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The Book 2017: Week 3

USC claims the top spot after beating Stanford, Eagles drop

By John Fidler
Western Michigan v USC
Clay Helton has his Trojans on top of The Book poll
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

It’s early September and with most teams only having two data points, there are bound to be pretty large shifts in our poll week to week. Alabama, who I believe most people still believe is the best team in the country, grabbed number one after the week one win over Florida State, now it is USC, whose two wins over Stanford and Western Michigan, are considered the best after week two in our Strength of Record poll.

Oklahoma has taken the top spot in our Power Ranking poll, with USC number one in the combined poll.

As I mentioned last week, it’s early and slowly the cream will rise to the top, particularly when conference play takes hold and already there are starting to be shifts, with fewer of the weaker teams near the top of the SOR poll already.

There is debate over some teams as well. Oregon and Texas for example have wildly different opinions. In the Massey composite poll, there is one computer poll listing the Ducks at #11, on the other end, one has them at #73, so consensus for some hasn’t quite formed yet..so the Book is not the only one!

As expected, BC dropped from #31 in the SOR poll, #69 in the Power Poll and #37 overall, following the loss to Wake Forest. The Eagles come in this week at #65 SOR, #73 Power Poll and #69 overall, significantly higher than either the Sagarin (#88) or Massey composite (#78).

Perhaps a bit shocking though is that the Eagles are only a 13.2 point underdog per The Book, this week against Notre Dame in the latest iteration of the Holy War. Vegas has the line at ND by 11 1⁄2 or 13 1⁄2 depending on your betting parlor of choice, which shocked me even more when it came out, both as to how close the Book is, but how low the spread is.

This week looks to be a real challenge for the Book as so many of the spreads when comparing them to the opening Danny Sheridan line which I use for comparison are really close. Thirteen of the games are within 1 point of the line posted by Sheridan, so we know there is good accuracy for spreads, just not sure how it will do against the spread.

Good week both straight up and against the spread, now just 1 game below .500 for the year against the line and 74-16 for .822 winning percentage picking all games straight up.

In comparison to the Prediction Tracker web site we discussed in the pre-season rankings, that puts The Book at #1 for straight up winners and tied for 38th vs the Vegas spread through two weeks.

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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