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The Book 2017: Week 7

Top 4 remain the same. Which of our ratings systems are the best? BC +15 at Louisville

By John Fidler
Murray State v Louisville
Can Eagles slow Lamar Jackson?
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Unbelievable, but this marks the midway week of the 13 week regular season. College football goes so fast and even in a down year for Boston College, the calendar seems to fly along just the same.

In terms of the nation’s top four teams for the College Football Playoff, The Book rankings stayed the same as they were a week ago, with Clemson, Alabama, Georgia and Penn State holding steady in terms of their Strength of Record rating.

Alabama is #1 in the Power Ranking and #1 in the Combined ranking as well as being the current king for Sagarin. The Massey ratings though like Clemson by a whisker, with the Tide not too far behind, their top four mirroring ours.

That brings up the question of what is the right ratings system for a poll? Should it be the best team (in theory our Power Rating), the most deserving (the Strength of Record) or a combination of the two (most closely our Combined Rating)?

Curious as to your thoughts and whatever way you lean (hey, this is a fan driven site!), will become the rankings of record starting next week.

Poll

What is the best method for ranking teams?

This poll is closed

  • 17%
    Most Deserving (strength of record)
    (6 votes)
  • 17%
    Best (power rating)
    (6 votes)
  • 65%
    Best plus most deserving (combined rating)
    (23 votes)
35 votes total Vote Now

As for BC, another loss that wasn’t too impactful. The Eagles are the highest rated team two games under .500 in the country and not that far behind the first sub .500 team in Arizona State. BC enters this week at #73 in the SOR, #78 in the PR and #66 combined.

This week the Eagles travel to Louisville to take on reigning Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson and the Cardinals, with The Book showing UL as a 15.0 point favorite.

As AJ mentioned in his article yesterday, it doesn’t look good through the rest of the year and The Book sees it the same way. The Eagles are still currently underdogs in every game remaining with the exception of the UConn game. Still on track to finish at 3-9 and 0-8 in the ACC. The current Book spreads for the last five games are below.

at Virginia 7.0 BC

Florida State 17.8 at BC

NC State 11.0 at BC

BC 17.6 UConn

at Syracuse 10.2 BC

Another decent week against the spread and straight up winners. We now stand at .525 vs the spread and .778 straight up, good enough for 7th place straight up and 14th place (out of 56) against the spread going against the Prediction Tracker computer polls.

The oddity of the week and it has been this way for a while, the Baylor Bears. A classic example of a team predicted to be good with no wins and a horrible loss (Liberty). We have the Bears at 126 in the SOR and yet 58th in the PR. The Massey polls don’t know what to do with them either, with one rating them as high as #48 and as low as #128.

Enjoy the games and Go Eagles!

