NEMindex Through Conference Championships

UTES WIN! Back-to-back PAC-12 championships! Not bad for the newest team in the conference.  So now we're Rose Bowl bound and likely to play Penn State.  Utah has NEVER played Penn State before, so this should be exciting.  We started the season ranked #4 in the AP poll, fell rather low in the middle of the season and now will likely end up back within the top 10.  

Georgia and Michigan both won their championships and are the obvious top two.  Though I suppose many will argue who should get that #1 seed, this system gives Georgia a pretty big margin over Michigan for that spot. The main difference here is the strength of schedule difference between the two.  Georgia's average opponent, over the whole season, is ranked 51st.  Michigan's is ranked 71st.  Their average win margins are nearly identical: 26.4 and 26.7 points, respectively. 

So that locks up the top two spots. I then have Ohio State and TCU as third and fourth. Those seem like probably logical picks and the committee may very well pick those same two.  As much as I dislike seeing Ohio State in there I don't think there is an argument to be made for any other team.  Alabama is close obviously, but with neither of them playing a conference championship, that second loss seems like sufficient reason to give it to OSU instead. Same argument for Tennessee, whom I actually have ranked just above Alabama.  Clemson might have a decent argument, simply because they won their conference championship, but the weaker schedule and the second loss still keeps them in that next tier.  I think it has to be Ohio State and TCU.

Anyway, great season! Thanks for following along. I'll probably take time off until after the bowl games and will post a final ranking for the season at that point.

