You’re smarter than the average football fan.
It’s 2019, and you recognize the value in data and analytics to make football predictions. This is true whether you wager on games, enter pools, or want to win an argument with a friend.
With the inherent complexities of football, there’s more to predictions than analytics. However, the numbers provide an objective baseline with which to start your analysis.
In addition, you have an open mind about football and other sports. You acknowledge that data can reveal the hidden truth in sports, whether it’s the randomness of turnovers in football or the optimal strategy behind filling out your March Madness bracket.
I first heard about the The Power Rank on one of Gill Alexander’s podcasts. Gill said Ed was one of the few people he trusted that made money in the analytics business besides Rufus Peabody.
Ed releases great member numbers for college football and the NFL. For under $100 annually this is the best bargain in the industry in my opinion.
— Member of The Power Rank from Georgia.
To become a member of The Power Rank, click here.
From academia to football analytics
Hi, my name is Ed Feng. I’m the founder of The Power Rank, a company devoted better sports predictions through analytics.
While I’ve been a crazy fan my entire life, I never expected to work in the sports world. After getting my PhD from Stanford in chemical engineering, I was one of many in search of an academic job.
That changed in 2008. I was reading the paper on Google’s PageRank algorithm and realized all of its similarities with my research. This inspired me to develop a new method for ranking teams.
I worked out some NFL rankings and sent an email to my friends. Enough of them were intrigued for me to explore other sports. It became an obsession, and I found a way to devote all my time to The Power Rank.
In March of 2012, SB Nation made a video of my March Madness analytics. In January of 2013, I predicted Alabama would beat Notre Dame on the cover of Sports Illustrated. They called me their analytics expert.
Since then, my numbers and content have appeared in a wide range of media outlets.
To become a member of The Power Rank and get all my best analytics, click here.
How to make football predictions
I want to tell you about the membership product that gives you access to my best football predictions. But first, let’s take a look under the hood at the engine that drives these analytics.
The foundation of my football analytics is accurate adjustments for strength of schedule. This started when I developed a ranking algorithm based on my PhD research at Stanford.
This algorithm is important in sports like college football, as teams of vastly different strengths play each other. Let’s look at how it ranks college football teams on offense and defense based on yards per play, a powerful efficiency metric.
- It gets the box score of every football game. For college football, this includes over 1400 games on the FBS and FCS level.
- The algorithm creates a network in which the offense and defense of each team are nodes and games are edges that connect the nodes. This was inspired by Google’s PageRank method, which brought order and insight to the complex world of web search.
- From this network, the method develops a set of equations to be solved. For college football in 2018, there are 508 equations (two for each of 254 teams) with 508 unknown variables.
- The algorithm solves for the 508 variables simultaneously. This is the key to accurately accounting for strength of schedule. Many other ranking systems do not do this.
- Finally, the variable for each team is transformed into a rating that gives an expected yards per play against an average team.
On every morning after a college or NFL game, my MacBook Air crunches the numbers. The resulting rankings allow me to make predictions for point spreads and totals.
When I started betting football seriously, I quickly found that data and analytics is essential to being a consistent winner.
What I like so much about The Power Rank is that it not only provides excellent rankings and predictions, but also adjusted numbers for “real” football stats like Yards Per Play and Sack Rate.
Having “real” football stats adjusted for strength of schedule helps me recognize and exploit inefficiencies in the betting markets.
Jordan Jones, member of The Power Rank
Accuracy of the predictions
Members of The Power Rank has access to my best computer predictions for college football and the NFL as well as my March Madness bracket advice. These calculations go far beyond the methods used for the public predictions on this site.
For the NFL, this is how the predictions have performed against the median closing line from Don Best. I have only included games in which the prediction differs from the market spread by more than a half point.
- 2019 NFL spread through week 10: 53.3% (64-56 with 3 pushes)
This is the same analysis for the past 3 season.
- 2018 NFL spread: 53.8% (120-103 with 10 pushes)
- 2017 NFL spread: 52.0% (117-108 with 9 pushes)
- 2016 NFL spread: 53.2% (123-108 with 10 pushes)
In 2019 through week 10, the root mean square error (rms) from my spread prediction to the actual game result has been 12.2. The rms for the median closing line from Don Best has been 12.3.
