The Mad Hatter's Tigers Are #1

LSU travels to Auburn this week for The Game of the Century of the Week.

Conference Rankings 1. Big 12 .58581 2. Big Ten .56051 3. Southeastern .54933 4. Pacific-10 .54174 5. Mountain West .48724 6. Atlantic Coast .48164 7. Big East .47976 8. Western Athletic .46462 9. USA .45123 10. Sun Belt .35870 11. Mid-American .35785

Of course, I have a lot of friends from SEC schools who won't be pleased when they see that their sacred 12 cows are in third place. Don't worry, I say to them. The SEC is like SECretariat; it always starts out behind the Big Ten and Big 12, each of which plays its out-of-conference schedule almost entirely at the beginning of the season. The SEC, however, sprawls its OOC schedule throughout the season. The SEC will continue to beat teams from the Sun Belt, C-USA, and the ACC while the Big Ten and Big 12 gravitate toward .50000. I predict that the SEC will be a clear #1 by Thanksgiving, as usual.

Among the undefeated teams (in bold), LSU's schedule appears the strongest so far. The only quality win this year so far is Oregon's win over Stanford. Next week, we'll see up to ten teams with quality wins.

Amazingly, there are two top five matchups this week: #1 LSU at #5 Auburn and #2 Oklahoma at #4 Missouri; #3 Sparty has a good road test against once-beaten #31 Northwestern.

Bad news for Boise State: So far, the teams they have played are a combined 14-24 (.368) against FBS schools--that is an abysmal schedule, and it won't get any better. They're pretty much out of the title hunt. Sorry, Smurfs.

1. Louisiana State
2. Oklahoma
3. Michigan State
4. Missouri
5. Auburn
6. Texas Christian
7. Boise State
8. Oklahoma State
9. Oregon
10. Stanford
11. Utah
12. Kansas State
13. Ohio State
14. Alabama
15. Wisconsin
16. Arizona
17. Florida State
18. Iowa
19. West Virginia
20. Nebraska
21. Nevada
22. North Carolina
23. Mississippi State
24. North Carolina State
25. Texas
26. Michigan
27. East Carolina
28. Hawaii
29. Arkansas
30. Air Force
31. Northwestern
32. Southern California
33. Baylor
34. Florida
35. Notre Dame
36. Miami (Florida)
37. Oregon State
38. Georgia Tech
39. San Diego State
40. Southern Mississippi
41. Illinois
42. Navy
43. Temple
44. Troy
45. Central Florida
46. Toledo
47. Fresno State
48. Purdue
49. Northern Illinois
50. Colorado
51. Rutgers
52. Southern Methodist
53. Maryland
54. Texas Tech
55. Kentucky
56. UCLA
57. Washington
58. Indiana
59. South Carolina
60. Miami (Ohio)
61. Iowa State
62. California
63. Texas A&M
64. Cincinnati
65. Texas-El Paso
66. Tulsa
67. Clemson
68. Army
69. Penn State
70. Pittsburgh
71. Virginia Tech
72. Georgia
73. Connecticut
74. Brigham Young
75. Ohio
76. Syracuse
77. Arizona State
78. Houston
79. Louisiana-Monroe
80. Wyoming
81. Vanderbilt
82. South Florida
83. Louisville
84. Louisiana Tech
85. Colorado State
86. Alabama-Birmingham
87. Idaho
88. Tennessee
89. Rice
90. Louisiana-Lafayette
91. Boston College
92. Arkansas State
93. Utah State
94. Wake Forest
95. Florida International
96. Western Michigan
97. Marshall
98. Tulane
99. Mississippi
100. Nevada-Las Vegas
101. Buffalo
102. New Mexico State
103. Florida Atlantic
104. Memphis
105. Washington State
106. Central Michigan
107. Virginia
108. Bowling Green
109. Kent State
110. Eastern Michigan
111. Middle Tennessee State
112. North Texas
113. Kansas
114. Duke
115. New Mexico
116. Western Kentucky
117. Minnesota
118. San José State
119. Ball State
120. Akron