2015 NCAA NCSS Rankings: Week 4

It's kind of crazy to think that we're already entering our fourth week of the college football season, but here we are.

Conference play has begun in most leagues, though it has been sporadic. We're going to start to see a little bit more in the next couple weeks, but for now, there's still a pretty large chunk of scheduling being played outside of conference boundaries.

Here's a look at last week's rankings. I will touch back on the placings from last week in the rankings below for Week 4.

1. MAC: 2.15; 5.77 (LW: 2). I'd have to look, but I think this is the best week ever. Everyone except Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Kent State and Toledo are on the road, with five teams playing at Big Ten opposition.
2. Conference USA: 1.33; 5.33 (LW: 1). A couple of conference games can't dampen the non-conference toughness for C-USA. Southern Mississippi, Rice, North Texas and Middle Tennessee are all playing at major conference schools. UTEP faces a cupcake to bring the score down ever so slightly.
3. Big Ten: 1.36; 4.86 (LW: 4). It's all non-conference again this week, with almost everyone playing at home. Indiana and Maryland visit other Power 5 schools, while Rutgers hosts Kansas (which shouldn't be worth two points, but such is the system).
4. Mountain West: 1.00; 4.58 (LW: 3). UNLV faces an FCS opponent, but a few teams are off to face Power 5 opposition to regain the lost points and then some.
5. Sun Belt: 1.09; 4.36 (LW: 5). Louisiana Monroe has the toughest test by traveling to Alabama this week. We have one conference game, while South Alabama hosts NC State for the other big points.
6. American Athletic: 0.42; 3.67 (LW: 6). UCF has to head to South Carolina for the big points for the AAC, though East Carolina hosts Virginia Tech to help gain some points. SMU has its dessert this week.
7. Pac-12: -0.08; 3.17 (LW: 7). Five conference games are on the slate this week. Washington State is off, while Colorado gets its dessert to force the negative week score.
8. Big XII: 0.60; 3.00 (LW: 8). Conference play begins this week, though West Virginia hosts Maryland and Kansas travels to Rutgers for most of the points.
9. ACC: 0.57; 2.57 (LW: 9). Virginia Tech and NC State are on the road out of conference while Syracuse and Wake Forest host major conference opponents. Louisville and North Carolina host FCS teams this week; for North Carolina, it's their second, and they are therefore eliminated from the Death to the BCS Playoffs.
10. SEC: 0.29; 1.93 (LW: 10). We're up to five conference games this week to keep the score low. Georgia doesn't help with an FCS opponent, though LSU traveling to Syracuse accounts for most of the scoring.

If you want to see the updated rankings, you can view them here.  As a disclosure update, the independent schools are averaging an NCSS score of 7.67. Of course, they will always have a higher score than every other conference just by nature, but I calculate their score along with everyone else's just for consistency. Obviously, if I'm looking into having an independent at large team in the Death to the BCS Playoffs, I will take their NCSS score with a pillar of salt.

We're up to three teams out of the running for the postseason just four weeks in, with North Carolina joining Boston College as the only teams with two FCS opponents on the schedule, and Penn State is out because they're Penn State. I will continue to keep their scores just on principle, but all these teams will not make any postseason play other than bowl games because the NCAA and the bowl executives are corrupt.

I'll be back next week with a look at the results from the weekend.