|
Rank |
Team |
Pts. |
1. |
Stanford |
.801 |
2. |
Michigan
State |
.792 |
3. |
Michigan |
.774 |
4. |
Mississippi
State |
.772 |
5. |
UCLA |
.770 |
6. |
Florida |
.753 |
7. |
Penn
State |
.747 |
8. |
Georgia
Tech |
.742 |
9. |
Tennessee |
.712 |
10. |
Arkansas |
.702 |
11. |
Kentucky |
.690 |
11. |
Southern
California |
.690 |
13. |
Arizona |
.689 |
14. |
Washington |
.679 |
15. |
North
Carolina |
.678 |
16. |
Iowa
State |
.661 |
17. |
Cincinnati |
.657 |
18. |
Minnesota |
.639 |
19. |
Auburn |
.625 |
20. |
Vanderbilt |
.617 |
21. |
Washington
State |
.613 |
22. |
Ohio
State |
.610 |
23. |
Oregon |
.603 |
24. |
Mississippi |
.595 |
25. |
Baylor |
.590 |
26. |
Texas
Tech |
.588 |
27. |
Alabama |
.585 |
28. |
Maryland |
.584 |
29. |
Northwestern |
.581 |
30. |
Texas |
.571 |
31. |
Oklahoma
State |
.569 |
32. |
Nebraska |
.568 |
33. |
Purdue |
.562 |
34. |
South
Carolina |
.554 |
35. |
Texas
A&M |
.546 |
36. |
Duke |
.531 |
37. |
Colorado |
.526 |
38. |
Louisiana
State |
.522 |
39. |
Oregon
State |
.520 |
40. |
Kansas
State |
.518 |
41. |
Oklahoma |
.515 |
42. |
Notre
Dame |
.512 |
43. |
Iowa |
.487 |
44. |
Indiana |
.481 |
45. |
California |
.478 |
45. |
Illinois |
.478 |
47. |
Arizona
State |
.472 |
48. |
Rice |
.471 |
49. |
Air
Force |
.466 |
50. |
Georgia |
.462 |
51. |
Boston
College |
.433 |
52. |
Florida
State |
.432 |
53. |
Miami
FL |
.418 |
54. |
Army |
.415 |
55. |
Tulane |
.409 |
56. |
Virginia |
.402 |
57. |
Syracuse |
.398 |
58. |
Missouri |
.397 |
59. |
Wake
Forest |
.375 |
60. |
Clemson |
.359 |
61. |
South
Florida |
.353 |
62. |
Rutgers |
.352 |
63. |
Temple |
.350 |
63. |
Wisconsin |
.350 |
65. |
Pittsburgh |
.348 |
66. |
Fresno
State |
.345 |
67. |
Navy |
.344 |
68. |
Northern
Illinois |
.343 |
69. |
Middle
Tennessee |
.336 |
70. |
Virginia
Tech |
.332 |
71. |
Louisville |
.331 |
72. |
Connecticut |
.330 |
73. |
North
Carolina State |
.328 |
74. |
Southern
Miss |
.315 |
74. |
UAB |
.315 |
76. |
Bowling
Green |
.311 |
77. |
North
Texas |
.308 |
78. |
Marshall |
.290 |
79. |
Louisiana
Tech |
.288 |
80. |
Florida
International |
.276 |
81. |
Buffalo |
.271 |
82. |
East
Carolina |
.257 |
83. |
Louisiana-Lafayette |
.256 |
84. |
Troy |
.240 |
85. |
Central
Michigan |
.231 |
86. |
Kansas |
.222 |
87. |
Hawai'i |
.219 |
88. |
UCF |
.213 |
89. |
Colorado
State |
.203 |
90. |
Wyoming |
.200 |
91. |
Nevada |
.198 |
92. |
Brigham
Young |
.197 |
93. |
Ball
State |
.193 |
94. |
UNLV |
.192 |
95. |
West
Virginia |
.187 |
96. |
Florida
Atlantic |
.185 |
96. |
Utah |
.185 |
98. |
Western
Michigan |
.184 |
99. |
Louisiana-Monroe |
.183 |
99. |
Houston |
.183 |
101. |
Utah
State |
.179 |
102. |
Arkansas
State |
.175 |
103. |
Akron |
.172 |
104. |
San
Diego State |
.170 |
105. |
Kent
State |
.166 |
106. |
Idaho |
.138 |
107. |
TCU |
.135 |
108. |
New
Mexico |
.130 |
109. |
Toledo |
.119 |
109. |
Memphis |
.119 |
111. |
New
Mexico State |
.116 |
112. |
SMU |
.115 |
113. |
Eastern
Michigan |
.110 |
113. |
Boise
State |
.110 |
115. |
San
Jose State |
.108 |
116. |
UTEP |
.106 |
117. |
Miami
OH |
.097 |
118. |
Ohio |
.079 |
119. |
Tulsa |
.072 |
|
|
|
Since
NationalChamps.net has begun compiling our preseason
strength of schedule (SOS) in 2003, the Pac Ten
has never placed a team at the top of the list,
until now. In fact, before the recent emergence
of USC, many felt this elite western conference
suffered from an East Coast bias, which meant
that the Pac Ten was usually considered one of
the lesser BCS conferences. To quote Robert Zimmerman,
“The times they are a changin'” -
half of the Pac Ten cracked our Top 26 preseason
rankings. So it should be no surprise that Stanford,
with a road trip to South Bend, found their way
to the top of this list and that seven Pac Ten
members make our SOS Top 25. Best of luck to second
year coach Walt Harris.
|
|
2006
NationalChamps.net Preseason Poll
Schedule rank in parenthesis ( )
1. Notre Dame (42)
2. Texas (30)
3. Ohio State (22)
4. Louisiana State (38)
5. Southern California (11)
6. West Virginia (95)
7. Florida (6)
8. Oklahoma (41)
9. Auburn (19)
10. Michigan (3)
11. Miami FL (53)
12. Louisville (71)
13. Georgia (50)
14. Alabama (27)
15. Florida State (52)
No wonder pollsters are taking
a stab at West Virginia to make it through a regular
season possibly unscathed. The Mountaineers have
the easiest schedule of any team in a BCS conference,
and no Big East conference championship game exists.
