2014 NCAA Playoff Points Rankings: Week 4

Some great games and a few upsets over the weekend mean it's time to update the playoff picture for December. Week 4 provided some thrills, along with a bit of bad football that I happened to catch at various times.

With another week in the books, we have more information for the Playoff Points metric. The half dozen winless teams will continue to throw things off a bit, as their wins aren't helping the cause of any teams yet. Of course, other wins will loom pretty big now, and possibly more so as the season goes along.

Included towards the end of this week's post, I'll have a list of teams that I've deemed ineligible for the Death to the BCS Playoffs. A few teams might get a turnaround depending on their schedule later, but a couple I've already deemed out. You probably know one of them if you're a regular reader of COAS.

But enough about the negative. Let's delve into the current Playoff Points situation. If you need a refresher on how this metric works, I've got a summary in the Week 1 post. You can refer back to last week's rankings here.



American Athletic
Wins: 1.32 (10th; LW: 11th)
PP1: 1.09 (9th; LW: 9th)
PP2: 0.18 (10th; LW: 8th)

ACC
Wins: 2.64 (3rd; LW: 4th)
PP1: 2.71 (4th; LW: 3rd)
PP2: 0.73 (4th; LW: 3rd)

Big 10
Wins: 2.57 (4th; LW: 6th)
PP1: 2.64 (5th; LW: 6th)
PP2: 0.70 (5th; LW: 7th)

Big XII
Wins: 2.10 (6th; LW: 5th)
PP1: 2.60 (6th; LW: 4th)
PP2: 1.53 (1st; LW: 1st)

Conference USA
Wins: 1.77 (7th; LW: 7th)
PP1: 1.31 (7th; LW: 7th)
PP2: 0.50 (7th; LW: 6th)

Independents
Wins: 2.50 (5th; LW: T-2nd)
PP1: 3.75 (2nd; LW: 2nd)
PP2: 0.75 (3rd; LW: 4th)

MAC
Wins: 1.38 (9th; LW: 9th)
PP1: 0.54 (11th; LW: 10th)
PP2: 0.19 (9th; LW: 10th)

Mountain West
Wins: 1.67 (8th; LW: 8th)
PP1: 1.25 (8th; LW: 8th)
PP2: 0.28 (8th; LW: 9th)

Pac 12
Wins: 2.75 (2nd; LW: T-2nd)
PP1: 3.00 (3rd; LW: 5th)
PP2: 0.66 (6th; LW: 5th)

SEC
Wins: 2.79 (1st; LW: 1st)
PP1: 3.79 (1st; LW: 1st)
PP2: 1.13 (2nd; LW: 2nd)

Sun Belt
Wins: 1.18 (11th; LW: 10th)
PP1: 0.55 (10th; LW: 11th)
PP2: 0.14 (11th; LW: 11th)

So the SEC has the highest average number of wins, which in a vacuum would suggest they're the best conference. This is backed up by their first place finish in First Degree Playoff Points again. They also only trail the Big 12 in Second Degree Playoff Points. You can view the spreadsheet that has all this data here. And just so we have it referenced, the following teams are ineligible for the Death to the BCS Playoffs.

• Ball State (MAC)- Have played two FCS schools (Colgate and Indiana State). The loss to Indiana State didn't knock them out, but the fact that they had a pair of those games on their schedule likely has. Depending on how they do from here on out, I may reinstate them.
• Buffalo (MAC)- Have played two FCS schools (Duquesne and Norfolk State). While this results in both their wins, I'm not keen on having a playoff representative who has two FCS wins on their resume, even if the team they beat is a contender at the DI-AA level.
• Florida International (C-USA)- Have played two FCS schools (Bethune-Cookman and Wagner). FIU lost to B-C, though like Ball State, I'm not eliminating them for the loss. I'm just against attempted schedule-padding at all costs.
• Idaho (Sun Belt)- Have failed to meet the NCAA's standards for Academic Progress Rate over a four-year span. ESPN's Gregg Easterbrook finds this metric to be a load of bull (apparently it's ranked on a scale from 900-1000, yet Idaho had a couple years below 900). Then again, looking at graduation rates, Idaho is not the worst. I don't know. I'll stick with the NCAA on this one. Unlike the following school...
• Penn State (Big 10)- I've written enough about this, I think. Between that and the Joe-out that stupid fans planned, I remain convinced that Penn State should have gotten the death penalty. They're placing football wins from 15 years ago over the horrific things that happened around that campus. I don't care if Penn State goes 12-0. They aren't making the Death to the BCS Playoffs. Period.

Photo by Jason Vinlove (USA TODAY Sports)

So with four weeks in the books, I still count 25 unbeaten teams, ranging from a couple 2-0 squads (Cincinnati and TCU) to multiple 4-0 teams that have byes left yet. Because of that sheer number, I still can't build a playoff field without leaving teams out. In the coming week, a lot of conference play really starts to kick into high gear, so a lot of these unbeatens are going to fall.

Despite the fair amount of conference play upcoming, there are still non-conference games to look at. Tomorrow morning I'll have the update on those rankings.