After six weeks, the most popular algorithms really like two teams. Being a college football fan, you probably already know that those two teams are Ohio State and Alabama. These two had already separated themselves last week, but with Auburn’s loss and subsequent drop from #3 to #8 below, the gap has continued to widen.
The top 5 on the Natty side remains the same from last week. However, on the CFP side, Wisconsin and Clemson replaced Auburn and Georgia one week after Auburn and Georgia replaced Clemson and Wisconsin.
The big winner this week, Florida, gained ground but was too far back to factor in to the top 4. Florida moved up from #18 to #11 on the CFP side and #18 to #15 on the Natty side. It would seem that even with the big win, the algorithms are not impressed with Florida just yet.
Here are the standings. Note: Since it is October now, I am using the teams ranked in the top 15 of one of these algorithms instead of the top 20 as I did in September.
How This Works: I went through the most popular algorithms, took their rankings from prior to conference championship weekend, and then determined which algorithms best predicted the 4 playoff teams as well as the national champion. I then weighted the top four algorithms based on their accuracy. Then I created two different rankings below. The one on the left is based on “College Football Playoff” selection accuracy. The one on the right is based on eventual “National Champion” accuracy. For a team to be included, they have to be ranked within the top 15 of one of these algorithms.(Disclaimer: I’m sure the fine people who came up with these algorithms will say that the purpose I am using them for is not exactly what they are designed to do. I acknowledge that and believe that the way I am using them is beneficial to readers.)
Last week’s top four on the CFP side included a tie at the top:
#1 Alabama
#1 Ohio State
#3 Auburn
#4 Georgia
This week’s top 4 features Ohio State all by themselves at #1:
#1 Ohio State
#2 Alabama
#3 Wisconsin
#4 Clemson
On the Natty side though, Alabama has retaken the top spot by a slim margin over Ohio State. Clemson was idle last week but remains #3. However, Clemson did lose ground (along with Georgia and Wisconsin) on the top 2.
