The College Football Blog: 2010 Final Season Résumé Rankings

Final Season Résumé Rankings

1. Auburn 14-0 (1st)
2. TCU 13-0 (3rd)
3. Oregon 12-1 (2nd)
4. Ohio State 12-1 (4th)
5. Stanford 12-1 (5th)
6. Oklahoma 12-2 (8th)
7. LSU 11-2 (10th)
8. Oklahoma State 11-2 (NR)
9. Michigan State 11-2 (6th)
10. Wisconsin 11-2 (7th)

Out: Arkansas (9th).

Explanation: Next season I am going to do some major tweaking to these rankings. I’ve got to come up with a more exact formula because when teams have exactly the same record and similar schedules it’s pretty tough to differentiate. I’m thinking of doing something like this assigning a point value for different types of wins and losses. I’ll figure out before next year.

Auburn obviously stayed at #1 and they finished #1 by a mile. TCU moved up a spot from 3rd to 2nd, while Oregon fell a spot from 2nd to 3rd. The Horned Frogs got a huge win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, and whether they played an easy schedule or not, they still finished the year with zero losses, so I decided to rank them ahead of the top 1-loss teams. I kept Oregon as the top 1-loss team because they had by far the best loss of any of the once-beaten teams (by 3 on a neutral field against Auburn).

Ohio State and Stanford each won their bowl games to finish the season 12-1 and they stayed put at #4 and #5 respectively.

Oklahoma beat UConn in the Fiesta Bowl to finish the season 12-2 and the Sooners moved up 2 spots in the final rankings from 8th to 6th. LSU made the biggest move of any team in the final rankings, climbing 3 spots from 10th to 7th following their win in the Cotton Bowl over A&M.

Oklahoma State was the only new team in the final edition of these rankings. The Cowboys won the Alamo Bowl over Arizona to finish 11-2 and #8 in these rankings.

Michigan State and Wisconsin both lost their bowl games to finish 11-2 and take a hit in these rankings. Michigan State moved down 3 spots from 6th to 9th while Wisconsin fell 3 spots from 7th to 10th.

Arkansas was the only team to fall out of these rankings in the final edition. The Hogs lost to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl for their 3rd loss of the season. They fell from 9th to out of the rankings.

Season Résumé Rankings Notes: There were 16 sets of season résumé rankings this year (weeks 1-15 and the final rankings). 23 different teams were included in at least 1 edition of the season résumé rankings. 5 different teams held the #1 spot in at least 1 set of rankings. Auburn held the #1 spot for the most weeks, ranking 1st in these rankings for 10 straight weeks from week 7 through the final rankings. Alabama held the top spot for 3 consecutive weeks (3-5). Boise State (week 1), Michigan (week 2), and LSU (week 3) each held the #1 spot for 1 week.

There were 5 different weeks in which all 10 teams from the previous week’s rankings remained in the top 10 (including back to back weeks twice). There was 1 week with 1 new team; 4 weeks with 2 new teams; 4 weeks with 3 new teams; and 1 week with 4 new teams. The rankings for weeks 13 through 15 were exactly the same.

Here’s a rundown of the 23 teams included in these rankings for at least 1 week this season, listed in order of week’s ranked:

TCU: 16 of 16 sets. High: #2.

Oregon: 16 of 16 sets. High: #2.

Auburn: 15 of 16 sets. High: #1.

Ohio State: 14 of 16 sets. High: #2.

LSU: 14 of 16 sets. High: #1.

Michigan State: 12 of 16 sets. High: #2.

Oklahoma: 11 of 16 sets. High: #3.

Boise State: 8 of 16 sets. High: #1.

Utah: 8 of 16 sets. High: #4.

Stanford: 8 of 16 sets. High: #5.

Wisconsin: 8 of 16 sets. High: #7.

Alabama: 7 of 16 sets. High: #1.

Oklahoma State: 6 of 16 sets. High: #5.

Michigan: 4 of 16 sets. High: #1.

Arkansas: 3 of 16 sets. High: #9.

South Carolina: 2 of 16 sets. High: #8.

Missouri: 2 of 16 sets. High: #5.

Fresno State: 1 of 16 sets. High: #4.

Georgia: 1 of 16 sets. High: #9.

Miami: 1 of 16 sets. High: #10.

Florida: 1 of 16 sets. High: #10.

Northwestern: 1 of 16 sets. High: #10.

Nevada: 1 of 16 sets. High: #8.