College Football Champion Index Week 9

The offensive modifications are here resulting in the CFCI ranking 23 of the USA Today Coaches’ Poll teams, only maligning South Carolina in the process which comes in at 26th in the CFCI.  No comparison to last week is made since the systems are different.  A number of considerations went into the modification.  The system is still primarily defensive but now recognizes how difficult it is to lose when an offense scores in excess of 40 points per game.  There continues to be no strength of conference or schedule.  At the same time, offensive production is not allowed to overshadow what is still the most important consideration of a team’s strength, recruiting.

Of the BCS polls published so far, Ken Massey includes 18 of the Coaches’ teams while Jeff Sagarin’s Pure Elo system includes 21. The CFCI math ranks four teams exactly as the Coaches (Alabama #1, Texas A&M #14, Fresno St. #18 & UCF #22).  Six others are ranked within 2 places of the Coaches’ evaluation.

The CFCI includes 23 of the BCS Poll Top 25 including all four top spots although out of the BCS order.  Oregon is number 4 in the CFCI because of its defensive showing for the season.  The offensive modification doesn’t care how many points that a team averages in excess of 39.99 points per game.  In fact, even if Bama was to drop below 40 ppg., it’s defensive performances this season would still rank it No. 2 behind Florida State even though both Ohio State and Oregon would get boosts for high octane offenses behind Bama.

As against the BCS Official Polls, the CFCI’s evaluation is more inclusive of the BCS Top 25 than any of them this week.

As always, it is an honor for the College Football Champion Index to be included in BCS Computer Guru Ken Massey’s College Football Ranking Composite.

College Football Champion Index Week 9