Most of the computer rankings used by the BCS aren't published this early in the season, and with good reason. There isn't enough interlinking of schedules via common opponents for a prejudice-free system to reach reasonable conclusions.
My rankings last week, for example, had the top 5 as Baylor, Florida State, Oregon, Oklahoma State, and Washington in that order. The PC (score-independent) version had a top 5 of UW-Whitewater, Clemson, Alabama, Florida State, and Washington. (The previous week it had LSU, OK St, Southern Utah, Troy, and Washington). But things are beginning to settle in.
Here's my points-based top 10 after yesterday's games:
Rank Rating SOS Team PF PA W LLouisville is up from 7th last week.
---- ------ --- ---- -- -- -- --
1 90.37 28.66 Baylor 209 23 3 0
2 78.92 30.22 Oregon 239 43 4 0
3 71.18 42.60 Washington 159 43 4 0
4 70.98 35.08 Florida St 205 60 4 0
5 68.05 27.07 Louisville 192 27 4 0
6 65.64 45.60 Alabama 140 58 4 0
7 63.77 38.40 Clemson 172 69 4 0
8 63.45 32.57 Ohio State 241 85 5 0
9 63.37 28.99 UCLA 158 54 3 0
10 63.17 54.97 Georgia 165 130 3 1
And in my score-blind ratings, where we moved up from 35th to 19th, the top 10 looks like this:
Rank Rating SOS Team W LLike I said, things are beginning to settle in. The rankings look more reasonable every week.
---- ------ --- ---- -- --
1 2.42 1.44 Alabama 4 0
2 2.26 1.78 Georgia 3 1
3 2.18 1.20 Florida St 4 0
4 2.14 1.15 Clemson 4 0
5 2.02 1.03 Washington 4 0
6 2.01 1.02 Stanford 4 0
7 1.88 0.89 Texas Tech 4 0
8 1.87 0.88 Fresno St 4 0
9 1.83 0.84 Oklahoma 4 0
10 1.83 1.34 South Carolina 3 1
I don't make any claims to accuracy as far as who's best, especially at this time of year, but my method is nothing if not fair. I feel it accurately reflects the rating a team has earned. The method is similar to the one I use in basketball. A team is rated by its points scored and points allowed or by its won-loss record, added to 99% of its strength of schedule (which is the average of its opponents' ratings), computed iteratively until the results converge on a solution.
Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that our close game with Bye Week didn't drop us in either of my rankings. We rose in both - significantly in the score-independent one, although still not high enough in my opinion to have any shot at the NCG. For that we need a lot of things outside our control to fall into place; but if the BCS computers track anywhere close to mine, we still have a chance.