Welcome back, college football fans, for episode 698 or our September edition, and first of the season, Conference Comparison. This analysis has been part of the GCR for years, and, as always, we constantly tweak it for continuous improvement. The biggest change this season is clarification around Top 25/Bottom 10 teams. There is more detail in the main table, but we’ve also added a couple of charts that list the teams in those lists. In the next two tables, the value after the conference name is the number of member teams. The Record and NC (non-conference) Record columns are in the format W-L (winning percentage). Avg Wins is a column that normalizes the conference size differences. For example, the Big Ten has 2 more teams than the Big 12 which makes it hard to instinctively know if 51 wins is statistically different than 45 wins. They both average 2.8 wins per team, so not so much. The Avg Rank and Avg SOS are the simple mean of each conference members’ mean GCR rank and SOS rank. Best Team is the highest ranked team (W-L/rank) within each conference. The T25/B10 now shows those rankings within the sub-category. For example: for Core 4 teams, we show the count for the Top 25 for that category, regardless of actual GCR rank. More on that later. Let’s jump into the summary, first with the FBS teams.
| Conference | Record | Avg Wins | NC Record | Avg Rank | Avg SOS | Best Team | T25/B10 |
| SEC (16) | 49-15 (766) | 3.1 | 36-2 (947) | 31.5 | 38.0 | Alabama (4-0/2) | C4 (8/0) |
| Big Ten (18) | 51-21 (708) | 2.8 | 41-11 (788) | 43.3 | 51.2 | UCLA (4-0/4) | C4 (7/3) |
| Big 12 (16) | 45-16 (738) | 2.8 | 37-8 (822) | 44.6 | 70.7 | Utah (4-0/9) | C4 (5/2) |
| ACC (17) | 44-22 (667) | 2.6 | 31-9 (775) | 53.3 | 55.6 | Miami FL (4-0/3) | C4 (4/5) |
| Indies (2) | 6-2 (750) | 3.0 | 6-2 (750) | 54.0 | 113.5 | Notre Dame (4-0/1) | C4 (1-0) G6 (0-0) |
| American (14) | 29-25 (537) | 2.1 | 25-21 (543) | 95.4 | 87.3 | South Florida (4-0/41) | G6 (7/1) |
| Pac 12 (8) | 15-17 (469) | 1.9 | 15-17 (469) | 96.0 | 56.1 | Boise St (3-1/48) | G6 (3/0) |
| Sun Belt (14) | 27-28 (491) | 1.9 | 26-27 (491) | 105.8 | 90.2 | James Madison (4-0/24) | G6 (5/3) |
| Mountain West (10) | 18-21 (462) | 1.8 | 14-17 (452) | 106.0 | 107.1 | North Dakota St (4-0/23) | G6 (4/2) |
| Conference USA (10) | 17-24 (415) | 1.7 | 16-23 (410) | 111.8 | 83.8 | Liberty (3-1/54) | G6 (3/1) |
| MAC (13) | 24-30 (444) | 1.8 | 21-27 (438) | 116.0 | 82.9 | UMASS (4-0/22) | G6 (3/3) |
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The same approach exists for the FCS. Here is that breakdown.
| Conference | Record | Avg Wins | NC Record | Avg Rank | Avg SOS | Best Team | T25/B10 |
| Ivy League (8) | 9-7 (563) | 1.1 | 7-5 (583) | 154.1 | 230.6 | Harvard (2-0/106) | FCS (3/0) |
| Missouri Valley (9) | 26-18 (591) | 2.9 | 21-13 (618) | 173.7 | 185.4 | Illinois St (4-1/118) | FCS (4/1) |
| UAC (8) | 19-18 (514) | 2.4 | 17-16 (515) | 186.9 | 186.5 | Tarleton (4-0/97) | FCS (3/1) |
| SoCon (10) | 21-26 (447) | 2.1 | 12-17 (414) | 187.7 | 202.0 | TN Tech (4-0/110) | FCS (2/0) |
| Pioneer League (11) | 21-25 (457) | 1.9 | 17-21 (447) | 187.7 | 244.6 | Marist (2-2/152) | FCS (3/0) |
| Big Sky (13) | 29-34 (460) | 2.2 | 14-19 (424) | 188.2 | 190.8 | Montana St (5-0/76) | FCS (3/2) |
| Southland (10) | 22-26 (458) | 2.2 | 12-16 (429) | 200.0 | 206.1 | Steph F Austin (5-0/102) | FCS (1/0) |
| CAA (13) | 26-37 (413) | 2.0 | 13-24 (351) | 200.3 | 200.5 | Elon (4-1/129) | FCS (1/2) |
| MEAC (6) | 17-11 (607) | 2.8 | 17-11 (607) | 200.3 | 193.5 | SC St (5-0/127) | FCS (1/1) |
| Patriot League (10) | 21-26 (447) | 2.1 | 9-14 (391) | 205.5 | 191.4 | Lehigh (5-0/95) | FCS (2/0) |
| SWAC (12) | 27-27 (500) | 2.3 | 19-19 (500) | 210.6 | 206.8 | Alabama A&M (4-1/134) | FCS (2/0) |
| FCS Indies (2) | 3-7 (300) | 1.5 | 3-7 (300) | 218.0 | 231.0 | Chicago St (1-4/215) | FCS (0/0) |
| Big South/ Ohio Valley (8) | 11-26 (297) | 1.4 | 10-25 (286) | 223.4 | 175.0 | Gardner Webb (1-4/174) | FCS (0/0) |
| Northeast (8) | 7-28 (200) | 0.9 | 5-26 (161) | 242.6 | 184.4 | Robert Morris (2-2/193) | FCS (0/3) |
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Because we are splitting the T25/B10 by category, it begs the question: what are the current limits by category. For the Core 4 contingent, which is made up of the 68 teams in the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, and Notre Dame, the Top 25 is any team currently 28th overall or better. The Bottom 10 is any team currently 73rd or worse. Notre Dame (4-0/1) and Georgia Tech (1-3/122) are the bookends. The Group of 6, which consists of the 70 teams in the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac 12, Sun Belt, and UCONN, has as its Top 25 any team ranked 90th overall or better. The Bottom 10 is any team ranked 149th overall or worse. The bookends are UMASS (4-0/22) and Charlotte (0-4/184). The FCS has 128 teams and their Top 25 is defined as any team currently ranked 155th or higher. Their Bottom 10 is 257th or lower out of the 266 total teams in Division I. The bookends are Montana St (5-0/76) and Wagner (1-3/266). Here are the three Top 25s. We like to read these as pseudo-analogies: Florida is to the Core 4 as Boise St is to the Group of 6 as Harvard is to the FCS, for example.
