ESPN Stats & Information Preseason Conference Power Rankings
Rank Conference AP Rank FPI Rank Overall Rating
1 SEC 1 1 94.0
2 Pac-12 2 2 89.9
3 Big 12 3 3 78.0
4 Big Ten 4 4 70.5
5 ACC 5 5 61.1
6 AAC 6 6 25.0
7 MWC 8 7 20.6
8 C-USA 7 8 17.7
9 MAC 10 9 17.1
10 Sun Belt 9 10 14.8


"... Among Power Five conferences, the ACC is considered the weakest by both the AP Poll and FPI. That means that if the top four conferences place a team in the playoff, it would leave the ACC on the outside looking in. Yet, there is a lot more that goes into those decisions, including the fact that the ACC has the clear No. 1 team in the country. Florida State received 57 of 60 first place votes in the AP Poll and has by far the best chance (39 percent) to finish the season undefeated according to ESPN’s Football Power Index.

However, what if Florida State loses a conference game? Does the relative strength of the ACC come into play? Similarly, what if Marshall from Conference USA or Houston from the American Athletic Conference finish the season undefeated? Does the fact that they played in weaker conferences exclude them from the playoff?

All of these questions may arise throughout the season. Stay tuned after an exciting Week 1 of non-conference matchups that could significantly impact the conference power rankings going forward... ."

http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_...r-rankings

We're the best of the rest.

(08-25-2014 02:04 PM)SteveUCF19 Wrote:  We're the best of the rest.

So in their estimates, the AAC is half the quality of the ACC and about 25% better than the MWC. I wonder how many fudge factors and selective stat weighting that took.

(08-25-2014 02:04 PM)SteveUCF19 Wrote:  We're the best of the rest.

And there is a bigger gap between the AAC and the MWC then there is between the MWC and CUSA, the MAC and the Sun Belt.

There is almost as much distance between the SEC and the ACC as there is between the ACC and AAC.

Good God---these ratings have the AAC with a power rating that is les than half of the lowest P-5 conference. They clearly think very little of G5 football.

What a huge gap between ACC and AAC. Wow, that's crazy

that 61 to 25 drop off is out of this world..hopefully we cant improve the gap and create separation behind us

ACC (based on AP Poll alone) has the #1 , #16 and #23 teams in the country . The AAC has the #26 , #40 and well thats it. The gap is real . Not saying its right but it is what it is.

These rankings are based off of "Preseason Ranking". They are nothing more then bait for clicks. Do what I do, ignore them and give ESPin what they don't want, a time out so they lose clicks and thus lose money. Clicks to them = money.

So push yourself away from the PC and go outside if you can't stop yoursself from responding to them.

(08-25-2014 02:41 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  ACC (based on AP Poll alone) has the #1 , #16 and #23 teams in the country . The AAC has the #26 , #40 and well thats it. The gap is real . Not saying its right but it is what it is.

or that the poll and AP are bad?

ucf finished top 10, literally everyone returing but qb and rb, not preseason ranked

goergia 8-5, loses qb and alot more than ucf, preseason #12

clemson, loses star qb, star rb and star WR, #2 WR preseason #16
(i could go on with like a&m, lsu etc..)

there is a gap, no denying that, but the size is very questionable

(08-25-2014 02:41 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  ACC (based on AP Poll alone) has the #1 , #16 and #23 teams in the country . The AAC has the #26 , #40 and well thats it. The gap is real . Not saying its right but it is what it is.

Here are some more insights on the perceived gap:

MWC = #41, #48, and #50
C-USA = #32
Sun Belt = #49

Compare also:
Big 12 = #4, #10, #20, #28, #33, #35, #38
B1G = #5, #8, #14, #22, #30, #37, #43, #45

Based on Sagarin's pre-season rankings, the AP was kind to the American and the rest of the G5:

UCF = #45
Cincy = #38
Houston = #57
ECU = #65
SMU = #70

Boise = #26
Utah St. = #51
Fresno St. = #53
SDSU = #66
Nevada = #72

Marshall = #77
Louisiana-Lafayette = #73

Sagarin is worthless

(08-25-2014 02:41 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  ACC (based on AP Poll alone) has the #1 , #16 and #23 teams in the country . The AAC has the #26 , #40 and well thats it. The gap is real . Not saying its right but it is what it is.

And their 23rd ranked team being ranked is a JOKE.

You apparently don't understand that these writers and voters pull this crap just to assure that their narrative, aka the P5 is so awesome, is upheld by voting teams in that don't deserve to be there.

Can anyone really claim taht UNC is ranked for any other reason than the voters didn't want just 2 ACC teams ranked to begin the year?

Clemson lost their star RB, QB, and WRs yet they're still preseason 16 while UCF is unranked?

In a world where voters didn't skew things to fit their narrative, the ACC would have exactly 1 ranked team- FSU.

The ACC is a completely undeserving P5 conference, period. There is FSU and then a bunch of teams that completely leech upon the success of FSU. I mean, Louisville is a team that lost to UCF, yet absolutely gouged the eyes out of Miami last year, a team picked to play in the ACC championship game.

(08-25-2014 03:12 PM)The Knight Time Wrote:  

(08-25-2014 02:41 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  ACC (based on AP Poll alone) has the #1 , #16 and #23 teams in the country . The AAC has the #26 , #40 and well thats it. The gap is real . Not saying its right but it is what it is.

And their 23rd ranked team being ranked is a JOKE.

You apparently don't understand that these writers and voters pull this crap just to assure that their narrative, aka the P5 is so awesome, is upheld by voting teams in that don't deserve to be there.

Can anyone really claim taht UNC is ranked for any other reason than the voters didn't want just 2 ACC teams ranked to begin the year?

Clemson lost their star RB, QB, and WRs yet they're still preseason 16 while UCF is unranked?

In a world where voters didn't skew things to fit their narrative, the ACC would have exactly 1 ranked team- FSU.

The ACC is a completely undeserving P5 conference, period. There is FSU and then a bunch of teams that completely leech upon the success of FSU. I mean, Louisville is a team that lost to UCF, yet absolutely gouged the eyes out of Miami last year, a team picked to play in the ACC championship game.

Welcome to the Big East, urm, AAC.

Old big East fans used to say this same stuff all the time and you guys crapped on us. Well glad you're here to share in the stink.

(08-25-2014 03:01 PM)NBPirate Wrote:  Sagarin is worthless

Yeah, if I recall correctly they actually had NIU at #2 in december of last year.

(08-25-2014 02:41 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  ACC (based on AP Poll alone) has the #1 , #16 and #23 teams in the country . The AAC has the #26 , #40 and well thats it. The gap is real . Not saying its right but it is what it is.

The gap as represented by the polls is real. The gap itself is not--otherwise you don't have the Big-12 champ getting whipped by an AAC champ that had won several conference games by very tight margins.

The playoff committee that picks the bowl/playoff teams is not suppose to take preseason polls into account - which is why they will not issue their first of four polls until the 4th week. If they think they are crap and not worthy of review, then I place zero stock in them.

but the ratings are clearly flawed because they have Houston ahead of almighty UCF

http://espn.go.com/college-football/stat.../_/tab/fpi

Either way there should be more than 5 points separating AAC from MWC. This is a real kick in the balls!

BIG EAST just became BIG LEAST.

(08-25-2014 02:23 PM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  What a huge gap between ACC and AAC. Wow, that's crazy

Florida St and Clemson account for most of that. Our conference is pretty close to the rest of the ACC.