The number is the national ranking. This differs from the official Sagarin rankings and the Sagarin BCS rankings (the BCS rankings suck--Sagarin admits as much--and the official ratings are an average of the predictor and the BCS rankings):

Ohio State 5
Iowa 10
Michigan 29
Penn State 32
Wisconsin 34
Michigan State 40
Northwestern 52
Illinois 55
Indiana 85
Minnesota 88
Purdue 90

Penn State seems unreasonably high, probably because of deceptively close scores against Iowa and (especially) Alabama. Michigan State seems quite low, and Indiana is getting hammered by their laughable OOC schedule. Other than that, this looks about right.

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Fire Phil Emery

Also interesting in the Sagarin ratings: the Sun Belt is closer to three I-AA divisions (Southern, Big Sky, and MVC) than the next closest I-A conference (the MAC). Sagarin actually has the Colonial conference as higher than either the MAC or the Sun Belt. Besides from #82 Troy, no other Sun Belt team is in the top 100, and a majority (5/9) are lower than 120th (there are 120 I-A teams). There is absolutely NO reason that the Sun Belt should remain in I-A.

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Fire Phil Emery

Indiana missed a golden opportunity against Michigan. They've got a sure win against Arkansas St. but it's hard to come up with two more wins on the schedule to make a bowl game. @Illinois, Northwestern, and @Purdue seem to be the only possible wins. I see at most one win in there.

Minnesota and Purdue have no shot at a bowl game. It will be a miracle if either team gets to 5 wins.

I'll leave Irish Boy to cover the good teams.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I feel like I hit the league pretty dead on so far, with the exception of Purdue (who I thought would be a 6-6 or 7-5 type team). Injuries have played a role, but that hasn't been the only problem.

I think Northwestern is going to find life very, very difficult after next week. They could beat Indiana, although on the road that might be rough. They could beat Illinois, although giving up a home game this season might come back to bite them on the ass. They should beat Purdue. They are going to be absolutely demolished by the other four teams on the schedule, and they get to avoid Michigan and Ohio State.

Penn State is weaker than anyone realizes yet.

I reserve final judgment of the Michigan schools until after this week, although I think both will continue doing damage after this week. MSU misses Ohio State, so 7-1 is a real possibility even if they lose to Michigan. If they win, they may be in the Rose Bowl.

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Fire Phil Emery

The Penn State rankings has to be because of their SoS having played Alabama and Iowa (both on the road) and a decent Temple team (dont have the rating handy)

Temple is 65th, which helps, but isn't crazy strong. Alabama is, of course, 1st. Playing them helps, but not getting absolutely shellacked helps too. Same deal on a lesser scale with Iowa. The computer sees what Alabama did to Penn State and what Alabama did to Florida and adjusts Penn State upwards.

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Fire Phil Emery