Naturally, Big East partner Louisville follows
suit in terms of an easy ride, which makes their
Thursday night ESPN game on November 2 at Papa
John's Stadium a game with major BCS and/or national
championship ramification.
TOUGHEST
RIDE - Gator Chomp
Michigan, Florida and Southern California all
have to toughest road to haul if they wish to
make a push for top honors at the end of the season.
The Gators possess a slate from mid-September
through the end of October that includes Tennessee,
Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Georgia all in the span
of six games. Coach Urban Meyer, in the second
year of his Gainesville campaign, continues to
receive a rude welcome to the SEC.
|
|
Tulsa
receives the award for the worst schedule in Division
I-A (119th). Isn't this the same team somebody
tagged as having the best chance of any mid-major
cracking the new five game BCS system? Oh wait
that was us…and now you know why we say
that (see
Mid-Major Predictions). TCU, another
team looking to break into the BCS, is not far
behind (107th) in the worst schedule race. We
feel that if a mid-major is to make that BCS breakthrough,
the team’s schedule will have to come in
below No. 85 on this list. Some others we have
tagged to make a push in the new five game BCS
system - UTEP, Boise State, Utah, Nevada, UCF
– all come in notably lower than this in
our SOS rankings.
|
|
Using
our sliding scale point formula, the SEC is still
king, followed by a tie between the Big 10 and
Big 12. Once again this season, the ACC ranks
only ahead of the Big East in terms of the six
BCS big boys. While the ACC likely represents
the most solid parity from top to bottom, they
are still void of any team(s) currently deserving
our Top 10. Such issues are big reasons why no
ACC squads will be playing in the BCS National
Championship Game come January 8 according to
our calculations.
|
SEC |
.745 |
Big
12 |
.593 |
Big
10 |
.593 |
Pac
10 |
.548 |
ACC |
.488 |
Big
East |
.444 |
Conference
USA |
.170 |
Mountain
West |
.169 |
WAC |
.131 |
MAC |
.079 |
Sun
Belt |
.037 |
|
|
Toughest
and Easiest SOS by BCS conference
ACC
Toughest - Georgia Tech: Opening
at No. 1 Notre Dame on Labor Day weekend and closing
against in-state rival Georgia. And those are
non-conference games. Reggie Ball needs to severely
lower his TD to INT ratio and gain some semblance
of consistency for the Ramblin Wreck to finish
ranked.
Easiest - North Carolina State:
With an unprecedented three DL players taken in
the 2006 NFL Draft, Coach Amato's defense will
need time to gel. The positive: none of their
out of conference opponents resemble a Top 25
team.
Big
East
Toughest - Cincinnati: Back-to-back
September road games in Columbus and Blacksburg
give the Bearcats a big boost on this list, but
not a boost in the win column. Go on, take the
money and run.
Easiest
- West Virginia: Don't blame WVU for their scheduling
woes. The Big East was raided by the ACC, and
the Mountaineers were left scrambling to find
opponents on short notice. Their schedule reflects
such despair and is the worst of any BCS conference
team.
Big
Ten
Toughest - Michigan State: With
the nation's No. 2 rated schedule, Coach John
L. Smith will find it difficult avoiding downtime
during bowl season (much like the past two campaigns).
The Spartans beat Notre Dame in South Bend last
year, and the Irish are looking for payback in
East Lancing. Oh yeah…Ohio State and Michigan
are scheduled back-to-back right after that.
Easiest
- Wisconsin: This is a ball club that could be
sneaking around the Big 10 hen house come November
much like the old Barry Alvarez coached teams
used to. Their defense is strong enough to carry
the Badgers through eight of the first nine games.
Big
12
Toughest - Iowa State: The Cyclones
are poised offensively to make their best run
at a North Division title. One problem: they face
off versus both Oklahoma and Texas on the road.
Yes, games versus opponents from the South Division
count in the conference standings.
Easiest
- Kansas: Way below the Big 12 norm. The non-conference
schedule is extremely light as the Jayhawks somehow
manage to dodge both Oklahoma and Texas. Coach
Mangino must have made a deal with the devil on
the Lawrence Crossroads.
Pac
Ten
Toughest - Stanford: As already
stated on the list to the left, this schedule
is the toughest in the country. Opening the season
in Eugene could start this Cardinal flight off
on a bumpy note.
Easiest
- Arizona State: By no means is this an easy slate
(47th). By mid-October the Sun Devils will have
squared off against five teams in our Top 50 preseason
rankings. The bottom line: the Pac Ten has gotten
much more difficult.
SEC
Toughest - Mississippi State:
The poor Bulldogs and Coach Croom are having a
hard time climbing out of the cellar. They will
have a tough time once again with a brutal SEC
slate that also has a hyped West Virginia making
a visit to Starkville.
Easiest
- Georgia: The Dawg’s 50th-ranked list still
contains brutal tussles with Colorado, Tennessee,
Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech, none of which
are ever easy. This just proves why, bar none,
the SEC is the best conference. A likely rematch
of last season's SEC Championship Game with LSU
won't be a part of the regular season.
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|