	Texas A&M
Holiday	Pac-12	Big Ten	USC	Iowa
Cheez-It	Big 12	Pac-12	Iowa St.	Arizona St.
Camping World	ACC	Big 12	Notre Dame	Oklahoma St.
Cotton	At-large	At-large	Memphis	Baylor
First Responder	CUSA	Big 12	Western Kentucky	[Fresno St.]
Redbox	Pac-12	Big Ten	Washington	Illinois
Music City	SEC	ACC	[Ball St.]	Pittsburgh
Orange	ACC	BTen/SEC	Wake Forest	Florida
Belk	ACC	SEC	Virginia Tech	Mississippi St.
Sun	ACC	Pac-12	Louisville	Washington St.
Liberty	Big 12	SEC	TCU	[Stanford]
Arizona	SBC	MWC	Appalachian St.	Air Force
Alamo	Big 12	Pac-12	Kansas St.	Utah
Citrus	SEC	BTen/ACC	Auburn	Wisconsin
Outback	Big Ten	SEC	Penn St.	Tennessee
Rose	Big Ten	Pac-12	Minnesota	Oregon
Sugar	Big 12	SEC	Oklahoma	Georgia
Birmingham	AAC	SEC	Central Florida	[Duke]
Taxslayer/Gator	SEC	Big Ten	Kentucky	Indiana
Idaho Potato	MAC	MWC	Toledo	Utah St.
Armed Forces	Big Ten	MWC	Nebraska	Wyoming
Dollar General	MAC	SBC	Western Michigan	Georgia Southern
FBS PLAYOFFS
Fiesta	Top 4	Top 4	Ohio St.	Clemson
Peach	Top 4	Top 4	Alabama	LSU
Championship	Fiesta	Peach	Ohio St.	Alabama
Teams in [Brackets] are at-large selections

 

 

This Is The Weekend

We don’t really need to say anything.  If you are reading this publication, you already know how incredible this weekend will be in college football.  On a typical November 9 in prior years, the incredible Princeton-Dartmouth game at Yankee Stadium might be the marquee game of the weekend.  Unfortunately, it starts at the same time as the biggie at Bryant-Denny.  Let’s take a brief look at the games that may make you want to stay home on Saturday, throw some logs on the fireplace, enjoy your favorite snacks and beverages, and watch two to three games at the same time.

 

12 Noon EST

 

 

Penn St. (8-0) at Minnesota (8-0)–ABC

The winner stays in the hunt for a Playoff spot, while the loser probably falls out of the Rose Bowl race.  Minnesota hasn’t played in a November game that had this type of importance since they played at Purdue in November of 1967 with a Rose Bowl bid on the line.  Purdue clobbered the Gophers that day, and even though Minnesota beat undefeated Indiana the following week, when the season ended in a three-way tie for first, Indiana received the Rose Bowl bid because Minnesota and Purdue had been in the Rose Bowl more recently (It was the Hoosiers’ only Rose Bowl invitation).

Penn State has been in the Rose Bowl more recently, but the Nittany Lions would consider a trip to Pasadena this year to be a failure.  James Franklin has his team in line for the Playoffs if they could upset Ohio State on the November 23 and then win the Big Ten Championship.  Of course, the same holds true for the Gophers.  Wins over Penn State, Iowa, Wisconsin, and then Ohio State would definitely put Minnesota in the Playoffs.  Consider this game the equivalent of a Sweet 16 game in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

 

Baylor (8-0) at TCU (4-4)–FS1

This is a 100% definite trap game for the undefeated Bears.  Baylor hosts Oklahoma on November 16, and no matter how hard Coach Matt Rhule tries to convince his squad that TCU is good enough to beat them, the players are already counting down the days until the Sooners come to Waco.

TCU is on the verge of having to worry about where two more victories will come, so bowl eligibility is not yet a given in Forth Worth.  The Horned Frogs have to win two of their final four and have games at Texas Tech and Oklahoma, as well as a home finale with West Virginia.  They will be underdogs in three of their final four and must upset somebody to get to a bowl.

 

 

3:30 PM EST

 

LSU (8-0) at Alabama (8-0)–CBS

The knock against LSU in recent years was that the Tigers were too conservative on the offensive attack, and defense and running couldn’t beat Alabama and other behemoths.  This year, LSU’s offense can light it up against anybody, including Alabama’s defense.

The rub is that with the increased offensive efficiency and quick scoring passing attack, the Tigers’ defense has been forced to play up to 20 additional snaps per game, and opponents are finding ways to move the ball on the former tough defense.

All that’s changed is that LSU wins games 42-27 instead of 27-12.  A 15-point victory is a 15-point victory.  In the SEC, talent at each of the two-deep offenses and defenses just mean more than whether a team can pass the ball for 300 yards and score 30 points or hold the opponents to 250 total yards and 14 points.

Alabama still has the superior overall talent in the two-deeps on both sides of the ball.  In the past, Alabama might have won this game 24-14.  We believe they will continue to dominate this series and win it 45-35.  A 10-point superior team is still 10 points better than the other team.

 

Dartmouth (7-0) vs. Princeton (7-0) @ Yankee Stadium in the Bronx–ESPNU

This is the 150th Anniversary of College Football, so it is worth tuning in to watch when and if the big game is not as exciting.  It isn’t the original Yankee Stadium, but Yankee Stadium has been the site of many great college football games including the incredible Army-Notre Dame game of 1946, which ended 0-0.

 

Kansas St. (6-2) at Texas (5-3)–ESPN

Both teams are 3-2 in the Big 12, and they are still mathematically in the race for the number two spot in the Conference Championship Game.  Kansas State holds the tiebreaker over Oklahoma, so if the Wildcats can win out, and Oklahoma loses to Baylor or Oklahoma State, the Wildcats will play for a chance to go to the Sugar Bowl.

This has been a down year for Texas, and the Longhorns could be falling far enough to be placed in a bowl game in Houston against those Aggies.  The Texas Bowl would love that, but the Longhorns wouldn’t.

 

Illinois (5-4) at Michigan St. (4-4)–FS1

Why do we consider this game so important?  Illinois was given up for dead in early October, as the Illini appeared to be headed to a 6th or 7th place finish in the Big Ten West, and Coach Lovie Smith was probably on the way out.  Illinois had defeated Akron and Connecticut, two of the bottom 10 teams in the nation, and they had lost to Eastern Michigan.  At 2-4, Illinois then upset Wisconsin and followed that up with an impressive win at Purdue and a four-touchdown trouncing of Rutgers.  The Illini need one more victory to go bowling.  They are likely to get it against Northwestern to close out the season, but if Illinois can win at Michigan State, they will move up a couple of places in the bowl pecking order.

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio is going to have to learn how to change or else he could be on his way toward retirement.  Dantonio is one of the lone holdovers to horse and buggy football.  Michigan State plays like it is still 1975, and the team that rushes for 200 yards and holds the other to less than 100 yards is going to win with relative ease.  That’s not how teams win these days.  If Sparty loses this game, there is a better than 50-50 chance that they will not get six wins or go to a bowl.  Even if they win this game, they may only be able to garner the lowly Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit.

 

Louisville (5-3) at Miami (Fla.) (5-4)–FS1

Louisville coach Scott Satterfield should receive some votes for ACC Coach of the Year, as the Cardinals were picked to finish last in the Atlantic Division, and they are most likely going to be bowl eligible.

Miami still has a small chance to win the Coastal Division, but a lot of things have to happen to make that a reality.  First and foremost is that the Hurricanes win their last three games.

The winner of this game becomes bowl eligible, and you should get the best from both teams, which will make this exciting enough to put an auxiliary monitor on this game.

 

4:00 PM EST

 

 

Iowa (6-2) at Wisconsin (6-2)–Fox

Minnesota has not clinched the West Division in the Big Ten, so the winner of this game remains in contention for the flag, since both must still play the Gophers.  If Penn State wins the 12:00 game, then whoever wins this one will get a chance to play Minnesota for first place later in November.

Expect a hard-fought, defensive struggle in this one, and the weather is expected to be cold and windy.  If you like the old blood and guts games of the 1950’s (yes, we know we have some gray-haired readers), then this is the game for you.  It could be one of those 12-10 games.

 

 

7:30 PM EST

 

 

Tennessee (4-5) at Kentucky (4-4)–SEC Network

How about a career saving resurrection?  Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt was one step out the door in Knoxville a month ago.  At 1-4 with losses at home to Georgia State and BYU, the Vols looked like a potentially 2-10 or possible 1-11 team.

Tennessee was reborn after a blowout loss to Georgia.  Wins over Mississippi State, South Carolina, and UAB, and a loss to Alabama that was still in doubt into the fourth quarter has the Vols on the verge of becoming bowl eligible.

Kentucky began the season strong enough to contend for a New Year’s 6 Bowl.  Losing quarterback Terry Wilson probably cost the Wildcats two, possibly three wins to date, and Kentucky’s defense is not strong enough to hold Tennessee below 20 points in Lexington.  Can the Wildcats find some offense that they have not been able to find without Wilson under center?  A loss here will put the K-Cats under .500, but with Vanderbilt and UT-Martin following this game, the blue and white can still get to 6-6.

 

8:00 PM EST

 

 

Iowa State (5-3) at Oklahoma (7-1)–Fox

The last time Iowa State came to Norman, the Cyclones pulled off a major upset.  If they want to make the Big 12 Championship Game, they will have to do it again.  Of course, Oklahoma is coming off a bye week following their upset loss to Kansas State, so the Sooners are likely to play their best game of the season.

The question is, can Oklahoma’s defense stop Iowa State’s offense, and can the Sooners score at least 38 points in this game?

There’s another little issue in this game.  Oklahoma has a date at Baylor next week.  Even coming off a loss and a bye week, some of the Sooners may have a hard time thinking about Iowa State with the undefeated Bears coming up next week.  This should be an exciting game, especially under the lights at Owen Field.

 

 

10:15 PM EST

 

 

Wyoming (6-2) at Boise St. (7-1)–ESPN

Boise State has been a bit off in October and November.  The Broncos are not likely to earn the Group of 5 bid to a NY6 bowl, and they are now playing for their lives in the Mountain Division of the Mountain West.

Wyoming is a no-nonsense hard-hitting team that can wear teams down in the second half.  The Cowboys have enough talent to go to the Field of Blue and move into first place in the division.  If you are a night owl and stay up late on Saturday night watching games from the Rockies and West Coast, this is definitely one you should plan to watch.  Wyoming is coming into this game looking like they are sitting on their best production in the next few weeks.  We have this sneaky suspicion that the Cowboys will be in the lead in the fourth quarter in this game.

 

 

10:30 PM EST

 

 

Nevada (5-4) at San Diego St. (7-1)–ESPN2

San Diego State is in first place in the West Division of the Mountain West, but the Aztecs must play Nevada, Fresno State, and Hawaii in successive weeks, so even though Nevada is just 2-3 in conference play, the Wolf Pack are still alive in the division race.  This should be a relatively close game, and it could be decided on a late turnover or big play.  If you can stay up until 1:45 on the East Coast, you may be rewarded with some excitement to end your college football fix.

