It's been a wild year for college football, and after a season of blood, sweat, and tears, KG is ready to announce the first FAKGPBCFRS Champion! This was truly a difficult decision for our voters, with teams like USC, Georgia, and LSU all enjoying post-season success. You could make a case for several teams, but it all came down to one team in the end.
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2008 FAKGPBCFRS poll champion is...
...drum roll please...
...the Alabama Crimson Tide! Congratulations to Alabama on a tremendous season and a well deserved championship. Why Alabama you ask? Well, I'm just curious to see if they'll retroactively claim this title 20 years from now and add it to their 84 extremely dubious championships. Honestly, is the Kelly Green title any less credible than Alabama's 1934 "Ladies Frock and Bodice Magazine" title? I guess we'll find out. The ball is in your court, 'bama.
Plenty of movement in this week's edition of the FAKGPBCFRS. The entire top-three lost over the weekend, paving the way for a truly craptastic championship game. We're getting dangerously close to my pre-season prediction of a WVU / OSU title game, which I based solely on their weak schedules. This year is proof that championships are scheduled every bit as much as they are won. For the record, frequent KG commenter Tommy O made the same prediction before the season began. Maybe this prediction will make up for our horribly misguided predictions regarding Notre Dame's record this year. I predicted 7 wins and I believe Tommy O was even more optimistic. I guess sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you.
Anyhow, Missouri and West Virginia were the biggest beneficiaries of the implosion at the top of the rankings. USC also shot up several spots after their impressive victory over ASU. By losing at home to the only semi-decent team they've played all season, Kansas took one of the biggest drops in FAKGPBCFRS history.
The Buckeyes dropped four spots after losing to Illinois, confirming the reservations I expressed last week. Oh well, the poll has self-corrected with LSU, Oregon, and ASU in the top three.
Oklahoma dropped one spot after Baylor weakened their already pathetic strength of schedule.
None of us are quite sure what to do with Kansas. Some voters have them very high thanks to their perfect record, while others have them very low thanks to their abominable schedule. The Big-12 Championship should settle this issue one way or the other.
USC jumped back into the mix, but the 10th spot is tenuous at best. There are several teams nipping at the Trojans' heels.
OSU edged out LSU for the top spot by one point, despite a much weaker strength of schedule. I'm a little uncomfortable with this situation, but the Buckeyes are undefeated and have been generally solid. The Michigan game should settle this issue one way or the other.
ASU dropped 2 spots after a loss to #3 Oregon. Hard to ding them too much considering the quality of their one loss and overall strong schedule.
Oklahoma and Missouri benefited from BC's shocking loss. You'd think BC would take a much bigger hit after losing to a terrible Florida State squad, but we just didn’t feel like anyone else deserved to jump them. This was less about BC's merits and more about everyone else not making a case for themselves.
Kansas is still way down there thanks to a miserable schedule. They haven't proven a thing yet, and I actually think we're being a bit generous with them. After averaging all of the ballots, Kansas actually jumped WVU, but the final poll does not reflect that change in accordance with the cheeseburger doctrine.
There was some debate as to the # 10 team, but Georgia ended up sneaking in there thanks to their excellent strength of schedule.
1) Ohio State 2) Arizona State 3) LSU 4) Oregon 5) Boston College 6) Oklahoma 7) Missouri 8) West Virginia 9) Kansas 10) UConn
Who the BCS top 10 play this weekend:
Saturday
- Ohio State(1) plays Wisconsin - Kansas(8) plays Nebraska - Georgia(10) plays Troy - LSU(3) plays Alabama - Missouri(9) plays Colorado - Arizona State(4) plays Oregon(5) - Boston College(2) plays Florida State - Oklahoma(6) plays Texas A&M
We have some ties this week in the FAKGPBRS poll, due to the way the ballots fell. Here goes:
1. 3-way tie: Ohio State, LSU, and Arizona State 4. Boston College 5. Oregon 6. Oklahoma 7. 2-way tie: Florida, South Florida 9. 2-way tie: West Virginia, Missouri
Who the BCS top 10 play this weekend:
Thursday
- Boston College(2) plays Virginia Tech(8)
Saturday
- West Virginia(7) plays Rutgers - Oregon(5) plays USC - South Florida(10) plays Connecticut - Kansas(9) plays Texas A&M - Ohio State(1) plays Penn State - Arizona State(4) plays California
First note that FAKGPBRS' week count is done by weeks played, thus it's labeled as week #7, even though ESPN labels the rankings as week 8. Here's the latest FAKGPBRS poll:
1) Ohio State (+2) 2) Arizona State (+2) 3) LSU (-2) 4) South Florida (+1) 5) Boston College (+1) 6) Kentucky (+5) 7) South Carolina (+1) 8) California (-6) 9) Oregon (-2) 10) Oklahoma (+1)
Others receiving votes: Auburn Dropping out: Missouri, Florida State
Notes: The collective wisdom of FAKGPBRS says that ASU is being undervalued by the other human polls. Their strength of schedule is actually superior to that of OSU, and one of OSU's wins was against a Div-AA school.
Who the BCS top 10 teams play this weekend...
