Wednesday, November 20, 2013

2013 Gus Rankings: Gus+ Week 12

Here are this week's Gus Rankings.  Florida State assumes the top spot, followed by Alabama, Missouri, Stanford and Baylor.

Is it too soon to crown Miami (OH) the worst team in FBS football?  Their lead for the bottom spot continues to widen.

Monday, November 11, 2013

2013 Gus Rankings: Gus+ Week 11

Here are this week's Gus Rankings. Alabama tops the rankings, followed by Stanford, Florida State, Missouri and Ohio State.  And, in what has become a weekly certainty, Miami (OH) holds a nearly 10 point lead on the bottom spot in the rankings.

As the end of the season is approaching, it's time for our first foray into the Gus BCS projections!  Should the season end today and the Gus+ were used in place of the BCS, which teams would go to which BCS bowls?

The champions of the following conferences automatically qualify for the following bowls:

• Atlantic Coast Conference - Orange Bowl
• Big Ten Conference - Rose Bowl
• Big 12 Conference - Fiesta Bowl
• Pac-12 Conference - Rose Bowl
• Southeastern Conference - Sugar Bowl

The BCS Bowls choose to fill their at-large spots in the following order: Orange, Sugar, Fiesta.  Further, a team taken from an automatic bowl qualification to play in the National Championship Game gets replaced before the at-large slots are filled in the order of finish in the final rankings.

So, without further ado...

National Championship Game: Alabama (SEC champion) vs. Stanford (Pac-12 champion)
Orange Bowl: Florida State (ACC champion) vs. Oregon (At-large #1)
Sugar Bowl: Missouri (NCG replacement #1) vs. Brigham Young (At-large #2)
Fiesta Bowl: Baylor (Big 12 champion) vs. Houston (At-large #3)
Rose Bowl: Ohio State (Big 10 champion) vs. Clemson (NCG replacement #2)

Alabama and Stanford are the top two teams in the rankings; Florida State, Baylor and Ohio State are the remaining conference champions (as they are the highest ranked in either of their conferences), and fall into their assigned slots.  Houston-- the highest ranked team from the AAC-- qualifies automatically but it chosen as an at-large for a bowl.  The Sugar Bowl, having lost Alabama, choose its replacement first and goes with the highest ranked eligible un-claimed team-- and that's #4 Missouri.  The Rose Bowl selected next to fill the void created by Stanford, and they select #7 Clemson.  The Orange Bowl gets the first at-large choice and selects #8 Oregon.  Teh Sugar bowl chooses next and is forced to pass on #9 Texas A&M (no more than two teams from the SEC), #10 Virginia Tech (no more than two teams from the ACC),  #11 Auburn (no more than two teams from the SEC), and settles on #12 Brigham Young.  The Fiesta Bowl chooses last and must choose the champion from the AAC, #18 Houston.

Tuesday, November 05, 2013

2013 Gus Rankings: Gus+ Week 10

Here are this week's Gus Rankings.  Florida State's victory of Miami last weekend give them a one-hundredth of a point edge over Missouri.  Ohio State, Stanford and Alabama round out the top 5.

Surprise of the week?  BYU slides in at #6, ahead of, among others, undefeated Oregon and Baylor.

Potential BCS teams Fresno State (31) and Northern Illinois (39) sit well outside of the Gus+ Top 16.

And, at the other end of the spectrum, Miami (OH) keeps its stranglehold on the final spot with four games to play.