2017 - Rankings after Conference Championships

Here it is! The final (ignoring Army-v-Navy) pre-bowls rankings of 2017.  The top three are pretty unanimous entrants into the playoff I think.  It's that pesky fourth spot that's up for grabs.  I can see arguments for Ohio State, maybe Alabama, maybe USC, and definitely UCF.  Being that I started this whole project to provide a better way to judge non-power-5 schools, I am pretty satisfied with the result this year.  I've got to trust my process and say that I believe UCF is indeed the more deserving and quite possibly the better team from among that list of options.

I truly believe UCF should get the 4th playoff spot.

Rank	Team	W	L	Conf	RTPS	Change
1	Clemson	12	1	ACC	1.000	0
2	Georgia	12	1	SEC	0.964	+1
3	Oklahoma	12	1	B12	0.890	+6
4	UCF	12	0	AAC	0.884	+2
5	Auburn	10	3	SEC	0.879	-3
6	Alabama	11	1	SEC	0.875	+1
7	Notre Dame	9	3	IND	0.865	+1
8	Ohio State	11	2	B10	0.860	+2
9	Wisconsin	12	1	B10	0.840	-5
10	Miami (FL)	10	2	ACC	0.838	-5
11	Penn State	10	2	B10	0.794	0
12	Wash.	10	2	PAC	0.761	0
13	USC	11	2	PAC	0.760	0
14	Florida Atl.	10	3	USA	0.711	+4
15	Stanford	9	4	PAC	0.696	-1
16	Mich. St.	9	3	B10	0.692	+1
17	Boise State	10	3	MWC	0.686	+4
18	Toledo	11	2	MID	0.684	+4
19	Memphis	10	2	AAC	0.680	-4
20	LSU	9	3	SEC	0.678	-1
21	TCU	10	3	B12	0.672	-5
22	Virginia Tech	9	3	ACC	0.672	+1
23	Miss. St.	8	4	SEC	0.671	-3
24	Iowa	7	5	B10	0.648	0
25	Northwestern	9	3	B10	0.640	+1
26	NC State	8	4	ACC	0.639	+2
27	San Diego St.	10	2	MWC	0.635	0
28	BC	7	5	ACC	0.631	+3
29	Louisville	8	4	ACC	0.628	+3
30	Wash. St.	9	3	PAC	0.625	-1
31	Troy	10	2	SUN	0.623	+4
32	Oklahoma St.	9	3	B12	0.623	-2
33	S. Carolina	8	4	SEC	0.614	+1
34	Michigan	8	4	B10	0.613	-1
35	Fresno St.	9	4	MWC	0.606	-10
36	S. Florida	9	2	AAC	0.597	0
37	Wake Forest	7	5	ACC	0.592	+1
38	Army	8	3	IND	0.571	+2
39	Iowa State	7	5	B12	0.562	0
40	North Texas	9	4	USA	0.557	-3
41	Arizona St.	7	5	PAC	0.549	0
42	Ohio	8	4	MID	0.546	0
43	Oregon	7	5	PAC	0.537	0
44	Texas A&M	7	5	SEC	0.536	0
45	Houston	7	4	AAC	0.534	0
46	Missouri	7	5	SEC	0.533	+1
47	Kentucky	7	5	SEC	0.525	+1
48	Florida St.	6	6	ACC	0.519	+10
49	N. Illinois	8	4	MID	0.518	+2
50	C. Mich.	8	4	MID	0.517	-1
51	SMU	7	5	AAC	0.517	-5
52	Navy	6	5	AAC	0.516	-2
53	Florida Int.	8	4	USA	0.512	+3
54	Purdue	6	6	B10	0.511	-2
55	Kansas St.	7	5	B12	0.504	-2
56	W. Virginia	7	5	B12	0.501	-2
57	Duke	6	6	ACC	0.496	0
58	Arizona	7	5	PAC	0.496	-3
59	App. St.	8	4	SUN	0.494	+6
60	Georgia Tech	5	6	ACC	0.483	+1
61	Ole Miss	6	6	SEC	0.479	-2
62	Marshall	7	5	USA	0.477	+1
63	UCLA	6	6	PAC	0.473	-1
64	Utah	6	6	PAC	0.466	0
