Saturday, May 7, 2011

1965 College Football Final Rankings

1965 was one of those years that would have driven the BCS formula crazy. Going into the bowls, four different teams were undefeated - Michigan State, Nebraska, Arkansas and Dartmouth. (Dartmouth, as an Ivy League school, is problematic for our analysis because Ivy League schools played fewer games than everyone else, and of course, most of these games were against each other. Typically those teams would only schedule two non-conference games and those were usually against smaller, weaker schools - even lower division schools. As a result, it is very difficult to rank an Ivy League school that went undefeated, especially if they won many of their games by a large margin, as Dartmouth did.)

None of the previously referred to undefeated teams played each other in bowl games, and amazingly after the bowls were over, the only remaining undefeated team was Dartmouth (the Ivy League school), which didn't play in a bowl game. All three of the other teams had lost their bowl game. The human polls ended up crowning Alabama, which had one loss and one tie, as the national champion (and Alabama wasn't even one of the undefeated teams heading into the bowls). Did they get it right? Here is what our analysis shows:

1. Michigan State Spartans (10-1) - 1.5
2. Dartmouth Big Green (9-0) - 1.9
3. Alabama Crimson Tide (9-1-1) - 3.2
4. Tennessee Volunteers (8-1-2) - 5.2
5. Nebraska Cornhuskers (10-1) - 5.6
6. Arkansas Razorbacks (10-1) - 5.9
7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-2-1) - 6.6
8. UCLA Bruins (8-2-1) - 6.8
9. Princeton Tigers (8-1) - 8.8
10. USC Trojans (7-2-1) - 9.9
11. Missouri Tigers (8-2-1) - 11.3
12. Ole Miss Rebels (7-4) - 12.7
13. LSU Tigers (8-3) - 14.4
14. ECU Pirates (9-1) - 14.6
15. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (8-3) - 15.0
16. Florida Gators (7-4) - 15.3
(tie) Purdue Boilermakers (7-2-1) - 15.3
18. Kentucky Wildcats (6-4) - 18.3
19. Utah State Aggies (8-2) - 19.6
20. Syracuse Orange (7-3) - 20.2
21. Georgia Bulldogs (6-4) - 20.8
22. Miami University RedHawks (7-3) - 21.7
23. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (7-3-1) - 22.8
24. Texas Tech Red Raiders (8-3) - 24.4
25. Illinois Fighting Illini (6-4) - 25.5
26. Penn State Nittany Lions (5-5) - 26.6
27. Auburn Tigers (5-5-1) - 28.1
28. Washington Huskies (5-5) - 29.2
29. UTEP Miners (8-3) - 30.0
30. Miami Hurricanes (5-4-1) - 30.4
31. Wyoming Cowboys (6-4) - 31.5
32. Ohio State Buckeyes (7-2) - 32.8
33. TCU Horned Frogs (6-5) - 33.9
34. Minnesota Golden Gophers (5-4-1) - 35.4
35. California Golden Bears (5-5) - 35.8
36. New Mexico State Aggies (8-2) - 36.2
(tie) Stanford Cardinal (6-3-1) - 36.2
38. Texas Longhorns (6-4) - 37.5
39. Navy Midshipmen (4-4-2) - 39.9
40. Southern Miss Golden Eagles (7-2) - 41.0
41. Florida State Seminoles (4-5-1) - 42.8
42. Boston College Eagles (6-4) - 44.2
43. Colorado Buffaloes (6-2-2) - 45.1
44. Michigan Wolverines (4-6) - 45.6
45. Houston Cougars (4-5-1) - 45.7
