WHO FACED THE TOUGHEST SCHEDULE IN 2009?
What makes my Toughest Opponents Faced rankings far superior to the NCAA method is that mine takes into account 9 sets of power ratings, combines them and factors in every team’s schedule this year. I did this not only for the bowl teams, but for all the NCAA teams & found out which teams played the toughest schedules this year. Read more…
With non-conference games winding down, it’s no surprise to see that the SEC continued it’s domination of non-conference foes taking the top spot every week of the poll. The ACC became just the second team to project a winning record vs non-conference BCS teams. The Big Ten continued to hold the second place spot in the overall projected record and the record vs non-conference FBS teams. The MAC continues to sit in the basement in 2 of 3 categories.
I continue to do my onslaught of radio shows which occupies a good portion of my days during the end of July. As you know I’ve always spent about 90% of my time on college football but I am very excited about our NFL Magazine. I have the same desire to mirror my success of being college footballs “most accurate” magazine by becoming the most accurate NFL Magazine as well. In this years magazine (which is now available) I project each of the division races with records. I want to share just how much work and research goes into making these forecasts. Read more…
Yesterday I posted the Toughest Schedules in the country for all 120 teams and as mentioned I feel the way I tabulate the rankings based on this years power ratings as opposed to last years records is by far the best way to determine the toughest schedule.
Today I will look at the teams that will benefit from playing a much easier schedule than last year and conversely teams that play a much more difficult schedule. Read more…
A few months ago I gave you all of the toughest schedules using the NCAA method of determining toughest schedules which is last year’s record. This method has some major flaws which I have pointed out in my Toughest Schedule article on pages 317 and 318 of the magazine over the past few years. I was very proud to be the first to determine those percentages as we put it up two days after the last schedule was finalized.
Today I give you the actual toughest schedules for each of this year’s teams. A couple of quick examples is that in my toughest schedule ranking LSU, which was 8-5 last year and is a Top 10 team, is graded by their 2009 power rating and not last year’s 8-5 record. Using the NCAA method a team like Utah that was 13-0 last year but has just 12 returning starters is graded as a much tougher opponent due to last year’s record. Also a IAA (or FCS) team with a winning record from last year is graded to be a much tougher opponent than a team such as Illinois which was 5-7 last year, but is a team I think will be in a Jan bowl. Also Michigan is a legitimate bowl squad this year but you only get credit for playing a weak 3-9 team using last year’s record. Read more…
