NCAAF Football - Power Rankings

The number 1 team in My FBS Power Rankings: Oregon Ducks

Well, the No. 1 spot belongs to Oregon, wrapping up the regular season undefeated and cruising to the conference championship in its first season since joining the Big Ten. You can't dim the Ducks success, defeating Boise State, Ohio State and Illinois -- all which were carrying a perfect record at the time, too. 

Everyone is showing up ready to play for Oregon. Dillon Gabriel leads the attack, completing 73.5% of his passes. Tez Johnson leads the receiving room that has two others who have earned over 580 yards and hit the endzone at least three times. Then, Jordan James ensures the offense is just as lethal on the ground, eclipsing 1,100 yards this year. 

I just can't seem to justify placing Dan Lanning's group elsewhere. The Ducks have a +19.8 win margin, have shown little to no signs of struggle through 12 weeks of matchups while being a top 10 scoring offense and defense.

most overrated team: Alabama Crimson Tide

They're placed outside the 12-team seeding in my rankings, but clearly the computer rankings to my right aren't agreeing with me. So let me say this loud and clear, Alabama does not deserve to be in the College Football Playoff. 

The Tide haven't been showcased three losses in their win column since 2010. Their losses to Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma are a joke. Two unranked defeats! 

To me, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Alabama are all interchangeable. The Gamecocks have three losses but all were to ranked groups, one of which was a mere two-point defeat to 'Bama. The Rebels have three losses, two unranked with one from the Kentucky team that pushed Georgia to the edge.

However, South Carolina finished the regular season on a six-game streak... the same can't be said for Ole Miss and Alabama, who suffered upsets in its second-last outing. Though a brunt of the college football world fails to acknowledge it, Alabama is not the team it once was under Nick Saban.

most underrated team: South Carolina Gamecocks

You probably saw this one coming. Like I mentioned above, South Carolina also has three losses but haven't suffered defeat since Week 7. It's also worth noting that of the three ranked losses, two of them ended within a field goal or fewer. 

In the ladder half of the season, the Gamecocks regrouped and defeated Oklahoma and Vanderbilt -- better known as the two teams to upset Alabama. Shane Beamer also led his group to victories against No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 23 Missouri and No. 12 Clemson, with two of those wins singlehandedly pushing its competitors out of a CFP position. 

Wrapping up the season on a six-game streak just proves South Carolina is dialed in. 

How do we create our College Football Power Rankings?

* Power rankings for college football are updated at the conclusion of each week’s play. Ranks are based on a rolling past 10 games overall; early in the season, this date range reaches back to regular-season games of the previous year.

Is the worst team in the tough SEC better than the top team in the not-so-tough Sun Belt Conference? If they were playing, would you bet the 0-6 team from the SEC or the 6-0 team from the Sun Belt? Standings won’t tell you all you need to know to make that bet. And while college football power rankings won’t provide a perfect answer either, it will get you a lot closer to a true comparison of those teams so you can study the point spread more effectively.

Different teams in different conferences have different tendencies and strengths, most of which are revealed at Odds Shark in many of our comparative stats. But a full, math-based comparison taking into account all the offense, defense, time of possession and other key stats can only be gathered on the NCAA football power rankings page. Compare it against the college football lines each day. See below the ratings chart for details on the math that underlies the rankings.

The SEC has produced the past five national college football champions and for good reason – it’s the toughest conference in America. Teams emerging from a season of play there are battle-hardened and ready to pound the other BCS hopefuls. That fact underpins the college football power rankings here at Odds Shark Not all teams or conferences are created equal so looking at the standings is simply a false view into which teams are strong and deserve your money each Saturday.

We crunch the usual NCAA football power stats like rushing yards, yards per rush, time of possession, turnover differential, passing efficiency and more. We rate all 120 schools and rank and apply formulas based on their conference strength (a team rated first in Conference USA might only be 67th overall while the last-place team in the Big 12 might be 51st).

We do the same thing on the defensive side of the ball, factoring in run-stop effectiveness, defensive scoring, takeaways and passing yards allowed per game to come up with another set of power numbers. We merge those and apply a conference strength multiplier to even out the edges. What comes out the other side is a sometimes controversial ranking of college football teams that nonetheless applies some science and math to the subject and helps you judge the best odds.

It’s all designed to help you rate teams and find NCAA betting edges on the point spread or OVER/UNDER. Check it out all season long and win more wagers!