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Power Rankings

By Tecra031
8/13/2016 8:24 am
Not that this is at the top of the list or really affects a lot, but the rankings change after each week doesn't make sense...

- GB wins decisively over DET and drops 3 positions. DET moves up 1
- MIA beats KC - Mia drops 3 and KC moves up 11
- NJ beats undefeated SF in a heavyweight bout - neither team moves at all
- Jax beats a very strong NO team - neither team moves at all

Out of curiosity, what is the calculation for power rankings? I think it was brought up before, but I couldn't find it.

Re: Power Rankings

By jdavidbakr - Site Admin
8/13/2016 11:01 am
It's using an algorithm from this book: http://amzn.to/2beBmuq Kind of hard to explain because it's pretty complicated, but essentially it resolves to a score for each team in terms of how many points they are expected to score to the least error based on games actually played, taking into account home field advantage, capping the wins to 14 points. It only takes current season scores into account which is why early in the season the power rankings are a bit skewed, as there is not much data. But in the season, each game is weighted the same, so if team A beats team B but loses to team C, while team C beats team B, and somewhere down the line team D impacts the ratings of all 3 through common opponents, it gets a bit hard to predict what it resolves to.

Re: Power Rankings

By lellow2011
8/13/2016 11:11 am
Cinci is number 2 :)

Re: Power Rankings

By WarEagle
8/13/2016 11:53 am
jdavidbakr wrote:
It's using an algorithm from this book: http://amzn.to/2beBmuq


Then that algorithm was written in a way that completely disregards common sense and uses formulas that are not much more accurate than just picking teams at random.

I posted this in response to someone's question about power rankings in another thread, but I think it illustrates how ridiculous and out of touch with reality these power rankings are:

wareagle wrote:

Power Rankings should be ignored. They make no sense whatsoever.

For example:
The regular season just finished in CUST-10.

My team (Gators) is 16-0. The next best record is 13-3.
My team lead the league in most points scored.
My team lead the league in fewest points allowed.
My team lead the league in most yards per pass attempt.
My team lead the league in most yards per rush attempt.
My team lead the league in most yards from scrimmage per game.
My team was #3 in fewest yards from scrimmage per game allowed.

Not that it matters for this season, but my team is also the defending champs, having gone undefeated last year as well.

The best part...my team is #3 in the power rankings.

Also:

CUST-21 just finished the regular season.

My team (Mud Dogs) is 16-0. Next best record is 14-2.
#1 in points scored
#1 in fewest points allowed
#1 in yds from scrimmage/game
#1 in pass yards/game
#1 in rush yds/game
#1 in fewest rush yds/game allowed
#1 in completion %
#1 in pass yards/attempt
#1 in pass tds/game
#1 in rush yds/carry
#1 in rush tds/game

#2 in power rankings.

So, what exactly are the power rankings based on?