Ballot Type: Human
Submitted: Sept. 4, 2018, 6:22 a.m.
Overall Rationale: This is a "mostly human" poll. The preseason rankings are seeded by averaging the SBNation, Athlon, and CBS preseason rankings. Ties are broken in those initial rankings by the 5-year S&P+ rating. If that is not available then returning production is the next tie breaker. FCS teams, regardless of their own quality are considered as #131. This is a "what have you done lately" poll. Game conditions, major injuries, controversy, and/or other mitigating factors will be taken into account as appropriate.In season methodology:Higher ranked teams should beat lower ranked teams. Pretty simple.Margins are taken into account in as much as a much as the ranking difference should be reflected in the margin. Overall record and head-to-head are also important metrics.As the season goes on, resume will come into play as well.** Early on, teams may be over or under rated. Teams with fewer losses may be rated higher than teams with more. And you may not like it. I don't like it either. I'd rather start this later in September or early October. But the r/CFB poll also has a participation requirement. And I have a sometimes crazy life, thus I'm not going to burn all of my "excused absences" in the first three weeks. Fair warning, if you decide to @ me with your rage about a rating in September I'll probably just ignore it. **Example A:#6 Team A vs. #79 Team BTeam A wins by 8 points. Presuming the game was clean (no major injuries, severe weather, etc) then those original ranks were probably incorrect.Team A should probably move down, and Team B might move up or at least stay put.Example B:#10 Team A beats #29 Team B by 27 points at Team B.#9 Team C beats #35 Team D by 18 at home.Presuming A & C have the same record then A should move above C as A beat a higher ranked opponent by a larger margin on the road.Example C:** Again, early in the season, some 0-1/1-1 teams may be ranked higher than some 1-0/2-0 teams **#4 Team A loses by 6 to #5 Team B at a neutral site. Team A is 0-1, B is 1-0.#6 Team C beats #25 Team D at home by 50. C is 1-0.#7 Team E beats #105 Team F at home by 35. E is 1-0.I would probably rank these B, A, C, E. Yes A lost, but they played a better team away from home and the margin was small.Team C probably over-performed slightly, while E probably under-performed. As the season goes on, this will work itself out.
Teams Ranked:
| Rank | Team | Unusualness |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Alabama Crimson Tide
|
0.00 |
| 2 |
Clemson Tigers
|
0.00 |
| 3 |
Georgia Bulldogs
|
0.00 |
| 4 |
Auburn Tigers
|
0.10 |
| 5 |
Oklahoma Sooners
|
0.00 |
| 6 |
Ohio State Buckeyes
|
0.00 |
| 7 |
Wisconsin Badgers
|
0.00 |
| 8 |
Washington Huskies
|
0.51 |
| 9 |
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
|
0.00 |
| 10 |
TCU Horned Frogs
|
0.63 |
| 11 |
USC Trojans
|
0.40 |
| 12 |
Penn State Nittany Lions
|
0.00 |
| 13 |
Mississippi State Bulldogs
|
0.56 |
| 14 |
Stanford Cardinal
|
0.00 |
| 15 |
Michigan State Spartans
|
0.00 |
| 16 |
Michigan Wolverines
|
1.00 |
| 17 |
Boise State Broncos
|
0.00 |
| 18 |
LSU Tigers
|
-0.61 |
| 19 |
Virginia Tech Hokies
|
-0.38 |
| 20 |
West Virginia Mountaineers
|
-0.44 |
| 21 |
Miami Hurricanes
|
0.20 |
| 22 |
Oregon Ducks
|
0.00 |
| 23 |
South Carolina Gamecocks
|
0.00 |
| 24 |
Texas Longhorns
|
1.24 |
| 25 |
Florida State Seminoles
|
0.14 |