PiRate College Football Ratings: October 28, 2019

This Week’s PiRate Ratings Spreads

Thursday	October 31
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Appalachian St.	Georgia Southern	16.9	16.3	17.3
Baylor	West Virginia	14.9	15.7	15.4
Friday	November 1
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Connecticut	Navy	-20.7	-19.8	-22.6
Saturday	November 2
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Wake Forest	North Carolina St.	6.2	5.9	6.4
Massachusetts	Liberty	-24.7	-23.9	-26.1
Florida Int’l.	Old Dominion	17.4	16.9	17.3
Coastal Carolina	Troy	-2.6	-2.1	-2.3
Georgia Tech	Pittsburgh	-7.6	-9.1	-7.4
Purdue	Nebraska	3.5	2.6	3.7
Central Florida	Houston	19.9	18.3	18.7
Maryland	Michigan	-17.1	-16.4	-18.7
Indiana	Northwestern	7.1	7.1	8.0
Bowling Green	Akron	5.9	5.7	7.0
Illinois	Rutgers	19.3	20.6	19.8
East Carolina	Cincinnati	-24.6	-21.8	-25.2
Syracuse	Boston College	6.6	6.3	5.7
Eastern Michigan	Buffalo	-0.6	-1.1	-1.5
North Carolina	Virginia	1.8	1.6	2.8
Utah St.	BYU	4.4	3.6	5.2
Notre Dame	Virginia Tech	19.2	17.4	18.5
USC	Oregon	-5.7	-5.2	-6.6
UCLA	Colorado	7.9	7.8	7.6
Kansas	Kansas St.	-12.0	-10.9	-11.7
Louisiana	Texas St.	22.1	21.5	22.6
South Carolina	Vanderbilt	17.4	16.9	18.1
Central Michigan	Northern Illinois	-7.2	-5.5	-6.5
Rice	Marshall	-8.4	-6.7	-10.0
Colorado St.	UNLV	4.3	6.5	5.1
Memphis	SMU	2.0	2.1	1.3
Texas A&M	UTSA	44.8	40.6	43.9
Air Force	Army	13.5	14.9	15.5
Arizona	Oregon St.	4.3	3.1	4.6
Tennessee	UAB	22.4	20.0	20.2
Auburn	Ole Miss	21.3	20.4	21.5
Florida (n)	Georgia	-3.5	-4.5	-3.8
Oklahoma St.	TCU	5.7	3.5	4.7
North Texas	UTEP	24.4	19.5	23.9
Tulane	Tulsa	10.9	10.8	10.1
Arkansas	Mississippi St.	-11.2	-7.3	-15.8
Charlotte	Middle Tennessee	-5.2	-4.0	-5.2
Western Kentucky	Florida Atlantic	-1.5	-0.3	-0.8
UL-Monroe	Arkansas St.	-2.6	-2.1	-2.4
Florida St.	Miami (Fla.)	2.1	2.9	1.5
Nevada	New Mexico	8.7	7.4	8.8
Washington	Utah	-6.3	-5.7	-6.2
San Jose St.	Boise St.	-16.1	-13.8	-16.7
Hawaii	Fresno St.	5.4	6.0	4.3
FBS vs.	FCS
Clemson	Wofford	48

 

This Week’s PiRate Ratings

#	Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average
1	Ohio St.	138.7	137.8	139.8	138.8
2	Clemson	135.0	132.7	136.0	134.6
3	Alabama	135.3	132.2	136.0	134.5
4	L S U	129.1	126.8	129.0	128.3
5	Georgia	126.5	124.6	126.4	125.8
6	Penn St.	124.6	123.8	124.9	124.5
7	Utah	123.7	122.6	124.5	123.6
8	Auburn	123.7	122.0	123.7	123.1
9	Oklahoma	123.2	122.4	122.9	122.8
10	Florida	123.0	120.1	122.6	121.9
11	Michigan	121.5	119.9	121.8	121.1
12	Wisconsin	120.1	119.7	120.0	119.9
13	Oregon	118.4	118.4	119.6	118.8
14	Iowa	118.8	117.0	118.7	118.1
15	Minnesota	117.8	117.6	117.5	117.6
16	Notre Dame	117.6	115.8	117.3	116.9
17	Texas A&M	117.4	115.6	116.4	116.5
18	Iowa St.	114.5	115.1	114.7	114.8
19	Washington	114.3	114.0	115.3	114.5
20	Baylor	114.3	114.5	113.9	114.2
21	Central Florida	113.7	113.0	114.5	113.7
22	Washington St.	112.7	111.9	113.2	112.6
23	Michigan St.	112.4	111.5	111.9	111.9
24	South Carolina	111.7	110.0	111.1	110.9
25	Missouri	111.3	108.9	110.8	110.3
26	Kansas St.	110.4	110.3	110.2	110.3
27	Oklahoma St.	110.0	110.5	109.5	110.0
28	U S C	109.6	110.2	110.0	110.0
29	Texas	109.6	109.9	109.6	109.7
30	Mississippi St.	109.1	105.5	113.1	109.2
31	Tennessee	109.5	109.1	108.3	109.0
32	Cincinnati	108.6	107.4	109.2	108.4
33	T C U	107.3	110.0	107.8	108.4
34	Indiana	108.8	107.7	108.4	108.3
35	Appalachian St.	108.7	107.8	108.4	108.3
36	Kentucky	108.4	107.0	107.3	107.6
37	Virginia	107.2	107.2	107.1	107.2
38	SMU	106.7	106.5	107.9	107.0
39	Arizona St.	106.9	106.2	107.4	106.9
40	Boise St.	106.4	106.1	106.7	106.4
41	North Carolina	105.9	105.8	106.9	106.2
42	Memphis	105.7	105.6	106.2	105.8
43	Florida St.	105.6	105.7	105.8	105.7
44	Miami (Fla.)	105.5	104.9	106.4	105.6
45	Pittsburgh	105.6	105.3	105.7	105.5
46	Duke	105.4	104.8	105.3	105.2
47	Air Force	104.3	105.7	105.4	105.1
48	Ole Miss	105.5	104.5	105.2	105.1
49	Northwestern	104.6	103.6	103.4	103.9
50	Texas Tech	104.1	104.3	103.2	103.9
51	Wake Forest	103.8	103.2	104.1	103.7
52	Stanford	103.7	103.0	103.4	103.4
53	Purdue	103.6	103.3	102.9	103.3
54	Nebraska	103.1	103.7	102.3	103.0
55	Syracuse	103.4	102.7	102.8	103.0
56	California	102.5	102.1	103.0	102.5
57	Utah St.	102.5	101.7	103.3	102.5
58	West Virginia	102.4	101.8	101.5	101.9
59	Virginia Tech	101.3	101.4	101.7	101.5
60	Illinois	101.2	102.1	100.6	101.3
61	Louisiana	101.1	101.2	101.0	101.1
62	U C L A	101.0	100.8	100.6	100.8
63	Maryland	101.4	100.5	100.0	100.6
64	Tulane	99.7	100.5	100.1	100.1
65	Boston College	99.8	99.4	100.1	99.8
66	Wyoming	98.7	100.9	99.3	99.6
67	BYU	99.6	99.6	99.6	99.6
68	North Carolina St.	99.6	99.3	99.7	99.5
69	Louisville	99.3	99.1	99.2	99.2
70	Arizona	98.9	98.7	98.6	98.7
71	Western Michigan	98.6	97.7	98.5	98.3
72	San Diego St.	97.6	99.3	97.4	98.1
73	Temple	98.0	97.2	98.8	98.0
74	Oregon St.	97.6	98.6	97.1	97.8
75	Houston	96.8	97.7	98.8	97.7
76	Kansas	96.9	97.9	97.0	97.3
77	Navy	95.9	98.4	96.8	97.1
78	Vanderbilt	97.3	96.0	96.0	96.4
79	Colorado	96.2	96.0	96.0	96.0
80	Hawaii	95.8	97.3	95.0	96.0
81	Fresno St.	94.9	95.8	95.2	95.3
82	Arkansas	94.9	95.2	94.2	94.8
83	Florida Atlantic	94.5	94.2	95.5	94.7
84	Georgia Tech	94.9	93.2	95.3	94.5
85	Georgia Southern	94.8	94.5	94.0	94.5
86	Ohio	94.2	93.3	94.7	94.1
87	Northern Illinois	94.3	93.4	94.5	94.1
88	Southern Miss.	94.4	93.1	94.6	94.0
89	Louisiana Tech	93.8	94.2	94.1	94.0
90	Army	93.8	93.8	92.8	93.5
91	Georgia St.	92.3	93.6	92.0	92.6
92	Tulsa	91.8	92.7	93.0	92.5
93	Troy	92.1	92.7	91.2	92.0
94	Middle Tennessee	91.9	91.1	92.2	91.7
95	South Florida	91.1	92.3	91.5	91.6
96	Western Kentucky	90.5	91.5	92.2	91.4
97	Buffalo	90.5	91.1	91.8	91.1
98	U A B	90.1	92.0	91.0	91.1
99	Arkansas St.	91.1	91.3	90.8	91.1
100	Marshall	90.6	90.0	91.4	90.7
101	North Texas	90.5	89.8	90.8	90.4
102	Ball St.	90.2	89.7	90.2	90.0
103	Miami (Ohio)	89.3	88.0	89.7	89.0
104	Toledo	88.2	88.5	88.9	88.5
105	Liberty	87.9	89.0	88.0	88.3
106	Florida Int’l.	88.3	88.1	88.3	88.2
107	San Jose St.	87.3	89.3	87.1	87.9
108	Eastern Michigan	87.3	87.5	87.8	87.6
109	Kent St.	87.4	87.2	87.7	87.4
110	Colorado St.	85.9	89.6	86.4	87.3
111	Coastal Carolina	87.0	88.1	86.4	87.2
112	Nevada	86.1	87.4	85.2	86.2
113	Louisiana-Monroe	86.0	86.7	85.8	86.2
114	Central Michigan	84.7	85.4	85.5	85.2
115	U N L V	84.6	86.1	84.3	85.0
116	Charlotte	84.3	84.6	84.5	84.5
117	Rutgers	84.9	84.6	83.9	84.5
118	Texas St.	82.0	82.7	81.4	82.0
119	East Carolina	81.0	82.6	81.0	81.5
120	New Mexico	79.9	82.5	78.8	80.4
121	Rice	79.7	80.8	78.9	79.8
122	New Mexico St.	76.2	78.3	76.2	76.9
123	Texas-San Antonio	74.7	77.0	74.5	75.4
124	South Alabama	74.3	76.8	73.5	74.9
125	Connecticut	73.2	76.6	72.3	74.0
126	Old Dominion	73.5	73.7	73.4	73.5
127	Bowling Green	72.7	72.4	72.6	72.6
128	U T E P	68.6	72.9	69.4	70.3
129	Akron	69.4	69.3	68.2	68.9
130	Massachusetts	60.7	62.6	59.4	60.9

 

