It never amazes me how well analytics can transform a data into information. Below, I display the final, end-of-season rankings from the Associated Press (expert) and Coaches poll (expert) as well as our rankings at Badger Bracketology (analytics). Aside from a few exceptions (Tennessee, Clemson, Michigan), the analytics-based rankings are very close to those made by experts.
Using analytics, we leverage box score data from a few hundred college football games to produce team rankings that are almost indistinguishable from those created by experts. To me, that is beautiful.
| Rank | Associated Press | Coaches Poll | Badger Bracketology |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State | Ohio State | Ohio State |
| 2 | Notre Dame | Notre Dame | Notre Dame |
| 3 | Oregon | Texas | Texas |
| 4 | Texas | Oregon | Oregon |
| 5 | Penn State | Penn State | Penn State |
| 6 | Georgia | Georgia | Georgia |
| 7 | Arizona State | Arizona State | Indiana |
| 8 | Boise State | Boise State | Arizona State |
| 9 | Tennessee | Tennessee | Boise State |
| 10 | Indiana | Indiana | Ole Miss |
| 11 | Ole Miss | Clemson and SMU (tied) | BYU |
| 12 | SMU | – | SMU |
| 13 | BYU | Ole Miss | Michigan |
| 14 | Clemson | BYU | Iowa State |
| 15 | Iowa State | Iowa State | Alabama |
| 16 | Illinois | Illinois | Illinois |
| 17 | Alabama | Alabama | Miami |
| 18 | Miami | Miami | Oregon |
| 19 | South Carolina | South Carolina | Tennessee |
| 20 | Syracuse | Missouri | South Carolina |
| 21 | Army | Army | Syracuse |
| 22 | Missouri | Syracuse | Army |
| 23 | UNLV | Memphis | Clemson |
| 24 | Memphis | UNLV | Louisville |
| 25 | Colorado | Colorado | UNLV |