Rule #1: The first ranking will not be released until after the third week of college football has been played. What happened last year should have absolutely no bearing on this year’s rankings. If Washington State starts out 3-0 and USC stumbles out of the gate, the Cougars will be ranked higher that the Trojans. None of this “fighting last year’s failures” or “coasting on last year’s success” nonsense.
Rule # 2: We will only rank the top 10 teams. Beyond 10, the rankings become muddled and largely arbitrary. Besides, if sports writers (who do this for a living) don’t have the time to watch every game and make informed decisions, then we certainly don’t either.
Rule # 3: Wins against non-Division I teams will not be counted. As far as we’re concerned, Michigan can hang 200 points on Appalachian State, and they’re still not getting a win for the purposes of the FAKGPBCFRS. Conversely, a loss to a non-Division I team disqualifies you from FAKGPBCFRS entirely. This will be known as the "HOT HOT HOT rule."
Rule # 4: There is no such thing as “style points.” A narrow win over a quality opponent will be considered infinitely better than blowing out a cupcake. This is not to say that margin of victory will not be considered. Rather, we are looking to eliminate the “Florida cemented its place in the polls with mega style points against Florida Atlantic” bullshit we saw so much of last season. The term “style points” is a meaningless media buzz-word, and any KG writer who uses style points to justify a ranking will have his ballot revoked and his junk kicked.
Rule # 5: Teams cannot move up in the ranking during a bye week unless someone above them loses. This will be known as the “Cheeseburger Doctrine.”
Rule # 6: The two most important factors will be record and strength of schedule. Arbitrary assessments of teams’ schedule strength are not allowed. Instead, we will use the Sagarin strength of schedule rankings. It’s not perfect, but it will establish a uniform measurement.
Rule #7: A team’s ranking will be based on its body of work at the time of the poll. This will result in some clearly athletically superior teams being ranked relatively low to start the season, but until they prove it on the field, they will not be bumped up. They play the games for a reason. In other words, teams will not be ranked based on talent, potential, hype, or the likelihood that they will succeed later in the season. Rather, they will be ranked based on what they have accomplished. This poll is not designed to reflect who we think will win the championship. That will certainly be reflected in the final poll. Instead, FAKGPBCFRS is designed to recognize, on a week-to-week basis, which teams have had the most success and deserve to be ranked. In short, FAKGPBCFRS will be far more relevant and objective than any other poll in existence.
Rule # 8: Ranking will proceed as follows: Every member of the KG writing staff will submit a ballot, ranking his top ten teams. Team #1 will receive 10 points, team #2 will receive 9 points, team #3 will receive 8 points, etc. The points from the individual ballots will be added up and averaged to arrive at the official KG ranking. Ties will be allowed. In the unlikely event that there is a tie for first place in the final poll, there will be a split championship. This is only fair, as it can never be settled on the field until a playoff is established.
These rules are not final, and we will take any suggestions into consideration.
Labels: FAKGPBCFRS