PiRate Ratings By Conference

American Athletic Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	AAC	Overall
Central Florida	113.7	113.0	114.5	113.7	3-1	6-2
Cincinnati	108.6	107.4	109.2	108.4	3-0	6-1
Temple	98.0	97.2	98.8	98.0	2-2	5-3
South Florida	91.1	92.3	91.5	91.6	2-2	4-4
East Carolina	81.0	82.6	81.0	81.5	0-4	3-5
Connecticut	73.2	76.6	72.3	74.0	0-4	2-6
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	AAC	Overall
SMU	106.7	106.5	107.9	107.0	4-0	8-0
Memphis	105.7	105.6	106.2	105.8	3-1	7-1
Tulane	99.7	100.5	100.1	100.1	2-2	5-3
Houston	96.8	97.7	98.8	97.7	1-3	3-5
Navy	95.9	98.4	96.8	97.1	4-1	6-1
Tulsa	91.8	92.7	93.0	92.5	0-4	2-6
AAC Averages	96.8	97.5	97.5	97.3
Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	ACC	Overall
Clemson	135.0	132.7	136.0	134.6	6-0	8-0
Florida St.	105.6	105.7	105.8	105.7	3-3	4-4
Wake Forest	103.8	103.2	104.1	103.7	2-1	6-1
Syracuse	103.4	102.7	102.8	103.0	0-4	3-5
Boston College	99.8	99.4	100.1	99.8	2-3	4-4
North Carolina St.	99.6	99.3	99.7	99.5	1-2	4-3
Louisville	99.3	99.1	99.2	99.2	3-2	5-3
Coastal Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	ACC	Overall
Virginia	107.2	107.2	107.1	107.2	3-2	5-3
North Carolina	105.9	105.8	106.9	106.2	3-2	4-4
Miami (Fla.)	105.5	104.9	106.4	105.6	2-3	4-4
Pittsburgh	105.6	105.3	105.7	105.5	2-2	5-3
Duke	105.4	104.8	105.3	105.2	2-3	4-4
Virginia Tech	101.3	101.4	101.7	101.5	3-2	5-2
Georgia Tech	94.9	93.2	95.3	94.5	1-3	2-5
ACC Averages	105.2	104.6	105.4	105.1
Big 12 Conference
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	B12	Overall
Oklahoma	123.2	122.4	122.9	122.8	4-1	7-1
Iowa St.	114.5	115.1	114.7	114.8	3-2	5-3
Baylor	114.3	114.5	113.9	114.2	4-0	7-0
Kansas St.	110.4	110.3	110.2	110.3	2-2	5-2
Oklahoma St.	110.0	110.5	109.5	110.0	2-3	5-3
Texas	109.6	109.9	109.6	109.7	3-2	5-3
T C U	107.3	110.0	107.8	108.4	2-2	4-3
Texas Tech	104.1	104.3	103.2	103.9	1-4	3-5
West Virginia	102.4	101.8	101.5	101.9	1-3	3-4
Kansas	96.9	97.9	97.0	97.3	1-4	3-5
Big 12 Averages	109.3	109.7	109.0	109.3
Big Ten Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Ohio St.	138.7	137.8	139.8	138.8	5-0	8-0
Penn St.	124.6	123.8	124.9	124.5	5-0	8-0
Michigan	121.5	119.9	121.8	121.1	3-2	6-2
Michigan St.	112.4	111.5	111.9	111.9	2-3	4-4
Indiana	108.8	107.7	108.4	108.3	3-2	6-2
Maryland	101.4	100.5	100.0	100.6	1-4	3-5
Rutgers	84.9	84.6	83.9	84.5	0-5	2-6
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Wisconsin	120.1	119.7	120.0	119.9	3-2	6-2
Iowa	118.8	117.0	118.7	118.1	3-2	6-2
Minnesota	117.8	117.6	117.5	117.6	5-0	8-0
Northwestern	104.6	103.6	103.4	103.9	0-5	1-6
Purdue	103.6	103.3	102.9	103.3	1-4	2-6
Nebraska	103.1	103.7	102.3	103.0	2-3	4-4
Illinois	101.2	102.1	100.6	101.3	2-3	4-4
Big Ten Averages	111.5	110.9	111.1	111.2
Conference USA
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	CUSA	Overall
Florida Atlantic	94.5	94.2	95.5	94.7	3-1	5-3
Middle Tennessee	91.9	91.1	92.2	91.7	2-2	3-5
Western Kentucky	90.5	91.5	92.2	91.4	4-1	5-3
Marshall	90.6	90.0	91.4	90.7	3-1	5-3
Florida Int’l.	88.3	88.1	88.3	88.2	2-3	4-4
Charlotte	84.3	84.6	84.5	84.5	1-3	3-5
Old Dominion	73.5	73.7	73.4	73.5	0-4	1-7
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	CUSA	Overall
Southern Miss.	94.4	93.1	94.6	94.0	3-1	5-3
Louisiana Tech	93.8	94.2	94.1	94.0	4-0	7-1
U A B	90.1	92.0	91.0	91.1	3-1	6-1
North Texas	90.5	89.8	90.8	90.4	2-2	3-5
Rice	79.7	80.8	78.9	79.8	0-4	0-8
Texas-San Antonio	74.7	77.0	74.5	75.4	2-2	3-4
U T E P	68.6	72.9	69.4	70.3	0-4	1-6
CUSA Averages	86.1	86.7	86.5	86.4
FBS Independents
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	Conf.	Overall
Notre Dame	117.6	115.8	117.3	116.9	x	5-2
BYU	99.6	99.6	99.6	99.6	x	3-4
Army	93.8	93.8	92.8	93.5	x	3-5
Liberty	87.9	89.0	88.0	88.3	x	5-3
New Mexico St.	76.2	78.3	76.2	76.9	x	0-8
Massachusetts	60.7	62.6	59.4	60.9	x	1-7
Indep. Averages	89.3	89.8	88.9	89.3
Mid-American Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MAC	Overall
Ohio	94.2	93.3	94.7	94.1	3-1	4-4
Buffalo	90.5	91.1	91.8	91.1	2-2	4-4
Miami (Ohio)	89.3	88.0	89.7	89.0	3-1	4-4
Kent St.	87.4	87.2	87.7	87.4	2-2	3-5
Bowling Green	72.7	72.4	72.6	72.6	1-3	2-6
Akron	69.4	69.3	68.2	68.9	0-4	0-8
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MAC	Overall
Western Michigan	98.6	97.7	98.5	98.3	3-2	5-4
Northern Illinois	94.3	93.4	94.5	94.1	2-2	3-5
Ball St.	90.2	89.7	90.2	90.0	3-1	4-4
Toledo	88.2	88.5	88.9	88.5	2-2	5-3
Eastern Michigan	87.3	87.5	87.8	87.6	1-3	4-4
Central Michigan	84.7	85.4	85.5	85.2	3-2	5-4
MAC Averages	87.2	87.0	87.5	87.2
Mountain West Conference
Mountain Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MWC	Overall
Boise St.	106.4	106.1	106.7	106.4	3-0	6-1
Air Force	104.3	105.7	105.4	105.1	4-1	6-2
Utah St.	102.5	101.7	103.3	102.5	3-1	4-3
Wyoming	98.7	100.9	99.3	99.6	3-1	6-2
Colorado St.	85.9	89.6	86.4	87.3	2-2	3-5
New Mexico	79.9	82.5	78.8	80.4	0-4	2-6
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MWC	Overall
San Diego St.	97.6	99.3	97.4	98.1	4-1	7-1
Hawaii	95.8	97.3	95.0	96.0	2-2	5-3
Fresno St.	94.9	95.8	95.2	95.3	1-2	3-4
San Jose St.	87.3	89.3	87.1	87.9	1-3	4-4
Nevada	86.1	87.4	85.2	86.2	1-3	4-4
U N L V	84.6	86.1	84.3	85.0	1-4	2-6
MWC Averages	93.7	95.1	93.7	94.2
Pac-12 Conference
North Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	P12	Overall
Oregon	118.4	118.4	119.6	118.8	5-0	7-1
Washington	114.3	114.0	115.3	114.5	2-3	5-3
Washington St.	112.7	111.9	113.2	112.6	1-4	4-4
Stanford	103.7	103.0	103.4	103.4	3-3	4-4
California	102.5	102.1	103.0	102.5	1-4	4-4
Oregon St.	97.6	98.6	97.1	97.8	2-2	3-4
South Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	P12	Overall
Utah	123.7	122.6	124.5	123.6	4-1	7-1
U S C	109.6	110.2	110.0	110.0	4-1	5-3
Arizona St.	106.9	106.2	107.4	106.9	2-3	5-3
U C L A	101.0	100.8	100.6	100.8	3-2	3-5
Arizona	98.9	98.7	98.6	98.7	2-3	4-4
Colorado	96.2	96.0	96.0	96.0	1-4	3-5
Pac-12 Averages	107.1	106.9	107.4	107.1
Southeastern Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SEC	Overall
Georgia	126.5	124.6	126.4	125.8	3-1	6-1
Florida	123.0	120.1	122.6	121.9	5-1	7-1
South Carolina	111.7	110.0	111.1	110.9	2-4	3-5
Missouri	111.3	108.9	110.8	110.3	2-2	5-3
Tennessee	109.5	109.1	108.3	109.0	2-3	3-5
Kentucky	108.4	107.0	107.3	107.6	2-4	4-4
Vanderbilt	97.3	96.0	96.0	96.4	1-3	2-5
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SEC	Overall
Alabama	135.3	132.2	136.0	134.5	5-0	8-0
L S U	129.1	126.8	129.0	128.3	4-0	8-0
Auburn	123.7	122.0	123.7	123.1	3-2	6-2
Texas A&M	117.4	115.6	116.4	116.5	3-2	5-3
Mississippi St.	109.1	105.5	113.1	109.2	1-4	3-5
Ole Miss	105.5	104.5	105.2	105.1	2-3	3-5
Arkansas	94.9	95.2	94.2	94.8	0-5	2-6
SEC Averages	114.5	112.7	114.3	113.8
Sunbelt Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SBC	Overall
Appalachian St.	108.7	107.8	108.4	108.3	4-0	7-0
Georgia Southern	94.8	94.5	94.0	94.5	2-1	4-3
Georgia St.	92.3	93.6	92.0	92.6	3-1	6-2
Troy	92.1	92.7	91.2	92.0	1-2	3-4
Coastal Carolina	87.0	88.1	86.4	87.2	0-3	3-4
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SBC	Overall
Louisiana	101.1	101.2	101.0	101.1	2-1	5-2
Arkansas St.	91.1	91.3	90.8	91.1	2-2	4-4
Louisiana-Monroe	86.0	86.7	85.8	86.2	2-1	3-4
Texas St.	82.0	82.7	81.4	82.0	1-2	2-5
South Alabama	74.3	76.8	73.5	74.9	0-4	1-7
SBC Averages	90.9	91.5	90.5	91.0

 

Conference Power Ratings
#	League	Average
1	Southeastern	113.8
2	Big Ten	111.2
3	Big 12	109.3
4	Pac-12	107.1
5	Atlantic Coast	105.1
6	American	97.3
7	Mountain West	94.2
8	Sun Belt	91.0
9	Independents	89.3
10	Mid-American	87.2
11	Conference USA	86.4

 

Top 5 Group of 5
1	SMU
2	Appalachian St.
3	Cincinnati
4	Navy
5	Boise St.

 

This Week’s Look At Some Key Contenders Not Getting Enough Publicity

What a difference a strange weekend of football makes!  With Kansas State beating Oklahoma, and LSU taking care of business against Auburn, the playoff picture began to swing toward the SEC getting two teams into the Playoffs.  At the moment, the Big Ten still has three undefeated teams, so there is a chance that the Big Ten could get two teams into the Playoffs if the regular season ends with a 13-0 team and a 12-1 or 11-1 team.

Minnesota will get its chance to prove whether they truly are Golden Gophers or just pests digging a hole in the ground.  If  Minny can beat Penn State, and then the Gophers follow it up with wins at Iowa and at home against Wisconsin, then the least Minnesota could get for a postseason reward would be their first trip to the Rose Bowl since January of 1962.

Having closely watched and diagnosed every scrimmage play in Minnesota’s last two games, this team looks to be legitimate.  The Gophers have an excellent inside-outside running attack.  Their running backs hit the perimeter quickly with speed.  The Gophers can get yards between the tackles as well.  Of all the teams we have seen so far this year, Minnesota’s rushing attack is the most consistent among teams that do not use the option.

The Gopher passing attack is one of the best in the nation with Tanner Morgan just a fraction behind Ohio State’s Justin Fields in league passer efficiency.

The Gophers aren’t all offense.  The Minnesota defense is surrendering just 284 yards (13th best in the nation) and 20 points per game. But, the defense is on a roll.  After giving up 119 points in their first four games, UM has given up just 41 in the last four.

Penn State and Minnesota both have the week off to prepare for this big game.  Unfortunately, this is the same day as the Alabama-LSU game, so it will be second banana to the first of many “game of the years.”

 

Baylor is still undefeated, the final team from the Big 12 that can say that now that Oklahoma has fallen.  In order for Baylor to get to the playoffs, the Bears must run the table, and that means almost assuredly having to beat Oklahoma twice.  A split puts Baylor in either the Sugar Bowl or Cotton Bowl, if that it their only loss.

 

Out in the Pac-12, Utah and Oregon face key games this week.  Utah plays at Washington, while Oregon  plays at USC.  If both division leaders win, then they must be put in contention for a playoff spot if the Conference Championship Game winner is 12-1, while the runner-up is 11-2.

 

In the Group of 5 this week, SMU plays at Memphis, and the winner will be a co-leader with Cincinnati for the Cotton Bowl bid.  Appalachian State is still undefeated, but the Mountaineers will have to win out (including winning at South Carolina), while SMU will have to lose a game, before Appy has a chance to get to the Cotton Bowl. 

 

This Week’s Playoffs and Bowl Projections

American Athletic

SMU held on to a narrow road win against Houston, so the Mustangs are the current top Group of 5 team in line to play at home in the Cotton Bowl.  Memphis is still alive only by a fluke missed chip-shot field goal by Tulsa.  Cincinnati and Navy still have shots at that Cotton Bowl bid, while Central Florida is still around with two losses should a bunch of teams lose in November.

East Carolina, Houston, and South Florida still have minute chances to get bowl eligible, but our ratings are calling for all three to miss out.  Tulane needs one more win to become bowl eligible, and they must beat Tulsa this weekend, or the Green Wave could miss out.  Their final three games are tough.

Expected Bowl Eligible Teams: 7

 

Atlantic Coast

Clemson should be able to coast home with a 13-0 record and Playoff bid.  The Tigers should win their final four regular season games by margins of 20 or more every week.  The Coastal Division will probably send a 5-3 team to the ACC Championship Game, and other than North Carolina looking for revenge, we don’t see any of the other contenders making the title game close.

