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 |