First of all let me say that this listing is going to be different than most you will see. I will group the teams by conference, but within strength categories.

Very Strong:
SEC: Alabama

Strong:
SEC: L.S.U.
Big 10: Wisconsin / Ohio State / Michigan
ACC: Clemson / Louisville

Above Average:
SEC: Florida / Tennessee / Texas A&M / Auburn
Big 10: Iowa / Nebraska / Penn State
ACC: Virginia Tech / Pittsburgh / Florida State
PAC: U.S.C. / Washington / Washington State / Colorado / Utah
Big 12: Oklahoma / Oklahoma State / West Virginia

Average:
SEC: Georgia / South Carolina / Arkansas / Mississippi / Kentucky
Big 10: Indiana / Northwestern / Minnesota
ACC: North Carolina / Georgia Tech / Wake Forest / N.C. State / Miami
PAC: Oregon State / Arizona State / Stanford
Big 12: Baylor / T.C.U. / Kansas State / Texas


Below Average:
SEC: Missouri / Vanderbilt / Mississippi State
Big 10: Purdue / Maryland / Rutgers / Illinois / Michigan State
ACC: Boston College / Duke / Syracuse / Virginia
PAC: Arizona / California / Oregon / U.C.L.A.
Big 12: Iowa State / Kansas / Texas Tech
*IND: Notre Dame


Please Note that I didn't base this upon simply their records, but rather their overall competitiveness, their competition, who they beat and how they lost, and of course the most unreliable the eye test.

I tried to group them roughly on how competitive they would be with the schools from the other conferences. I think there is plenty of room for argumentation but as we move toward the playoff and bowl season I think these grouping would yield some interesting pairings if they are matched with other schools from their same grouping.

Feel free to discuss.

PS: I decided to base the grouping on the overall season and not upon injuries that have hampered some schools. Clearly I believe Auburn to be leaning toward the average now that Pettway and White are injured. The same might be true of Ole Miss leaning toward below average and A&M leaning toward average. But since I don't know the injury status of all of the schools in other conferences I decided the fair thing to do was just base it on the average play over the course of the season and the competition.

I like the idea.

I'd suggest another tier under 'below average' for teams like Rutgers. Perhaps 'awful?'

There are a handful of schools that have demonstrated no ability to compete whatsoever at the FBS level this year.

Looks like a pretty accurate listing to me, nice work JR.

You left out Iowa State. I mention that in shame since they're awful, and yet they just beat my Jayhawks (who sadly would belong in the subterranean tier that AllTideUp suggested)

Looks about right based upon what teams have done so far this season, like you said injuries and trying to project the impact of those against the teams going forward is a more intensive effort and certainly would shake these up a little bit.

Overall I certainly agree that Alabama is in a class of their own and I think at this point the leaders for the last 3 sports of the CFP would come from the Big 10 and ACC groupings of your "strong" category.

looks good to me....

you could argue to put Clemson, Louisville, and Ohio State in the very strong, but we don't know that without playing through the playoffs yet...

(11-14-2016 10:22 AM)BewareThePhog Wrote:  You left out Iowa State. I mention that in shame since they're awful, and yet they just beat my Jayhawks (who sadly would belong in the subterranean tier that AllTideUp suggested)

Kansas made me very happy this week. Congrats!!!

Thanks - it was quite a shocker.

As for your Tigers, those stats you provided in the other thread were crazy - it's hard to imagine putting up those kind of numbers and losing by a big margin. But that's what turnovers can do - it's the only way we were able to beat Texas, certainly.

What's this? Missouri and Kansas fans being cordial to each other? If that can happen, maybe, just maybe, there's some post-election hope for us all after all!

(11-13-2016 04:43 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  I like the idea.

I'd suggest another tier under 'below average' for teams like Rutgers. Perhaps 'awful?'

There are a handful of schools that have demonstrated no ability to compete whatsoever at the FBS level this year.

Yes, sadly, 'below average' would be a major step forward for us this year.