Notre Dame caucuses with the ACC for bowl bids, and with no viable ACC team looking formidable, the Irish will most likely take the next bowl in the ACC pecking order.  This week, we are going with a Big Ten team in the Orange Bowl, so for now it looks like the Citrus Bowl for the number two team in this group.

Including Notre Dame, there is a good chance that the ACC will have 12 bowl eligible teams, meaning there will be room for two additional at-large bowl bids.  The ACC has secondary agreements with the Birmingham and Gasparilla Bowls.  The Birmingham Bowl will most definitely need an at-large team, so ACC #11 will get that bid.  The Gasparilla Bowl most likely will not need an at-large team, but that ACC #12 will still receive an at-large bid.  With the SEC obviously falling well short this year, that #12 ACC team could end up in Memphis in the Liberty Bowl.

Expected Bowl Eligible Teams: 12 (includes Notre Dame)

 

Big 12

With Oklahoma losing, for now, we are keeping the Big 12 out of the Playoffs.  There is still a 20% chance that either Baylor or Oklahoma run the table to stay in contention at the end.  One team will have to sweep the other to pull it off.

TCU’s upset of Texas (wasn’t really an upset) puts the Horned Frogs back into position to become bowl eligible, while Texas Tech’s loss to Kansas knocks the Red Raiders out of contention for now.  We’re not ready to put Les Miles and his Jayhawks into contention, but if KU knocks off Kansas State this weekend, then we might be forced to give them some consideration.

Expected Bowl Eligible Teams: 7

 

Big Ten

Ohio State has an excellent chance to make the Playoffs as the top seed.  On the other hand, they might have to get there by beating an undefeated Penn State or Minnesota team, and they have to play at Michigan.  Could history from repeat itself from 50 years ago?  In 1969, the best ever Ohio State team coming off a really embarrassing blowout of Michigan the year before, went to Ann Arbor to face a two-loss Michigan team.  Michigan’s defense did the near-impossible, stopping the greatest Buckeye offense in school history.  We can hardly wait.

Indiana’s win at Nebraska virtually guarantees that the Hoosiers will become bowl eligible.  Illinois’s win over Purdue puts Lovie Smith’s Illini in strong contention for a bowl bid, while Purdue played itself out of contention.

Michigan State is struggling, but the Spartans should win six or seven games to become bowl eligible, while Nebraska is hoping the return of Adrian Martinez and games with Purdue and Maryland will get the Cornhuskers to 6-6.

Expected Bowl Eligible Teams: 10

 

Conference USA

This is a down year for CUSA, as no team is in contention for the Group of 5 NY6 Bowl bid.  In the East, Marshall is now in control of their destiny thanks to a last-play 53-yard field goal against Western Kentucky.  Florida Atlantic and WKU are the other teams still in contention, but all three of these teams will get bowl bids.

In the West, it is looking like there could be a three-way tie between Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, and UAB.  North Texas is suffering a disappointing year, and the Mean Green have been removed from bowl contention by our ratings.

We expect CUSA to have on more bowl eligible team than it has bowl contracts, and that sixth team might be headed to Shreveport, Louisiana in late December.

Expected Bowl Eligible Teams: 6

 

Independents

(not including Notre Dame, which counts with the ACC)

This has turned into a disappointing season for Army, and we now have the Black Knights finishing under .500.  Brigham Young has an automatic bowl bid to Hawaii if the Cougars go 6-6 or better.  6-6 is the most likely record for BYU.

Liberty has not been to a bowl in its short history in FBS football, but the Flames have a secondary agreement with the Cure Bowl should the Cure Bowl need an at-large team.  This week, for the first time, we have the Cure Bowl needing an at-large team, so Hugh Freeze might be staying quite warm in Florida in December.

Expected Bowl Eligible Teams: 2

 

Mid-American

This is a down year in the MAC, but the parity is going to lead to many more bowl eligible teams than the MAC has bowls to place them.  The MAC has five guaranteed bowl bids plus secondary agreements with two others.  One of those other secondary agreements is the Quick Lane Bowl which will not need an at-large team.  The Frisco Bowl always needs an at-large team, since there is only one tie-in, so the MAC can expect a second consecutive bowl bid there.  This year, the MAC is likely to see at least one additional team go to a bowl that has no MACtion secondary agreement.  Because our ratings this week forecast 79 bowl eligible teams, the odd team out is likely to be a 6-6 MAC team.

Expected Bowl Eligible Teams: 8 (But only 7 will receive bids)

 

Mountain West

The Mountain West will most likely lose its secondary chance at the Hawaii and Cheez-it Bowls, which means that the league will only have five guaranteed bowl bids.  This league will most likely have seven bowl eligible teams, so two members will be headed East and South in December.

Boise State still remains in contention for the Group of 5 NY6 bid to the Cotton Bowl, but the Broncos still have three tough tests remaining.  They must beat Utah State and Wyoming and then the West Division representative in the MWC Championship Game.  For now, we have Boise winning the championship but not getting the Cotton Bowl bid.

Air Force has a chance to finish 10-2, and the Falcons could be moved out of the MWC’s bowl tie-ins in order to fly east to a more prestigious bowl, maybe replacing the SEC in a Southern bowl game.  Air Force can fill up most stadiums with Cadets, and they don’t have problems with airline reservations.

Expected Bowl Eligible Teams: 7

 

Pac-12

Oregon and Utah still have minor chances to sneak into the Playoffs, but until teams like Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, and Penn State start losing games, we will put the league champion in Pasadena.

This week, we remove California from bowl contention and put rival Stanford back in.  We also remove Arizona for now, so there will not be extra bowl eligible teams if our scenario plays itself out.

Expected Bowl Eligible Teams: 7

 

Southeastern

It may be the strongest league in college football, but the SEC is going to be the league that causes multiple bowls to look elsewhere for at-large teams.  The Independence and Birmingham Bowls must already be looking at potential at-large teams.  The Belk, Liberty, and Music City Bowls might also wish to start looking around for potential at-large teams.

If both Alabama and LSU make the playoffs, and then Florida and Georgia (or Auburn) then receive Sugar and Orange Bowl bids, four teams are already removed before the meat of the bowls look for what’s left.

Because Missouri is ineligible for a bowl, and Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and South Carolina look to be out of bowl contention, an Ole Miss Egg Bowl win over Mississippi State will likely leave the SEC with just 8 Bowl Eligible teams.  Only four teams will remain for the nine SEC spots needed to fulfill the SEC’s bowl contracts.

The Citrus, Outback, Gator, and Texas Bowls are the bowls that the SEC will need to fill.  That leaves the Belk, Music City, Liberty, Birmingham, and Independence Bowls without SEC teams.

Expected Bowl Eligible Teams: 8

 

Sun Belt

Congratulations go out to Georgia State for joining Appy State as teams already eligible for bowls this year.  Appy State is hoping for a miracle.  If the Mountaineers win at South Carolina and finish the regular season 13-0, there is a chance they  could get the Cotton Bowl bid.  For now, we see them coming up one game short.

Louisiana is one win away from becoming bowl eligible, while Arkansas State and Georgia Southern have legitimate paths to bowl eligibility, and UL-Monroe has a path, just not as legitimate as the other two.

Expected Bowl Eligible Teams: 5

 

Bowl	Conf	Conf	Team	Team
Bahamas	MAC	CUSA	Western Michigan	Marshall
Frisco	AAC	At-large	SMU	[Miami (O)]
Cure	AAC	SBC	[Liberty]	Arkansas St.
New Mexico	CUSA	MWC	Louisiana Tech	San Diego St.
Boca Raton	AAC	MAC	Memphis	Eastern Michigan
Camellia	MAC	SBC	Central Michigan	Louisiana
Las Vegas	MWC #1	Pac-12	Boise St.	Washington St.
New Orleans	CUSA	SBC #1	Southern Miss.	Appalachian St.
Gasparilla	AAC	CUSA	Central Florida	Florida Atlantic
Hawaii	BYU/MWC	AAC	BYU	Navy
Independence	ACC	SEC	Florida St.	[Western Kentucky]
Quick Lane	ACC	Big Ten	North Carolina St.	Illiois
Military	ACC	AAC	Pittsburgh	Temple
Pinstripe	ACC	Big Ten	North Carolina	Michigan St.
Texas	Big 12	SEC	Texas	Texas A&M
Holiday	Pac-12	Big Ten	USC	Michigan
Cheez-It	Big 12	Pac-12	TCU	Stanford
Camping World	ACC	Big 12	Virginia Tech	Oklahoma St.
Cotton	At-large	At-large	Cincinnati	Baylor
First Responder	CUSA	Big 12	UAB	[Utah St.]
Redbox	Pac-12	Big Ten	Washington	Iowa
Music City	SEC	ACC	[Air Force]	Louisville
Orange	ACC	BTen/SEC	Georgia	Penn St.
Belk	ACC	SEC	Wake Forest	[Buffalo]
Sun	ACC	Pac-12	Virginia	Arizona St.
Liberty	Big 12	SEC	Iowa St.	[Duke]
Arizona	SBC	MWC	Georgia Southern	San Jose St.
Alamo	Big 12	Pac-12	Kansas St.	Oregon
Citrus	SEC	BTen/ACC	Auburn	Notre Dame
Outback	Big Ten	SEC	Indiana	Tennessee
Rose	Big Ten	Pac-12	Minnesota	Utah
Sugar	Big 12	SEC	Oklahoma	Florida
Birmingham	AAC	SEC	Tulane	[Miami (Fla.)]
Taxslayer/Gator	SEC	Big Ten	Kentucky	Wisconsin
Idaho Potato	MAC	MWC	Toledo	Wyoming
Armed Forces	Big Ten	MWC	Nebraska	Hawaii
Dollar General	MAC	SBC	Ohio U	Georgia St.
FBS PLAYOFFS
Fiesta	Top 4	Top 4	Ohio St.	LSU
Peach	Top 4	Top 4	Alabama	Clemson
Championship	Fiesta	Peach	Ohio St.	Alabama
Teams in [Brackets] are at-large selections

 

PiRate Ratings Picks For October 24-28, 2019

It couldn’t last.  Our winning streak ended soon after it began, and both the PiRate Picks and Experimental Davey19 picks fell to the losing side last week.  We’re back at it again hoping that maybe if you see a game you have thought about wagering real money on the outcome, you will see that we agree with you, and you will quickly forget playing that game.

Remember, the PiRates do not wager real money on football games, and we encourage you not to use our picks as handicapping aids if you happen to play for real.  These picks are free and are priced exactly where they need to be.

PiRate Picks

This week, we add a new twist that hasn’t been shown here in several years.  We are going to make a few 6-point teaser picks (2-game parlays @ 10-11 odds)

College 6-point Teaser

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Connecticut	Massachusetts	4	UConn
Memphis	Tulsa	4.5	Memphis

 

College 6-point Teaser

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Texas A&M	Mississippi St.	4.5	Texas A&M
Iowa	Northwestern	4	Iowa

 

College 6-point Teaser

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Miami (Fla.)	Pittsburgh	0.5	Pittsburgh
Arkansas St.	Texas St.	5.5	Arkansas St.

 

College 10-point Teaser

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
SMU	Houston	4	SMU
Central Michigan	Buffalo	7.5	Buffalo
Purdue	Illinois	20	Illinois

 

College 10-point Teaser

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Liberty	Rutgers	17	Rutgers
Rice	Southern Miss.	0.5	Southern Miss
Wyoming	Nevada	4	Wyoming

 

College 10-point Teaser

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Fresno St.	Colorado St.	4.5	Fresno St
Georgia Southern	N. Mexico St.	4.5	Ga. Southern
Iowa St.	Oklahoma St.	0.5	Iowa St.

