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:
Rank |
Team |
Conference |
| 1 |
Southern
Illinois |
MVFC |
| 2 |
Montana |
Big Sky |
| 3 |
Villanova
|
Colonial |
| 4 |
William &
Mary |
Colonial |
| 5 |
S.
Carolina St. |
Mid-Eastern |
| 6 |
Appalachian
State |
Southern |
| 7 |
Richmond
|
Colonial |
| 8 |
Northern Iowa |
MVFC |
| 9 |
South
Dakota State |
MVFC |
| 10 |
New
Hampshire |
Colonial |
| 11 |
McNeese State |
Southland |
| 12 |
Holy
Cross |
Patriot |
| 13 |
Elon
|
Southern |
| 14 |
Liberty
|
Big South |
| 15 |
Eastern
Washington |
Big Sky |
| 16 |
Eastern Illinois |
Ohio Valley |
| 17 |
Jacksonville
State |
Ohio Valley |
| 18 |
Stephen
F. Austin |
Southland |
| 19 |
Lafayette
|
Patriot |
| 20 |
Colgate
|
Patriot |
| 21 |
Weber
State |
Big Sky |
| 22 |
Texas State |
Southland |
| 23 |
Montana
State |
Big Sky |
| 24 |
Missouri
State |
MVFC |
| 25 |
Delaware |
Colonial |
| 26 |
James
Madison |
Colonial |
| 27 |
Massachusetts |
Colonial |
| 28 |
Florida
A&M |
Mid-Eastern |
| 29 |
Southeastern
Louisiana |
Southland |
| 30 |
Central
Arkansas |
Southland |
| 31 |
Northern Arizona |
Big Sky |
| 32 |
Maine
|
Colonial |
| 33 |
Youngstown
State |
MVFC |
| 34 |
Eastern Kentucky |
Ohio Valley |
| 35 |
UC-Davis
|
Great West |
| 36 |
Tennessee-Martin
|
Ohio Valley |
| 37 |
Cal-Poly
|
Great West |
| 38 |
Old Dominion |
Indy |
| 39 |
Southern
Utah |
Great West |
| 40 |
Illinois
State |
MVFC |
| 41 |
Charleston-Southern
|
Big South |
| 42 |
Furman
|
Southern |
| 43 |
Chattanooga
|
Southern |
| 44 |
Hampton
|
Mid-Eastern |
| 45 |
Sacramento State |
Big Sky |
| 46 |
Lehigh
|
Patriot |
| 47 |
Samford
|
Southern |
| 48 |
Stony
Brook |
Big South |
| 49 |
Tennessee Tech |
Ohio Valley |
| 50 |
Sam
Houston State |
Southland |
| 51 |
Bethune-Cookman
|
Mid-Eastern |
| 52 |
South Dakota |
Great West |
| 53 |
Wofford |
Southern |
| 54 |
Norfolk
State |
Mid-Eastern |
| 55 |
Coastal
Carolina |
Big South |
| 56 |
Gardner-Webb
|
Big South |
| 57 |
Hofstra
|
Colonial |
| 58 |
Citadel
|
Southern |
| 59 |
North Dakota |
Great West |
| 60 |
Morgan
State |
Mid-Eastern |
| 61 |
Fordham |
Patriot |
| 62 |
Bryant |
Indy |
| 63 |
North
Dakota State |
MVFC |
| 64 |
Georgia
Southern |
Southern |
| 65 |
Austin
Peay |
Ohio Valley |
| 66 |
Nicholls
State |
Southland |
| 67 |
North
Carolina A&T |
Mid-Eastern |
| 68 |
Delaware State |
Mid-Eastern |
| 69 |
S.E.
Missouri State |
Ohio Valley |
| 70 |
Western
Carolina |
Southern |
| 71 |
Northeastern
|
Colonial |
| 72 |
Northern
Colorado |
Big Sky |
| 73 |
Tennessee
State |
Ohio Valley |
| 74 |
VMI
|
Big South |
| 75 |
Western
Illinois |
MVFC |
| 76 |
Murray
State |
Ohio Valley |
| 77 |
Bucknell
|
Patriot |
| 78 |
NC Central |
Indy |
| 79 |
Towson |
Colonial |
| 80 |
Portland
State |
Big Sky |
| 81 |
Idaho
State |
Big Sky |
| 82 |
Northwestern
State |
Southland |
| 83 |
Rhode Island |
Colonial |
| 84 |
Indiana
State |
MVFC |
| 85 |
Howard
|
Mid-Eastern |
| 86 |
Winston-Salem |
Mid-Eastern |
| 87 |
Savannah
State |
Indy |
| 88 |
Georgetown
|
Patriot |
| 89 |
Presbyterian |
Big South |
|
|
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Teams in yellow were idle.
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Big Movers:
On the Rise:
Each week will will highlight
the clubs that have made dramatic moves
...up or down. Some of week's big movers
up are:
Going the Wrong Way:
Each week will will highlight the clubs that
have made dramatic moves ...up or down. Some
of week's big movers down are:
- New Hampshire
- Eastern Kentucky
- Gardner-Webb
Factors used in Pete's
Power Poll:
There are several factors that
are involved in our poll. In brief, they are:
-
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.
All games vs. non covered teams (that is
they are not listed in Pete's Power Poll)
are given a FLAT set of points. We realize
that other conferences and divisions have
rankings, but it is far too much work to rank
every team in FBS/IA, FCS/I-AA, DII and sub-DII.
We do rank IA and DII top-50 clubs with a
higher value ... but it is a flat value. In
other words, if the factor for a IA club is
100 (on a scale of 1 to 100, 100 being the
best) we may use a factor for a top-50 club
of 125. However, all of the top-50 clubs are
ranked at this same level ... whether they
are #1, or #49. (We use the Congrove Computer
Rankings to establish the factors for IA clubs).
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