2020 was a crazy year. Some consider it a difficult year to analyze, because of the disparity in games played. But it turns out that our system of analysis seems particularly fair when comparing teams that do not play as many games. It does slightly reward teams that played more games - as long as they played well in all of those games - but not so much that teams with fewer games are at too severe (or unfair) a disadvantage, as demonstrated by Ohio State's final #5 ranking, despite only playing 8 games, and Buffalo's #7 ranking, despite only playing 7 games. This seems particularly fair because teams that play more games have more opportunities to have a bad game that puts a stain on their resume, but you also don't want to penalize a team too much for things beyond their control that caused them to play fewer games. We think our system finds the right balance.
And the hypocrisy of the CFP committee was never more apparent than during 2020 as well. If ever there was a year when a team from outside the "Power 5" conferences deserved to be in the playoff it was 2020. In fact, there were three teams that had a better resume than two of the teams actually selected for the playoff. What they lacked was the conference affiliation. The good news for those teams? Two of them were selected to join the Big 12 the following season (actually beginning in 2023) so they will soon be members of the club. It doesn't solve the overarching problem of more than half of the teams in the nation being left out of competing for a national title before they ever play a game, just because they lack games in their schedule against "blue blood" teams. But if you take the names off of the helmets and give a blind analysis of the performance of each team, not based on the names of the teams they are playing or the ratings of their recruiting classes, but on the actual scores of all the games ... here is the final result for 2020:
1. Alabama Crimson Tide (13-0) - 1.0
2. BYU Cougars (11-1) - 2.0
3. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (11-1) - 3.1
4. Clemson Tigers (10-2) - 4.0
5. Ohio State Buckeyes (7-1) - 5.5
6. Cincinnati Bearcats (9-1) - 5.8
7. Buffalo Bulls (6-1) - 8.1
8. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-2) - 9.1
9. Oklahoma Sooners (9-2) - 9.8
10. Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns (10-1) - 9.9
11. Texas A&M Aggies (9-1) - 11.2
12. Georgia Bulldogs (8-2) - 12.4
13. Appalachian State Mountaineers (9-3) - 13.9
14. Florida Gators (8-4) - 14.3
15. Ball State Cardinals (7-1) - 14.7
16. San Jose State Spartans (7-1) - 15.5
17. Liberty Flames (10-1) - 16.0
18. Iowa State Cyclones (9-3) - 16.4
19. Iowa Hawkeyes (6-2) - 19.7
(tie) Texas Longhorns (7-3) - 19.7
21. Marshall Thundering Herd (7-3) - 21.9
22. Boise State Broncos (5-2) - 22.2
23. UCF Knights (6-4) - 23.1
24. Miami Hurricanes (8-3) - 24.0
25. Oklahoma State Cowboys (8-3) - 25.2
26. Toledo Rockets (4-2) - 26.4
27. USC Trojans (5-1) - 27.1
28. Indiana Hoosiers (6-2) - 27.8
29. Northwestern Wildcats (7-2) - 29.0
30. North Carolina Tar Heels (8-4) - 29.7
31. Georgia State Panthers (6-4) - 31.5
32. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (6-3) - 33.5
33. Miami University RedHawks (2-1) - 35.0
34. Nevada Wolf Pack (6-3) - 35.4
35. Army Black Knights (9-3) - 35.6
36. UAB Blazers (6-3) - 36.2
37. San Diego State Aztecs (4-4) - 37.8
38. Virginia Tech Hokies (5-6) - 38.5
39. Georgia Southern Eagles (8-5) - 38.7
40. TCU Horned Frogs (6-4) - 38.8
41. Pittsburgh Panthers (6-5) - 40.3
42. West Virginia Mountaineers (6-4) - 42.0
43. Utah Utes (3-2) - 42.5