Final Combined Rankings

RANK TEAM WON LOST POWER SOR MASSEY SAGARIN
RANK TEAM WON LOST POWER SOR MASSEY SAGARIN
1 ALABAMA 13 1 1 2 1 1
2 GEORGIA 13 2 3 1 2 3
3 OHIO ST 12 2 2 6 3 2
4 OKLAHOMA 12 2 4 4 7 6
5 WISCONSIN 13 1 7 3 4 7
6 CLEMSON 12 2 5 5 5 5
7 PENN ST 11 2 6 9 6 4
8 USC 11 3 15 8 14 15
9 WASHINGTON 10 3 8 16 12 9
10 CENTRAL FLORIDA 13 0 18 7 8 13
11 NOTRE DAME 10 3 13 10 9 10
12 TCU 11 3 12 11 11 12
13 AUBURN 10 4 9 15 10 8
14 OKLAHOMA ST 10 3 10 13 16 11
15 MICHIGAN ST 10 3 23 12 15 23
16 NORTHWESTERN 10 3 20 18 17 20
17 MIAMI FL 10 3 29 14 13 16
18 LSU 9 4 11 25 22 19
19 NORTH CAROLINA ST 9 4 19 19 19 22
20 STANFORD 9 5 14 29 20 14
21 MEMPHIS 10 3 28 22 24 31
22 BOISE ST 11 3 39 17 25 32
23 VIRGINIA TECH 9 4 27 24 23 21
24 IOWA ST 8 5 22 32 27 25
25 MISSISSIPPI ST 9 4 30 23 21 17
26 WASHINGTON ST 9 4 36 20 33 37
27 SOUTH CAROLINA 9 4 37 21 30 33
28 MICHIGAN 8 5 25 37 26 26
29 KANSAS ST 8 5 26 38 37 30
30 TEXAS 7 6 17 42 36 27
31 FLORIDA ATLANTIC 11 3 35 27 32 45
32 IOWA 8 5 34 30 18 18
33 WAKE FOREST 8 5 31 36 28 29
34 LOUISVILLE 8 5 24 39 31 24
35 FLORIDA ST 7 6 16 46 35 28
36 SOUTH FLORIDA 10 2 44 28 29 40
37 UTAH 7 6 21 49 47 34
38 OREGON 7 6 33 43 48 39
39 SAN DIEGO ST 10 3 53 31 41 57
40 TOLEDO 11 3 58 26 43 65
41 DUKE 7 6 32 48 44 38
42 BOSTON COLLEGE 7 6 40 41 34 35
43 TROY 11 2 59 33 42 63
44 FRESNO ST 10 4 57 35 38 51
45 ARIZONA ST 7 6 49 40 49 43
46 PURDUE 7 6 45 44 39 36
47 ARMY 10 3 62 34 40 58
48 TEXAS A&M 7 6 42 47 45 42
49 MISSOURI 7 6 38 59 53 49
50 WEST VIRGINIA 7 6 47 45 51 47
51 ARIZONA 7 6 46 53 58 50
52 TEXAS TECH 6 7 48 56 54 46
53 UCLA 6 7 54 50 59 54
54 GEORGIA TECH 5 6 43 66 50 41
55 NAVY 7 6 55 54 46 53
56 PITTSBURGH 5 7 41 72 62 44
57 KENTUCKY 7 6 63 51 56 62
58 MISSISSIPPI 6 6 52 67 60 55
59 CALIFORNIA 5 7 50 69 70 52
60 HOUSTON 7 5 61 57 52 59
61 APPALACHIAN ST 9 4 65 55 55 56
62 OHIO 9 4 67 58 57 61
63 INDIANA 5 7 51 84 61 48
64 TEMPLE 7 6 66 68 63 67
65 WYOMING 8 5 69 64 67 70
66 FLORIDA 4 7 56 81 71 64
67 NORTHERN ILLINOIS 8 5 75 60 64 73
68 MARSHALL 8 5 78 61 68 79
69 VIRGINIA 6 7 77 65 72 76
70 COLORADO 5 7 64 83 85 66
71 MINNESOTA 5 7 71 76 69 60
72 COLORADO ST 7 6 73 75 79 78
73 CENTRAL MICHIGAN 8 5 90 62 75 91
74 NORTH TEXAS 9 5 101 52 65 93
75 SYRACUSE 4 8 70 86 74 69
76 SOUTHERN MISS 8 5 82 70 82 94
77 SMU 7 6 88 71 66 80
78 NEBRASKA 4 8 72 87 76 72
79 VANDERBILT 5 7 76 85 78 77
80 NORTH CAROLINA 3 9 60 102 89 68
81 MIDDLE TENNESSEE 7 6 87 77 88 92
82 LOUISIANA TECH 7 6 85 79 77 75
83 ARKANSAS 4 8 74 92 83 71
84 FLORIDA INTL 8 5 102 63 86 101
85 MARYLAND 4 8 89 82 73 74
86 WESTERN MICHIGAN 6 6 79 89 81 81
87 ARKANSAS ST 7 5 83 88 84 82
88 TULANE 5 7 80 93 80 84
89 UTAH ST 6 7 86 91 93 83
90 TENNESSEE 4 8 81 95 92 85
91 BUFFALO 6 6 93 90 87 87
92 EASTERN MICHIGAN 5 7 84 98 94 88
93 TEXAS-SAN ANTONIO 6 5 92 94 96 97
94 AIR FORCE 5 7 91 97 91 86
95 NEW MEXICO ST 7 6 105 80 98 99
96 RUTGERS 4 8 94 96 95 90
97 UAB 8 5 108 73 97 106
98 AKRON 7 7 109 74 90 102
99 BAYLOR 1 11 68 119 106 89
100 GEORGIA ST 7 5 115 78 99 114
101 MIAMI OH 5 7 98 104 100 96
102 BYU 4 9 96 108 103 98
103 UNLV 5 7 104 101 102 103
104 MASSACHUSETTS 4 8 95 110 105 104
105 WESTERN KENTUCKY 6 7 107 100 104 110
106 LOUISIANA MONROE 4 8 106 106 110 111
107 NEVADA 3 9 100 114 107 100
108 ILLINOIS 2 10 103 112 111 105
109 CINCINNATI 4 8 113 105 101 107
110 TULSA 2 10 99 117 108 95
111 OREGON ST 1 11 97 122 119 109
112 OLD DOMINION 5 7 119 99 113 118
113 IDAHO 4 8 110 109 114 112
114 EAST CAROLINA 3 9 118 107 109 108
115 LOUISIANA 5 7 122 103 117 119
116 SOUTH ALABAMA 4 8 112 113 115 121
117 CONNECTICUT 3 9 114 111 112 113
118 NEW MEXICO 3 9 111 115 116 115
119 KANSAS 1 11 116 118 123 122
120 BOWLING GREEN 2 10 117 121 118 116
121 COASTAL CAROLINA 3 9 120 120 120 123
122 HAWAII 3 9 123 116 122 120
123 GEORGIA SOUTHERN 2 10 121 123 121 117
124 KENT ST 2 10 126 124 124 127
125 SAN JOSE ST 2 11 127 125 125 125
126 RICE 1 11 124 128 127 124
127 CHARLOTTE 1 11 125 129 128 129
128 TEXAS ST 2 10 128 127 126 126
129 BALL ST 2 10 130 126 129 128
130 UTEP 0 12 129 130 130 130
The Massey Composite rankings are as of Thursday afternoon, January 11

Final vs Vegas Point Spread

Vs The Vegas Spread Won Lost Tied Pct.
Vs The Vegas Spread Won Lost Tied Pct.
Week 1 0 0 1.000
Previous 379 370 16 .506
Total 380 370 16 .507
Straight Up Won Lost Pct
Week 1 0 1.000
Previous 564 210 .729
Total 565 210 .729
Boston College Games Won Lost Pct
vs Spread 9 4 .692
Straight Up 10 3 .769

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