Ohio State back atop Matthews/S-H ratings

By HERMAN MATTHEWS
Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Its perfect season capped by Saturday's epic 42-39 win over rival Michigan, Ohio State is atop this week's Matthews/Scripps Howard computer power rankings.

The Buckeyes (12-0) now will await just who they will face in the BCS national championship game Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz. No. 2 in this week's rankings, Southern California (9-1) looms as a possible foe in that game if the Trojans can defeat No. 7 Notre Dame Saturday and UCLA on Dec. 2. Michigan (11-1), last week's No. 1 team, fell to third.

Numbers to the left are team rankings. Numbers to the right are the current power ratings. To determine the projected margin, compare the ratings of the rival teams and allow four points for typical home field advantage.

Rank Team Rating

1 Ohio State 110.35

2 Southern Cal 109.42

3 Michigan 107.92

4 Louisville 106.23

5 Florida 105.04

6 West Virginia 104.78

7 Notre Dame 103.42

8 LSU 103.13

9 Auburn 102.92

10 California 101.88

11 Tennessee 101.56

12 Texas 101.50

13 Wisconsin 101.34

14 Arkansas 101.23

15 Virginia Tech 100.74

16 Oklahoma 99.98

17 Rutgers 99.18

18 Boston College 98.96

19 Clemson 98.22

20 Brigham Young 97.82

21 Penn State 97.10

22 Boise State 96.33

23 Nebraska 96.24

24 Georgia 95.46

25 Oregon 95.35

26 South Carolina 95.22

27 Wake Forest 94.81

28 Georgia Tech 94.71

29 Oregon State 94.52

30 Arizona 93.46

31 Texas A&M 93.46

32 Hawaii 93.27

33 TCU 93.11

34 Navy 92.92

35 Wash. State 92.61

36 Missouri 92.33

37 UCLA 92.08

38 Arizona State 91.66

39 Maryland 91.58

40 Okla. State 91.42

41 Iowa 91.28

42 Purdue 90.87

43 Minnesota 90.81

44 Texas Tech 90.68

45 Kentucky 90.54

46 Florida State 90.41

47 Alabama 90.36

48 Cincinnati 89.97

49 South Florida 89.75

50 Washington 89.47

51 Pittsburgh 89.37

52 Massachusetts 89.18

53 No. Dakota St. 89.17

54 Houston 89.03

55 Appalachian St. 88.69

56 Kansas State 88.52

57 Nevada 88.24

58 Ohio 87.86

59 Tulsa 87.49

60 James Madison 87.45

61 Southern Miss 87.33

62 Youngstown St. 87.25

63 Kansas 86.96

64 East Carolina 86.91

65 Utah 86.53

66 Central Mich. 86.53

67 San Diego 86.21

68 Miami 85.75

69 Mich. State 85.53

70 Montana 85.39

71 Virginia 85.07

72 Western Mich. 85.04

73 Syracuse 84.99

74 Indiana 84.86

75 Vanderbilt 84.85

76 Rice 84.81

77 Connecticut 84.60

78 Air Force 84.49

79 Northern Ill. 84.46

80 New Hampshire 84.13

81 Southern Ill. 83.84

82 Mississippi 83.81

83 Northern Iowa 83.79

84 Middle Tenn. 83.76

85 Miss. State 83.37

86 S.M.U. 83.23

87 Wyoming 83.07

88 Northwestern 82.69

89 Ill. State 82.49

90 N.C. State 82.31

91 Maine 82.16

92 Marshall 81.99

93 Baylor 81.17

94 North Carolina 80.85

95 Iowa State 80.41

96 Ball State 80.24

97 Portland St. 79.89

98 Illinois 79.88

99 Kent State 79.50

100 Princeton 79.21

101 Tulane 79.20

102 UTEP 79.14

103 Akron 78.91

104 New Mexico 78.85

105 San Jose St. 78.83

106 Yale 78.76

107 Colorado 78.69

108 Toledo 78.53

109 Fresno State 78.44