 

College 10-point Teaser

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Ohio	Ball St.	7.5	Ball St.
Oklahoma	Kansas St.	13.5	Oklahoma
Minnesota	Maryland	6.5	Minnesota

 

College 10-point Teaser

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Texas	TCU	11.5	TCU
Ohio St.	Wisconsin	4.5	Ohio St.
LSU	Auburn	0.5	LSU

 

College 13-point Teaser

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Troy	Georgia St.	12	Georgia St.
Penn St.	Michigan St.	19.5	Michigan St.
Middle Tennessee	Florida Int’l.	10.5	Fla. Intl
South Carolina	Tennessee	17.5	Tennessee

 

NFL 10-point Teaser

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Minnesota	Washington	6.5	Minnesota
N.Y. Giants	Detroit	3	Detroit
Tampa Bay	Tennessee	7.5	Tennessee

 

NFL 10-point Teaser

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
LA Chargers	Chicago	6	Chicago
N.Y. Jets	Jacksonville	4	Jacksonville
Philadelphia	Buffalo	8.5	Buffalo

 

NFL 10-point Teaser

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
LA Rams	Cincinnati	3	LA Rams
New Orleans	Arizona	0.5	New Orleans
Oakland	Houston	3	Houston

 

NFL 10-point Teaser

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Denver	Indianapolis	4.5	Indianapolis
New England	Cleveland	3	New England
Miami	Pittsburgh	4.5	Pittsburgh

 

Davey19 Selections

College Picks Against The Spread

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Connecticut	Massachusetts	10	UMass
Purdue	Illinois	10	Illinois
Central Florida	Temple	11	Temple
Buffalo	Central Michigan	2.5	Buffalo
Liberty	Rutgers	7.5	Rutgers
Marshall	Western Kentucky	5	Western Kentucky
Iowa St.	Oklahoma St.	10.5	Oklahoma St.
Ball St.	Ohio	2.5	Ball St.
North Texas	Charlotte	4.5	Charlotte

 

Note: For those of you that play for real, please be aware that in both college and pro football this weekend, Miami is playing Pittsburgh at Heinz Stadium.  Don’t confuse the games on the card.

The Pitt Panthers and Miami of Florida Hurricanes face off Saturday at Noon Eastern Daylight Time.  The Steelers host the Dolphins on Monday Night at 8:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time.

 

And, as a reminder, next Sunday’s NFL games will kick off in Standard Time.  Daylight Savings Time goes to bed Sunday morning at 2 AM, November 3.  It never ceases to amaze us as to how many 9 to 5 workers fail to notice that one of their car’s headlights, taillights, brake lights, or signal lights is not working, until after the clocks are set back in the Fall, and they drive home from work in the dark. 

Please check all your lights before you turn your clock back an hour.  Darkness at 4:30 PM always leads to increased traffic accidents in large cities, so play it safe and prepare by becoming a better defensive driver.  The life you save, may be mine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate College Football Ratings: October 21, 2019

This Week’s PiRate Rating Spreads

 

Thursday	October 24
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Houston	SMU	-8.1	-7.1	-7.5
Friday	October 25
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Colorado	USC	-11.1	-12.2	-12.3
Saturday	October 26
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Massachusetts	Connecticut	-7.6	-9.3	-7.6
Purdue	Illinois	11.4	10.5	11.8
Army	San Jose St.	13.6	11.4	13.3
Georgia St.	Troy	-2.2	-1.3	-1.6
Clemson	Boston College	33.5	30.9	33.7
Tulsa	Memphis	-12.8	-12.0	-12.5
Toledo	Eastern Michigan	3.5	3.7	3.8
Texas A&M	Mississippi St.	9.6	11.6	3.9
Temple	Central Florida	-7.0	-7.0	-6.7
Western Michigan	Bowling Green	25.8	24.9	25.5
Nebraska	Indiana	-2.1	0.0	-2.1
Buffalo	Central Michigan	5.9	5.6	6.0
Northwestern	Iowa	-9.7	-8.8	-10.7
East Carolina	South Florida	-2.0	-1.2	-2.0
Florida St.	Syracuse	3.0	3.9	3.4
Rutgers	Liberty	-2.4	-4.2	-3.9
Rice	Southern Miss.	-11.8	-8.8	-12.5
Utah	California	20.2	19.4	20.2
Wyoming	Nevada	12.9	13.5	13.7
Air Force	Utah St.	0.0	2.5	-0.1
New Mexico	Hawaii	-12.2	-10.6	-12.4
Marshall	Western Kentucky	2.8	1.2	2.1
Stanford	Arizona	7.6	6.7	7.1
Oregon	Washington St.	10.1	11.2	11.2
Fresno St.	Colorado St.	19.2	16.3	19.4
Kentucky	Missouri	-5.0	-4.0	-6.2
North Carolina	Duke	1.7	2.2	3.0
Michigan St.	Penn St.	-5.4	-5.3	-5.8
Kent St.	Miami (O)	2.2	3.7	2.5
South Alabama	Appalachian St.	-32.1	-28.5	-32.7
Georgia Southern	New Mexico St.	18.2	15.2	16.8
Iowa St.	Oklahoma St.	10.3	10.6	11.2
Middle Tennessee	Florida Int’l.	0.2	-0.8	0.1
Old Dominion	Florida Atlantic	-13.0	-12.1	-13.9
Ball St.	Ohio U	1.1	1.7	0.8
Alabama	Arkansas	43.1	39.2	44.5
Tennessee	South Carolina	-3.3	-2.0	-4.7
Kansas St.	Oklahoma	-14.6	-14.0	-14.8
Minnesota	Maryland	12.7	13.2	13.3
Navy	Tulane	-1.3	0.6	-1.2
TCU	Texas	-4.5	-2.0	-4.4
Pittsburgh	Miami (Fla.)	4.8	5.4	4.4
Louisville	Virginia	-8.1	-8.7	-8.5
Northern Illinois	Akron	22.3	21.0	23.4
Kansas	Texas Tech	-7.7	-6.7	-6.8
Charlotte	North Texas	-5.1	-4.1	-5.6
Ohio St.	Wisconsin	18.7	18.0	19.8
Arkansas St.	Texas St.	8.8	8.0	8.7
LSU	Auburn	9.0	8.4	9.4
UTEP	Louisiana Tech	-23.1	-18.4	-22.6
Michigan	Notre Dame	1.5	1.4	1.6
UCLA	Arizona St.	-6.2	-5.7	-7.7
UNLV	San Diego St.	-11.6	-12.1	-12.1

 

 

This Week’s PiRate Ratings

 

PiRate Ratings
#	Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average
1	Ohio St.	137.4	136.4	138.4	137.4
2	Alabama	135.3	132.0	136.0	134.4
3	Clemson	132.6	130.0	133.4	132.0
4	L S U	129.4	127.1	129.5	128.7
5	Oklahoma	125.8	125.1	125.7	125.5
6	Georgia	126.2	124.3	126.1	125.5
7	Auburn	123.4	121.7	123.2	122.8
8	Penn St.	122.7	121.8	122.8	122.5
9	Wisconsin	121.7	121.4	121.7	121.6
10	Florida	122.7	119.8	122.3	121.6
11	Utah	121.6	120.4	122.2	121.4
12	Notre Dame	120.5	118.8	120.4	119.9
13	Oregon	119.1	119.2	120.5	119.6
14	Michigan	118.9	117.2	119.0	118.4
15	Iowa	117.7	115.8	117.5	117.0
16	Iowa St.	115.9	116.6	116.2	116.2
17	Texas A&M	116.7	115.0	115.3	115.7
18	Washington	114.0	113.7	115.0	114.2
19	Minnesota	114.2	113.9	113.7	113.9
20	Baylor	114.0	114.2	113.6	113.9
21	Michigan St.	114.3	113.5	114.0	113.9
22	Missouri	114.2	111.8	114.0	113.3
23	South Carolina	113.6	111.9	113.4	113.0
24	Texas	111.7	111.9	111.9	111.8
25	Washington St.	112.0	111.1	112.3	111.8
26	U S C	109.9	110.7	110.6	110.4
27	Central Florida	110.4	109.6	111.0	110.3
28	Mississippi St.	110.1	106.4	114.5	110.3
29	Virginia	108.8	109.0	108.9	108.9
30	Oklahoma St.	108.6	109.0	108.0	108.5
31	Arizona St.	108.4	107.7	109.2	108.5
32	Appalachian St.	108.8	107.8	108.6	108.4
33	Cincinnati	108.3	107.1	108.9	108.1
34	Kansas St.	108.3	108.1	107.9	108.1
35	Indiana	108.5	107.2	107.9	107.9
36	SMU	107.2	107.0	108.5	107.6
37	Memphis	106.8	106.8	107.5	107.0
38	Pittsburgh	106.6	106.4	106.9	106.6
39	Tennessee	107.3	106.9	105.7	106.6
40	Purdue	106.8	106.6	106.3	106.6
41	T C U	105.2	108.0	105.5	106.2
42	Boise St.	106.1	105.8	106.4	106.1
43	North Carolina	105.7	105.7	106.9	106.1
44	Texas Tech	105.8	106.0	105.0	105.6
45	Duke	105.6	104.9	105.3	105.3
46	Kentucky	106.2	104.8	104.8	105.3
47	Utah St.	104.9	104.0	105.9	104.9
48	Miami (Fla.)	104.8	104.1	105.5	104.8
49	Ole Miss	105.2	104.2	104.9	104.8
50	Northwestern	105.4	104.5	104.3	104.7
51	Florida St.	104.5	104.6	104.5	104.6
52	California	104.3	104.0	105.0	104.4
53	Syracuse	104.5	103.8	104.1	104.1
54	Maryland	104.5	103.7	103.3	103.8
55	Nebraska	103.4	104.2	102.8	103.5
56	Wake Forest	103.5	102.9	103.8	103.4
57	Stanford	103.6	102.7	103.1	103.1
58	Air Force	101.9	103.4	102.8	102.7
59	Boston College	102.2	102.1	102.7	102.3
60	West Virginia	102.1	101.5	101.2	101.6
61	Virginia Tech	101.0	101.1	101.4	101.2
62	Temple	100.8	100.1	101.8	100.9
63	Louisiana	100.9	101.0	100.8	100.9
64	Tulane	99.8	100.5	100.4	100.2
65	Fresno St.	99.0	99.8	99.5	99.4
66	BYU	99.3	99.3	99.3	99.3
67	North Carolina St.	99.3	99.0	99.4	99.2
68	Arizona	99.0	99.0	98.9	99.0
69	U C L A	99.2	99.0	98.5	98.9
70	San Diego St.	98.3	100.1	98.3	98.9
71	Illinois	98.3	99.1	97.5	98.3
72	Wyoming	97.3	99.4	97.6	98.1
73	Houston	96.6	97.5	98.5	97.5
74	Oregon St.	97.3	98.3	96.8	97.5
75	Louisville	97.7	97.3	97.4	97.4
76	Western Michigan	97.5	96.4	97.2	97.0
77	Navy	95.5	98.1	96.2	96.6
78	Vanderbilt	97.0	95.7	95.7	96.1
79	Hawaii	95.7	97.0	94.9	95.9
80	Army	96.0	95.9	95.2	95.7
81	Colorado	95.9	95.5	95.4	95.6
82	Kansas	95.2	96.2	95.2	95.5
83	Arkansas	95.2	95.7	94.5	95.2
84	Georgia Tech	94.6	92.9	95.0	94.2
85	Troy	94.3	94.8	93.4	94.2
86	Louisiana Tech	94.0	94.0	94.3	94.1
87	Southern Miss.	94.2	92.6	94.3	93.7
88	Georgia Southern	93.3	92.7	92.2	92.8
89	Ohio	92.9	91.9	93.3	92.7
90	Florida Atlantic	91.9	91.4	92.8	92.0
91	Northern Illinois	92.2	91.1	92.3	91.9
92	Tulsa	91.0	91.8	92.0	91.6
93	Western Kentucky	90.6	91.8	92.4	91.6
94	Florida Int’l.	91.4	91.4	91.6	91.5
95	Ball St.	91.5	91.1	91.6	91.4
96	North Texas	91.2	90.5	91.7	91.1
97	U A B	89.9	91.8	90.8	90.9
98	Marshall	90.4	90.0	91.5	90.6
99	Georgia St.	89.6	91.0	89.3	90.0
100	Buffalo	89.3	89.8	90.4	89.8
101	Arkansas St.	89.7	89.8	89.2	89.6
102	Liberty	89.0	90.3	89.3	89.5
103	Middle Tennessee	89.1	88.1	89.2	88.8
104	South Florida	88.3	89.3	88.5	88.7
105	Toledo	88.3	88.6	89.0	88.6
106	Kent St.	88.2	88.2	88.7	88.4
107	Miami (Ohio)	88.5	87.0	88.7	88.1
108	Nevada	87.5	88.9	86.9	87.8
109	Eastern Michigan	87.2	87.4	87.7	87.5
110	Coastal Carolina	86.8	87.9	86.2	87.0
111	Central Michigan	85.9	86.7	86.9	86.5
112	Louisiana-Monroe	85.8	86.5	85.6	86.0
113	San Jose St.	85.4	87.5	85.0	86.0
114	U N L V	84.2	85.6	83.7	84.5
115	East Carolina	83.8	85.6	84.0	84.5
116	Colorado St.	82.8	86.6	83.1	84.2
117	Charlotte	83.6	83.9	83.6	83.7
118	Texas St.	83.4	84.2	83.0	83.5
119	Rutgers	84.1	83.6	82.9	83.5
120	New Mexico	80.0	82.8	79.0	80.6
121	Rice	79.9	81.3	79.2	80.2
122	New Mexico St.	78.2	80.6	78.5	79.1
123	Old Dominion	76.4	76.8	76.4	76.5
124	Texas-San Antonio	74.5	76.8	74.3	75.2
125	South Alabama	74.2	76.8	73.3	74.8
126	Bowling Green	74.1	74.0	74.2	74.1
127	Connecticut	71.9	75.4	70.8	72.7
128	Akron	72.5	72.6	71.4	72.1
129	U T E P	68.4	73.1	69.2	70.2
130	Massachusetts	62.3	64.1	61.2	62.5

