2015-01-13

NCAA Football Power Rankings, Final

There were only 2 games that took place between these rankings and week 19; North Dakota State won the I-AA Championship, and of course, Ohio State beat Oregon to win the inaugural College Football Playoff. The strength of schedule boost kept the top 4 teams in the top 4 despite 3 additional losses. In fact, the only FBS teams that moved around this week were #40-#43, with #40 and #41 swapping, as well as #42 and #43.

As I mentioned before, the College Football Playoff almost seemed designed to game my rankings. My strength of schedule component shoots sky high in a playoff, virtually guaranteeing the team that wins the final game will be my #1.

My expanded rankings of 720 teams - which I don't publish, but I do take a look at from time to time - finally look almost right. My expanded rankings top 4 are as follows:

#1 Ohio State - FBS Champion
#2 North Dakota State - FCS Champion
#3 UW-Whitewater - Division III Champion
#4 Colorado State-Pueblo - Division II Champion

If #3 and #4 were swapped it'd look just perfect, with champs ranked from the top division to the bottom, but Colorado State-Pueblo went 14-1 while UW-Whitewater was 15-0, helping them just barely edge their way into the #3 slot.

I've now completed my 4th year of rankings teams on my blog. In 2011-12, I had LSU at the top and Alabama at #3, even though the BCS title game was Alabama over LSU. LSU beat Alabama earlier in the year, and my rankings don't really care when a game was played, so those sort of canceled out. After that, my #1 team agreed with the championship game each year, with Alabama in 2012-13, Florida State in 2013-14, and now Ohio State in 2014-15.

That'll do it for this year. It was a fun college football season, with Missouri hanging onto SEC title hopes, and possibly playoff hopes, until the very end. Alabama's disappointing playoff exit will probably cost the SEC it's unofficial automatic berth next year, though, so every team is going to have to really prove they belong in the playoff.

The 2015 kickoff is less than 8 months away.

1Ohio State14-1
2Florida State13-1
3Oregon13-2
4Alabama12-2
5Boise State12-2
6Marshall13-1
7TCU12-1
8Missouri11-3
9Georgia Tech11-3
10Wisconsin11-3
11Michigan State11-2
12UCLA10-3
13Baylor11-2
14Georgia10-3
15Mississippi State10-3
16Clemson10-3
17Arizona10-4
18Ole Miss9-4
19Northern Illinois11-3
20Arizona State10-3
21Utah9-4
22Utah State10-4
23USC9-4
24Colorado State10-3
25Kansas State9-4
26Air Force10-3
27Nebraska9-4
28Auburn8-5
29Memphis10-3
30Louisville9-4
31Louisiana Tech9-5
32LSU8-5
33Texas A&M8-5
34Toledo9-4
35Notre Dame8-5
36Louisiana-Lafayette9-4
37Cincinnati9-4
38UCF9-4
39North Carolina State8-5
40Minnesota8-5
41Stanford8-5
42Rutgers8-5
43Duke9-4
44Oklahoma8-5
45Navy8-5
46Tennessee7-6
47Western Kentucky8-5
48Georgia Southern9-3
49Washington8-6
50Florida7-5
51Arkansas7-6
52BYU8-5
53Rice8-5
54Virginia Tech7-6
55Maryland7-6
56South Carolina7-6
57East Carolina8-5
58Boston College7-6
59West Virginia7-6
60Houston8-5
61Western Michigan8-5
62Iowa7-6
63Oklahoma State7-6
64Bowling Green8-6
65Penn State7-6
66North Carolina6-7
67Nevada7-6
68Illinois6-7
69Miami (FL)6-7
70UTEP7-6
71Arkansas State7-6
72Central Michigan7-6
73Texas6-7
74Appalachian State7-5
75Pittsburgh6-7
76Texas State7-5
77Middle Tennessee6-6
78Virginia5-7
79Old Dominion6-6
80UAB6-6
81Kentucky5-7
82San Diego State6-6
83Fresno State6-8
84Northwestern5-7
85Michigan5-7
86Temple6-6
87California5-7
88South Alabama6-7
89Ohio6-6
90Oregon State5-7
91Ball State5-7
92Indiana4-8
93Texas Tech4-8
94Wyoming4-8
95Buffalo5-6
96South Florida4-8
97Akron5-7
98New Mexico4-8
99Florida International4-8
100Syracuse3-9
101Army4-8
102UTSA4-8
103Washington State3-9
104Purdue3-9
105Vanderbilt3-9
106Hawaii4-9
107Southern Miss3-9
108Louisiana-Monroe4-8
109Tulane3-9
110Kansas3-9
111Wake Forest3-9
112San Jose State3-7
113North Texas4-8
114Florida Atlantic3-9
115Iowa State2-10
116Colorado2-10
117Troy3-9
118Eastern Michigan2-10
119Massachusetts3-9
120UNLV2-11
121Connecticut2-10
122Kent State2-9
123Tulsa2-10
124Miami (OH)2-10
125New Mexico State2-10
126SMU1-11
127Georgia State1-11
128Idaho1-10


2014 History and #1s
Week 1 Everybody who was 1-0
Week 2 LSU
Week 3 Oklahoma
Week 4 North Carolina State
Week 5 Nebraska
Week 6 Auburn
Week 7 Mississippi State
Week 8 Florida State
Week 9 Mississippi State
Week 10 Mississippi State
Week 11 Mississippi State
Week 12 Florida State
Week 13 Florida State
Week 14 Florida State
Week 15 Florida State
Week 16 Florida State
Week 17 Florida State
Week 18 Florida State
Week 19 Ohio State

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