44. Air Force Falcons (3-3) - 43.4
45. Oregon Ducks (4-3) - 44.6
46. Central Michigan Chippewas (3-3) - 47.4
47. Wisconsin Badgers (4-3) - 47.5
48. Kent State Golden Flashes (3-1) - 48.6
49. Western Michigan Broncos (4-2) - 49.0
50. Tulane Green Wave (6-6) - 50.3
51. Memphis Tigers (8-3) - 50.6
52. Auburn Tigers (6-5) - 51.3
53. NC State Wolfpack (8-4) - 54.4
54. Ohio Bobcats (2-1) - 54.6
55. Arizona State Sun Devils (2-2) - 54.8
56. Washington Huskies (3-1) - 55.1
57. Troy Trojans (5-6) - 58.5
58. Houston Cougars (3-5) - 58.6
59. SMU Mustangs (6-3) - 59.2
60. UCLA Bruins (2-4) - 59.4
61. Colorado Buffaloes (4-2) - 61.0
62. Hawaii Warriors (5-4) - 61.1
63. Rice Owls (2-3) - 61.6
64. Virginia Cavaliers (5-5) - 66.2
65. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (4-5) - 67.3
66. Wyoming Cowboys (3-3) - 67.4
67. Stanford Cardinal (4-2) - 68.1
68. Kansas State Wildcats (4-6) - 70.5
69. Penn State Nittany Lions (4-5) - 70.7
70. Ole Miss Rebels (5-5) - 70.8
71. Boston College Eagles (6-5) - 72.5
72. Florida Atlantic Owls (5-4) - 72.6
73. Louisville Cardinals (4-7) - 72.9
74. LSU Tigers (5-5) - 74.7
75. UTSA Roadrunners (7-5) - 75.6
76. Kentucky Wildcats (5-6) - 76.6
77. Maryland Terrapins (2-3) - 77.9
78. Eastern Michigan Eagles (2-4) - 82.2
79. California Golden Bears (1-2) - 83.0
80. Fresno State Bulldogs (3-3) - 84.3
81. Arkansas Razorbacks (3-7) - 84.8
82. Minnesota Golden Gophers (3-4) - 85.2
83. Purdue Boilermakers (2-4) - 85.5
84. Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-7) - 86.0
85. Baylor Bears (2-7) - 88.9
86. ECU Pirates (3-6) - 89.1
87. Nebraska Cornhuskers (3-5) - 89.9
88. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (5-5) - 91.0
89. Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-6) - 91.3
90. Arkansas State Red Wolves (4-7) - 93.1
91. Michigan Wolverines (2-4) - 94.1
92. Oregon State Beavers (2-5) - 95.8
93. Missouri Tigers (5-5) - 95.9
94. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (5-7) - 97.7
95. South Alabama Jaguars (4-7) - 97.9
96. Michigan State Spartans (2-5) - 98.6
97. Colorado State Rams (1-3) - 98.7
98. New Mexico Lobos (2-5) - 101.0
99. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-6) - 101.2
100. Tennessee Volunteers (3-7) - 102.4
101. Washington State Cougars (1-3) - 102.7
102. Florida State Seminoles (3-6) - 103.0
103. Navy Midshipmen (3-7) - 103.7
104. North Texas Mean Green (4-6) - 108.1
105. Texas State Bobcats (2-10) - 108.5
106. Southern Miss Golden Eagles (3-7) - 108.7
107. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (3-7) - 110.2
(tie) Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (3-6) - 110.2
109. Illinois Fighting Illini (2-6) - 112.6
110. Northern Illinois Huskies (0-6) - 113.3
111. Charlotte 49ers (2-4) - 114.0
112. South Carolina Gamecocks (2-8) - 114.9
113. Akron Zips (1-5) - 116.4
114. Arizona Wildcats (0-5) - 117.2
115. Utah State Aggies (1-5) - 117.4
116. UTEP Miners (3-5) - 118.3
117. Duke Blue Devils (2-9) - 119.4
118. Temple Owls (1-5) - 121.2
119. South Florida Bulls (1-8) - 121.9
120. Massachusetts Minutemen (0-4) - 122.2
121. Syracuse Orange (1-10) - 124.3
(tie) UNLV Rebels (0-6) - 124.3
123. Bowling Green Falcons (0-5) - 126.4
124. FIU Golden Panthers (0-5) - 127.0
125. Vanderbilt Commodores (0-9) - 127.9
126. Kansas Jayhawks (0-9) - 128.6
127. Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks (0-10) - 130.4
* The Connecticut Huskies, New Mexico State Aggies, and Old Dominion Monarchs did not play any games in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and are not included in these rankings.
No comments:
Post a Comment