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Since high school in the 1970's I have searched for a way to rate teams according to their history in the season. I have developed many systems ranging from reward and penalty types to types in which each game affected every other game. I have done way too much experimentation yet have won numerous awards with several systems over the years on Todd Beck's site. In fact, I did so well during one stretch, holding back from changing too much, that I actually got to be on my own Superlist that David Wilson maintains.

I used to track the lines and rate the teams according to how the line changed from week to week. And I noticed something interesting. Just because a good team lost wasn't necessarily a reason for them to change a team's rating. That got my gears turning. A few years later I designed this system using that theory. It is based on head to head competition. There is no exaggerated margin of victory factor and there is no schedule strength. They are natural in this system.

I've decided that accuracy and consistency are more important than winning contests. Therefore I will leave this system unchanged and if I want to experiment I will do it with another system.

This system uses four basic concepts:

1. Which team won and which team lost is the biggest factor
2. A lesser factor is the margin of victory which is very limited but necessary
3. The Oregon Factor - just because you score a lot against bad teams, don't think you're going to run the field against good ones
4. The Notre Dame factor - just because you won every game during the season, don't assume your close games somehow indicate you can put lots of points on the board if you need to

The last factor is the one I added after the bowls. That is why it is different from Kenneth Massey's version of my ratings. You can compare these to the ones posted there to see what a difference it makes.
      

1	Alabama	97.50
2	Texas A&M	97.00
3	Oregon	90.00
4	Stanford	90.00
5	Georgia	89.50
6	Ohio State	88.50
7	Clemson	86.50
8	LSU	86.50
9	Notre Dame	84.50
10	Kansas State	84.50
11	Oklahoma State	84.00
12	Florida	84.00
13	Florida State	83.50
14	Wisconsin	83.50
15	San Jose State	83.50
16	Oklahoma	83.00
17	Northwestern	83.00
18	Michigan	82.50
19	Michigan State	81.50
20	UCLA	81.50
21	South Carolina	81.00
22	Utah State	81.00
23	Miami	81.00
24	Pittsburgh	81.00
25	Northern Illinois	81.00
26	San Diego State	81.00
27	Baylor	80.50
28	BYU	80.50
29	Georgia Tech	80.50
30	Arkansas State	79.50
31	Kent State	79.50
32	Texas	78.50
33	Vanderbilt	77.50
34	Nebraska	77.50
35	Tulsa	77.00
36	TCU	76.50
37	Cincinnati	76.50
38	Oregon State	76.50
39	USC	76.50
40	Syracuse	76.00
41	Arizona State	76.00
42	Bowling Green	76.00
43	Mississippi	75.50
44	Penn State	75.50
45	North Carolina	75.50
46	Utah	75.00
47	Mississippi State	74.50
48	Louisville	74.00
49	C. Florida	74.00
50	Boise State	73.00
51	Louisiana Tech	72.50
52	West Virginia	72.50
53	Rutgers	72.50
54	Ball State	72.50
55	Rice	72.00
56	Fresno State	72.00
57	Arizona	72.00
58	Missouri	71.50
59	La-Lafayette	70.50
60	Virginia Tech	70.50
61	Middle Tenn	70.50
62	Navy	70.00
63	Troy State	69.00
64	NC State	69.00
65	Iowa State	69.00
66	Washington	69.00
67	Minnesota	68.50
68	SMU	67.50
69	Duke	67.50
70	Virginia	67.50
71	Toledo	67.50
72	Buffalo	67.00
73	Connecticut	67.00
74	Washington State	67.00
75	East Carolina	66.50
76	Arkansas	66.00
77	Auburn	66.00
78	Texas Tech	65.50
79	Tennessee	65.50
80	C. Michigan	65.00
81	Texas State	64.50
82	Florida Atlantic	64.50
83	Purdue	64.50
84	Florida Int'l	64.00
85	Wyoming	64.00
86	W. Kentucky	64.00
87	Air Force	64.00
88	California	64.00
89	Nevada	63.00
90	Iowa	63.00
91	W. Michigan	63.00
92	Memphis	62.50
93	Ohio	62.50
94	La-Monroe	61.50
95	UNLV	61.50
96	Boston College	60.50
97	Indiana	60.50
98	Army	59.50
99	North Texas	59.50
100	UTEP	59.00
101	Colorado State	59.00
102	Miami OH	59.00
103	Illinois	58.50
104	South Alabama	58.50
105	Houston	58.00
106	E. Michigan	58.00
107	Marshall	58.00
108	Wake Forest	57.50
109	Idaho	57.50
110	South Florida	57.00
111	UAB	56.50
112	Maryland	56.00
113	Tulane	56.00
114	New Mexico	55.50
115	Kentucky	55.50
116	Colorado	55.00
117	Massachusetts	55.00
118	Kansas	54.00
119	Temple	53.50
120	Texas-SA	52.50
121	Southern Miss	52.50
122	Akron	50.50
123	Hawaii	48.00
124	NM State	45.00