Post-Thanksgiving Rankings

It's been ten days and probably ten pounds later, but I am back with my up-to-date rankings. I did update last week, I just did not post it. As for this week, I guess I am in the minority by keeping Michigan at #2, but it seems legit to me. I have two arguments to support my point.

1. USC's lone loss was at unranked Oregon State. Michigan's lone loss was at #1 Ohio State.
2. Both teams beat Notre Dame. USC won in L.A. by 20 points. Michigan won at South Bend by 26 points.

Both factors favor Michigan to be the better team. Unfortunately the powers that be are only looking at recent events. Excuse me, but USC lost to a mediocre team this year, Michigan lost only to the best. Therefore Michigan remains more rewarding of the #2 rank. Let's not forget that USC plays at UCLA this coming Saturday. This will not be a cakewalk for the Trojans by any means. After all, the Bruins did something the Trojans could not do this year, they convincingly beat Oregon State by a score of 25-7. This game could be much closer than the experts think. Elsewhere in the Top 25, Boise State finally moves into my top 10 at #9 with a perfect record of 12-0. West Virginia drops out of the top 10 for the first time all year, thanks to their disappointing home loss to unranked South Florida. Hawaii continues their ascent into the top 20, and Georgia and TCU return to the top 25, replacing Boston College and Maryland.


Teams rising up: #17 Texas A&M (+8), #19 Hawaii (+5), #23 Georgia (+10), #26 South Florida (+13), #32 South Carolina (+6), #8 Missouri (+6), #41 Arizona State (+10), #42 Miami, FL (+10)

Teams fading: #10 Notre Dame (-5), #13 West Virginia (-7), #20 Texas (-5), #25 Georgia Tech (-9), #27 Boston College (-13), #33 Maryland (-11), #34 Clemson (-8), #43 Arizona (-12), #46 Kentucky (-5), #48 Oregon (-6)
-------------
2006-07 Bowl Outlook

Pictured below are my predictions for the upcoming bowl season, based on my rankings. Teams listed in bold have already accepted invitations to the respective bowls they are placed in. There are 73 bowl eligible teams competing for 32 bowl games. That means nine teams will be unlucky this year. Of those 9 that I do not project to go to a bowl, only three teams exist in major conferences (Kansas, Oklahoma State, and Washington State). Here are my projections: