Preliminary Week 1 College Football Ratings

I will be computing the week 1 ratings after the Georgia Tech/Virginia Tech game tomorrow, but here is the preliminary top-50 based on games played through yesterday.  Standard caveats apply, these ratings are heavily influenced by last years rating and a single game this year can only tell so much, but it is still interesting to look at where teams fall and what has changed.

Alabama remains #1 after their comfortable win over Michigan.  The surprise is Oklahoma State isn't that far behind at their 84-0 win.  This result will carry very little weight after they play more meaningful games, so they'll need to back that result up to stay there.

LSU is #3 but quite a ways back, dropping quite a few points after beating North Texas 41-14.  Oregon is #4 and Boise State, even though they lost, is up to #5.  How can Boise State lose and move up?  Well, their rating actually went down nearly 2.5 points, but they benefited from Arkansas playing an FCS team and dropping 5 ratings points.

A big mover this week was Nebraska, up 18 spots and over 6 ratings points to #7 after easily handling a Southern Miss that was very good last year.  Now, Southern Miss may not be as good as last year, but until they play other games that show that, Nebraska is getting credit for a very good win.

Michigan State moved up 8 spots to #11 after a quality win over Boise State.  However, if Boise State proves to be a notch below what they've been in the past, a close win at home, while still a good win, won't be quite as impressive.

Notre Dame is up 11 spots to #12 after a 50-10 drubbing of a decent Navy team.  This may be an indication that things are looking up for the Irish.

Several other bigger name teams made moves into the top-30 after down years last year including Tennessee, Ohio State, Clemson, and BYU.

Look for the full ratings Monday night, and more updates as the games are played.

Rank	Team	Rating	Record	Schedule	Change
Rank	Team	Rating	Record	Schedule	Change
1	Alabama	96.919	1-0	78.019	+0, +0.773
2	Oklahoma St	94.672	1-0	17.827	+1, +7.203
3	LSU	87.889	1-0	59.455	-1, -6.107
4	Oregon	84.740	1-0	63.875	+0, -0.815
5	Boise St	81.658	0-1	83.246	+1, -2.425
6	Oklahoma	81.612	1-0	65.720	+1, -1.788
7	Nebraska	81.304	1-0	66.001	+18, +6.424
8	Southern Cal	80.987	1-0	57.949	+3, +1.377
9	South Carolina	80.803	1-0	76.914	+1, +0.112
10	Arkansas	80.323	1-0	53.950	-5, -5.117
11	Michigan St	80.246	1-0	78.658	+8, +2.425
12	Notre Dame	79.783	1-0	62.628	+11, +4.195
13	Texas A&M	79.137	0-0	0.000	+0, +0.000
14	Baylor	79.007	0-0	0.000	+0, +0.000
15	Michigan	78.019	0-1	96.919	+0, -0.773
16	TCU	77.951	0-0	0.000	+2, -0.000
17	Georgia	77.570	1-0	56.027	-5, -1.891
18	West Virginia	77.556	1-0	57.477	+9, +3.275
19	Wisconsin	77.463	1-0	67.946	-10, -4.543
20	Texas	77.313	1-0	59.652	+1, +0.972
21	Kansas St	76.813	1-0	51.405	-1, -0.100
22	Florida St	76.596	1-0	47.946	+0, +0.493
23	Tennessee	76.477	1-0	66.262	+12, +3.806
24	Stanford	76.032	1-0	66.556	-16, -6.515
25	Ohio State	75.457	1-0	55.232	+18, +4.443
26	Clemson	75.364	1-0	71.145	+11, +2.797
27	Brigham Young	74.631	1-0	57.237	+13, +2.863
28	Iowa St	74.457	1-0	64.628	+26, +5.200
29	Missouri	74.326	1-0	42.009	-12, -3.674
30	Vanderbilt	73.914	0-1	77.803	-1, -0.112
31	Florida	73.727	1-0	60.181	-3, -0.550
32	Arizona St	73.719	1-0	48.885	+10, +2.073
33	Virginia Tech	73.548	0-0	0.000	-2, -0.000
34	Nevada	73.538	1-0	70.703	+18, +4.189
35	Mississippi St	73.375	1-0	46.009	-9, -0.910
36	Cincinnati	73.317	0-0	0.000	-4, +0.000
37	Ohio U.	73.277	1-0	69.506	+25, +6.267
38	Miami FL	72.554	1-0	65.444	+9, +1.902
39	Louisiana Tech	71.942	0-0	0.000	-1, +0.000
40	Illinois	71.751	1-0	59.507	+23, +4.784
41	North Carolina	71.387	1-0	45.442	+10, +1.805
42	South Florida	71.245	1-0	54.753	+15, +2.552
43	UCLA	71.233	1-0	59.356	+23, +4.531
44	Iowa	71.179	1-0	70.481	+0, +0.305
45	Auburn	71.145	0-1	75.364	-15, -2.797
46	Utah St	70.841	1-0	53.026	+22, +4.587
47	Northern Illinois	70.481	0-1	71.179	-2, -0.305
48	Washington	70.469	1-0	62.696	+7, +1.235
49	Georgia Tech	69.587	0-0	0.000	+1, -0.000
50	San Jose St	69.556	0-1	79.032	+34, +6.515