Ballot Type: Hybrid
Submitted: Oct. 19, 2020, 6:41 p.m.
Overall Rationale: Right off the bat, I will not be considering teams that have not yet played a game in my poll despite the fact that the other voters voted to include them for some reason. I don't care that other voters are doing it and that it lines up with the AP, I think it's ridiculous to rank a team that hasn't run a single play. Because of this, it will also look like I'm way over-ranking some teams. I know no one will read this, but I'm still putting it here in an attempt to maybe mitigate comments about certain teams. My poll is a hybrid poll that is primarily based on a computer poll I developed. After my computer spits out the results, I take the values that are given for each team and break the ranking into tiers. I'll re-rank within tiers to allow for some adjustment for common sense. The computer poll itself has a preseason component and a performance-based component. The preseason component is based on team performance in recent years, recent recruiting, returning production, and coaching stability. This component was the entirety of my preseason poll. The performance-based component introduces winning percentage, points per game difference, and yards per play difference with strength of schedule adjustment. The overall ranking combines these two different components at different weights depending on how many games a team has played. Given the shorter and more uncertain season, I've sped up the rate at which the preseason component is phased out.
Rank | Team | Reason |
---|---|---|
1 | Clemson Tigers | 1/1 in Tier Aa |
2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | 1/1 in Tier Ab |
3 | BYU Cougars | 1/1 in Tier Ac |
4 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 1/3 in Tier B: Undefeated puts them ahead of UGA |
5 | Georgia Bulldogs | 2/3 in Tier B |
6 | Oklahoma State Cowboys | 3/3 in Tier B: Only 3 games played and no very impressive wins while UGA's only loss is to Bama |
7 | SMU Mustangs | 1/1 in Tier C |
8 | Miami Hurricanes | 1/4 in Tier D: Only loss is to Clemson |
9 | Florida Gators | 2/4 in Tier D |
10 | North Carolina Tar Heels | 3/4 in Tier D: FSU loss exposed them for the overhyped frauds that they are. That being said I'm not convinced enough by Marshall to put them at the very bottom of the tier. |
11 | Marshall Thundering Herd | 4/4 in Tier D |
12 | Virginia Tech Hokies | 1/2 in Tier E |
13 | West Virginia Mountaineers | 2/2 in Tier E |
14 | Texas A&M Aggies | 1/3 in Tier F: Only loss is to Bama and they have quality win over Florida |
15 | NC State Wolfpack | 2/3 in Tier F |
16 | Cincinnati Bearcats | 3/3 in Tier F: Undefeated, but only 3 games played |
17 | Coastal Carolina Chanticleers | 1/4 in Tier G: 4-0 compared with a group of flawed Big 12 teams puts them at the top despite the conference affiliation. |
18 | Iowa State Cyclones | 2/4 in Tier G: Head-to-head win over Oklahoma |
19 | Oklahoma Sooners | 3/4 in Tier G: Head-to-head win over Texas |
20 | Texas Longhorns | 4/4 in Tier G |
21 | Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns | 1/5 in Tier H: Only loss is to Coastal Carolina. Quality win over Iowa State. Combined it's enough to put them at the top of this Tier. |
22 | UAB Blazers | 2/5 in Tier H |
23 | Auburn Tigers | 3/5 in Tier H |
24 | Memphis Tigers | 4/5 in Tier H: Head-to-head win over UCF |
25 | UCF Knights | 5/5 in Tier H |
Teams Ranked:
Rank | Team | Unusualness |
---|---|---|
1 | Clemson Tigers | 0.00 |
2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | 0.00 |
3 | BYU Cougars | 0.99 |
4 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 0.00 |
5 | Georgia Bulldogs | 0.00 |
6 | Oklahoma State Cowboys | 0.00 |
7 | SMU Mustangs | 0.61 |
8 | Miami Hurricanes | 0.46 |
9 | Florida Gators | 0.01 |
10 | North Carolina Tar Heels | 0.58 |
11 | Marshall Thundering Herd | 0.93 |
12 | Virginia Tech Hokies | 0.82 |
13 | West Virginia Mountaineers | 3.59 |
14 | Texas A&M Aggies | -0.12 |
15 | NC State Wolfpack | 0.76 |
16 | Cincinnati Bearcats | -0.69 |
17 | Coastal Carolina Chanticleers | 0.00 |
18 | Iowa State Cyclones | 0.00 |
19 | Oklahoma Sooners | 3.39 |
20 | Texas Longhorns | 5.01 |
21 | Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns | 0.50 |
22 | UAB Blazers | 1.40 |
23 | Auburn Tigers | 1.63 |
24 | Memphis Tigers | 0.00 |
25 | UCF Knights | 0.12 |
Omissions:
Team | Unusualness |
---|---|
Ohio State Buckeyes | 1.39 |
Penn State Nittany Lions | 1.17 |
Oregon Ducks | 0.88 |
Wisconsin Badgers | 0.70 |
Kansas State Wildcats | 0.93 |
Michigan Wolverines | 0.43 |
Minnesota Golden Gophers | 0.20 |
USC Trojans | 0.03 |
Total Score: 27.33