# College Football Polls: Tracking and Predicting Their Changes **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 6, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-polls-tracking-and-predicting-their-changes/595393 "2011-09-06T15:08:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-polls-tracking-and-predicting-their-changes/595393/1 "2011-09-06T15:08:21Z")
Last year in the [College football fans: how’s your team look?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=575323)thread my major contributions were summaries [like this post for Week 4](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12956911&postcount=107) and subsequent ones: 130-wk5 144-wk6 168-wk7 201-wk8 237-wk9 259-wk10 277-wk11 310-wk12 360-wk13 This year, rather than mess with the action in [College football fans: how’s your team look? – 2011 Version](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=622777), I thought a separate thread with the same idea as those posts would give others a chance to provide other data for consideration. Some links that may be useful: > **[2011 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_NCAA_Division_I_FBS_football_rankings)** > > Three human polls and one formula ranking make up the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) football rankings, in addition to various publications' preseason polls. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship title. That title is bestowed by one or more of four different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason: the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll. Two additional polls are released midw... > **[Rivals.com](https://n.rivals.com/)** > > The definitive source for all Rivals news. > **[Rivals.com](https://n.rivals.com/)** > > The definitive source for all Rivals news. [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/usatpoll.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/usatpoll.htm) [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/polls/ap/](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/polls/ap/) The polls themselves ought to be updated during the day today, so the predictions of this week’s changes may be too much to expect, but at least these latest Top 25 can be expected to shift some: ```auto Bowl Subdivision Oklahoma (1) 0-0 1-0 Alabama (2) 0-0 1-0 Oregon (3) 0-0 0-1 V LSU (4) 0-0 1-0 Boise State (5) 0-0 1-0 Florida State (6) 0-0 1-0 Stanford (7) 0-0 1-0 Texas A&M (8) 0-0 1-0 Oklahoma State (9) 0-0 1-0 Nebraska (10) 0-0 1-0 Wisconsin (11) 0-0 1-0 South Carolina (12) 0-0 1-0 Virginia Tech (13) 0-0 1-0 TCU (14) 0-0 0-1 V Arkansas (15) 0-0 1-0 Notre Dame (16) 0-0 0-1 V Michigan State (17) 0-0 1-0 Ohio State (18) 0-0 1-0 Georgia (19) 0-0 0-1 V Mississippi State (20) 0-0 1-0 Missouri (21) 0-0 1-0 Florida (22) 0-0 1-0 Auburn (23) 0-0 1-0 West Virginia (24) 0-0 1-0 USC (25) 0-0 1-0 ``` And just in case anybody’s curious, here’s how Week 1’s action breaks out by conference (Wins-Losses-Games yet to be played) ```auto Bowl Subdivision Big 12 10-0-0 Big Ten 10-2-0 Southeastern 10-2-0 Big East 8-0-0 Atlantic Coast 8-4-0 Pacific-12 8-4-0 Mid-American 8-5-0 Mountain West 5-3-0 Conference USA 5-6-1 Independents (FBS) 2-2-0 Western Athletic 1-6-1 Sun Belt 1-8-0 76-42-2 ``` Those other 34 wins came from non-FBS opponents. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-polls-tracking-and-predicting-their-changes/595393/2 "2011-09-06T23:32:58Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > And just in case anybody’s curious, here’s how Week 1’s action breaks out by conference (Wins-Losses-Games yet to be played) This is kind of a meaningless stat unless you clearly identify OOC games. If every game was in-conference, all conferences would be X-X (where X is some positive number) every week. For example, USF’s OOC win should count more than the even split of Maryland-Miami (which makes the ACC 1-1 that game). Ditto LSU’s win over Oregon. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-polls-tracking-and-predicting-their-changes/595393/3 "2011-09-11T14:18:28Z")
