In past years, this would have been the last posting of Al’s Top 25…or close to it. While I’d make an attempt to predict the bowls results or conference finals, it really wasn’t part of the overall plan…just a prediction for fun. This year, even as screwed up as my rankings are, I plan to predict such games and continue the rankings until the last down of the last game of the post-season.

Right now, Florida is top dog. They’ve been number one all season and no one has really challenged their ranking. But for the first time, we have a new number two in the AT25. Yep, because of my point system, the Miami Hurricanes have risen to #2. This is based on the fact that the numbers predicted Miami to have a 2-10 season. Instead, they’ve had a 9-3 season. That’s a 7 game swing. Not the largest, but because the Canes were probably the highest ranked 2-10 team, they reached the highest peak. Another team to take advantage of my point system is 10-2 Georgia Tech who is still ranked #5 despite losing to Georgia in the season finale. #9 Stanford (8-4), #10 Ole Miss (8-4), #14 Middle Tennessee State, #18 Minnesota (6-6) and #20 Auburn (7-5) have also benefited from my system.

Here’s Als’s Top 25 after Week 13:

1. Florida (1)
2. Miami (5)
3. Texas (2)
4. Alabama (3)
5. Georgia Tech (4)
6. TCU (6)
7. Iowa (7)
8. Stanford (13)
9. Mississippi (8)
10. Cincinnati (9)
11. Oklahoma State (10)
12. Pittsburgh (11)
13. Nebraska (12)
14. Middle Tennessee State (NR)
15. Central Michigan (14)
16. North Carolina (15)
17. Boise State (16)
18. Minnesota (17)
19. Temple (18)
20. Auburn (19)
21. Brigham Young (NR)
22. Oregon (22)
23. California (23)
24. Houston (24)
25. Arkansas (25)

Fell Out:

- Clemson (20)
- Notre Dame (21)

Here’s a look at the games of Week 14, which consists mostly of Big East and PAC-10 games as well as various Conference Championships:

· SEC Championship with #1 Florida and #4 Alabama. A Gator win is predicted.
· #3 Texas and #13 Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship. Count on the Longhorns to take this one to the National Championship game.
· The ACC Championship pits #5 Georgia Tech against overall # 38 Clemson. I know I know…where’s Miami? Still, this could be the most entertaining game as the numbers show this as a toss-up.
· The Big East does not have a championship game, but somehow, for the last few years, the last scheduled game decides the league champ. This year is no different as #10 Cincinnati visits #12 Pitt. The Bearcats should take this, but Pitt’s hungry after losing to rival WVU last week.
· #15 Central Michigan should defeat #34 Ohio in the MAC Championship
· The Conference USA Championship has #24 Houston meeting #45 East Carolina. The AT25 likes the Pirates to win this one, despite the rating difference.

Except for the Army vs. Navy game on December 12, this is essentially the last week of college football before the long bowl season. Once the bowl match-ups are announced, I’ll make the AT25 predictions and we’ll see how the season year finishes. Keep posted throughout the bowl season!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Is there a better weekend for football than Thanksgiving weekend? Well, maybe. But four days of pro and college ball with turkey and all the fixin’s…it doesn’t get any more American and better than that.

That being said, there wasn’t a whole lot of change in Al’s Top 25 over the previous week. Mississippi moved up from #17 to #8 after their victory over LSU. As a result, the Tigers plummeted out of the Top 25 from #14.

Central Michigan shoots up to #14 after defeating lowly (but highly predicted) Ball State while North Carolina rates at #15 after defeating Boston College.

Here’s the rankings:

1. Florida (1)
2. Texas (2)
3. Alabama (3)
4. Georgia Tech (4)
5. Miami (5)
6. TCU (6)
7. Iowa (7)
8. Mississippi (17)
9. Cincinnati (8)
10. Oklahoma State (9)
11. Pittsburgh (10)
12. Nebraska (11)
13. Stanford (12)
14. Central Michigan (NR)
15. North Carolina (NR)
16. Boise State (13)
17. Minnesota (15)
18. Temple (16)
19. Auburn (18)
20. Clemson (19)
21. Notre Dame (20)
22. Oregon (22)
23. California (23)
24. Houston (24)
25. Arkansas (25)

Fell Out:

LSU (14)
Rutgers (21)

Here’s a look at this week’s key games, and there’s a lot of them:

· #1 Florida at Florida State. Never count out the Seminoles.
· Texas A&M at #2 Texas. Another dangerous rivalry game.
· #3 Alabama at #19 Auburn. ‘Nuff said.
· Once mighty Georgia at #4 Georgia Tech. A Yellow Jacket victory could propel them to #1.
· #5 Miami at favored South Florida. Could be the best game of the weekend.
· #8 Mississippi at Mississippi State.
· #9 Cincinnati hosts dangerous Illinois.
· #10 Oklahoma State hosts favored Oklahoma.
· #11 Pitt visits Big East spoiler WVU.
· #21 Notre Dame tried to salvage respect at #13 Stanford.
· #15 North Carolina visits local rival NC State.
· #16 Boise State hosts surprise team Nevada
· #18 Temple could finish a dream 10-win season at Ohio.
· #20 Clemson represents the ACC at South Carolina.
· #25 Arkansas visits a fallen LSU.

There are only a handful of games next week, so enjoy this final full weekend of college football. It’s been a great year and I suspect it’ll be a great bowl season!

Week 11...

Florida and Texas continue their year-long run at the top two spots in Al’s Top 25 and until their conference championship games, there seems to be no stopping either team. Alabama remains a solid number three teams as ACC schools Georgia Tech and Miami complete the top five.

Yes, Miami…the team that lost to North Carolina last week. As I’ve stated before, losing a predicted loss does not cause a team to fall in the rankings…the same goes for winning a predicted win. Losing a predicted win lowers a team’s rating and winning a predicted loss increases the rating. In Miami’s case, they were predicted to lose to UNC, therefore, there was no change in their rating points. Yeah, I know…I have to fix this system next year.

BCS buster TCU moved to number six while Iowa and Cincinnati fell a notch each to seven and eight. Oklahoma State made a huge leap to 9th place from 21st while Big East surprise, Pitt rounds out the Top 10.

Newcomers to Al’s Top 25 include Temple, Mississippi, Rutgers, and Arkansas while Idaho, Central Michigan, Fresno State, and Utah all dropped out.

Here’s this week’s Al’s Top 25:

1. Florida (1)
2. Texas (2)
3. Alabama (3)
4. Georgia Tech (4)
5. Miami (5)
6. TCU (10)
7. Iowa (6)
8. Cincinnati (7)
9. Oklahoma State (21)
10. Pittsburgh (8)
11. Nebraska (22)
12. Stanford (25)
13. Boise State (11)
14. LSU (12)
15. Minnesota (13)
16. Temple (NR)
17. Mississippi (NR)
18. Auburn (14)
19. Clemson (15)
20. Notre Dame (17)
21. Rutgers (NR)
22. Oregon (19)
23. California (20)
24. Houston (9)
25. Arkansas (NR)

Fell Out:

Fresno State (16)
Utah (18)
Idaho (23)
Central Michigan (24)

Here’s a look at this week’s key games:

· #23 California at #12 Stanford. A Cardinal win could vault them higher in the rankings.
· #15 Minnesota (at 6-5) at #7 Iowa. This is a predicted Iowa victory.
· #14 LSU at #17 Mississippi
· Ohio State at Michigan…listed only for tradition.

And for those of you who have asked…the worst team in the total listing is Ball State, which ironically just lost their Wednesday night game to Central Michigan.

Enjoy the last few weeks everyone!

...And Down the Stretch They Come!

Can you believe that the college football season is ¾ complete? Wow.

Finally, there are some significant changes in Al’s Top 25. The top three match most of the major rankings with Florida at the top, Texas second and Alabama third. After that, things get a little wacky.

The ACC surprisingly completes the rest of the top five with Georgia Tech and Miami moving up the rankings. Iowa slid to #6 after losing to Northwestern. Cincinnati and Pittsburgh claims numbers seven and eight for the Big East while two Texas teams, Houston and TCU, complete the top ten.

The strangest entry would be Minnesota, still ranked #13 even with five losses. As discussed before, when a team was predicted to have an awful year, but has a moderate to good year, they tend to be over-ranked towards the end of the year. Thus is the case with Minnesota. A similar storm is brewing with Miami. The Hurricanes were predicted to have a 2-10 record, however they currently post a record of 7-2. With two unlikely losses still predicted to UNC and South Florida, Miami could potentially finish 10-2 and have enough accumulated ranking points to finish #1. An obvious glitch in the system.

