Preseason Prediction Accuracy (2010-2012)

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

Magazine	Rank	Total Score	2012	2011	2010
Lindy's	1	405	139	151	115
Athlon	2	407	134	154	119
Phil Steele	3	410½	137	148	125½
Compughter Ratings	4	413	141	146	126
GamePlan	5	415	147	147	121
Blue Ribbon / ESPN	6	417	154	154	109
USA Today	7	427½	161½	158	108
CPA Rankings	8	429	142	157	130
Football Outsiders	9	438½	145	141	152½
The Sporting News	10	440	141	174	125
College Football Poll	11	495	168	179	148

This page shows the accuracy of preseason magazines' conference predictions for the three-year span 2010-2012 ("the last three years" going into the 2013 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 "2008-2012 (last five years)" table, a "2003-2012 (last ten years)" table, and a "1993-2012 (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.