2016 NCAA Playoff Points: Week 12

Hope you enjoyed Nick Saban Is A Coward Week! All the games are in the books for the week, and the regular season is almost complete. There are just two weeks left, but we can worry about that in a bit.

There were a number of FCS games on the docket this past weekend, and those games are worth no Playoff Points, so we might see some shifts in the rankings from last week.

There was a little chaos as well this week, and we'll eventually see how that impacts the playoff picture. If you're unfamiliar with the Playoff Points system, you can view a primer in my season introductory post. Let's get to the scores.


American Athletic
Wins: 5.58 (T-4th)
PP1: 22.83 (5th)
PP2: 11.57 (8th)
aPP: 5.33 (5th)

ACC
Wins: 6.43 (2nd)
PP1: 29.50 (2nd)
PP2: 18.34 (2nd)
aPP: 11.71 (3rd)

Big Ten
Wins: 6.29 (3rd)
PP1: 28.07 (3rd)
PP2: 14.20 (4th)
aPP: 12.50 (2nd)

Big XII
Wins: 5.70 (6th)
PP1: 22.30 (6th)
PP2: 13.15 (5th)
aPP: 3.10 (6th)

Conference USA
Wins: 5.08 (10th)
PP1: 17.23 (10th)
PP2: 10.16 (11th)
aPP: -11.46 (10th)

Independents
Wins: 4.75 (11th)
PP1: 17.25 (9th)
PP2: 11.79 (7th)
aPP: -12.75 (11th)

MAC
Wins: 5.42 (9th)
PP1: 19.83 (8th)
PP2: 12.83 (6th)
aPP: -5.92 (8th)

Mountain West
Wins: 5.67 (7th)
PP1: 20.83 (7th)
PP2: 10.30 (10th)
aPP: -2.50 (7th)

Pac-12
Wins: 6.08 (T-4th)
PP1: 26.08 (4th)
PP2: 15.23 (3rd)
aPP: 11.17 (4th)

SEC
Wins: 6.57 (1st)
PP1: 31.50 (1st)
PP2: 20.24 (1st)
aPP: 16.64 (1st)

Sun Belt
Wins: 5.65 (8th)
PP1: 17.00 (11th)
PP2: 10.85 (9th)
aPP: -6.45 (9th)

To see the updated spreadsheet, click here.

Photo by Troy Taormina (USA TODAY Sports)

We had a few changes here and there, but by and large the rankings are holding fairly steady. The SEC remains the premier conference in college football, the ACC is pretty consistently second best, with the Big Ten holding a slight edge over the Pac 12. I'm also impressed at the overall performance of the American Athletic Conference; other than a lower PP2, they are top five in every category. We're starting to see some other things even out though; Conference USA is still bad, the Sun Belt drops to last in PP1, and the four independents are still awful.

Photo by Trent Perry (The Anniston Star)

This is the time where I take a peek at team rankings in each of these categories. Alabama still leads First Degree Playoff Points with 63, Clemson has 60 points, Ohio State is up to 58, Michigan has 56, and Penn State rounds out the top five with 51 points. The Crimson Tide also lead in Second Degree Playoff Points with 26.73 points, Pittsburgh is right behind them with 26.43, Tennessee is in third with 25.63, Clemson has 25.5 points, and Vanderbilt, of all teams, rounds out the top five with 24.60 points. Over in the Adjusted Playoff Points category, Alabama is in first place with 63 points, Clemson and Ohio State are tied for second with 56, Michigan has 52, and Boise State has leapfrogged Penn State for fifth place with 47 points.

Now, with the results from the week in, I have only a couple more weeks' worth of these left to do. It means we only have a couple more mock brackets left before the official 2016 Death to the BCS Playoffs can be set. I'll have one of those mocks coming up later this afternoon.