College Football Rankings - 5 Dec

Here are my final regular season college football rankings. The team's name is followed by its record, rating, and previous ranking.

1. Oregon (12-0) -41.90 (1)
2. Stanford (11-1) -38.67 (2)
3. Boise State (11-1) -36.78 (3)
4. TCU (12-0) -32.83 (4)
5. Auburn (13-0) -31.59 (7)
6. Alabama (9-3) -28.80 (6)
7. Ohio State (11-1) -28.16 (5)
8. Wisconsin (11-1) -25.92 (8)
9. Oklahoma (11-2) -25.28 (9)
10. Arizona State (6-6) -24.25 (11)
11. Virginia Tech (11-2) -23.35 (15)
12. Arkansas (10-2) -23.05 (14)
13. Nevada (12-1) -22.63 (16)
14. Florida State (9-4) -22.18 (13)
15. USC (8-5) -22.03 (20)
16. Arizona (7-5) -21.87 (12)
17. Nebraska (10-3) -20.96 (17)
18. Oklahoma State (10-2) -20.83 (18)
19. Missouri (10-2) -19.741 (22)
20. Texas A&M (9-3) -19.740 (21)
21. LSU (10-2) -19.67 (23)
22. Oregon State (5-7) -18.97 (25)
23. South Carolina (9-4) -18.88 (10)
24. Utah (10-2) -18.62 (NR)
25. West Virginia (9-3) -17.95 (19)

Dropping out: Northern Illinois

Auburn finally reached the top 5 this week, thanks to a great performance in the SEC Championship Game against South Carolina. Auburn is definitely hot right now and may be able to take down Oregon in the championship game, but it is sad that the other conference champs with 1 loss or fewer (TCU, Boise State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Nevada, Michigan State) won't have a chance to factor into the argument. I'll do a more detailed post on the need for a playoff later.

Arizona State reentered the top 10, thanks in part to South Carolina's implosion against Auburn, and also to their upset of rival Arizona in the Territorial Cup game. They are one of 3 teams on this list that are not eligible for a bowl game, joining fellow Pac-10 rivals USC and Oregon State. ASU is not eligible because two of their wins came against FCS opponents (When San Jose State backed out just before the season started, Portland State was the only team they could find to replace them). USC is ineligible because they allowed boosters and agents to pay Reggie Bush to play for them a few years ago, and Oregon State is out because they didn't show up against Washington State.

Virginia Tech ends up just outside the top 10, thanks to an 11-game winning streak to end the season. Their resurrection is just one more reason that Boise State remains near the top of these rankings.

Northern Illinois' loss was Utah's gain, as they were able to regain their ranking thanks to the Huskies' unforseeable loss to Miami of Ohio in the MAC Championship game, becoming the only favorite to lose a conference championship game this year.

West Virginia just hung on to the final spot in the rankings, just .03 ahead of the Hawaii Warriors, but even though they are the only Big East team in the rankings, they will not be representing the conference in the BCS, because the unranked Connecticut Huskies, with an 8-4 record, beat them in overtime during the regular season. That West Virginia game is the only time that Connecticut played a team currently ranked in my top 25 all year.

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA Predictions - 5 Dec

Celtics at Nets - Celtics by 9
Knicks at Raptors - Raptors by 2
Cavaliers at Pistons - Pistons by 6
Hornets at Spurs - Spurs by 6
Warriors at Thunder - Thunder by 8
Wizards at Suns - Suns by 10
Grizzlies at Nuggets - Nuggets by 9
Clippers at Blazers - Blazers by 8

College Basketball Predictions - 5 Dec

(16) Florida at American - Florida by 10
(20) Texas at USC - Texas by 10
Oklahoma at Arizona - Arizona by 28

Prediction Results - 4 Dec

NBA: 5/6 (.833) 76/110 overall (.691)
College Football: 8/10 (.800) 37/51 overall (.725)
College Basketball: 17/18 (.944) 36/40 overall (.900)