2014 NCAA Playoff Points Rankings: Week 9

Another weekend, another batch of chaos among the college football ranks. With it comes mourning; the Little Brass Bell was stolen from where it rightfully belongs in heartbreaking fashion. With the loss of the Bell also probably comes the end of North Central's playoff hopes at the D-III level, barring some sort of miracle (at a best-case scenario 8-2, NCC probably isn't getting an at-large bid).

The highest level of the college ranks had some turmoil as well; we're down to only three undefeated teams with Ole Miss falling in Death Valley. With a bevy of one-loss teams now teeming among the waters of the FBS, I will need to eventually reach a consensus regarding the Death to the BCS Playoffs. But that struggle comes later.

For now, I have data entry and updating to do. Most of the week's games were in-conference again, but that has little bearing on the Playoff Points rankings, since at this point most of the rankings probably are where they will finish, or close to it. If you need a refresher on what these metrics mean, you can refer back to this post from Week 1.

Let's dig into the spreadsheet.



American Athletic
Wins: 3.09 (10th; LW: 10th)
PP1: 5.82 (10th; LW: 10th)
PP2: 2.54 (10th; LW: 10th)

ACC
Wins: 4.71 (T-3rd; LW: T-2nd)
PP1: 14.64 (T-3rd; LW: 2nd)
PP2: 8.17 (2nd; LW: 2nd)

Big 10
Wins: 4.71 (T-3rd; LW: T-2nd)
PP1: 14.64 (T-3rd; LW: 4th)
PP2: 8.04 (3rd; LW: 5th)

Big XII
Wins: 4.40 (5th; LW: 5th)
PP1: 12.50 (6th; LW: 6th)
PP2: 7.85 (4th; LW: 3rd)

Conference USA
Wins: 3.77 (8th; LW: 8th)
PP1: 9.08 (8th; LW: 8th)
PP2: 4.79 (8th; LW: 7th)

Independents
Wins: 4.00 (6th; LW: 6th)
PP1: 12.75 (5th; LW: 5th)
PP2: 6.44 (6th; LW: 9th)

MAC
Wins: 3.62 (9th; LW: 9th)
PP1: 7.85 (9th; LW: 9th)
PP2: 4.23 (9th; LW: 8th)

Mountain West
Wins: 3.92 (7th; LW: 7th)
PP1: 9.75 (7th; LW: 8th)
PP2: 5.25 (7th; LW: 7th)

Pac 12
Wins: 4.83 (2nd; LW: 4th)
PP1: 15.08 (2nd; LW: 3rd)
PP2: 7.72 (5th; LW: 4th)

SEC
Wins: 5.14 (1st; LW: 1st)
PP1: 18.64 (1st; LW: 1st)
PP2: 9.21 (1st; LW: 1st)

Sun Belt
Wins: 3.00 (11th; LW: 11th)
PP1: 4.55 (11th; LW: 11th)
PP2: 1.62 (11th; LW: 11th)

Note: even though all numbers are rounded to the nearest hundredth, the average win totals and First Degree Playoff Points for the ACC and Big 10 are identical.

Photo by Gerald Herbert (AP)

To no real surprise, the SEC is still the front runner in every category, while the Sun Belt is dead last in every category. We have a fun tie in two categories, as mentioned, and the Pac 12 has some good overall numbers. If you want to see how each program scored individually, you can view the spreadsheet with all the data here.

With only three undefeated teams left, each from a different conference, I don't have to guess anymore as to who "wins" those conferences. For the purposes of making the mock fields, those teams have temporarily locked up conference "titles", and the rest of the field will be filled by teams with flaws.

Photo by Tony Gutierrez (Enid News)

So my question is this: Who has the least flawed resume? Which six teams that have fallen at least once seem to have had the best season to date? These six teams will be the ones who make the fourth mockup of the Death to the BCS Playoffs. From there, where do I seed everyone? If you have any suggestions or a pitch to make about a certain team, please leave it in the comments below.

Taking any logical arguments made into account, I'll go run the numbers. Later this afternoon, I will be back with the results and the Week 9 edition of the Death to the BCS Playoffs!