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Someday in a future more sane than today, the winners of all twelve FBS divisions will have play-offs to determine a true national champion college football team.

Until then, we humbly offer a completely, totally and purely objective poll which ranks teams on the basis of nothing other than wins and losses.

No subjective opinions, no quality of wins, no traditions, no weighted statistics...just wins and losses determining who's best.

Which, let's face it, is the way it should be.

2009 NCAA Div-1 College Football Season Schedule posted! See the Excel link below.

Objective Poll Methodoly

A team’s ranking is determined by the total number of demerits it accumulates through losses during the season. The team with the fewest demerits is ranked highest.

· All FBS teams begin the season with 1 demerit and tied for first place.

· To handle inter-division games, non-FBS teams begin the season with 2 demerits

When a team loses a game, it adds the opponent’s total demerits to its own total. When a team wins, its demerits stay the same.

· Undefeated teams maintain an accumulated total demerits of 1.

A team's strength of schedule changes weekly as the combined demerits from all its season's opponents change.

Strength of schedule is calculated by percentile ranking (0 to 99) from the total demerits of all its opponents combined. This percentile ranking is added as a decimal to the team’s demerits.

Demerits

All teams begin the season with 1 demerit. When a team loses, its demerits are increased by the number of demerits its opponent had on game day. The winning team's total demerits does not change.

Strength of Schedule

The percentaile ranking (zero to 99) of the combined demerits of all a team's opponents. This changes week-to-week as former opponents win or lose their games.

Poll Score

The combination of a team's demerits (always a whole number) and its strength of schedule as a decimal. This score determines where a team is stack ranked in the division, which is the "poll".

For example:

Undefeated teams are tied with only 1 accumulated total demerit but are stack-ranked by their strength of schedule (0 to 99). An undefeated team with a score of 1.26 (undefeated, with the 26th strongest schedule) is ranked ahead of another undefeated team with a score of 1.43 (undefeated, but with the 43rd strongest schedule).

Why is this poll the best of poll of them all?

It uses absolutely no opinions or subjective inputs whatsoever.
It disregards all subjective weights such as quality of win, scoring averages, traditions, lateness in the season or home/away effects.
It's simple, open and predictable.
It uses only wins and losses to determine the rankings, without considering any statistical variables or formulas.
It includes the effect of FBS teams winning or losing against opponents in other divisions.
It places no margin of victory incentive for a team to increase their scoring against a weaker opponent.
It ignores the relative strength of a team's conference and focuses objectively on the strength of a team's opponents throughout the season.
It enables rankings from the very first week of play, eliminating virtually all possible ties sooner in the season than most computer rankings even publish their first poll.
It encourages scheduling the toughest opponents and the biggest games.
It eliminates debate and controversy by rewarding the only thing which matters: winning!

So, here we have a system to rank college football teams in a manner absolutely free from human influence or opinion, accounts for schedule strength, ignores runaway scores, and produces incontrovertible results free from complex, arcane closed mathematical models, based only on wins and losses.

What else could you want?

Download the 2009 season schedule:

Download the 2008 final rankings:

2008 Season-End Poll Rankings

Week 17 - January 11, 2009

Rank Team Score
1 Utah 1.27
2 Texas 2.20
3 TCU 3.35
4 Florida 4.38
5 Southern California 4.42
6 Boise State 4.58
7 Rice 4.69
8 Ohio State 5.36
9 Oklahoma 6.26
10 Alabama 6.35
11 Nebraska 7.34
12 Mississippi 7.37
13 Texas Tech 10.20
14 Western Michigan 11.75
15 Rutgers 12.51
16 Virginia Tech 13.69
17 Kansas 14.37
18 Baylor 18.27
19 Colorado State 18.28
20 Missouri 19.33
21 Oregon 21.38
22 Georgia 22.39
23 California 23.42
24 Oregon State 25.43
25 Iowa 25.44
26 Oklahoma State 26.26
27 Kansas State 27.25
28 Auburn 27.26
29 Colorado 29.18
30 Texas A&M 29.24
31 North Carolina State 29.48
32 Penn State 30.33
33 Tennessee 30.35
34 Clemson 30.39
35 Mississippi State 31.40
36 Cincinnati 31.61
37 New Mexico 35.38
38 Houston 35.58
39 Florida State 37.39
40 Southern Mississippi 37.64
41 Arizona 40.45
42 Purdue 43.47
43 Brigham Young 44.33
44 Northwestern 44.40
45 Florida Atlantic 46.74
46 Air Force 47.27
47 San Diego State 47.33
48 Arkansas 51.27
49 Michigan State 52.35
50 Illinois 53.33
51 West Virginia 53.45
52 Wyoming 54.24
53 Wisconsin 54.52
54 Louisiana Tech 56.69
55 Pittsburgh 57.47
56 Bowling Green 57.69
57 South Carolina 60.29
58 UCLA 60.37
59 Wake Forest 60.49
60 Arizona State 62.37
61 Michigan 62.40
62 Syracuse 62.47
63 Miami (Fla.) 63.40
64 LSU 66.40
65 Utah State 67.53
66 Virginia 68.39
67 UNLV 69.28
68 Stanford 69.40
69 Maryland 70.45
70 Louisiana-Monroe 70.53
71 Kentucky 71.51
72 Iowa State 76.18
73 Ohio 77.62
74 Arkansas State 79.53
75 La.-Lafayette 80.49
76 Louisville 81.50
77 Georgia Tech 82.41
78 Kent State 82.77
79 Troy 85.62
80 Fresno State 86.58
81 Temple 86.72
82 Connecticut 87.47
83 South Florida 89.49
84 Notre Dame 91.57
85 North Carolina 92.47
86 Idaho 92.52
87 Nevada 92.54
88 Army 92.59
89 Texas-El Paso 93.72
90 Southern Methodist 98.55
91 Tulsa 103.78
92 Toledo 105.74
93 Middle Tennessee 107.59
94 UAB 108.67
95 Navy 109.57
96 Indiana 109.58
97 Minnesota 115.34
98 Vanderbilt 116.40
99 North Texas 116.56
100 Northern Illinois 119.75
101 East Carolina 123.74
102 Duke 124.37
103 Washington State 125.38
104 San Jose State 128.53
105 Florida International 131.57
106 Eastern Michigan 136.70
107 Boston College 152.49
108 Hawaii 152.59
109 Marshall 165.51
110 UCF 177.64
111 Buffalo 179.75
112 Miami (Ohio) 180.60
113 Memphis 181.69
114 Washington 187.29
115 Central Michigan 187.64
116 Akron 193.58
117 Ball State 197.00
118 Tulane 260.51
119 Western Kentucky 263.48
120 New Mexico State 266.47

