Preseason Prediction Accuracy (2001-2003)

See "notes" following the table for more information on its contents.

Magazine	Rank	Total Score	2003	2002	2001
CPA Rankings [Web Site]	1	439½	138½	146	155
The Sporting News	2	450	146	131	173
Jim Feist's	3	451	141	148	162
Lindy's	4	454	149	150	155
Athlon	5	455	149	144	162
Phil Steele's	6	456	155	153	148
Game Plan	7	460	141	154	165
ATS Consultants	8	474	167½	148	158½
Street & Smith	9	482	147	155	180
College Football News [Web Site]	10	491½	149½	162	180

This page shows the accuracy of preseason magazines' conference predictions for the three-year span 2001-2003 ("the last three years" going into the 2004 season). In order to qualify for either table, a magazine must have been published for every year used in that table.

There is also a "1999-2003 (last five years)" table, and a "1993-2003 (all-time)" table.

Tables with more years have the advantage of having a larger sample of data: a single unusually lucky or unlucky year has less impact on the standings. However, tables with fewer years have the advantage of including more magazines: several of the magazines available today were not published if one goes back far enough.

Notes:

Lower scores are "better." The lower the score, the closer the magazine's predictions were to the actual results.
Some magazines don't predict every I-A conference; those included in this table are shown in bold. (Their scores include the "average" of other magazines' scores for the non-predicted conferences, plus a two-point penalty per non-predicted conference.)
Click on a magazine name to see a detailed review; or click here to visit the reviews index.
See the notes file for further information on the scoring process.