 

PiRate Ratings By Conference

 

American Athletic Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	AAC	Overall
Central Florida	110.4	109.6	111.0	110.3	2-1	5-2
Cincinnati	108.3	107.1	108.9	108.1	3-0	6-1
Temple	100.8	100.1	101.8	100.9	2-1	5-2
South Florida	88.3	89.3	88.5	88.7	1-2	3-4
East Carolina	83.8	85.6	84.0	84.5	0-3	3-4
Connecticut	71.9	75.4	70.8	72.7	0-4	1-6
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	AAC	Overall
SMU	107.2	107.0	108.5	107.6	3-0	7-0
Memphis	106.8	106.8	107.5	107.0	2-1	6-1
Tulane	99.8	100.5	100.4	100.2	2-1	5-2
Houston	96.6	97.5	98.5	97.5	1-2	3-4
Navy	95.5	98.1	96.2	96.6	3-1	5-1
Tulsa	91.0	91.8	92.0	91.6	0-3	2-5
AAC Averages	96.7	97.4	97.3	97.1
Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	ACC	Overall
Clemson	132.6	130.0	133.4	132.0	5-0	7-0
Florida St.	104.5	104.6	104.5	104.6	2-3	3-4
Syracuse	104.5	103.8	104.1	104.1	0-3	3-4
Wake Forest	103.5	102.9	103.8	103.4	2-1	6-1
Boston College	102.2	102.1	102.7	102.3	2-2	4-3
North Carolina St.	99.3	99.0	99.4	99.2	1-2	4-3
Louisville	97.7	97.3	97.4	97.4	2-2	4-3
Coastal Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	ACC	Overall
Virginia	108.8	109.0	108.9	108.9	3-1	5-2
Pittsburgh	106.6	106.4	106.9	106.6	2-1	5-2
North Carolina	105.7	105.7	106.9	106.1	2-2	3-4
Duke	105.6	104.9	105.3	105.3	2-2	4-3
Miami (Fla.)	104.8	104.1	105.5	104.8	1-3	3-4
Virginia Tech	101.0	101.1	101.4	101.2	3-2	5-2
Georgia Tech	94.6	92.9	95.0	94.2	1-3	2-5
ACC Averages	105.1	104.6	105.4	105.0
Big 12 Conference
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	B12	Overall
Oklahoma	125.8	125.1	125.7	125.5	4-0	7-0
Iowa St.	115.9	116.6	116.2	116.2	3-1	5-2
Baylor	114.0	114.2	113.6	113.9	4-0	7-0
Texas	111.7	111.9	111.9	111.8	3-1	5-2
Oklahoma St.	108.6	109.0	108.0	108.5	1-3	4-3
Kansas St.	108.3	108.1	107.9	108.1	1-2	4-2
T C U	105.2	108.0	105.5	106.2	1-2	3-3
Texas Tech	105.8	106.0	105.0	105.6	1-3	3-4
West Virginia	102.1	101.5	101.2	101.6	1-3	3-4
Kansas	95.2	96.2	95.2	95.5	0-4	2-5
Big 12 Averages	109.3	109.7	109.0	109.3
Big Ten Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Ohio St.	137.4	136.4	138.4	137.4	4-0	7-0
Penn St.	122.7	121.8	122.8	122.5	4-0	7-0
Michigan	118.9	117.2	119.0	118.4	3-2	5-2
Michigan St.	114.3	113.5	114.0	113.9	2-2	4-3
Indiana	108.5	107.2	107.9	107.9	2-2	5-2
Maryland	104.5	103.7	103.3	103.8	1-3	3-4
Rutgers	84.1	83.6	82.9	83.5	0-5	1-6
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Wisconsin	121.7	121.4	121.7	121.6	3-1	6-1
Iowa	117.7	115.8	117.5	117.0	2-2	5-2
Minnesota	114.2	113.9	113.7	113.9	4-0	7-0
Purdue	106.8	106.6	106.3	106.6	1-3	2-5
Northwestern	105.4	104.5	104.3	104.7	0-4	1-5
Nebraska	103.4	104.2	102.8	103.5	2-2	4-3
Illinois	98.3	99.1	97.5	98.3	1-3	3-4
Big Ten Averages	111.3	110.6	110.9	110.9
Conference USA
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	CUSA	Overall
Florida Atlantic	91.9	91.4	92.8	92.0	2-1	4-3
Western Kentucky	90.6	91.8	92.4	91.6	4-0	5-2
Florida Int’l.	91.4	91.4	91.6	91.5	2-2	4-3
Marshall	90.4	90.0	91.5	90.6	2-1	4-3
Middle Tennessee	89.1	88.1	89.2	88.8	1-2	2-5
Charlotte	83.6	83.9	83.6	83.7	0-3	2-5
Old Dominion	76.4	76.8	76.4	76.5	0-3	1-6
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	CUSA	Overall
Louisiana Tech	94.0	94.0	94.3	94.1	3-0	6-1
Southern Miss.	94.2	92.6	94.3	93.7	2-1	4-3
North Texas	91.2	90.5	91.7	91.1	2-1	3-4
U A B	89.9	91.8	90.8	90.9	3-1	6-1
Rice	79.9	81.3	79.2	80.2	0-3	0-7
Texas-San Antonio	74.5	76.8	74.3	75.2	2-2	3-4
U T E P	68.4	73.1	69.2	70.2	0-3	1-5
CUSA Averages	86.1	86.7	86.5	86.4
FBS Independents
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	Conf.	Overall
Notre Dame	120.5	118.8	120.4	119.9	x	5-1
BYU	99.3	99.3	99.3	99.3	x	3-4
Army	96.0	95.9	95.2	95.7	x	3-4
Liberty	89.0	90.3	89.3	89.5	x	5-2
New Mexico St.	78.2	80.6	78.5	79.1	x	0-7
Massachusetts	62.3	64.1	61.2	62.5	x	1-6
Indep. Averages	90.9	91.5	90.6	91.0
Mid-American Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MAC	Overall
Ohio	92.9	91.9	93.3	92.7	2-1	3-4
Buffalo	89.3	89.8	90.4	89.8	1-2	3-4
Kent St.	88.2	88.2	88.7	88.4	2-1	3-4
Miami (Ohio)	88.5	87.0	88.7	88.1	2-1	3-4
Bowling Green	74.1	74.0	74.2	74.1	1-2	2-5
Akron	72.5	72.6	71.4	72.1	0-3	0-7
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MAC	Overall
Western Michigan	97.5	96.4	97.2	97.0	2-2	4-4
Northern Illinois	92.2	91.1	92.3	91.9	1-2	2-5
Ball St.	91.5	91.1	91.6	91.4	3-0	4-3
Toledo	88.3	88.6	89.0	88.6	1-2	4-3
Eastern Michigan	87.2	87.4	87.7	87.5	1-2	4-3
Central Michigan	85.9	86.7	86.9	86.5	3-1	5-3
MAC Averages	87.3	87.1	87.6	87.3
Mountain West Conference
Mountain Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MWC	Overall
Boise St.	106.1	105.8	106.4	106.1	3-0	6-1
Utah St.	104.9	104.0	105.9	104.9	3-0	4-2
Air Force	101.9	103.4	102.8	102.7	3-1	5-2
Wyoming	97.3	99.4	97.6	98.1	2-1	5-2
Colorado St.	82.8	86.6	83.1	84.2	1-2	2-5
New Mexico	80.0	82.8	79.0	80.6	0-3	2-5
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	MWC	Overall
Fresno St.	99.0	99.8	99.5	99.4	1-1	3-3
San Diego St.	98.3	100.1	98.3	98.9	3-1	6-1
Hawaii	95.7	97.0	94.9	95.9	1-2	4-3
Nevada	87.5	88.9	86.9	87.8	1-2	4-3
San Jose St.	85.4	87.5	85.0	86.0	1-3	3-4
U N L V	84.2	85.6	83.7	84.5	1-3	2-5
MWC Averages	93.6	95.1	93.6	94.1
Pac-12 Conference
North Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	P12	Overall
Oregon	119.1	119.2	120.5	119.6	4-0	6-1
Washington	114.0	113.7	115.0	114.2	2-3	5-3
Washington St.	112.0	111.1	112.3	111.8	1-3	4-3
California	104.3	104.0	105.0	104.4	1-3	4-3
Stanford	103.6	102.7	103.1	103.1	2-3	3-4
Oregon St.	97.3	98.3	96.8	97.5	2-2	3-4
South Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	P12	Overall
Utah	121.6	120.4	122.2	121.4	3-1	6-1
U S C	109.9	110.7	110.6	110.4	3-1	4-3
Arizona St.	108.4	107.7	109.2	108.5	2-2	5-2
Arizona	99.0	99.0	98.9	99.0	2-2	4-3
U C L A	99.2	99.0	98.5	98.9	2-2	2-5
Colorado	95.9	95.5	95.4	95.6	1-3	3-4
Pac-12 Averages	107.0	106.8	107.3	107.0
Southeastern Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SEC	Overall
Georgia	126.2	124.3	126.1	125.5	3-1	6-1
Florida	122.7	119.8	122.3	121.6	5-1	7-1
Missouri	114.2	111.8	114.0	113.3	2-1	5-2
South Carolina	113.6	111.9	113.4	113.0	2-3	3-4
Tennessee	107.3	106.9	105.7	106.6	1-3	2-5
Kentucky	106.2	104.8	104.8	105.3	1-4	3-4
Vanderbilt	97.0	95.7	95.7	96.1	1-3	2-5
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SEC	Overall
Alabama	135.3	132.0	136.0	134.4	4-0	7-0
L S U	129.4	127.1	129.5	128.7	3-0	7-0
Auburn	123.4	121.7	123.2	122.8	3-1	6-1
Texas A&M	116.7	115.0	115.3	115.7	2-2	4-3
Mississippi St.	110.1	106.4	114.5	110.3	1-3	3-4
Ole Miss	105.2	104.2	104.9	104.8	2-3	3-5
Arkansas	95.2	95.7	94.5	95.2	0-4	2-5
SEC Averages	114.5	112.7	114.3	113.8
Sunbelt Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SBC	Overall
Appalachian St.	108.8	107.8	108.6	108.4	3-0	6-0
Troy	94.3	94.8	93.4	94.2	1-1	3-3
Georgia Southern	93.3	92.7	92.2	92.8	2-1	3-3
Georgia St.	89.6	91.0	89.3	90.0	2-1	5-2
Coastal Carolina	86.8	87.9	86.2	87.0	0-3	3-4
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	SBC	Overall
Louisiana	100.9	101.0	100.8	100.9	2-1	5-2
Arkansas St.	89.7	89.8	89.2	89.6	1-2	3-4
Louisiana-Monroe	85.8	86.5	85.6	86.0	2-1	3-4
Texas St.	83.4	84.2	83.0	83.5	1-1	2-4
South Alabama	74.2	76.8	73.3	74.8	0-3	1-6
SBC Averages	90.7	91.3	90.2	90.7

 

 

Conference Ratings

 

#	League	Average
1	Southeastern	113.8
2	Big Ten	110.9
3	Big 12	109.3
4	Pac-12	107.0
5	Atlantic Coast	105.0
6	American	97.1
7	Mountain West	94.1
8	Independents	91.0
9	Sun Belt	90.7
10	Mid-American	87.3
11	Conference USA	86.4

 

 

Top 5 Group of 5
1	SMU
2	Appalachian St.
3	Cincinnati
4	Navy
5	Boise St.

