2021 NCAA Playoff Points: Week 6

Chaos reigned a little bit on Saturday, which means crunching the numbers here today will be fun.

The number of undefeated teams is shrinking, which means before too long I'll be able to start building out mock playoff brackets before the real thing comes out in December. I'm tentatively thinking of doing a podcast for the field reveal; we'll see how that goes though.

For now, let's look at how the Week 6 results impact the numbers.

American Athletic
Wins: 3.00 (T-6th)
PP1: 4.73 (8th)
PP2: 2.47 (7th)
aPP: 0.55 (6th)

ACC
Wins: 3.36 (4th)
PP1: 6.57 (4th)
PP2: 3.80 (2nd)
aPP: 2.29 (4th)

Big Ten
Wins: 3.71 (2nd)
PP1: 8.36 (2nd)
PP2: 3.64 (3rd)
aPP: 5.86 (2nd)

Big 12
Wins: 3.60 (3rd)
PP1: 7.10 (3rd)
PP2: 2.96 (4th)
aPP: 5.10 (3rd)

Conference USA
Wins: 2.57 (11th)
PP1: 2.43 (11th)
PP2: 0.51 (11th)
aPP: -3.50 (11th)

Independents
Wins: 3.00 (T-6th)
PP1: 5.71 (6th)
PP2: 2.04 (9th)
aPP: -0.86 (8th)

MAC
Wins: 2.75 (T-8th)
PP1: 4.42 (9th)
PP2: 2.13 (8th)
aPP: -2.42 (10th)

Mountain West
Wins: 3.17 (5th)
PP1: 5.75 (5th)
PP2: 2.88 (5th)
aPP: 1.92 (5th)

Pac 12
Wins: 2.75 (T-8th)
PP1: 5.25 (7th)
PP2: 2.69 (6th)
aPP: 0.00 (7th)

SEC
Wins: 3.93 (1st)
PP1: 9.29 (1st)
PP2: 4.03 (1st)
aPP: 6.93 (1st)

Sun Belt
Wins: 2.60 (10th)
PP1: 4.10 (10th)
PP2: 1.40 (10th)
aPP: -1.40 (9th)

To see the updated numbers, click here.

At this point, I think we have a pretty clear pecking order. The SEC has the best numbers, with the Big Ten right behind them, followed by the Big 12, then the ACC, and Conference USA is the worst. I don't see the pecking order making a very drastic change the rest of the way since we're almost halfway through the year and most of the non-conference games are done.

But the individual rankings can change a bunch. Georgia is the first team to 20 PP1 this season, with Iowa right on their tail at 19 points, and Michigan is just one back of them with 18. Boise State's win over BYU gets them the lead in PP2 with 8.33 (bear in mind, this metric is an average of the numbers from each victory, so some teams like the 3-3 Broncos can lead this metric, or 2-4 Florida State can be second at 2-4). Then obviously the unbeatens lead in aPP, but among teams with losses, Notre Dame and Ohio State lead with 13 points (and are tied for fifth overall).

I'll follow up next with a look at the Week 7 non-conference schedule!