110 Wofford 78.34

111 Furman 78.29

112 Hampton 78.28

113 So. Dakota St. 78.21

114 Cal Davis 78.16

115 Colo. State 78.13

116 Troy 78.02

117 Cal Poly SLO 77.91

118 Ark. State 77.85

119 Ala.-Birmingham 77.83

120 Central Fla. 77.14

121 Coastal Carolina 76.98

122 Stanford 76.72

123 Harvard 76.69

124 Villanova 76.53

125 Mont. State 76.14

126 Towson 76.04

127 Northeastern 76.01

128 Army 75.61

129 TN-Martin 75.47

130 Richmond 75.45

131 LA.-Lafayette 75.38

132 Northern Ariz. 74.48

133 Fla. Atlantic 73.86

134 Bowling Green 73.48

135 LA.-Monroe 73.13

136 Miami-OH 72.74

137 McNeese State 72.71

138 Eastern Ill. 72.58

139 San Diego St. 72.45

140 Drake 72.24

141 Western Ky. 72.04

142 Idaho 71.66

143 Central Ark. 71.64

144 Delaware 71.40

145 North Texas 71.07

146 Jack'ville St. 70.98

147 Buffalo 70.95

148 Citadel 70.89

149 Pennsylvania 70.83

150 Memphis 70.83

151 Western Ill. 70.38

152 Duke 70.27

153 Louisiana Tech 70.13

154 Charleston So. 69.40

155 S.F. Austin 69.36

156 Eastern Ky. 69.23

157 Eastern Mich. 69.00

158 Monmouth 68.66

159 New Mex. State 68.58

160 S.C. State 68.54

161 Liberty 68.14

162 UNLV 67.90

163 Lafayette 67.87

164 Wm. & Mary 67.82

165 Sam Houston St. 67.44

166 Temple 67.40

167 Lehigh 67.30

168 Hofstra 66.68

169 Utah State 66.64

170 Ga. Southern 66.60

171 Cal Sacramento 66.59

172 Cornell 66.47

173 Holy Cross 66.40

174 Davidson 66.36

175 Gardner-Webb 66.10

176 Elon 65.97

177 Dela. State 65.90

178 Weber State 65.82

179 Ala. A&M 65.63

180 Ark.-Pine Bluff 65.63

181 Florida A&M 65.43

182 Rhode Island 65.26

183 Fla. Int'l 64.96

184 Tenn. State 64.92

185 Eastern Wash. 64.59

186 N'western St. 63.64

187 Albany 63.43

188 Colgate 63.07

189 Western Carolina 62.83

190 Columbia 62.82

191 TN-Chattanooga 62.65

192 Brown 62.64

193 Cent. Conn. St. 62.48

194 Texas St. 62.44

195 Bucknell 62.39

196 Missouri St. 62.32

197 Dartmouth 61.12

198 Tennessee Tech 60.86

199 Grambling 60.65

200 Nicholls State 60.57

201 Ala. State 60.57

202 Jackson State 60.22

203 Southern Utah 60.15

204 Miss. Valley 59.80

205 Howard 59.65

206 Morgan State 59.65

207 SE Missouri St. 59.43

208 Beth.-Cookman 59.26

209 Robert Morris 59.19

210 Alcorn State 59.13

211 Duquesne 58.93

212 Southern 58.84

213 Stony Brook 58.57

214 Idaho State 58.37

215 Ind. State 58.24

216 SE Louisiana 57.80

217 Dayton 57.13

218 Morehead St. 56.48

219 Samford 55.90

220 Jacksonville 55.88

221 Winston-Salem 55.72

222 Butler 55.61

223 Norfolk State 55.25

224 Austin Peay 53.99

225 Murray State 53.85

226 V.M.I. 53.52

227 Northern Colo. 53.39

228 Tex. Southern 53.04

229 Prairie View 52.96

230 Fordham 52.66

231 Georgetown 49.70

232 Valparaiso 46.87

233 Savannah St. 46.75

234 St. Francis PA 44.50

235 Marist 44.49

236 Sacred Heart 43.76

237 Wagner 43.67

238 N.C. A&T 41.08

239 Iona 38.84

240 LaSalle 35.52

241 St. Peter's 32.48

(Herman Matthews is a former chairman of the math and computer sciences department at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn. He can be found on the Web at www.expertpicks.com.)