Thursday:
- South Florida(2) plays Rutgers
Saturday:
- Oklahoma(5) plays Iowa State - South Carolina(6) plays Vanderbilt - Ohio State(1) plays Michigan State - Kentucky(7) plays Florida - West Virginia(9) plays Mississippi State - Oregon(10) plays Washington - LSU(4) plays Auburn
1) LSU (+1) 2) California (-1) 3) Ohio State (+1) 4) Arizona State (+1) 5) South Florida (+4) 6) Boston College (0) 7) Oregon (+1) 8) South Carolina (+3) 9) Missouri (+2) 10) Florida State (+1)
Dropping out: USC, Kentucky, Wisconsin
Who the FAKGPBRS teams play this weekend...
Thursday:
- Florida State(10) plays Wake Forest
Saturday:
- Ohio State(3) plays Kent State - South Florida(5) plays Central Florida - LSU(1) plays Kentucky - Boston College(6) plays Notre Dame - South Carolina(8) plays North Carolina - Oregon(7) plays Washington State - Missouri(9) plays Oklahoma - California(2) plays Oregon State - Arizona State(4) plays Washington
1) California (+5) 2) LSU (-1) 3) USC (0) 4) Ohio State (+3) 5) Arizona State (+3) 6) Boston College (-2) 7) Kentucky (+2) 8) Oregon (-3) 9) South Florida (+2) 10) Wisconsin (+1)
Dropping out: Florida, Michigan State
Notes:
The rationale behind the FAKGPBRS were definitely validated this week, as the human preseason and early season polls had a rough ride this week. From the preseason AP-25, only USC, LSU, and Wisconsin remain unbeaten. From the AP-25 for week 4, only LSU, USC, California, Ohio State, and Wisconsin remain unbeaten.
In contrast, the FAKGPBRS week 4 poll retained LSU, USC, Boston College, California, Ohio State, Arizona State, and Kentucky as unbeaten this week.
Now admittedly, it's still early, and the number of unbeaten teams remaining week-to-week is not the only rubric of a poll's adeptness. As the season progresses we'll get a better idea of FAKGPBRS' advantages and shortcomings.
1) LSU (+1) 2) Florida (+5) 3) USC (+1) 4) Boston College (-3) 5) Oregon (0) 6) California (+3) 7) Ohio State (-1) 8) Arizona State (+3) 9) Kentucky (+3) 10) Michigan State (+3)
Dropping out: Texas, Air Force, Alabama
Notes:
The FAKGPBRS is in a bit of flux, as the season is still young, and we bring on ballots from all of KG's writers. The numbers in parentheses represent the number of spots gained or lost in the poll from week 3. For teams that are new in the top-10, entering the top-10 counts as 1 spot gained.
Well, here it is… the very first installment of the First Annual Kelly Green Performance Based Ranking System (FAKGPBRS). Please familiarize yourself with the rules before going ape shit. Yeah, it looks crazy, but I predicted that it would early in the season. The problem is that even though 25% of the season has passed us by, the good teams haven’t really played anyone yet. We may start this poll even later next year, possibly a game or two into the conference schedules.
1) Boston College (3-0) SOS 44 2) LSU (3-0) SOS 50 3) Texas (3-0) SOS 52 4) USC (2-0) SOS 55 5) Oregon (3-0) SOS 67 6) OSU (2-0) SOS 66 7) Florida (3-0) SOS 69 8) Air Force (2-0) SOS 68 9) Cal (3-0) SOS 72 10) Alabama (3-0) SOS 79
Unfortunately, BC was an easy choice for the top spot. Of all the undefeated teams in the country, they have the best strength of schedule, including an impressive victory over Georgia Tech. LSU, Texas, and USC are all pretty self explanatory. Oregon’s SOS is slightly worse than OSU’s, but I bumped them ahead of the Buckeyes because, according to the rules of FAKGPBRS, OSU only has 2 wins. Sorry bucknuts, you are awarded no points for clobbering DIAA Youngstown State, and may God have mercy on your souls. Exact same situation between Air Force and Florida. Air Force’s SOS is slightly better than Florida’s, but the Flyboys’ win against SC State (that’s a college?) doesn’t count. And yes, Air Force really does deserve to be ranked this high right now. Their SOS is, sadly, comparatively excellent. What does that say about the state of college football? Nothing good, that’s for sure. Anyhow, Cal and Bama round out the list. Why is Cal so low? Well, the win over Tennessee was great and all, but lowly Colorado State and lowlier Louisiana Tech really hurt their SOS.
If you can convince me otherwise, I would be happy to alter the rankings. However, please read the rules first. Feel free to explain to me why XYZ team is ranked incorrectly based on their on-field results so far, but so help me God, if you try to explain why XYZ team should be ranked higher because they are better on paper, would win a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, have better long-run potential, etc, I will find you and I will cut you. I kinda feel like I’m undervaluing Florida by one or two spots, so that would be a good place to start.
I’ve said for years that I could improve upon the unbelievably retarded ranking system currently employed in college football. Well, it’s time to back up all the talk as we unveil the preliminary rules for the First Annual Kelly Green Performance-Based College Football Ranking System (FAKGPBCFRS).
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.
