Preseason Prediction Accuracy (2008-2010)

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

Magazine	Rank	Total Score	2010	2009	2008
USA Today	1	386	108	142	136
Game Plan	2	394	121	132	141
Phil Steele's	3	401	125½	140	135½
Athlon	4t	404	119	144	141
CPA Rankings [Web Site]	4t	404	130	137½	136½
Sports Illustrated	6	405½	133½	133	139
Gold Sheet [Web Site]	7	424	121	160	143
The Sporting News	8	429	125	150	154
College Football Poll [Web Site]	9	433	148	139	146
Lindy's	10	434	115	151	168
Southern College Sports [Web Site]	11	436	137½	148½	150
College Football News [Web Site]	12	438½	132½	145½	152

This page shows the accuracy of preseason magazines' conference predictions for the three-year span 2008-2010 ("the last three years" going into the 2011 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 "2006-2010 (last five years)" table, a "2001-2010 (last ten years)" table, and a "1993-2010 (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.
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See the notes file for further information on the scoring process.