Stats and College Football

Hi all,

I want to start this post with an apology. As odd as it may sound, I have found myself politic-ed out. I know unbelievable and unacceptable. I get it. We're at the height of a Presidential election and I peter out. But that's just it. This month has been exhausting. Not because of this blog, but because of the constant, non-ending controversy, driven by two candidates with little self-awareness and a media desperate for views or clicks.

So from hence forth, I will continue posting election updates, but at a less frequent and less regularly scheduled pace. I apologize for whatever inconvenience, if any, this may cause. Secondly, college football is starting this week! Now I'm not a huge sports fan most of the time, but I have developed a thing for my Alma Mater's football program, as many do. But due to my political background, I have always viewed the spectacle of college football through a relevant lens.

I decided to draft a power index, not based on traditional sports stats, but based on factors in which I have always deemed relevant in judging a football program's success. Below is the power index for Ohio State and their schedule this year. I calculated this through a simple average of their AP ranking, with 1 being ranked 1, 2 0.96, and so on with the retention rate of talent on the team from the previous year (i.e.. what the percentage of players from the previous year are returning). Add in their conference weight on a scale of 0-1, with one being P5 and 0 being FCS, and then the last two factors are the percentage of wins the team has had in the past four years and the percentage of bowl wins they've had in the past 4 years. Enjoy!

To get the strength of schedule you just have to average the values of Ohio State's schedule. Their schedule scores a 0.536

Team/Locale	AP Ranking	Rentention	P5/FBS/FCS	Win %	Bowl Win %	Rank
Ohio State	0.8	0.32	1	0.93	0.67	0.744
Schedule
Bowling Green	0	0.41	0.5	0.65	0.43	0.398
Tulsa	0	0.69	0.5	0.43	0.67	0.458
at Oklahoma	0.92	0.65	1	0.77	0.25	0.718
Rutgers	0	0.86	0.75	0.53	0.34	0.496
Indiana	0	0.6	1	0.39	0	0.398
at Wisconsin	0	0.44	1	0.7	0.5	0.528
at PSU	0	0.55	1	0.58	0.5	0.526
Northwestern	0	0.58	1	0.6	0.5	0.536
Nebraska	0	0.75	1	0.66	0.4	0.562
at Maryland	0	0.66	1	0.42	0	0.416
at MSU	0.56	0.42	1	0.8	0.83	0.722
Michigan	0.76	0.67	1	0.58	0.33	0.668