It’s probably too early in the season for these numbers to mean much, but here they are anyway: ```auto ===================================================== ++ WEEK 2 ++ Bowl Subdivision -- Teams Top 25 + No-Loss Oklahoma (1) 0-0 1-0 Big 12 LSU (2) 0-0 2-0 Southeastern West Alabama (3) 0-0 2-0 Southeastern West Boise State (4) 0-0 1-0 Mountain West Florida State (5) 0-0 2-0 Atlantic Coast Atlantic Stanford (6) 0-0 2-0 Pacific-12 North Texas A&M (7) 0-0 1-0 Big 12 Wisconsin (8) 0-0 2-0 Big Ten Leaders Oklahoma State (9) 0-0 2-0 Big 12 Nebraska (10) 0-0 2-0 Big Ten Legends Virginia Tech (11) 0-0 2-0 Atlantic Coast Coastal South Carolina (12) 1-0 2-0 Southeastern East Oregon (13) 0-0 1-1 Pacific-12 North Arkansas (14) 0-0 2-0 Southeastern West Ohio State (15) 0-0 2-0 Big Ten Leaders Mississippi State (16) 0-1 1-1 Southeastern West Michigan State (17) 0-0 2-0 Big Ten Legends Florida (18) 0-0 2-0 Southeastern East West Virginia (19) 0-0 2-0 Big East Baylor (20) 0-0 1-0 Big 12 Missouri (21) 0-0 1-1 Big 12 South Florida (22) 0-0 2-0 Big East Penn State (23) 0-0 1-1 Big Ten Leaders Texas (24) 0-0 2-0 Big 12 TCU (25) 1-0 1-1 Mountain West Temple 1-0 2-0 Mid-American East Colorado State 1-0 2-0 Mountain West USC 1-0 2-0 Pacific-12 South Auburn 1-0 2-0 Southeastern West FIU 1-0 2-0 Sun Belt Maryland 1-0 1-0 Atlantic Coast Atlantic Clemson 0-0 2-0 Atlantic Coast Atlantic Georgia Tech 0-0 2-0 Atlantic Coast Coastal Virginia 0-0 2-0 Atlantic Coast Coastal North Carolina 0-0 2-0 Atlantic Coast Coastal Pittsburgh 0-0 2-0 Big East Syracuse 0-0 2-0 Big East Illinois 0-0 2-0 Big Ten Leaders Michigan 0-0 2-0 Big Ten Legends Northwestern 0-0 2-0 Big Ten Legends Kansas 0-0 2-0 Big 12 Iowa State 0-0 2-0 Big 12 UCF 0-0 2-0 Conference USA East Houston 0-0 2-0 Conference USA West Bowling Green 0-0 2-0 Mid-American East Ohio 0-0 2-0 Mid-American East Eastern Michigan 0-0 2-0 Mid-American West Wyoming 0-0 2-0 Mountain West San Diego State 0-0 2-0 Mountain West Washington State 0-0 2-0 Pacific-12 North California 0-0 2-0 Pacific-12 North Washington 0-0 2-0 Pacific-12 North Arizona State 0-0 2-0 Pacific-12 South Tennessee 0-0 2-0 Southeastern East Vanderbilt 0-0 2-0 Southeastern East Kentucky 0-0 2-0 Southeastern East Navy 0-0 2-0 Independents (FBS) Texas Tech 0-0 1-0 Big 12 Kansas State 0-0 1-0 Big 12 ===================================================== ``` If Sagarin’s rankings are anything to go by, they’ve been updated for Week 2 at [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt11.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt11.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-polls-tracking-and-predicting-their-changes/595393/4 "2011-09-18T16:25:45Z")
