2021 NCAA Playoff Points: Week 2

Now that most teams have a couple games under their belts, let's get a look at how things have been going.

There's been a ton of chaos through two weeks, as multiple FCS teams have picked up wins, and some highly ranked teams have already dropped games. This may be the time to do it since there's time to recover, but losing a non-conference game isn't necessarily a death knell, with conference titles still entirely up for grabs across the country.

So for this weekly feature, I'm going to look at every conference (and for this post, I include the seven independent teams as their own conference, for what it's worth). I'll note the average of wins, First Degree Playoff Points, Second Degree Playoff Points, and Adjusted Playoff Points.

American Athletic
Wins: 1.00 (T-8th)
PP1: 0.27 (9th)
PP2: 0.09 (5th)
aPP: 0.09 (7th)

ACC
Wins: 1.29 (5th)
PP1: 0.43 (6th)
PP2: 0.07 (T-6th)
aPP: 0.21 (5th)

Big Ten
Wins: 1.57 (3rd)
PP1: 1.07 (1st)
PP2: 0.14 (T-1st)
aPP: 0.93 (1st)

Big 12
Wins: 1.60 (2nd)
PP1: 0.50 (5th)
PP2: 0.10 (4th)
aPP: 0.50 (4th)

Conference USA
Wins: 1.21 (6th)
PP1: 0.21 (10th)
PP2: 0.07 (T-6th)
aPP: 0.00 (T-9th)

Independents
Wins: 1.14 (7th)
PP1: 0.57 (4th)
PP2: 0.00 (T-9th)
aPP: 0.00 (T-9th)

MAC
Wins: 0.67 (11th)
PP1: 0.08 (11th)
PP2: 0.00 (T-9th)
aPP: -0.58 (11th)

Mountain West
Wins: 1.42 (4th)
PP1: 0.33 (7th)
PP2: 0.04 (8th)
aPP: 0.08 (8th)

Pac 12
Wins: 1.00 (T-8th)
PP1: 0.67 (3rd)
PP2: 0.13 (3rd)
aPP: 0.58 (3rd)

SEC
Wins: 1.71 (1st)
PP1: 0.86 (2nd)
PP2: 0.14 (T-1st)
aPP: 0.86 (2nd)

Sun Belt
Wins: 0.90 (10th)
PP1: 0.30 (8th)
PP2: 0.00 (T-9th)
aPP: 0.15 (6th)

Photo by Adam Cairns (Columbus Dispatch)

To see the updated numbers, click here.

It is important not to get too wrapped up in these numbers, in fairness. For one thing, it's two week's worth of data, which isn't a lot to go off of. So few games have been played, so the wins that appear to be big don't look like it on there... at least not yet. As more wins accrued, you get the scores for the week from those wins, but past wins give you boosts from the teams you beat earlier in the year. That Oregon win over Ohio State, for example, is only worth a single point right now in PP1, but by year's end it could be worth as many as 11. On the opposite end of the spectrum, look at Illinois beating Nebraska in Week 1. It'll become a better win for Illinois if Nebraska keeps it up, but for the Huskers, as the Illini keep dropping games, that loss will hurt them more and more. It's part of the fun of this metric.

I'll have a look later in the week at the Week 3 schedule and how we're doing in terms of non-conference!