Be that as it may, it’ll still be fun to see how the final rankings turn out in another three to five weeks. Until then, let’s check out this week’s AT25:

1, Florida (1)
2. Texas (2)
3. Alabama (4)
4. Georgia Tech (7)
5. Miami (10)
6. Iowa (3)
7. Cincinnati (6)
8. Pittsburgh (9)
9. Houston (21)
10. TCU (11)
11. Boise State (12)
12. LSU (5)
13. Minnesota (13)
14. Auburn (14)
15. Clemson (15)
16. Fresno State (16)
17. Notre Dame (17)
18. Utah (18)
19. Oregon (8)
20. California (19)
21. Oklahoma State (20)
22. Nebraska (NR)
23. Idaho (22)
24. Central Michigan (23)
25. Stanford (NR)

Fell Out:

North Carolina (24)
Oklahoma (25)

As we head down the stretch, we have some very significant match-up:

· #5 Miami visits North Carolina. A Hurricane victory will propel Miami to #2.
· #6 Iowa at Ohio State. A Hawkeye win will allows Iowa to return to the top five.
· West Virginia at #7 Cincinnati. This was the Mountaineers only predicted loss of the year…could they upset the Bearcats and return to the Top 25 in this Friday match-up?
· #17 Notre Dame at #8 Pittsburgh. The Panthers are predicted to win this one.
· #18 Utah at #10 TCU. This could solidify TCU as THE BCS Buster team of the year.
· #23 Idaho at #11 Boise State. Who would have thought two Top 25 teams from this conference so late in the year?
· USC at #25 Stanford. Can the Cardinal pull of another big upset?

Oh it looks to be a good end-of-year approaching. Enjoy!

Week 9 Rankings...

Once again, there were no changes to the Top 7 teams in Al’s Top 25 while there was significant movement in the rest of the rankings.

Moving in to the #8 position is Oregon, who fairly easily defeated USC, who other’s had ranked up in the their top five, but I had previously ranked at #18. Still, it was an impressive win by the Ducks. Miami entered the Top 10 by defeating Wake Forest. To most, this wouldn’t be a big stunner, but the AT25 had predicted a Deacon victory, so Miami moves up.

Minnesota, even with four losses, is ranked at #13 after their unexpected win over Michigan State. In fact, the Golden Gophers have four unexpected wins after a predicted 2-10 season, thus their rise in the AT25.

Other new comers into the rankings include California, Idaho, and surprisingly, North Carolina with a 5-3 record.

Here’s how is pans out after week 9:

1. Florida (1)
2. Texas (2)
3. Iowa (3)
4. Alabama (4)
5. LSU (5)
6. Cincinnati (6)
7. Georgia Tech (7)
8. Oregon (18)
9. Pittsburgh (8)
10. Miami (21)
11. TCU (9)
12. Boise State (10)
13. Minnesota (NR)
14. Auburn (12)
15. Clemson (13)
16. Fresno State (14)
17. Notre Dame (15)
18. Utah (16)
19. California (NR)
20. Oklahoma State (19)
21. Houston (20)
22. Idaho (NR)
23. Central Michigan (23)
24. North Carolina (NR)
25. Oklahoma (NR)

Fell Out:
- Virginia Tech (11)
- USC (18)
- West Virginia (22)
- Ohio State (25)

We’ve got some great match-ups next week that could have serious affects on the AT25:

· #4 LSU at #3 Alabama (The winner will most likely meet Florida in the SEC Championship)
· Wake Forest at #7 Georgia Tech (A predicted Wake victory…a Georgia Tech win would propel the Yellow Jackets into the Top 5.
· Virginia at #10 Miami (Believe it or not, Virginia is predicted to win this one. Like Georgia Tech, if the “U” wins, they’ll also move up quite nicely.)
· Illinois at #13 Minnesota (A Gopher win could move them to the Top 10 despite the four losses)
· #16 Fresno State at #22 Idaho (The best conference game and match-up that no one will be watching)
· Navy at #17 Notre Dame (The Irish are predicted to lose their next three games. A victory in either moves them higher and higher).
· Oregon State at #19 California. (This is the Bears’ last game to move up the rankings…the remainder of the season includes all predicted wins).
· #21 Houston at Tulsa (Houston’s last predicted loss, thus only chance to move up the rankings.)
· #25 Oklahoma at Nebraska (Remember when this was a big game?)
· Ohio State at Penn State (both unranked in the AT25, but ranked in other listings).

Enjoy the football!