65	S. Miss.	8	4	USA	0.463	+1
66	Arkansas St.	7	4	SUN	0.454	-6
67	Texas Tech	6	6	B12	0.450	+1
68	Texas	6	6	B12	0.450	+1
69	Temple	6	6	AAC	0.444	+2
70	Akron	7	6	MID	0.439	-3
71	Virginia	6	6	ACC	0.437	+1
72	LA Tech	6	6	USA	0.433	+2
73	Wyoming	7	5	MWC	0.433	0
74	Pittsburgh	5	7	ACC	0.431	-4
75	UAB	8	4	USA	0.426	+1
76	W. Michigan	6	6	MID	0.423	+1
77	Colorado St.	7	5	MWC	0.413	+2
78	Indiana	5	7	B10	0.411	0
79	California	5	7	PAC	0.406	+1
80	Buffalo	6	6	MID	0.405	+1
81	Florida	4	7	SEC	0.399	+3
82	Utah State	6	6	MWC	0.399	0
83	UTSA	6	5	USA	0.397	+2
84	Vanderbilt	5	7	SEC	0.395	-1
85	Minnesota	5	7	B10	0.389	+1
86	Mid. Tenn.	6	6	USA	0.386	+2
87	Tulane	5	7	AAC	0.385	0
88	Syracuse	4	8	ACC	0.380	+1
89	E. Mich.	5	7	MID	0.376	+3
90	Arkansas	4	8	SEC	0.375	0
91	Colorado	5	7	PAC	0.373	0
92	Maryland	4	8	B10	0.369	+1
93	Air Force	5	7	MWC	0.360	+1
94	Georgia St.	6	5	SUN	0.354	-19
95	Tennessee	4	8	SEC	0.342	+1
96	NM St.	6	6	SUN	0.341	+3
97	Nebraska	4	8	B10	0.340	-2
98	Miami (OH)	5	7	MID	0.329	-1
99	W. Kentucky	6	6	USA	0.326	-1
100	Old Dominion	5	7	USA	0.309	0
101	UNLV	5	7	MWC	0.301	0
102	N. Carolina	3	9	ACC	0.296	0
103	Rutgers	4	8	B10	0.294	0
104	E. Carolina	3	9	AAC	0.281	+1
105	Cincinnati	4	8	AAC	0.268	+1
106	Nevada	3	9	MWC	0.267	+1
107	UL Monroe	4	8	SUN	0.259	-3
108	UMASS	4	8	MID	0.242	0
109	BYU	4	9	IND	0.239	0
110	Connecticut	3	9	AAC	0.230	0
111	Idaho	4	8	SUN	0.230	+7
112	UL Lafayette	5	7	SUN	0.200	0
113	Tulsa	2	10	AAC	0.192	0
114	S. Alabama	4	8	SUN	0.192	-3
115	New Mexico	3	9	MWC	0.191	0
116	Bowling Grn	2	10	MID	0.190	-2
117	Coastal Caro.	3	9	SUN	0.166	+9
118	Illinois	2	10	B10	0.164	-2
119	Hawaii	3	9	MWC	0.133	0
120	Baylor	1	11	B12	0.129	0
121	Georgia So.	2	10	SUN	0.113	-4
122	Oregon St.	1	11	PAC	0.108	-1
123	Charlotte	1	11	USA	0.108	0
124	Kent State	2	10	MID	0.107	0
125	Rice	1	11	USA	0.105	-3
126	Texas State	2	10	SUN	0.097	-1
127	Ball State	2	10	MID	0.091	0
128	Kansas	1	11	B12	0.058	0
129	San Jose St.	2	11	MWC	0.040	0
130	UTEP	0	12	USA	0.001	0

Hardest Schedule Played per Team:

Notre Dame	39.0
BC	44.8
Syracuse	45.0
Maryland	47.7
Iowa	47.9
Florida	48.0
Stanford	49.2
Clemson	49.3
Nebraska	49.6
UCLA	49.8
:	:
:	:
UTSA	90.8
S. Miss.	90.8
W. Kentucky	91.7
S. Florida	92.3
NM St.	93.0
Coastal Caro.	93.3
Georgia St.	95.5
UL Lafayette	95.8
App. St.	96.8
UAB	98.3

Average Rank per Conference:

SEC	45.5
ACC	46.6
IND	51.3
PAC	52.6
B10	53.9
B12	58.9
AAC	66.3
USA	80.5
MID	80.5
MWC	81.2
SUN	96.2

Hardest Cumulative Schedules Played per Conference:

ACC	55.2
B10	58.1
SEC	58.3
PAC	60.4
B12	64.7
IND	64.7
AAC	68.6
MID	78.2
MWC	78.7
USA	81.3
SUN	91.0