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The Book 2017: Week 11

Eagles slight dog vs Pack. Bama, UGA, OU, ND the Top 4

By John Fidler
LSU v Alabama
Jalen Hurts and Alabama push their way to the top of The Book rankings
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

The challenges of close spreads keep haunting us as The Book looks like a Las Vegas savant when creating spreads, but has struggled in the past several weeks to beat the wise guys.

Last week marked the third consecutive week below .500 and the worst week since week one of the season, at four games under, still leaving us on the right side of that mark year to date, but wondering if our own method of doing this is now actually too good.

According to Prediction Tracker, this would put us 21st against the point spread among the 61 computer polls who would participate but still 7th in picking winners straight up.

This week is another one of those that makes you shake your head, with 8 games where The Book and Vegas lines are within 1⁄2 point of each other and another 6 within 1 point, that means that 14 of the 59 games are essentially toss ups vs the line.

A tough way to make a living..glad I don’t do it this way for sure.

One of the games that fits this close tie is BC - NC State where the Wolfpack opened a 3.5 point favorites, with The Book coming down on the Eagles side, ever so slightly, favoring the Pack by 3.3.

In terms of national rankings, Alabama continues to lead our combined poll, followed by Georgia with now Oklahoma and Notre Dame benefiting from their wins last week to slide into the three and four slots.

The CFP committee didn’t change their tune at all from a week ago in terms of their playoff teams, with Georgia, Alabama, Notre Dame and Clemson staying firm. There may well be change in the air this week though with Georgia traveling to #10 (CFP) Auburn and Notre Dame at #7 (CFP) Miami.

The Book likes the Tigers and Irish in those two contests.

Finally, where is Boston College in all of this?

The Eagles are pretty highly thought of across the board in terms of rankings. #38 in our combined rating, which is sixth in the ACC. They are #46 in the power ratings, #33 in strength of record, #31 with the Massey composite and #36 with Jeff Sagarin.

The Massey as you know is a composite of over 100 different polls that are submitted at different times during the week. As of this writing 93 of those were up and 9 of them have BC in their top 25, with the highest at #16.

Now it is unlikely that any of the human polls would have BC reach that level even with a win this Saturday, but it is possible that even more of the computer variety would join in.

How rare is that? Well BC hasn’t made an appearance in The Book Top 25 since November 29, 2008 when the Eagles checked in at #22 just prior to taking on Virginia Tech in the 2008 ACC Championship Game.

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 ACC Rankings

RANK TEAM WON LOST POWER SOR MASSEY SAGARIN
RANK TEAM WON LOST POWER SOR MASSEY SAGARIN
1 CLEMSON 12 2 5 5 5 5
2 MIAMI FL 10 3 29 14 13 16
3 NORTH CAROLINA ST 9 4 19 19 19 22
4 VIRGINIA TECH 9 4 27 24 23 21
5 WAKE FOREST 8 5 31 36 28 29
6 LOUISVILLE 8 5 24 39 31 24
7 FLORIDA ST 7 6 16 46 35 28
8 DUKE 7 6 32 48 44 38
9 BOSTON COLLEGE 7 6 40 41 34 35
10 GEORGIA TECH 5 6 43 66 50 41
11 PITTSBURGH 5 7 41 72 62 44
12 VIRGINIA 6 7 77 65 72 76
13 SYRACUSE 4 8 70 86 74 69
14 NORTH CAROLINA 3 9 60 102 89 68

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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