THE POWER RANK

  • About
    • About The Power Rank
    • Start Here
    • Contact
  • Predictions
    • Games
    • March Madness
  • Content
    • Must Read
    • Blog
    • Podcast
    • The Craft of Sports Betting Professionals
    • March Madness Book
  • Rankings
    • College Basketball
    • College Football
    • NFL
    • NFL passing success rate
    • World Soccer/Football
    • MLB
    • Cluster Luck
  • Members
    • My Account
    • Login
    • Become a member
  • Log in

College Football Rankings, First Ever

By Dr. Ed Feng Leave a Comment

On Saturday, October 31, it was a perfectly lovely afternoon in Palo Alto, and I had the Iowa-Indiana game on while doing the dishes. Up to that point in the season, Iowa remained undefeated with an impressive 11 point win over Penn State at Happy Valley. However, they had squeaked out 2 point wins over Michigan and Michigan St. as well as a meager 3 point win at home over Arkansas St. This would be an interesting team for the Power Rank, since I doubted they would be in the same class as Florida or Alabama. No sooner than this thought passed through my mind, the commentator stated how 5 of the 6 BCS computers had Iowa ranked number 1. That doesn’t pass the stupid test. After looking into it, none of the BCS computers account for margin of victory, since running up the score is frowned upon. Ignoring score difference also doesn’t pass the stupid test. There is useful information in the margin of victory. Including Iowa’s win over Indiana that week, the Power Rank put the Hawkeyes at 10, which seems much more reasonable.

The most eyepopping feature of the current rankings is Texas Tech. Number 10. That was enough to make me check my code. The Raiders have big wins on the road at Nebraska and at home over Oklahoma. They would be even higher had they not gotten stomped by Texas A&M by 22 at home. Neither the BCS, AP poll, or USA Today coach’s poll have them in the top 25, although they are 28 in the AP. Second, there are 9 SEC teams in the top 25. NINE. Numbers say the SEC is tough conference.

Disclaimer: Displaying these rankings in no way supports the current system of determining a national champion in college football. There should be playoffs to crown a champion.

Rankings through November 28, 2009. (Week 13)
1. Alabama, 23.03
2. Florida, 22.27
3. Texas, 20.95
4. TCU, 19.93
5. Boise St., 17.20
6. LSU, 14.20
7. Arkansas, 14.05
8. Tennessee, 13.84
9. Virginia Tech, 13.26
10. Texas Tech, 12.88
11. Oklahoma, 12.87
12. Oregon, 12.87
13. Cincinnati, 12.47
14. Clemson, 11.60
15. Georgia Tech, 11.42
16. Mississippi, 11.24
17. Auburn, 11.18
18. Ohio St., 10.51
19. Miami (FL), 10.04
20. Nebraska, 10.00
21. Stanford, 9.67
22. South Carolina, 8.94
23. Pittsburgh, 8.83
24. Georgia, 8.53
25. Iowa, 8.49

Filed Under: College Football, Iowa, Texas Tech Red Raiders

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Data driven betting information

Valuable. Concise. Entertaining.

To sign up for The Power Rank's email newsletter, enter your best email and click on "Sign up now!"

Popular Articles

  • How to predict interceptions in the NFL
  • 5 insights from academic research on predicting world soccer/football matches
  • How to win your NCAA tournament pool
  • The ultimate guide to predictive college basketball analytics
  • Accurate football predictions with linear regression
  • The surprising truth about passing and rushing in the NFL
  • Football analytics resource guide
  • The Reason You Can’t Avoid The Curse of Small Sample Size
  • The essential guide to predictive CFB rankings
  • How computer rankings make you smarter about sports
  • How to win your college football bowl pool
  • Do you make these 3 mistakes with college football statistics?
  • The Top 10 Things to Know About The Power Rank’s Methods

Recent Articles

  • 5-Nugget Saturday, March 25, 2023
  • Alabama’s championship probability
  • Members: Sweet Sixteen futures
  • 5-Nugget Saturday, March 18, 2023
  • Members: NCAA tournament prop bets

© 2023 The Power Rank Inc., All rights reserved.

About, Terms of Use, Privacy Policy

Smarter sports betting in less than 5 minutes

Valuable. Concise. Entertaining.


These are the goals with every correspondence, which cover bets on the NFL and college football.


To sign up for The Power Rank's free email newsletter, enter your best email and click on "Sign up now!"


No thanks, I'll make my predictions without data and analytics.

{"cookieName":"wBounce","isAggressive":false,"isSitewide":true,"hesitation":"","openAnimation":false,"exitAnimation":false,"timer":"","sensitivity":"","cookieExpire":"","cookieDomain":"","autoFire":"","isAnalyticsEnabled":true}
  • About
    • About The Power Rank
    • Start Here
    • Contact
  • Predictions
    • Games
    • March Madness
  • Content
    • Must Read
    • Blog
    • Podcast
    • The Craft of Sports Betting Professionals
    • March Madness Book
  • Rankings
    • College Basketball
    • College Football
    • NFL
    • NFL passing success rate
    • World Soccer/Football
    • MLB
    • Cluster Luck
  • Members
    • My Account
    • Login
    • Become a member