 

 

This Week’s Bowl and Playoff Projections

 

There was considerable shuffling of the bowl projections this week, with these teams being affected the most (by alphabetical conference).

AAC: With Boise St. losing, the likelihood of the AAC Champion making it to the Cotton Bowl went way up.  SMU is the leader at the moment, but the Mustangs will have to win at Memphis more than likely if they are to stay home for a NY6 Bowl.  Memphis has the most favorable schedule, while Cincinnati and Navy are still in the race.

ACC: Clemson cannot afford to lose a game, and most every so-called college football expert believes this is so.  There is no strong number two in this league, but Notre Dame caucuses here for bowl invitation, so the Irish look like a sure thing to garner one of the NY6 Bowl bids.  Boston College, Louisville,  and Syracuse appear to be on the outside looking in from the Atlantic Division, while Miami now drops into our predicted 5-7 teams and falls out of the bowl picture for now.  The Coastal is still a wide open race, but we think Pittsburgh has the best chance to become fodder for Clemson in the Title Game.

Big 12: Baylor keeps surprising a lot of folks, as even the folks in Nevada were a bit surprised at how they handles Oklahoma State in Stillwater.  Can the Bears beat Oklahoma, or to put it more accurately beat them once in two tries?  If Oklahoma runs the table, the Sooners are in the Playoffs.  If Baylor runs the table, they will most likely make the playoffs.  If they split two games, then the LSU-Alabama loser at 11-1 will be in the Playoffs.  Texas and Iowa State appear to be jostling for third place as of now.  Meanwhile, a group that included Oklahoma State, Kansas State, TCU, and Texas Tech all have shots a bowl eligibility, and we believe three of the four will make it.

Big Ten: Wisconsin’s loss to Illinois, makes the Penn State-Ohio State game in Columbus a Playoff Qualifier.  The winner of that game has a great shot at being 13-0 and Playoff bound.  Michigan and Michigan State are now fighting it out for third in the East, while Indiana virtually locked up a fifth bowl eligible spot in the division.  Minnesota still gets no respect, and the Gophers will host Penn State in two weeks with a chance to get that respect.  If they upset the Nittany Lions, Roses could be in Minnesota’s future for the first time since January 1, 1962.  With the Big Ten having the most specific bowl rules, it appears that in order to keep teams out of making repeat bowl appearances, some teams with two fewer wins may jump over others for more prestigious bowls.

Conference USA: This league has no chance to earn the NY6 Bowl bid as too many teams would have to lose before a Louisiana Tech or UAB would even enter the contention picture.  Marshall will host Western Kentucky this weekend, and the winner will just about wrap up the East Division flag.  The West is still a four-team mess, but Louisiana Tech has the upper hand.  UAB hosts the Bulldogs in November, and the winner of that game will most likely take the West Division crown.

Independents: Since Notre Dame figures in the ACC bowl, we don’t include them here.  The big change here was removing Army from bowl contention and placing BYU back into bowl contention.  If BYU goes 6-6 or better, they are guaranteed the Hawaii Bowl bid.  Keep an eye on Liberty.  If Liberty can win at Rutgers this Saturday, the Flames are looking at an eight-win season.  Liberty has a secondary bowl agreement with the Cure, but we see that bowl being filled by the regular tie-ins.  Still, this school could make its first bowl appearance, because a lot of Southern bowls are going to need at-large teams.

MAC: This conference uses the work “MACtion” to describe its excitement, but Wacky MAC might be a more accurate theme in the Midwest.  Almost all the craziness is in the West Division, where Ball State has come from out of nowhere to take a commanding lead in the division.  The Cardinals were picked to finish last or second to last by most preseason predictions.  The other team picked to finish last or second to last may be chief competition.  Central Michigan plays Ball State in Muncie in November, and the winner is probably the Division champion.  In the East, Ohio won a big game over Kent State this past Saturday, and the Bobcats need only beat Buffalo to guarantee another East Division crown.  Mainstays at the top, Western Michigan and Toledo, are hurting right now, and Toledo must get quarterback Mitchell Guadagni back from injury, as they have no offense without him.

Mountain West: Boise State is now on the outside looking in for the Cotton Bowl.  The Broncos have two or three more games where the opponent could be talented enough to pin another loss on them.  Utah State hosts BSU in November, and if quarterback Jordan Love is 100% healthy, the Aggies might be the better team.  With Hawaii losing at home to Air Force, the San Diego State-Fresno State winner is going to take the West Division title.  This league will have one or two extra teams to fill at-large bowls, and we believe one of the two will get in.  Wyoming did not get an invitation last year, so the Cowboys could be heading Southeast of Laramie.

Pac-12: Oregon is one play away from being squarely in the Playoff picture, but then the Donner Party was just one mountain away from getting to the Pacific Coast safely.  The Ducks may have seen their hopes dashed by an Auburn snowstorm.  Utah’s loss to USC prevents the Utes from having a chance to make it to the Playoffs.  The only unsure thing in this conference is if California can get to 6-6 without Chase Garbers at QB.

SEC: Georgia looks quite vulnerable all of a sudden.  If the Bulldogs couldn’t pass or score versus South Carolina and Kentucky, how will they do so against Florida and Auburn.  Short of a major quick fix, it would not be shocking if Georgia lost twice more, giving Florida the East title.  With Missouri ineligible, that leaves South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt fighting for two bowl bids.  USC and Vandy have too much to conquer to get to six wins, while Kentucky may have to beat rival Louisville to make it to bowl eligibility.  Tennessee has four winnable games left on their schedule, so for now, we are picking the Vols to sneak in at 6-6.  In the West, we believe Mississippi State is in big trouble and likely headed to 5-7 with Ole Miss.  Arkansas is the #14 team in the league and may finish 0-8.  The SEC is going to come up four to six bowl spots short.

Sunbelt: Appalachian State probably has the best overall shot of going 13-0 from a Group of 5 Conference, but can the Mountaineers jump over a 12-1 AAC champion?  Aside from that, the other news is that this league will have extra bowl eligible teams and should see at least one at-large bid come to the league.

 

Bowl	Conf	Conf	Team	Team
Bahamas	MAC	CUSA	Central Michigan	Marshall
Frisco	AAC	At-large	SMU	[Toledo]
Cure	AAC	SBC	East Carolina	Arkansas St.
New Mexico	CUSA	MWC	Louisiana Tech	Fresno St.
Boca Raton	AAC	MAC	Central Florida	Ball St.
Camellia	MAC	SBC	Western Michigan	Georgia St.
Las Vegas	MWC #1	Pac-12	Boise St.	Washington St.
New Orleans	CUSA	SBC #1	Southern Miss.	Appalachian St.
Gasparilla	AAC	CUSA	Cincinnati	Florida Atlantic
Hawaii	BYU/MWC	AAC	BYU	Navy
Independence	ACC	SEC	Florida St.	[UAB]
Quick Lane	ACC	Big Ten	North Carolina	Indiana
Military	ACC	AAC	Duke	Temple
Pinstripe	ACC	Big Ten	North Carolina St.	Purdue
Texas	Big 12	SEC	Oklahoma St.	Texas A&M
Holiday	Pac-12	Big Ten	Washington	Iowa
Cheez-It	Big 12	Pac-12	Texas Tech	Arizona
Camping World	ACC	Big 12	Pittsburgh	Iowa St.
Cotton	At-large	At-large	Memphis	Penn St.
First Responder	CUSA	Big 12	North Texas	[Hawaii]
Redbox	Pac-12	Big Ten	Arizona St.	Michigan
Music City	SEC	ACC	[Wyoming]	Wake Forest
Orange	ACC	BTen/SEC	Notre Dame	Florida
Belk	ACC	SEC	Virginia Tech	Kentucky
Sun	ACC	Pac-12	Virginia	USC
Liberty	Big 12	SEC	Kansas St.	[Liberty]
Arizona	SBC	MWC	Louisiana	San Diego St.
Alamo	Big 12	Pac-12	Texas	Utah
Citrus	SEC	BTen/ACC	Georgia	Wisconsin
Outback	Big Ten	SEC	Michigan St.	Auburn
Rose	Big Ten	Pac-12	Minnesota	Oregon
Sugar	Big 12	SEC	Baylor	LSU
Birmingham	AAC	SEC	Tulane	[Troy]
Taxslayer/Gator	SEC	Big Ten	Tennessee	Nebraska
Idaho Potato	MAC	MWC	Eastern Michigan	Utah St.
Armed Forces	Big Ten	MWC	[Western Ky.]	Air Force
Dollar General	MAC	SBC	Ohio U	Georgia Southern
FBS PLAYOFFS
Fiesta	Top 4	Top 4	Ohio St.	Oklahoma
Peach	Top 4	Top 4	Alabama	Clemson
Championship	Fiesta	Peach	Ohio St.	Alabama

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings Picks For October 17-21, 2019

Hooray, Hooray!  Maybe our little ditty we recited at the beginning of last week’s picks really worked!  That ditty went this way, “Yuck, Yuck, Yuck, I want more luck!”  It has to do with a childhood saying, and it worked then and apparently worked last week.

Both our PiRate Picks and Experimental Davey19 picks won.  The PiRate Picks enjoyed a windfall weekend with big wins.  Another 6 or 7 weeks in a row just like this, and we might even get back to level in our imaginary bank accounts.

While we have been trying to issue our money line parlay picks on Friday, we have a Thursday night game that is included in our selections, we have to issue those picks today as well.

Remember, the PiRates never wager real money on the outcomes of these games, and we also remind you that you frequently get what you pay for, and this is totally free.

 

PiRate Ratings Picks

 

10-point Teasers, 3 Game Parlays

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Louisiana	Arkansas St.	17	Arkansas St.
Ohio	Kent St.	17.5	Kent St.
Utah St.	Nevada	31	Nevada

 

 

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
California	Oregon St.	21	Oregon St.
Washington	Oregon	7	Oregon
South Carolina	Florida	15.5	Florida

 

 

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Louisiana Tech	Southern Miss.	9	Southern Miss.
Auburn	Arkansas	29	Arkansas
Virginia Tech	North Carolina	13.5	North Carolina

 

 

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Iowa St.	Texas Tech	17	Texas Tech
Rice	UTSA	14.5	UTSA
SMU	Temple	17.5	Temple

 

 

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Denver	Kansas City	7	Kansas City
N.Y. Giants	Arizona	13	Arizona
Houston	Indianapolis	10	Indianapolis

 

 

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Minnesota	Detroit	11	Detroit
Green Bay	Oakland	15.5	Oakland
LA Rams	Atlanta	13	Atlanta

 

 

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Seattle	Baltimore	13	Baltimore
Philadelphia	Dallas	7	Dallas
New England	N.Y. Jets	20.5	N.Y. Jets

 

 

Money Line Parlays

 

All 3-game parlays 

 

WIN	LOSE	Spread
Oregon	Washington
Penn St.	Michigan	+188
Western Ky.	Charlotte

 

 

WIN	LOSE	Spread
North Carolina	Virginia Tech
Western Mich.	Eastern Mich.	+193
Boise St.	BYU

 

 

WIN	LOSE	Spread
Stanford	UCLA
Florida	South Carolina	+224
Georgia Southern	Coastal Carolina

 

Davey19 Experimental Picks

 

Margins Plays

Pick	Opponent	Spread
Kent St.	Ohio	+7.5
Boise St.	BYU	-6.5
Oregon	Washington	-2.5
Florida	South Carolina	-4.5
North Carolina	Va Tech	-3
Hawaii	AFA	+3
Houston	Indianapolis	+1
Oakland	Green Bay	+5.5
Washington	San Francisco	+10.5
LA Chargers	Tennessee	+2.5

 

Totals Plays

 

Team	Team	Total	Pick
UCLA	Stanford	52.5	Under
Georgia Tech	Miami (Fla.)	46	Under
Florida St.	Wake Forest	69	Under
North Carolina	Virginia Tech	57	Under
Tennessee	LA Chargers	40	Under

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings Picks For October 3-7, 2019

Yet another week went by with mixed results here on the PiRate ship.  Our original picks began the weekend on a high note, as we hit on outright Money Line upsets by Duke and by Baylor.  Indiana even looked promising for awhile, before Michigan State proved too much for the Hoosiers.  Then, what we gained on Saturday, we gave back on Sunday.