| Category Rank | Core 4 | Group of 6 | FCS |
| 1 | Notre Dame (IND) | UMASS (MAC) | Montana St (Big Sky) |
| 2 | Alabama (SEC) | North Dakota St (Mountain West) | Idaho St (Big Sky) |
| 3 | Miami FL (ACC) | James Madison (Sun Belt) | Lehigh (Patriot) |
| 4 | UCLA (Big Ten) | South Florida (American) | Tarleton (UAC) |
| 5 | Mississippi St (SEC) | Fresno St (Pac 12) | Steph F Austin (Southland) |
| 6 | Florida (SEC) | Boise St (Pac 12) | Harvard (Ivy) |
| 7 | Georgia (SEC) | New Mexico (Mountain West) | TN Tech (SoCon) |
| 8 | Texas (SEC) | Louisiana (Sun Belt) | Illinois St (Missouri Valley) |
| 9 | Utah (Big 12) | Liberty (Conference USA) | Colgate (Patriot) |
| 10 | Nebraska (Big Ten) | FAU (American) | SC St (MEAC) |
| 11 | Virginia Tech (ACC) | Georgia St (Sun Belt) | Elon (CAA) |
| 12 | BYU (Big 12) | UTSA (American) | Austin Peay (UAC) |
| 13 | Duke (ACC) | Memphis (American) | Alabama A&M (SWAC) |
| 14 | Ohio St (Big Ten) | Tulsa (American) | Chattanooga (SoCon) |
| 15 | Pittsburgh (ACC) | Toledo (MAC) | South Dakota St (Missouri Valley) |
| 16 | Indiana (Big Ten) | App St (Sun Belt) | Columbia (Ivy) |
| 17 | Cincinnati (Big 12) | Army (American) | Montana (Big Sky) |
| 18 | LSU (SEC) | Marshall (Sun Belt) | Jackson St (SWAC) |
| 19 | Texas Tech (Big 12) | UNLV (Mountain West) | North Dakota (Missouri Valley) |
| 20 | Iowa (Big Ten) | Jax St (Conference USA) | Princeton (Ivy) |
| 21 | Oregon (Big Ten) | Air Force (Mountain West) | West Florida (UAC) |
| 22 | Oklahoma St (Big 12) | Oregon St (Pac 12) | South Dakota (Missouri Valley) |
| 23 | Penn St (Big Ten) | North Texas (American) | Marist (Pioneer) |
| 24 | Missouri (SEC) | FIU (Conference USA) | Butler (Pioneer) |
| 25 | Tennessee (SEC) | Miami OH (MAC) | Dayton (Pioneer) |
…..
And last, but not least, the Bottom 10 for each category, in reverse order: the first team listed is the worst team in the category, so far.
| Category Rank | Core 4 | Group of 6 | FCS |
| 10 | Georgia Tech (ACC) | Charlotte (American) | Wagner (Northeast) |
| 9 | Kansas (Big 12) | ULM (Sun Belt) | Howard (MEAC) |
| 8 | Rutgers (Big Ten) | Bowling Green (MAC) | Mercyhurst (Northeast) |
| 7 | Purdue (Big Ten) | UTEP (Mountain West) | Murray St (Missouri Valley) |
| 6 | California (ACC) | Sacramento St (MAC) | Long Island (Northeast) |
| 5 | Colorado (Big 12) | N Illinois (Mountain West) | Portland St (Big Sky) |
| 4 | Syracuse (ACC) | Akron (MAC) | Utah Tech (Big Sky) |
| 3 | Stanford (ACC) | New Mexico St (Conference USA) | Towson (CAA) |
| 2 | Maryland (Big Ten) | Southern Miss (Sun Belt) | Hampton (CAA) |
| 1 | NC St (ACC) | Hawaii (Mountain West) | West Georgia (UAC) |
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That’s it for today. Tune in Thursday for the start of Week 5 (or really Week 6 if we forget about the whole Week 0 thing, but we digress). We are planning to have end-of-month analysis with this type of breakout but would really enjoy hearing your feedback on what you like or don’t like. With that, thank you for reading, commenting, and, especially, sharing with others, JoJo and G
