College Football Cafeteria » Rankings

My First Rankings Data

Sloppy Joe — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:21:31 +0000

All right, it is still rough, but I’ve analyzed data from Boise State and Alabama last year to see who really deserved the national title. I found some interesting points. To recap this rankings methodology, here it is in a nutshell. After 6 games have been played, you take every teams average points per game scored and average points per game allowed. You then look at the averages of any given team vs. the averages of their opponents. Look at the actual scores of the games. Then each team gets another set of averages- how many more points do they score on their opponents than their opponents allow, and how many fewer points they allow than their opponents score on average. Still with me?

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Change your 2010 preseason picks…

Sloppy Joe — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:06:29 +0000

Some of you may have seen my post about the 2010 preseason college football rankings and noticed Oregon ranked pretty high. Well it was pretty consensus to say they would be top 5 in the preseason polls. But tragedy has struck. Oregon’s big time quarterback, Jeremiah Masoli, was suspended the entire year for stealing laptops and a computer.

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2010 Preseason College Football Rankings

Sloppy Joe — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:59:11 +0000

Check out up to date 2010 college football rankings!

*UPDATED ON 8/20/10: The USA Today Coaches Poll and now the AP Poll have been released:

USA Today Poll
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Florida
4. Texas
5. Boise State
6. Virginia Tech
7. TCU
8. Oklahoma
9. Nebraska
10. Iowa
11. Oregon
12. Wisconsin
13. Miami (FL)
14. Penn State
15. Pitt
16. LSU
17. Georgia Tech
18. North Carolina
19. Arkansas
20. Florida State
21. Georgia
22. Oregon State
23. Auburn
24. Utah
25. West Virginia

Others receiving votes: Cincinnati, Houston, BYU, Arizona, Ole Miss, Clemson, Stanford, Uconn, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Washington, Missouri, Navy, Oklahoma State, Boston College, Michigan State, Arizona State, Cal, Texas Tech, South Florida, Texas A&M, Northwestern, Temple, Central Michigan, Mississippi State, Nevada, Northern Illinois, SMU

AP Poll
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Florida
5. Texas
6. TCU
7. Oklahoma
8. Nebraska
9. Iowa
10. Virginia Tech
11. Oregon
12. Wisconsin
13. Miami (FL)
14. USC
15. Pitt
16. Georgia Tech
17. Arkansas
18. North Carolina
19. Penn State
20. Florida State
21. LSU
22. Auburn
23. Georgia
24. Oregon State
25. West Virginia

Others receiving votes: Cincinnati, Stanford, Utah, South Carolina, Houston, Uconn, Notre Dame, Missouri, BYU, Arizona, Clemson, Texas Tech, Navy, Washington, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Middle Tennessee, Central Michigan, Temple, UCF, Boston College, SMU

It is that time of year again, where everyone is speculating about the 2010 preseason college football rankings. Just like we did for the 2009 preseason rankings, we are doing again this year for the college football preseason rankings 2010. I found nine different places posting what they think the rankings should be this year, and have once again added them up to get a good sense for what they will be this year when they are released in August by the AP Poll and USA Today Poll.

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What do recruiting, preseason rankings and the NFL draft have in common?

Sloppy Joe — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:50:50 +0000

Yes, they are all very, very connected to the idiocy that is the system of college football. Rivals.com is probably one of the big players in recruiting. They rank players, give them stars, all that junk. Well, we know that a lot of how programs are ranked is by how they recruit, right? How can you rank someone in the preseason? Base it on last year’s performance, how many players left, and the caliber of players recruited. Well, the NFL draft tells us what kind of players these guys really are. Who is at the top? Not the same faces as 4 years ago.

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Alabama as the Preseason Number One?

Sloppy Joe — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:03:39 +0000

Many pundits are already praising Alabama as the preseason number one favorite. While I admit this is likely going to happen, should it? They did win the BCS championship, although controversially, and they do return a bunch of those same players. I’m sure their recent success has seen an increase in Alabama merchandise sales, but should it see an increase in their preseason ranking? I think not.

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College Football Computer Rankings and Strength of Schedule

Sloppy Joe — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:55:32 +0000

So here is a conundrum…if college football teams make their schedules years in advance, how can they always ensure they have what the computers will call a “Strong schedule?” Answer: it is impossible. Fresno State beat Illinois this past year. Illinois went to the Rose Bowl very likely at the same time those two teams agreed to play. Turns out Fresno State did not get any boost in the strength of schedule column for that win. Oklahoma lost to Miami (FL) this year. When they made that schedule, Miami (FL) was headed nowhere and not playing very well. Probably looked like an easy game when they made it. So why does schedule strength mean anything to the computer rankings and in the minds of human voters? Good question.

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Super Early Predictions for 2010 Preseason Rankings

Sloppy Joe — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:42:26 +0000

Yeah, yeah, it’s early. But we know a lot of players who are staying and going now, so we can formulate some good guesses as to who the good teams will be in 2010. We also have a lot of peoples’ preseason polls coming out, so we can put that together to get a good look at what the preseason rankings are likely to be. Then again, based on my last post, it’s not like the rankings mean much. But in the spirit of irrelevance, here are my preseason rankings for 2010.

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An In Depth Analysis of College Football Polling

Sloppy Joe — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:40:50 +0000

You all know my ire for the BCS. I can’t stand the system at all, but it did do one good thing for the sport- it sorted out the mess of the polls. Many people don’t know what it means or ever meant to be the champions of college football. Come to think of it, the BCS muddled that a bit too, but I digress. Before 1998, the champion was whoever was voted at #1 after the bowl games. Before 1974, the coaches poll didn’t even come out again after the bowls, so it was whoever won the AP Poll after the bowl games. Pretty archaic way of choosing a champion. Yet these polls persist in playing a role in modern college football. Let’s take an in depth look at why they are the most outdated, illegitimate way of choosing a champion there is.

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My Final 2009 Rankings

Sloppy Joe — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:59:52 +0000

Not as if many people care about my rankings, you know, because I actually watched a bunch of games and a variety of teams play…no, no, that shouldn’t matter, the opinions of coaches who never watch anyone outside of their opponents play, now that is an opinion you can take to the bank. Same with that awesome AP Poll of morons like Craig James. In spite of a vast majority putting Boise State at 2 or 3, Craig James put them AT NUMBER 7 IN HIS FINAL POLL!! Yeah, only voter not to rank Utah and only voter not to put TCU in the top 10. I’m glad we have such wise sages to determine the national rankings. But back to the point. Here are my rankings, from an unbiased fan who actually watched all these teams play.

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Sundays Sloppy Seconds: ACC Stumbles

Sloppy Joe — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:46:43 +0000

Wow, did the SEC just open a can of whoop ACC. Clemson fell to South Carolina, Florida State got murdered by Florida, and Georgia Tech got beat by Georgia. The best team in the ACC losing to the middle of the pack in the SEC? Granted, it was a rivalry game, and anything can happen in a rivalry game, but still, the ACC just took a HUGE blow in conference standings. Now the SEC has to be the clear number two conference in the land. The rankings are starting to look a lot better as well. Let’s review.

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