Update ```auto ++ WEEK 3 ++ Bowl Subdivision -- Teams Top 25 + No-Loss Oklahoma (1) 0-0 2-0 Big 12 Alabama (2) 0-0 3-0 Southeastern West LSU (3) 1-0 3-0 Southeastern West Boise State (4) 0-0 2-0 Mountain West Florida State (5) 0-0 2-1 Atlantic Coast Atlantic Stanford (6) 1-0 3-0 Pacific-12 North Wisconsin (7) 0-0 3-0 Big Ten Leaders Oklahoma State (8) 0-0 3-0 Big 12 Texas A&M (9) 0-0 2-0 Big 12 South Carolina (10) 1-0 3-0 Southeastern East Nebraska (11) 0-0 3-0 Big Ten Legends Oregon (12) 0-0 2-1 Pacific-12 North Virginia Tech (13) 0-0 3-0 Atlantic Coast Coastal Arkansas (14) 0-0 3-0 Southeastern West Michigan State (15) 0-0 2-1 Big Ten Legends Florida (16) 1-0 3-0 Southeastern East Ohio State (17) 0-0 2-1 Big Ten Leaders West Virginia (18) 0-0 3-0 Big East Baylor (19) 0-0 2-0 Big 12 South Florida (20) 0-0 3-0 Big East Auburn (21) 1-0 2-1 Southeastern West Arizona State (22) 0-0 2-1 Pacific-12 South Texas (23) 0-0 3-0 Big 12 TCU (23) 1-0 2-1 Mountain West Mississippi State (25) 0-2 1-2 Southeastern West North Carolina 1-0 3-0 Atlantic Coast Coastal USC 1-0 3-0 Pacific-12 South Vanderbilt 1-0 3-0 Southeastern East FIU 1-0 3-0 Sun Belt Clemson 0-0 3-0 Atlantic Coast Atlantic Georgia Tech 0-0 3-0 Atlantic Coast Coastal Illinois 0-0 3-0 Big Ten Leaders Michigan 0-0 3-0 Big Ten Legends Iowa State 0-0 3-0 Big 12 Houston 0-0 3-0 Conference USA West Ohio 0-0 3-0 Mid-American East San Diego State 0-0 3-0 Mountain West Wyoming 0-0 3-0 Mountain West California 0-0 3-0 Pacific-12 North Texas Tech 0-0 2-0 Big 12 Kansas State 0-0 2-0 Big 12 ``` ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-polls-tracking-and-predicting-their-changes/595393/5 "2011-10-16T20:57:28Z")
In anticipation of the first version of the BCS Rankings later tonight, here are the teams with no worse than two losses, along with the latest Top 25 from various sources, and (in parentheses) their last week AP rankings: ```auto ++ WEEK 7 ++ Bowl Subdivision Sagarin USA AP Harris BCS LSU (1) 4-0 7-0 Southeastern West 2 2 1 1 Alabama (2) 4-0 7-0 Southeastern West 1 3 2 2 Oklahoma (3) 3-0 6-0 Big 12 3 1 3 3 Wisconsin (4) 2-0 6-0 Big Ten Leaders 4 4 4 4 Boise State (5) 1-0 6-0 Mountain West 5 7 5 5 Oklahoma State (6) 3-0 6-0 Big 12 6 6 6 6 Stanford (7) 4-0 6-0 Pacific-12 North 8 5 7 7 Clemson (8) 4-0 7-0 Atlantic Coast Atlantic 9 8 8 8 Oregon (9) 3-0 5-1 Pacific-12 North 7 8 9 9 Arkansas (10) 1-1 5-1 Southeastern West 10 10 10 10 Michigan (11) 2-1 6-1 Big Ten Legends 24 17 18 17 Georgia Tech (12) 3-1 6-1 Atlantic Coast Coastal 39 19 20 18 West Virginia (13) 1-0 5-1 Big East 14 14 11 14 Nebraska (14) 1-1 5-1 Big Ten Legends 13 11 13 11 South Carolina (15) 4-1 6-1 Southeastern East 17 12 14 13 Illinois (16) 2-1 6-1 Big Ten Leaders 37 21 23 20 Kansas State (17) 3-0 6-0 Big 12 12 16 12 12 Arizona State (18) 3-1 5-2 Pacific-12 South 19 25 24 23 Virginia Tech (19) 2-1 6-1 Atlantic Coast Coastal 16 14 16 16 Baylor (20) 1-2 4-2 Big 12 29 Texas A&M (21) 2-1 4-2 Big 12 11 18 17 19 Texas (22) 1-2 4-2 Big 12 18 Michigan State (23) 2-0 5-1 Big Ten Legends 22 13 15 15 Auburn (24) 3-1 5-2 Southeastern West 23 23 19 21 Houston (25) 2-0 6-0 Conference USA West 21 20 21 22 Louisiana-Lafayette 4-0 6-1 Sun Belt 62 Penn State 3-0 6-1 Big Ten Leaders 15 22 24 Southern Methodist 3-0 5-1 Conference USA West 25 Washington 3-0 5-1 Pacific-12 North 28 24 22 25 USC 3-1 5-1 Pacific-12 South 30 Rutgers 2-0 5-1 Big East 40 Cincinnati 1-0 5-1 Big East 45 Southern Miss 1-1 5-1 Conference USA East 50 Georgia 4-1 5-2 Southeastern East 20 24 Temple 3-1 5-2 Mid-American East 36 North Carolina 1-2 5-2 Atlantic Coast Coastal 44 Brigham Young 0-0 5-2 Independents (FBS) 57 Wake Forest 3-1 4-2 Atlantic Coast Atlantic 60 TCU 2-0 4-2 Mountain West 32 Arkansas State 2-0 4-2 Sun Belt 70 Wyoming 1-0 4-2 Mountain West 93 Virginia 1-1 4-2 Atlantic Coast Coastal 64 Iowa 1-1 4-2 Big Ten Legends 52 San Diego State 1-1 4-2 Mountain West 54 FIU 1-1 4-2 Sun Belt 81 Texas Tech 1-2 4-2 Big 12 33 Notre Dame 0-0 4-2 Independents (FBS) 31 Syracuse 0-1 4-2 Big East 67 South Florida 0-2 4-2 Big East 51 ```