2016 NCAA NCSS Rankings: Week 9

We have a little over a month of season left, and a lot can yet change in the ranks of college football.

For the most part though, these rankings are reasonably established. Although our Week 7 leader dropped 3 spots last week, everyone else has stayed in a fairly solid order since the first month of the season ended. With conference play firmly in hand, this is to be expected.

However, with four independent teams and other non-conference games still on the slate, this is a measurement I continue to make on a weekly basis. If you need a refresher on how this works of if you're new to Confessions of a Sportscaster and have no idea what NCSS is, you can review my season introduction post for a primer on this metric and what it means. For now, let's look at the non-conference matchups this week.

1. Conference USA (0.00, 5.38; LW: 1). No change.
2. Sun Belt (0.27, 5.36; LW: 2). New Mexico State visits Texas A&M.
3. Mountain West (0.00, 5.08; LW: 3). No change.
4. MAC (0.00, 5.08; LW: 4). No change.
5. American Athletic (0.00, 4.42; LW: 5). No change.
6. ACC (0.21, 3.50; LW: 6). Wake Forest hosts Army and Miami (Florida) visits Notre Dame.
7. Pac 12 (0.00, 3.17; LW: 7). No change.
8. Big Ten (0.00, 3.14; LW: 8). No change.
9. SEC (0.00, 3.00; LW: 9). Mississippi State hosts FCS Samford and Texas A&M hosts New Mexico State. This results in no change.
10. Big 12 (0.00, 2.90; LW: 10). No change.

To see the updated spreadsheet, click here.

Massachusetts hosts FCS Wagner this week, their cupcake for the season, so they lose a point. Even so, the independents, were they their own conference, would have an average NCSS of 15.50, which would be far and away the highest of any conference. Overall though, I think this is the first week this season where the rankings did not change at all, despite a pair of FCS games and a handful of other non-conference games.

There are some important games being played this week nonetheless, and they will have an impact on Playoff Points. Check back early next week, when I will have updates on those and a new mock bracket for the Death to the BCS Playoffs!