NFL Rankings - 18 Dec

Seattle's shutout of the Giants, coupled with Denver's loss to San Diego, made the Seahawks the easy choice for #1 this week. The Hawks have the league's best record, highest average margin of victory, and play in the toughest division, so there really is no argument against them. Here are my rankings for all 32 teams, along with their projected final record and playoff seeding:

Rank	LW	Team	Rec	Rating	Pred	Ch	Seed
1	1	Seattle	12-2	-13.8303	14-2	+1	N1
2	2	Denver	11-3	-10.7766	13-3	-1	A1
3	4	San Francisco	10-4	-10.3848	11-5		N5
4	3	Carolina	10-4	-9.58732	11-5		N2
5	5	New Orleans	10-4	-8.11454	11-5	-1	N6
6	6	Kansas City	11-3	-8.11387	12-4		A5
7	7	Arizona	9-5	-5.42068	10-6	+1
8	8	Cincinnati	9-5	-4.57204	10-6	-1	A3
9	9	New England	10-4	-3.71194	11-5	-1	A2
10	10	Indianapolis	9-5	-2.5781	10-6		A4
11	13	Saint Louis	6-8	-2.51307	7-9	+1
12	12	San Diego	7-7	-2.42503	8-8	+1
13	14	Miami	8-6	-1.53928	9-7
14	16	Detroit	7-7	-0.33044	8-8	-1
15	15	Dallas	7-7	-0.31827	8-8	-1
16	17	Chicago	8-6	0.235893	9-7		N4
17	11	Philadelphia	8-6	0.265019	9-7	-1	N3
18	20	Baltimore	8-6	0.470295	9-7	+1	A6
19	18	Tennessee	5-9	0.500458	6-10	-1
20	21	Green Bay	7-6-1	1.97631	8-7-1	+1
21	19	Tampa Bay	4-10	2.076625	5-11
22	23	Pittsburgh	6-8	2.238438	7-9	+1
23	22	Atlanta	4-10	3.836819	4-12
24	24	Buffalo	5-9	4.310815	6-10	+1
25	27	Minnesota	4-9-1	4.541603	5-10-1	+1
26	26	Cleveland	4-10	5.812985	5-11
27	25	NY Giants	5-9	6.044564	6-10
28	28	Houston	2-12	7.230093	2-14	-1
29	29	Oakland	4-10	7.854192	4-12	-1
30	30	NY Jets	6-8	8.251095	7-9
31	31	Washington	3-11	8.701734	4-12
32	32	Jacksonville	4-10	10.89913	4-12	-1

The Arizona Cardinals are ranked #7 right now, are projected to finish with 10 wins, and also will probably miss the playoffs. They have 2 of the top 3 teams remaining on their schedule, and with the Niners, Saints, and Panthers all ahead of them in the Wild Card race, it just may not be their year.

San Diego kept their playoff hopes alive by upsetting Denver, but they still have a ways to go. They can't slip up against Oakland, and they need to upset Kansas City also, but they'll also need some help in the form of Miami and Baltimore losing. It's not out of the question, but the playoffs are still a long shot for the Chargers.

Baltimore has won 4 straight to pull into the driver's seat in the Wild Card race, but their two remaining opponents are both division leaders, so the defending champs will have to earn that playoff spot. They don't mind having to play in from the wild card position, but beating the Bengals could win them the division and a home playoff gam.

Predictions

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Indiana at Miami - Heat by 2
Utah at Orlando - Magic by 5
Charlotte at Toronto - Raptors by 9
Sacramento at Atlanta - Hawks by 7
Detroit at Boston - Celtics by 3
Washington at Brooklyn - Nets by 1
New York at Milwaukee - Knicks by 2
Portland at Minnesota - Timberwolves by 3
Memphis at Dallas - Mavericks by 5
San Antonio at Phoenix - Spurs by 2
Chicago at Houston - Rockets by 11
New Orleans at LA Clippers - Clippers by 10

College Basketball

Delaware at (3) Ohio State - Buckeyes by 15
Texas at (14) North Carolina - Tar Heels by 11
(22) Massachusetts at Ohio - Minutemen by 6
Texas Southern at Temple - Owls by 18
Campbell at Robert Morris - Colonials by 17
Appalachian State at Presbyterian - Blue Hose by 2
Winthrop at North Carolina Central - NCC Eagles by 17
Charleston Southern at Western Carolina - Buccaneers by 10
Lamar at LIU Brooklyn - Blackbirds by 11
Kennesaw State at Georgia Southern - Eagles by 11
Hampton at Northern Kentucky - Pirates by 1
Charleston at Old Dominion - Monarchs by 9
Louisiana-Monroe at Ole Miss - Rebels by 7
North Carolina State at Tennessee - Volunteers by 11
North Carolina A&T at Eastern Kentucky - Colonels by 19
Drexel at Saint Joseph's - Dragons by 3
James Madison at UNC Greensboro - Dukes by 6
Dartmouth at New Hampshire - Big Green by 6
Vermont at Massachusetts Lowell - River Hawks by 1
Notre Dame College at Cleveland State - Vikings by 37
Detroit at Akron - Zips by 11
Open Bible at Abilene Christian - Wildcats by 19
Brevard at Citadel - Bulldogs by 19
Nicholls State at IUPUI - Jaguars by 20
High Point at Morgan State - Bears by 2
Southern Miss at Western Kentucky - Golden Eagles by 1
Chattanooga at UAB - Blazers by 12
Cal State Bakersfield at UTSA - CSB Roadrunners by 11
Indiana State at Saint Louis - Billikens by 15
Northern Illinois at Loyola (IL) - Huskies by 1
Wayne State at South Dakota State - Jackrabbits by 27
San Francisco at Saint John's - Red Storm by 16
Grand Canyon at Tulsa - Golden Hurricane by 9
Miami (OH) at UMKC - Kangaroos by 4
Western Michigan at Drake - Bulldogs by 16
Texas-Pan American at SMU - Mustangs by 25
Stanford at (10) Connecticut - Huskies by 9
LSU at Texas Tech - Tigers by 7
Houston Baptist at DePaul - Blue Demons by 18
Northwestern State at (12) Baylor - Bears by 16
Southern Utah at (24) San Diego State - Aztecs by 43
Radford at UNLV - Rebels by 10
UC Davis at San Jose State - Spartans by 19
Towson at Oregon State - Beavers by 3
San Francisco State at Washington State - Cougars by 36
Sacred Heart at Santa Clara - Broncos by 15

Pick of the Day #41

San Diego State

The Aztecs are hosting Southern Utah tonight, and the Thunderbirds haven't even gotten within 15 points of any Division I team thus far, so this will be no problem.

Prediction Results

NBA: 4-1 (.800) 235-132 overall (.640)
Upsets: 0-1 (.000) 32-34 overall (.485)
College Basketball: 38-8 (.826) 1524-395 overall (.794)
Upsets: 1-2 (.333) 169-103 overall (.621)