Rank	Team	W	L	Conf	RTPS	Delta
1	Georgia	13	0	SEC	1.000	0
2	Michigan	13	0	B10	0.873	0
3	Ohio State	11	1	B10	0.812	+1
4	TCU	12	1	B12	0.784	-1
5	Tennessee	10	2	SEC	0.777	0
6	Alabama	10	2	SEC	0.769	+1
7	Penn State	10	2	B10	0.732	+1
8	Kansas St.	10	3	B12	0.730	+1
9	USC	11	2	PAC	0.728	-3
10	Clemson	11	2	ACC	0.722	+2
11	Tulane	11	2	AAC	0.715	0
12	Utah	10	3	PAC	0.705	+6
13	Troy	11	2	SUN	0.688	+3
14	Texas	8	4	B12	0.687	0
15	Florida St.	9	3	ACC	0.685	-2
16	Wash.	10	2	PAC	0.668	-1
17	LSU	9	4	SEC	0.652	-7
18	Oregon	9	3	PAC	0.652	-1
19	Notre Dame	8	4	IND	0.643	0
20	Oregon St.	9	3	PAC	0.637	0
21	S. Carolina	8	4	SEC	0.631	0
22	UTSA	11	2	USA	0.630	+1
23	Miss. St.	8	4	SEC	0.621	-1
24	S. Alabama	10	2	SUN	0.611	0
25	Louisville	7	5	ACC	0.596	+1
26	UCLA	9	3	PAC	0.592	+2
27	Ole Miss	8	4	SEC	0.584	+4
28	J. Madison	8	3	SUN	0.577	+2
29	Cincinnati	9	3	AAC	0.575	+3
30	Fresno St.	9	4	MWC	0.574	+10
31	UCF	9	4	AAC	0.574	-6
32	Kentucky	7	5	SEC	0.564	+2
33	N. Carolina	9	4	ACC	0.560	-6
34	Marshall	8	4	SUN	0.556	+1
35	Pittsburgh	8	4	ACC	0.551	+2
36	Boise State	9	4	MWC	0.548	-7
37	Air Force	9	3	MWC	0.545	+1
38	Coast. Caro.	9	3	SUN	0.541	-5
39	NC State	8	4	ACC	0.538	0
40	Arkansas	6	6	SEC	0.528	+1
41	Wake Forest	7	5	ACC	0.521	+2
42	Ohio	9	4	MID	0.518	-6
43	Illinois	8	4	B10	0.516	+1
44	SMU	7	5	AAC	0.512	+1
45	Minnesota	8	4	B10	0.510	+2
46	Florida	6	6	SEC	0.510	+2
47	Texas Tech	7	5	B12	0.509	-1
48	Purdue	8	5	B10	0.507	-6
49	Missouri	6	6	SEC	0.506	+1
50	Duke	8	4	ACC	0.501	-1
51	Wash. St.	7	5	PAC	0.499	+1
52	Syracuse	7	5	ACC	0.498	-1
53	Iowa	7	5	B10	0.485	0
54	Maryland	7	5	B10	0.484	+1
55	Baylor	6	6	B12	0.482	+1
56	BYU	7	5	IND	0.480	-2
57	E. Carolina	7	5	AAC	0.474	0
58	Houston	7	5	AAC	0.471	0
59	Toledo	8	5	MID	0.470	+15
60	Oklahoma	6	6	B12	0.465	-1
61	San Jose St.	7	4	MWC	0.462	-1
62	Kansas	6	6	B12	0.452	-1
63	Auburn	5	7	SEC	0.451	-1
64	San Diego St.	7	5	MWC	0.450	+1
65	Oklahoma St.	7	5	B12	0.450	-2
66	Liberty	8	4	IND	0.447	0
67	W. Kentucky	8	5	USA	0.444	-3
68	UL Lafayette	6	6	SUN	0.436	0
69	Wisconsin	6	6	B10	0.435	-2
70	Wyoming	7	5	MWC	0.431	-1
71	Memphis	6	6	AAC	0.427	-1
72	Vanderbilt	5	7	SEC	0.426	+1
73	UAB	6	6	USA	0.424	-2
74	E. Mich.	8	4	MID	0.419	+1
75	Mid. Tenn.	7	5	USA	0.405	+1
76	Mich. St.	5	7	B10	0.404	+3
77	North Texas	7	6	USA	0.403	-5
78	App. St.	6	6	SUN	0.402	0
79	Arizona	5	7	PAC	0.401	+2
80	S. Miss.	6	6	SUN	0.399	+2
81	Utah State	6	6	MWC	0.397	-4
82	Texas A&M	5	7	SEC	0.395	-2
83	Buffalo	6	6	MID	0.391	+3
84	Georgia So.	6	6	SUN	0.384	-1
85	W. Virginia	5	7	B12	0.379	-1
86	Bowling Grn	6	6	MID	0.378	+2
87	Georgia Tech	5	7	ACC	0.373	-2
88	Connecticut	6	6	IND	0.371	+2
89	Army	5	6	IND	0.370	0
90	Iowa State	4	8	B12	0.369	-3
91	Miami (FL)	5	7	ACC	0.362	0
92	Kent State	5	7	MID	0.361	+1
93	Miami (OH)	6	6	MID	0.351	+1
94	Navy	4	7	AAC	0.350	-2
95	Tulsa	5	7	AAC	0.335	+1
96	Florida Atl.	5	7	USA	0.331	-1
97	Ball State	5	7	MID	0.330	0
98	California	4	8	PAC	0.324	0
99	Indiana	4	8	B10	0.317	0
100	UNLV	5	7	MWC	0.316	0
101	W. Michigan	5	7	MID	0.310	0
102	Georgia St.	4	8	SUN	0.302	0
103	NM St.	6	6	IND	0.295	+8
104	Rice	5	7	USA	0.283	0
105	Nebraska	4	8	B10	0.282	0
106	UTEP	5	7	USA	0.281	-3
107	Rutgers	4	8	B10	0.277	0
108	UL Monroe	4	8	SUN	0.276	0
109	Virginia	3	7	ACC	0.276	-3
110	Stanford	3	9	PAC	0.270	-1
111	Arizona St.	3	9	PAC	0.266	-1
112	C. Mich.	4	8	MID	0.264	0
113	Colorado St.	3	9	MWC	0.240	0
114	Arkansas St.	3	9	SUN	0.237	+1
115	VT	3	8	ACC	0.232	-1
116	BC	3	9	ACC	0.231	0
117	Texas State	4	8	SUN	0.222	+1
118	Old Dom.	3	9	SUN	0.219	-1
119	LA Tech	3	9	USA	0.203	0
120	Temple	3	9	AAC	0.180	0
121	Hawaii	3	10	MWC	0.176	0
122	Colorado	1	11	PAC	0.158	0
123	Charlotte	3	9	USA	0.155	0
124	Akron	2	10	MID	0.154	0
125	Nevada	2	10	MWC	0.150	+1
126	Florida Int.	4	8	USA	0.145	-1
127	N. Illinois	3	9	MID	0.138	0
128	NW	1	11	B10	0.132	0
129	New Mexico	2	10	MWC	0.119	0
130	S. Florida	1	11	AAC	0.089	0
131	UMASS	1	11	IND	0.000	0

Hardest Schedule Played per Team:

Colorado	39.6
Auburn	42.7
Florida	47.3
Stanford	47.3
Arkansas	47.6
LSU	49.4
Georgia	50.5
Vanderbilt	50.7
Texas	51.0
Kentucky	51.8
:	:
:	:
Charlotte	89.6
San Jose St.	90.9
S. Alabama	90.9
Ohio	91.3
Mid. Tenn.	91.3
Liberty	91.8
Florida Int.	93.8
Air Force	96.3
NM St.	102.6
E. Mich.	103.1

Average Rank per Conference:

SEC	34.6
B12	49.0
PAC	56.0
ACC	58.4
B10	59.9
AAC	67.3
SUN	71.9
IND	78.9
MWC	80.6
USA	89.8
MID	90.8

Hardest Cumulative Schedules Played per Conference:

SEC	51.7
B12	57.3
PAC	59.9
ACC	64.8
B10	67.9
AAC	70.9
SUN	75.9
MWC	80.4
IND	80.5
MID	85.3
USA	85.5