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Wild About AZ Cats

A different slant on Wildcat athletics

Arizona’s losses against two best Pac-12 teams, now face good Stanford team

by on Oct. 01, 2012, under Sports

Arizona’s Tra’Mayne Bondurant tries to bring down Oregon State’s Markus Wheaton in the Beavers’ 38-35 win at Arizona Stadium last weekend (US Presswire photo/Rick Scuteri)

A power-rating system published at my Web site — WildAboutAZCats.net — is not based on a hunch, opinion or bias.

The Morales Pac-12 Power-Rating System was concocted on my own without tinkering with a computer or piggy-backing off Jeff Sagarin. It is about as basic as a ranking platform can get.

It’s easy: A team must beat an FBS team with a winning record against FBS competition to get truly rewarded. If a team loses to an FBS team with a losing record — or God forbid an FCS school (cough, Colorado) — it should get what is coming to it. The key is not only the victory or defeat, it is how the FBS opponent fairs the rest of the way with its won-loss record against FBS competition and its overall offensive and defensive stats compared to the other 120 FBS teams in the country.

1. Oregon State (3-0, 2-0) — Two tough road wins against UCLA and Arizona put Beavers atop power standings heading into Week 6 of the season.
2. Oregon (5-0, 2-0) — The Ducks’ win over Wazzu last weekend was not as impressive as Oregon State’s win against Arizona.
3. UCLA (4-1, 1-1) — The Bruins take care of Colorado and now face another hapless team on the road, California.
4. Stanford (3-1, 1-1) — The Cardinal’s opponents 11-4 vs. FBS competition and it beat Southern Cal.
5. Arizona State (4-1, 2-0) — Although its opponents are 5-12 vs. FBS competition, Devils continue to win.
6. Arizona (3-2, 0-2) — Both losses are against the two best Pac-12 teams (Oregon State and Oregon).
7. Washington (3-1, 1-0) — Win vs. Stanford significant but now must prove its worth at Oregon.
8. Southern Cal (3-1, 1-1) — The teams the Trojans have defeated (Hawaii, Syracuse and Cal) are now 0-10 vs. FBS teams.
9. Utah (2-2, 0-1) — The Utes are a missed field goal away (vs. BYU) from being 0-3 vs. FBS teams.
10. California (1-4, 0-2) — Will a coaching change happen if Cal loses at Wazzu in two weeks?
11. Washington State (2-2, 0-2) — The Cougars hung tough for a half against Oregon.
12. Colorado (1-4, 1-1) — The Buffaloes return to futility with 42-14 home loss to UCLA.

For an explanation of the points system, please check out the WildAboutAZCats.net Web site.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 1st, 2012 at 9:57 pm and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • CarlosJM

    Interesting. So to play the top 5, 6, 7 of the PAC-12 on consecutive weekends and come out above .500 counts for less than playing the bottom 4 (and without their best QB) week in and week out (with most games at home) and winning, if barely? Do I have that assessment right, Javier?

    • http://twitter.com/JavierJMorales Javier Morales

      ASU is ranked ahead of Arizona only because of its win on the road at Cal, which gives a team two points. Missouri, which beat ASU, also won at Central Florida. Also, Oklahoma State losing to Texas hurt, and the Cats losing at home set it back in the points standing. The main things a team has to hope for: Win every game (of course) and hope the FBS teams you either defeated or lossed to improve from week to week with wins and with your team offense and defense. It’s that simple.

      • CarlosJM

        Fine. Thanks for pointing out that the Devils play Missouri who plays Central Florida, while the University of Arizona Wildcats play Ok St who plays Texas. And then, if that weren’t enough, the boys from Tempe get a depleted Utah at home and a bottoming out Cal right where they want them, while Coach Rodriguez and his men take on the national No. 3 Ducks at their place and then, with a short-handed team of their own, turn around and face what may be the better of the two Oregon teams, OSU, taking them to the last few plays of the game. Byrne and Coach Rich will never run away from good competition for the sake of scheduling themselves to 6 wins before the season even starts. Vive la difference! BEAR DOWN ARIZONA!! Fight — let ‘em know who’s who!!!

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