Columnist Steve Guiremand: The secret is out: Indiana fan posts complete BCS rankings

Steve Guiremand's college football column appears Friday. Reach him at 259-2324 or [email protected]

We're No. 97!

Wonder why the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) doesn't release its entire list of Division I rankings each week instead of just the top 15 teams? Well, wonder no more where your team stands.

Jerry Palm of Indiana has figured out the BCS rankings formula and is putting the rankings for all 114 Division I teams each week on his website, collegeRPI.com, hours before they're officially released.

UNLV finds itself ranked No. 97 this week, four places above a Nevada-Reno team that handled it with ease, 26-12, two months ago.

BYU is the top-rated Mountain West team at No. 21 followed by Wyoming (No. 34), Colorado State (No. 42), Air Force (No. 45) and Utah (No. 46).

No. 114? Try Buffalo (0-10), which just edges out No. 113 Ball State (0-10).

The team with the biggest gripe could be Minnesota. The Golden Gophers are 16th this week and just miss getting the national prestige of being in the Top 15.

Palm also lists the strength of schedules for all 114 teams.

No. 1 this week is Alabama followed by Miami (Fla.), South Carolina, Michigan and Clemson. UNLV is rated 88th.

Easiest schedule goes to Northern Illinois.

Fighting words

Saturday's game between USC and UCLA may not garner the national spotlight it has many times in the past this year, but don't try telling that to the players.

There's been a war of words between the two crosstown rivals in the media this week ignited by Bruin fourth-string quarterback Ryan McCann's comment that he couldn't wait "to kick SC's butt."

McCann, who came off the bench to replaced injured starter Corey Paus (broken collarbone) last week and lead UCLA to a upset win over Washington, will make his first college start on Saturday at the Coliseum.

"Their quarterback, who is that guy?" USC tailback Chad Morton said. "I don't care what string he is, he's only played half a game and (he's) talking about kicking SC's butt?

"I can see if DeShaun Foster said something like that. He put it down against us last year. He ran all over us. This guy? I saw the quote with his name, and I didn't know who it was.

"He could have been the kicker or the water boy. That's disrespectful too. I could see saying you're going to win."

And that's just what Morton has done. He went public and guaranteed the Trojans would snap their eight-game losing streak to the Bruins this week.

"I'm not trying to put down their players or their coaches," Morton said. "I'm not saying we'll kill them or hurt them. But I'm still guaranteeing a win. I'm not backing down from what I said at all."

Once around the MWC

* AIR FORCE: Creative scheduling? Colorado State, which whipped the Falcons on Thursday night, was the fifth team this year to have a bye scheduled the week before facing the option-happy Falcons.

* BYU: Cougars plan to host as many as 80 high school prospects at Saturday's conference title-decider with Utah.

* COLORADO STATE: Running back Kevin McDougal leads the conference in rushing with a 106.4 average.

* UNLV: Kickoff man/punter Ray Cheetany has 15 touchbacks in 29 kickoffs this year, including his last six in a row.

* NEW MEXICO: Lobos head coach Rocky Long was defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Wyoming from 1981-85. Lobos (3-6, 2-3) travel to Laramie on Saturday.

* SAN DIEGO STATE: Kicker Nate Tandberg is a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, which is given to the nation's top kicker. Tandberg is a perfect 22-of-22 on PATs and 12-of-16 on field goals, including a perfect 10-for-10 from inside the 40.

* UTAH: Utes (7-3, 4-2), who can claim a share of the MWC title Saturday with a win over arch rival BYU (8-2, 5-1), have won the last three meetings in Provo.

* WYOMING: Pokes have put up a total of 74 points and 1,014 yards in total offense in back-to-back wins over Utah and BYU.

Once around the nation

* ACC: Florida State's seniors finished with a 29-0 home record, the best in school history.

* BIG EAST: Boston College (7-2, 4-2), which travels to South Bend on Saturday to play Notre Dame, was ranked 25th this week in the Associated Press poll, the first time since the end of the 1994 season that the Eagles have cracked the AP Top 25.

* BIG TEN: Following his team's 31-27 win at Penn State last week, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr is now 10-1 against Top 10-ranked teams in his career. He also has won three in a row over Joe Paterno.

* BIG 12: Nebraska (9-1) is still in the national title hunt ... if it doesn't fumble away its chances. Huskers have fumbled 39 times this year and have lost a nation-leading 18 of them.

* BIG WEST: Idaho's Chris Tormey and Cincinnati Bengals assistant Steve Mooshagian are rumored to be the front-runners to replace Jeff Tisdel as Nevada-Reno head coach.

* CONFERENCE USA: Saturday's battle for the conference title between Louisville and Southern Miss is a classic offense vs. defense matchup. Cardinals have scored 51 touchdowns this season while Golden Eagles have allowed just 12 touchdowns.

* MAC: The nation's No. 1 scoring defense? Try Marshall (10.1 ppg), which is much better known for its wide-open offenses.

* PAC-10: Stanford can clinch its first Rose Bowl berth since 1971 with a Big Game win over Cal on Saturday. Cardinal coach Ty Willingham has never lost to the Bears in his four previous seasons as a head coach and three more as an assistant (1989-91) under Denny Green.

* SEC: Florida's Steve Spurrier is 4-6-1 vs. Bobby Bowden. No. 1 rated Seminoles have only road win in the series with Gators in the '90s (1993).

* WAC: Hawaii is expected to be invited to the Christmas Day Oahu Bowl before Saturday night's game with Navy. Barring an upset loss to San Jose State, Fresno State is slated for the Las Vegas Bowl with either TCU or SMU ticketed for the new Mobile Bowl in Alabama.

archive