Naughty, I agree with you regarding Northwestern. If you look at my first post in this thread, you will see that I said they will be WELL DESERVING of a #1 or #2 national ranking (if that happens). Don't they have something like 14 starters returning? Plus that huge linemen that transferred from Edision. That's impressive.
Let's look at the downside of each team.
Northwestern's strength of schedule was not great. Here is how the Freeman computer model evaluates their schedule:
Miami Northwestern: 15-0, Schedule Rating: 23.8
WINS: #388 Lake Brantley (Altamonte Springs, FL) (34-14), #566 North Miami Beach (FL) (42-20), #699 Central (Miami, FL) (41-0), #699 Central (Miami, FL) (39-12), #1381 Homestead (FL) (46-10), #1526 Columbus (Miami, FL) (42-0), #1526 Columbus (Miami, FL) (48-11), #1694 Jackson (Miami, FL) (41-0), #2176 Edison (Miami, FL) (40-8), #2304 Killian (Miami, FL) (34-20), #2879 Hialeah (FL) (51-0), #3092 Carol City (Miami, FL) (50-13), #4235 American (Hialeah, FL) (41-0), #7034 Hialeah-Miami Lakes (Hialeah, FL) (54-0), #10803 Goleman (Miami, FL) (47-0), LOSSES: none
Here is Carroll's 2006 schedule. It is rated about 2 touchdowns per game tougher than Northwestern's. If this rating is accurate, SLC played 7 games ranked higher than anybody MNW played.
Southlake Carroll: 16-0, Schedule Rating: 37.8
WINS: #37 Trinity (Euless, TX) (22-21), #52 Heritage (Colleyville, TX) (33-7), #52 Heritage (Colleyville, TX) (56-7), #55 Allen (TX) (38-0), #71 Westlake (Austin, TX) (43-29), #273 Permian (Odessa, TX) (42-6), #328 Grapevine (TX) (45-7), #477 Rockwall (TX) (47-7), #587 Northwest (Justin, TX) (45-21), #607 Evangel Christian (Shreveport, LA) (43-16), #1381 Richland (North Richland Hills, TX) (38-0), #1467 Lake Highlands (Dallas, TX) (49-13), #1882 Lewisville (TX) (35-0), #1949 Keller Central (Keller, TX) (57-7), #2304 Keller (TX) (64-24), #2795 Haltom (Haltom City, TX) (52-14), LOSSES: none