Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The College Football Blog: 2012 Final Power Rankings



Final Power Rankings

1. Alabama 13-1 (1st)
2. Oregon 12-1 (2nd)
3. Georgia 12-2 (4th)
4. Stanford 12-2 (6th)
5. Texas A&M 11-2 (7th)
6. South Carolina 11-2 (8th)
7. LSU 10-3 (5th)
8. Kansas State 11-2 (3rd)
9. Florida 11-2 (9th)
10. Clemson 11-2 (13th)
11. Florida State 12-2 (12th)
12. Notre Dame 12-1 (10th)
13. Ohio State 12-0 (14th)
14. Oregon State 9-4 (11th)
15. Oklahoma 10-3 (15th)

Out: None.

Comments: These are my final rankings for the 2012 season. I was hoping to get things posted in a more timely manner in the new year but I’m obviously off to a rough start in that department. 

I try hard not to overreact to bowl game results but that’s easier said than done. I understand that bowl games are different but it’s difficult to keep the results in perspective, especially when it’s the last image we get of each team (and the only image we’ve had of each team in the last month). 

While the teams remained the same, there was actually quite a bit of a change in my final rankings. The teams in my top 15 remained the same for the final rankings, as no team fell out of the power rankings for a third straight week. However, 11 of 15 spots in my rankings experienced change in the final edition. This was a shift from the previous 2 editions which had no change at all. 

7 teams moved up in the rankings while 4 teams moved down. Of the 7 teams going up in the rankings, 4 moved up more than 1 spot. All 4 of the teams that dropped in the final rankings fell more than 1 spot. 

Clemson made the biggest move up the rankings in the final edition, climbing 3 spots from #13 to #10. Kansas State took the biggest fall in the final edition, dropping 5 spots from #3 to #8. 

Not surprisingly, Alabama remained in the #1 spot and finished the season as my #1 team. They were the top team in my power rankings in the final 5 editions. 

Oregon held on to the #2 position in the final rankings. 

Kansas State and LSU tumbled out of the top 5, while Stanford and A&M moved into the top 5. 

A couple of the biggest losers of the bowl season really weren’t punished much in my final rankings, in large part because they were already pretty far down in my rankings. Despite being dominated by a mediocre Louisville team in the Sugar Bowl, Florida actually remained at the #9 spot in my rankings. Similarly, Notre Dame only fell 2 spots from #10 to #12 in my rankings despite getting blown out by Bama in the national championship game. 

The final third of my top 15 had an interesting finish. Clemson finally moved ahead of Florida State and ended up in the top 10. Ohio State only moved up to #13 despite finishing the year as the only undefeated team. And Oregon State and Oklahoma remained in the top 15 despite losing their bowl games.

As mentioned, Ohio State finished as the only team without a loss in the FBS, but they only finished #13 in my rankings. Similarly, Notre Dame was 1 of only 3 teams to finish the year with just 1 loss, yet they ended up at #12 in my rankings. On the other hand, the other two 1-loss teams—Alabama and Oregon—finished at #1 and #2 in my rankings respectively. 

Georgia ended up as my highest ranked 2-loss team at #3. 12 of the 15 teams in my power rankings ended with less than 3 losses. LSU finished as my highest ranked 3-loss team at #7, while Oklahoma remained in the final spot in my top 15 despite losing badly to A&M to end the year 10-3. 

Oregon State is really the odd ball of my power rankings. I will admit to thinking over their position in the #14 spot longer than any other decision. They are the only team in my rankings with more than 3 losses and the only team in my power rankings with less than 10 wins. It was that 4th loss thing that kind of threw me for a loop, even though one of my focuses has always been to go beyond the W-L record when doing my power rankings. It does seem weird to have a 9-4 team ranked directly behind teams with 12-1 and 12-0 records. But that’s just kind of how CFB works.





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