Preseason Prediction Accuracy (2006-2010)

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

Magazine	Rank	Total Score	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006
Athlon	1	697	119	144	141	135	158
Phil Steele	2	701½	125½	140	135½	147½	153
GamePlan	3	713	121	132	141	145	174
CPA Rankings [Web Site]	4	715½	130	137½	136½	141	170½
The Sporting News	5	739	125	150	154	140	170
Lindy's	6	742	115	151	168	137	171
Southern College Sports [Web Site]	7	745	137½	148½	150	140	169
Gold Sheet [Web Site]	8	757	121	160	143	154	179

This page shows the accuracy of preseason magazines' conference predictions for the five-year span 2006-2010 ("the last five 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 "2008-2010 (last three 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.