Strength of Schedule Ranking for the 2008 Season
Rank Team
Opponents'
Demerits
Percentile
1 Colorado 0.18
2 Iowa State 0.18
3 Texas Tech 0.20
4 Texas 0.20
5 Wyoming 0.24
6 Texas A&M 0.24
7 Kansas State 0.25
8 Oklahoma State 0.26
9 Auburn 0.26
10 Oklahoma 0.26
11 Baylor 0.27
12 Air Force 0.27
13 Arkansas 0.27
14 Utah 0.27
15 UNLV 0.28
16 Colorado State 0.28
17 South Carolina 0.29
18 Washington 0.29
19 Brigham Young 0.33
20 San Diego State 0.33
21 Missouri 0.33
22 Penn State 0.33
23 Illinois 0.33
24 Nebraska 0.34
25 Minnesota 0.34
26 Michigan State 0.35
27 TCU 0.35
28 Tennessee 0.35
29 Alabama 0.35
30 Ohio State 0.36
31 Kansas 0.37
32 Mississippi 0.37
33 Duke 0.37
34 UCLA 0.37
35 Arizona State 0.37
36 New Mexico 0.38
37 Washington State 0.38
38 Florida 0.38
39 Oregon 0.38
40 Georgia 0.39
41 Clemson 0.39
42 Florida State 0.39
43 Virginia 0.39
44 LSU 0.40
45 Miami (Fla.) 0.40
46 Northwestern 0.40
47 Stanford 0.40
48 Vanderbilt 0.40
49 Michigan 0.40
50 Mississippi State 0.40
51 Georgia Tech 0.41
52 California 0.42
53 Southern California 0.42
54 Oregon State 0.43
55 Iowa 0.44
56 Arizona 0.45
57 West Virginia 0.45
58 Maryland 0.45
59 Syracuse 0.47
60 New Mexico State 0.47
61 Purdue 0.47
62 Connecticut 0.47
63 North Carolina 0.47
64 Pittsburgh 0.47
65 Western Kentucky 0.48
66 North Carolina State 0.48
67 La.-Lafayette 0.49
68 South Florida 0.49
69 Wake Forest 0.49
70 Boston College 0.49
71 Louisville 0.50
72 Rutgers 0.51
73 Kentucky 0.51
74 Marshall 0.51
75 Tulane 0.51
76 Wisconsin 0.52
77 Idaho 0.52
78 San Jose State 0.53
79 Arkansas State 0.53
80 Utah State 0.53
81 Louisiana-Monroe 0.53
82 Nevada 0.54
83 Southern Methodist 0.55
84 North Texas 0.56
85 Florida International 0.57
86 Notre Dame 0.57
87 Navy 0.57
88 Indiana 0.58
89 Akron 0.58
90 Boise State 0.58
91 Fresno State 0.58
92 Houston 0.58
93 Hawaii 0.59
94 Middle Tennessee 0.59
95 Army 0.59
96 Miami (Ohio) 0.60
97 Cincinnati 0.61
98 Troy 0.62
99 Ohio 0.62
100 Central Michigan 0.64
101 UCF 0.64
102 Southern Mississippi 0.64
103 UAB 0.67
104 Louisiana Tech 0.69
105 Bowling Green 0.69
106 Rice 0.69
107 Memphis 0.69
108 Virginia Tech 0.69
109 Eastern Michigan 0.70
110 Temple 0.72
111 Texas-El Paso 0.72
112 East Carolina 0.74
113 Florida Atlantic 0.74
114 Toledo 0.74
115 Western Michigan 0.75
116 Buffalo 0.75
117 Northern Illinois 0.75
118 Kent State 0.77
119 Tulsa 0.78
120 Ball State 1.00

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Dedicated to the day when the BCS is pushing up daisies.