46. BYU Cougars (6-4) - 46.0
47. Harvard Crimson (5-2-2) - 46.8
48. Memphis Tigers (5-5) - 47.6
49. Duke Blue Devils (6-4) - 48.0
50. Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-6) - 49.6
51. Louisville Cardinals (6-4) - 50.2
52. Kent State Golden Flashes (5-4-1) - 51.8
53. Xavier Musketeers (8-2) - 51.9
54. Washington State Cougars (7-3) - 52.8
55. Bowling Green Falcons (7-2) - 53.1
56. SMU Mustangs (4-5-1) - 53.9
57. NC State Wolfpack (6-4) - 54.9
58. Cornell Big Red (4-3-2) - 55.7
59. Baylor Bears (5-5) - 59.4
60. Western Michigan Broncos (6-2-1) - 61.2
61. Arizona State Sun Devils (6-4) - 62.0
62. William & Mary Tribe (6-4) - 62.9
63. Army Black Knights (4-5-1) - 63.2
64. Idaho Vandals (5-5) - 63.8
65. West Virginia Mountaineers (6-4) - 64.7
66. Oregon State Beavers (5-5) - 66.9
67. Virginia Tech Hokies (7-3) - 67.7
68. Clemson Tigers (5-5) - 68.1
69. Oregon Ducks (4-5-1) - 68.4
70. South Carolina Gamecocks (5-5) - 69.2
71. Air Force Falcons (3-6-1) - 72.3
72. Iowa State Cyclones (5-4-1) - 72.4
73. Toledo Rockets (5-5) - 73.0
74. West Texas A&M Buffaloes (6-4) - 73.1
75. Pittsburgh Panthers (3-7) - 75.3
76. George Washington Colonials (5-5) - 75.7
77. Colgate Raiders (6-3-1) - 77.6
78. Oklahoma State Cowboys (3-7) - 78.0
79. Northwestern Wildcats (4-6) - 79.9
80. San Jose State Spartans (5-5) - 80.8
81. Colorado State Rams (4-6) - 81.5
82. Virginia Cavaliers (4-6) - 81.6
83. Davidson Wildcats (6-4) - 81.8
84. Quantico Marines (6-4) - 83.9
85. North Carolina Tar Heels (4-6) - 84.4
86. Texas A&M Aggies (3-7) - 85.0
87. Marshall Thundering Herd (5-5) - 85.3
88. Cincinnati Bearcats (5-5) - 87.1
89. Vanderbilt Commodores (2-7-1) - 87.6
90. Buffalo Bulls (5-3-2) - 89.3
91. Utah Utes (3-7) - 90.1
92. Maryland Terrapins (4-6) - 90.5
93. North Texas Mean Green (3-7) - 93.7
94. Oklahoma Sooners (3-7) - 93.8
95. Pennsylvania Relays (4-4-1) - 94.2
96. Furman Paladins (5-5) - 97.4
97. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (3-7) - 98.2
98. Wisconsin Badgers (2-7-1) - 98.4
99. Tulane Green Wave (2-8) - 99.1
100. Wichita State Shockers (2-7) - 100.8
101. Arizona Wildcats (3-7) - 101.0
102. New Mexico Lobos (3-7) - 101.6
103. Iowa Hawkeyes (1-9) - 102.2
104. VMI Keydets (3-7) - 102.4
(tie) Yale Bulldogs (3-6) - 102.4
106. Brown Bears (2-7) - 106.0
107. Indiana Hoosiers (2-8) - 107.8
(tie) Rice Owls (2-8) - 107.8
109. Holy Cross Crusaders (2-7-1) - 108.7
110. Kansas Jayhawks (2-8) - 110.0
111. Columbia Lions (2-7) - 111.6
112. Dayton Flyers (1-8-1) - 112.9
113. Citadel Bulldogs (2-8) - 113.8
114. Villanova Wildcats (1-8) - 114.3
115. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-6) - 116.0
116. Ohio Bobcats (0-10) - 116.3
117. Lehigh Mountain Hawks (1-8) - 118.0
118. Kansas State Wildcats (0-10) - 119.6
(tie) Pacific Tigers (1-8) - 119.6
120. Richmond Spiders (0-10) - 120.8

Special thanks to James Howell's College Football Scores, which provided the data for our analysis.

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