The Davey19 experimental system had another successful week, bringing the total for the year back into the black.  When we use this formula, many times we look at the plays and feel apprehensive about publishing them, but they have proven to be winners so far this year.

Today, our concentration is more on the number and less on the teams involved.  Certainly, the teams involve matter, as getting 7 1/2 points for a winless team wouldn’t be worth a hoot against a top 5 team.  But, when it comes to games that are not considered blowout games, we are going to go heavy on the ones that cross multiple frequent numbers most prevalent in football outcomes.

By the way, do you know which numbers we speak of?  There are separate sets of numbers for college and for NFL games.  Let’s look at college first.

About 35% of all FBS football games end with the winner beating the loser by 3, 4, 7, 10, 14, 17, or 21 points.  Those 7 margins make up better than 1/3 of all game outcomes.  When we refer to crossing numbers, this means we can play a teaser of 6, 6 1/2, 7, 10, or 13 points and cross multiple frequent margins.

For example, let’s say that Team A is listed as a 2 1/2 point underdog to Team B.  If we were to play Team A in a 10-point teaser as part of a 3-game parlay, we’d be allowed to move that spread from 2 1/2 to 12 1/2.  Doing so crosses 3, 4, 7, and 10, four of the most frequent margins in football games.  Crossing four numbers is quite nice.  

If Team B is a favorite over Team A by 2 1/2 and you play Team A in a 6-point, 2-game teaser, you can make Team A go from a 2 1/2 point to an 8 1/2 point underdog, crossing 3, 4, and 7.  In this instance crossing three frequent margins is wonderful when only having to win two games on a parlay.

When it comes to NFL games, the frequency of margins has changed quite a bit since 2015, when the extra point attempt was moved back to the 18 yard line and more teams began going for two-point conversions.

Today’s NFL sees a lot of games decided by 5 or 6 points.  Prior to 2015, more games ended by 10 and 4 points than today.  The advantage is now more in the smart bettor’s favor than it used to be.  42% of all NFL games end with a margin of 3, 4, 5. 6, or 7 points.  So, being able to cross these five margins in a teaser is an incredible opportunity if you can find a tossup game and tease it past that magical number 7.  Or, if you think you have a team that is a sure outright winner and is favored by more than 7 points, if you can tease that number to 2 1/2 or less, you are gaining a large advantage.  Professional gambling author John Ferguson, known by the nom deplum of Stanford Wong made the Teaser play that moves through 3 and 7 point margins quite famous, and today, this is called a Wong Teaser.  Wong’s favorite teaser play was a 6-point tease of favorites of 7 1/2, 8, or 8 1/2 points down to 1 1/2, 2, or 2 1/2 points, and a 6-point tease of underdogs of 1 1/2, 2, or 2 1/2 points to 7 1/2, 8, or 8 1/2 points.

When Ferguson made big money betting these types of teasers, the books offered much fairer odds on them, until more people picked up on this and began to win too much.  Now, you can get -110 odds on 2-game, 6-point teasers.  You have to put up $11 for every $10 the books put up.  We are not in the business of advertising for any company, so we won’t tell you the name, but if you do your research, you can still find a place where a 2-game, 6-point teaser has +100 odds, which means they put up dollar for dollar what you put up.

We have heard from a few of you that anxiously await these picks to come out every Thursday morning in the Central US.  Hopefully, you heed our advice and never wager real money on our published suggestions (And if you do, maybe it is to convince you not to play the games we picked!).

Even though our Davey19 experimental program is showing a profit for the year, the number of weeks it has been tried is still too small to mean much.  Our regular system had a multi-year run of success, but this year, it stinks.  So, just because Davey19 has a multi-week run of success, it could just as easily stink this week.  

Let’s get on with it.  Here are our selections for the week.  Once again–we never wager real money on these picks.  We are math geeks, and numbers are our friends.  We will make a statement that some people have taught their children how to love math by using applications like this and others using money to teach them how important math is.

 

PiRate Ratings Picks

 

10-point Teasers

 

#1

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Duke	Pittsburgh	15	Pittsburgh
Toledo	Western Michigan	12	Western Michigan
Ole Miss	Vanderbilt	17 1/2	Vanderbilt

Our feeling on this one is that Pittsburgh is vastly underrated with close losses to Penn State and Virginia.  Their listless win over Delaware can be excused as a sandwich game between the big upset of Central Florida and the conference game with Duke.

We believe that Western Michigan has about a 55-60% chance of winning this game outright, so making Toledo a double-digit favorite entices us to take the Broncos in this one.

An admission: we typically never play either way on a game involving Vanderbilt.  Our captain has inside connections with the program, and he feels that it wouldn’t be right to issue picks either way on the Commodores.  However, this week, this game becomes a prime pick, and the Captain has no inside information here.  This is purely a comparison of personnel, as well as production so far.  The Captain says that Vanderbilt’s opening troika of games with Northern Illinois in Game 4 basically made it a certainty that they would open 1-3 and become devalued.  Ole Miss’s defense is going to suffer a letdown against the Vanderbilt offense.  The Rebels have reached that point where the players pretty much know that the season is going to head south in October and November.  Meanwhile, Vanderbilt has a gimme game next week with UNLV and will not be looking forward past the next play in this game.  Ole Miss must play at Missouri, against Texas A&M, and at Auburn the next three weeks.  With LSU and Mississippi State coming at the end of the year, the chances of making it to bowl eligibility are about 1-2%.  Vanderbilt must win this game so that the UNLV game next week really matters.  A win Saturday virtually guarantees getting back to .500 the next week and with three definitely winnable games left on the schedule.  The SEC needs one of the bottom five teams to step up and gain bowl eligibility, and unless Missouri wins their challenge to ineligibility before December, the Commodores have the most favorable path to 6-6.

 

#2

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Florida	Auburn	7 1/2	Auburn
Miami (Fla.)	Virginia Tech	4	Miami
Oklahoma St.	Texas Tech	Pk	Oklahoma St.

 

We have been looking at the Florida-Auburn game since last Saturday night.  Our statistics and schedule strength show Auburn to be a legitimate touchdown or more favorite in this game, so getting more than that magical 7 points is quite appealing.

Teasing Miami from two touchdowns to 4 points brings us through the numbers 14, 10, and 7, and until Virginia Tech looks like a team with players that care, we will always look at teasing in their opponents’ favor.

Oklahoma State should beat Texas Tech 8 out of 10 times, so we are hoping that getting the Cowboys as a Pick’em will work, and this won’t be one of those two other times.

 

#3

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Penn St.	Purdue	18	Penn St.
Iowa	Michigan	6 1/2	Michigan
Washington	Stanford	6 1/2	Washington

 

We are not the type of player that plays a 4-touchdown favorite over a conference opponent, but with Purdue’s injury issues, we almost went with Penn State in a straight play at -28 over the Boilermakers.  However, we went the safer route and teased this under 21 points.  James Franklin may call off the dogs and allow PU a backdoor cover, but 18 points feels safe.

The Iowa-Michigan game was one of those really tough calls.  We hoped Iowa would pick up a little more Sharp support being undefeated, while Michigan has not won any big games under Jim Harbaugh.  Alas,  not enough Sharp money came in on Iowa, and the margin didn’t move to the 2 1/2 points we wanted.  We still like this number giving Michigan 6 1/2 points to play with, which does move the margin through two crucial numbers.  The fact that our ratings show that Michigan has about a 60% chance of winning the game, we’ll take the 6 1/2 points like it is bonus points for the true spread.

We get to move through 14, 10, and 7 in the Washington-Stanford game, and in our analysis, we believe the Huskies can blow the Cardinal off the field.  As a matter of fact, the Davey19 formula could be used to take UW outright at -16 1/2, but it was so close that we did not include it in this week’s Davey19 picks.

 

#4

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Tulane	Army	13	Army
Kansas St.	Baylor	12	Baylor
Nebraska	Northwestern	17 1/2	Northwestern

 

Tulane has become the sexy new Group of 5 favorite among the media, especially the ladies and gentlemen at ESPN and Fox Sports.  Army has yet to fire on all cylinders this year, but we don’t see the Green Wave going to West Point and winning by two touchdowns.

The Kansas State-Baylor game is strictly a numbers’ play.  Moving 2 to 12 goes through 3, 4, 7, and 10.  We don’t particularly love Baylor’s chances of winning after the emotional home upset of Iowa State, but 12 points from 2 are too much to turn down.

The same thing applies to Nebraska and Northwestern.  Neither team looks strong enough to blow out the other.  17 1/2 moves the spread through 10, 14, and 17, and in addition, we think the Cornhuskers should be favored by about 4 points.  So, this becomes more like a 13-point tease at a 10-point price.

 

#5

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Ohio	Buffalo	13	Buffalo
Iowa St.	TCU	13	TCU
Western Kentucky	Old Dominion	13 1/2	Old Dominion

 

These three plays are 100% about the numbers and not the teams after you factor in that these games are fairly evenly matched.  Ohio has been a disappointment so far, but their schedule has been a bit more than the Bobcats could handle to this point.  Additionally, this is a major revenge game for Buffalo, and it is a must-win game if the Bulls are to remain alive in the MAC-East.  Moving the line through 4, 7, and 10 is just gravy.

Iowa State and TCU might split 10 games, so getting the Horned Frogs and 13 is another great numbers’ play.

Western Kentucky has moved up from near the bottom to near the top in the CUSA East Division race, and the big upset over UAB last week means the Hilltoppers are now a contender in the division race.  However, teams that pull off big home upsets in conference games that go on the road the next week as a road favorite in a conference game have poor records covering the spread.  WKU may win this game, but not by two touchdowns.  

 

#6

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
UTSA	UTEP	11 1/2	UTEP
North Carolina	Georgia Tech	1/2	North Carolina
Rice	UAB	1	UAB

 

UTSA and UTEP could combine their rosters and still struggle to finish 3-9, so when one of these weak teams can be forced into a double-digit situation that crosses all the lower key numbers (3, 4, 7, and 10), we jump on this one.

Teasing the Tar Heels is the only way to go in this game.  North Carolina will bounce some after falling short against Clemson, but Georgia Tech is likely to go 0-8 in ACC play this year trying to move from the triple option philosophy to the standard style of play.  That’s usually a three-year transition process.  We’ll put enough faith in Mack Brown to get his Carolina team ready enough to win this game, even if just by a couple points.

The Rice-UAB spread should probably be larger than it is, and we were enticed to look twice at playing UAB straight up.  Teasing the Blazers into an underdog is too good to pass up in this one.

 

13-point Teaser

#7

Team	Team	Total	Pick
Arizona	Cincinnati	34	Over
Minnesota	N.Y. Giants	30 1/2	Over
Tennessee	Buffalo	25 1/2	Over
San Francisco	Cleveland	33 1/2	Over

 

We had to choose one 13-point teaser and go with NFL Totals.  It can be hard to find action in a 13-point teaser of totals, but it is possible, so we are going with one.

The reasoning behind this play is that NFL games have smaller standard deviations of point totals in games.  The books have to be careful with totals that are too low in an environment where offenses have the advantage over defenses.  Thus, moving them by 13 points back in the direction where they probably need to be makes these games enticing.  Other than that, we don’t have a lot else to go on in these plays.  We chose these four games because our own internal ratings show that all four games should be played in the 38-45 point total range.

Davey19

Davey19 is a mechanical system using multiple rules that would take much too long to explain.  And, if it proves to be successful, we aren’t about to explain it to the rest of the world.

 

Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Kansas St.	Baylor	1	Kansas St.
Eastern Michigan	Central Michigan	5 1/2	Eastern Michigan
SMU	Tulsa	13 1/2	Tulsa
Auburn	Florida	2 1/2	Auburn
LSU	Utah St.	28	Utah St.
Carolina	Jacksonville	3 1/2	Jacksonville
Kansas City	Indianapolis	11 1/2	Indianapolis
New England	Washington	15 1/2	Washington
Philadelphia	N. Y. Jets	14 1/2	N.Y. Jets