Lightner's College Football Ratings

I am a computer specialist at a research lab. We have grads from many universities and football rankings have been the topic of much discussion. (I should say heated discussion). Although we don't always agree, most of us couldn't believe the years that Georgia and BYU gained the national championship and when Florida State got it several years ago with that weak schedule I developed a ranking system based on what the team has accomplished in terms of victories weighted by the quality of the opponents. I have never been a Big 10 fan, but it may interest you that the Big 10 has ranked the best conference in my system for the last two years. (I also had Penn State #1, Nebraska #2 at the end of the year).

This system is similar to the JWB ratings. Teams are credited for a win without regard to the point differential. Teams are rated based on the teams that they have defeated. The better the opponent, the more value placed upon the victory. As the season progresses the value of that victory may improve depending on the defeated teams performance against other opponents. Early in the season, teams may move wildly up and down in the rankings. As the season progresses, the rankings become more stable and (in theory) the better teams rise to the top. As this system is based on the premise that "you can only claim to be better than the competition you have proven yourself against", teams that slaughter the Vanderbilts and Central Floridas of college football really don't have that much to be proud about. The top ranked team's rating value is used to convert all the rating values to a percentage of that teams rating.

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