What is Pete's Power Poll?
-Pete's is the country's only poll that concentrates, almost exclusively, on the play-off conferences/teams of NCAA Division I-AA/FBS football. It's purpose is to determine the 16 teams that should be awarded a berth into the NCAA Division-I play-off. The poll is completely driven on performance, not the opinions of individuals; this makes the poll almost completely unbiased. Pete's means no disrespect to the Ivy, SWAC, or Mid-major programs ... we merely chose to rank those clubs that are eligible for, and historically have participated in the tournament. The SWAC and Ivy have chosen not to participate in the play-off, and even though they are eligible, there has never been a mid-major club selected for the play-off. It will take some time for the poll to develop throughout the season, as teams play more games. The #1 team in any given week is just that ... the #1 team at that point in the season, given the games played so far. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email Pete's.

For those of you that are new to the poll, here is a brief explanation:

• There are many factors that go into our polls. These factors are covered below the poll. However, the initial preseason ranking is the basis for the remainder of the season. The ranking is specifically designed so that even the team that begins in the last position can still finish the season at number-1.



• Again this year, Pete's Power Poll will cover ten (10) conferences. As is our custom, the initial poll rewards the top team in each of the covered conferences with a position in the top-10 spots. The order of these teams is determined by the preseason conference poll. The exception to this is the preseason #1, which is always awarded to the defending national champions. This year's top team is Richmond; the 2-11 spots are the top-ranked team from each conference. Also, the new teams are placed in the poll around the 50th position. The new clubs are placed in the middle of the poll, as schedule strength usually would keep these clubs at, or near, the bottom.
  
  
• Pete's follows only the play-off conferences and leagues that contain post-season eligible teams. We do not track mid-major conferences and their members. With no disrespect to the Ivy, SWAC, or Mid-major programs ... we merely chose to rank those clubs that are eligible for, and historically have participated in the play-off. There are post-season eligibility changes slated for next season, and any changes to the poll will be made at that time.
  
  
• This year Pete's welcomes Old Dominion to the poll, in their first year with a football program. The Monarchs will compete against 8 I-AA/FCS clubs in 2009. As they have no prior years of data; to be fair, ODU will begin the season at the 50th position.



• Generally, teams that are idle will remain in their current position, so as not to be penalized. If there are ties in rank, it is possible that an idle team may change a position.
  
  
• It seems that many pundits have little to do with their time, other than "nit pick" others that love and promote I-AA/FCS football. With this in mind, Pete's does not sample other individuals ...so technically the Power Poll is not a "poll". The Power Poll is a computerized ranking similar to (although we feel far superior to) the BCS is IA/FBS ball. One of the most distinctive differences between the Power Poll and a BCS poll, is that readers of Pete's will see how all of the clubs progress throughout the entire season. We do not wait until the fourth or fifth week of the season to publish our first poll. In the beginning of the season, it is very common for clubs to move up or down in tremendous fashion. So don't lose faith; as it is more than possible for a club at the bottom to move up to the top. Obviously, the poll will become far more accurate as the season progresses, when teams have more games played ... especially once conference play begins, and teams have more opponents in common.
  
  
• One final note; Pete's does not take into account any play-off games in the final rankings. It is not fair to take performance into account when no more than 16-teams are playing. So the final Pete's Power Poll is published at the end of the regular season.

Here is the 2009 Week-11 Pete's Power Poll:

• William & Mary
• Hampton
• Western Carolina

• New Hampshire
• Eastern Kentucky
• Gardner-Webb

• Points for and against.
• Margin of victory: we do limit the margins so a team is not devastated or over-compensated for an exceptionally good, or poor performance.
• Strength of the opposition (where the opponent is ranked in the previous week's poll).
• Home vs. away vs. neutral field.
• Conference vs. non-Conference.
• IA/FBS vs. I-AA/FCS vs. non-scholarship vs. sub-FCS/I-AA: Teams in our poll are awarded more points for victories over IA opposition, less points for DII and mid-major games. Conversely, a loss to a IA clubs is not penalized as harshly as a team ranked in Pete's Poll ... and a loss to a mid-major or sub-IAA opponent is penalized more harshly. We do this in order to discourage teams from playing outside their own division.