For the 2019 college football season, this is how the predictions have performed:
- 2019 college football spread through week 11: 49.6% (266-270 with 14 pushes)
- 2019 college football totals from week 5 through week 11: 50.8% (182-176 with 4 pushes)
For the 2018 season, this is how the college football predictions performed in FBS vs FBS games against the median closing market values on Don Best.
- College football spread: 51.0% (388-373 with 10 pushes)
- College football total after week 4: 51.4% (292-276 with 5 pushes)
There is likely the most value in college football totals, as these predictions went 55.1% (308-251 with 14 pushes) against the opening market value posted on Don Best in 2018.
The 2019 against the spread results for college football have not been as good as 2018. However, in 2019, the root mean square (rms) error from The Power Rank spread prediction from the game result is 15.85. For the median closing spread at Don Best, the rms error is 15.55.
This implies that The Power Rank differs from the market by 1.9%. This is less than the 3.3% difference in 2018, which suggest the 2019 predictions have been stronger than last year.
I do not recommend making wagers based only on these numbers. The computer predictions should serve as an objective baseline for you to start analyzing a game. Success in the sports markets requires not only analytics for predictions but also judgment that considers situations such as injuries and knowledge of market movement.
I spent a long time searching the web for analytics rather than picks. I finally found it with The Power Rank.
I signed up for the power rating and point spread analysis for football and am quite pleased with the offerings.
I need to have consistent line anticipation/prediction through objective reasoning to begin my weekly evaluation. Your site offers such reasoning on an excellent basis.
You provide an excellent foundation for determining the correct line. This assists me greatly with establishing my betting line for the week, and I’m able to adjust my line for non-objective factors knowing that objective factors have been taken into account.
I would recommend a membership to anyone in search of strong analytical reasoning and objective line determination.
— Jeff, Las Vegas, Nevada.
A membership to The Power Rank does not offer picks on football games. Instead, members get predictive analytics that help you make better decisions.
Become a member of The Power Rank
When you come in and bet me, believe me, I’m going to move the hell out of those numbers.
Chris Andrews, director of the South Point sports book on The Football Analytics Show
As a member of The Power Rank, you get the following:
- Predictions for the spread in every college game, totals after week 4.
- Predictions for the spread in every NFL game.
- Data files with rankings for college football and NFL teams based on metrics such as yards per play. You can upload these files to a spreadsheet to perform your own analysis.
- My full bracket advice for the NCAA tournament.
In addition, members get access to interactive team pages that let you instantly evaluate match ups in a game. To check out a sample page with an explanation of how the visuals work, click here.
In addition, I’ll be writing about football win totals, both college football and the NFL, during the 2019 off season. This content will only be available to members.
The March Madness bracket advice has helped many members win their pool.
Thanks to The Power Rank, I won my pool in 2019. I had Virginia winning.
Guess how many games I’ve watched this season? Literally zero. I only used the cheat sheet you provide through my membership to The Power Rank.
I had guys in my pool that have watched college basketball for decades, and I beat them all.
— Mark Carvalho, member of The Power Rank
All football predictions are posted by Tuesday at noon Eastern during the football season.
It starts with an algorithm I’ve developed that does for sports analytics what Google’s PageRank did for web search: brings order and insight into a messy system.
To get a deeper insight, the algorithm is used to rank offenses and defenses based on efficiency metrics like yards per play. I also break this down into passing and rushing.
The team pages visualize these numbers so you can instantly evaluate a game.
- The statistics make you smarter about football because they account for strength of schedule.
- The team pages let you instantly evaluate a game.
For less than $5 a week during the football season, you get access to all the football analytics at The Power Rank.
A membership to The Power Rank is neither a handicapping service that provides picks or a get rich quick program. If you want either of these things, please save us both time and do not become a member.
However, if you recognize the power in using analytics as an objective baseline for making predictions, then you have found the right place on the internet.
To become a member of The Power Rank for $89 per year and get instant access to the premium content, click on the orange “Add To Cart” button.
This membership renews every year. You can also pay with PayPal, JCB and Diner’s Club.
The data visualizations work on almost all modern browsers. The lone exception is Internet Explorer 8 and earlier versions. If you can view this sample team page, you’re all set. Otherwise, I recommend a free download of Google’s Chrome browser.
30 day, no hassle, money back guarantee
Please take up to 30 days to evaluate the predictions and visualizations. If you’re not satisfied for any reason, I will refund your money.
No questions asked, no hard feelings.
Simply reply to the email you’ll get when you purchase. I will personally take care of the rest.