2014 NCAA NCSS Rankings: Week 9

Week 9 of the NCAA football season begins today! And with it, another batch of games that will go a long way to deciding who can make the Death to the BCS Playoffs.

We're more than a few weeks into the heart of conference play, which makes my data gathering easier. It also makes summarizing what goes on each week much easier. You'll notice the difference between the first few weeks with almost every game out of conference and a post like last week's, where there were a grand total of four out-of-conference tilts.

The big question for this metric this week: can the SEC get back in the black? They've gone two weeks in a row with negative scores based on all the FCS games this late in the year. I know we have at least one more in store, though their final week will probably be better. Even so, I find it reprehensible.

Let's take a look at the non-conference schedules for the week, and how they affect the conferences' NCSS scores.

1. MAC (0.08, 6.08; LW: 1). No change.
2. Conference USA (0.23, 5.85; LW: 3). UAB visits Arkansas.
3. Mountain West (0.25, 5.75; LW: 4). Boise State hosts BYU and San Jose State visits Navy.
4. American Athletic (0.00, 5.64; LW: 2). No change.
5. Sun Belt (0.00, 4.82; LW: 5). No change.
6. Big 10 (0.00, 4.21; LW: 6). No change.
7. ACC (0.00, 3.36; LW: 7). No change.
8. Big XII (0.00, 3.10; LW: 8). No change.
9. Pac 12 (0.00, 3.08; LW: 9). No change.
10. SEC (0.07, 2.79; LW: 10). Arkansas hosts UAB.

In the interests of disclosure, if the independents were their own conference, they'd have an average NCSS of 12.50. The reason they don't appear on this list is because by definition, all their games are out of conference, and their NCSS will be inflated compared to everyone else's. If you want to see the NCSS for every school, you can view the spreadsheet here. Please let me know if you find any discrepancies. I'm making the effort this year to be transparent and show my work on a weekly basis, and if I'm wrong, I want to make it right.

Tonight this week's action begins, as Arkansas State takes on Louisiana-Lafayette. I won't start tracking Playoff Point changes until all the action concludes. Check back on Monday for the updated numbers!