Preseason Prediction Accuracy (2011-2015)

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

Magazine	Rank	Total Score	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011
Phil Steele	1	669½	131	134½	119	137	148
Cap Heresy	2	695½	139	139	120	147	150½
GamePlan	3	704	133	147	130	147	147
CPA Rankings	4	706	135	143	129	142	157
Lindy's	5	708	141	145	132	139	151
Athlon	6	710	133	151	138	134	154
compughterratings.com	7	728	157	149	135	141	146
USA Today	8	744½	145½	137	142½	161½	158
Football Outsiders	9	746	148	166	146	145	141
The Sporting News	10	767	153	151	148	141	174
College Football Poll	11	808½	161&Frac12;	175	125	168	179

This page shows the accuracy of preseason magazines' conference predictions for the five-year span 2011-2015 ("the last five years" going into the 2016 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 "2013-2015 (last three years)" table, a "2006-2015 (last ten years)" table, and a "1993-2015 (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.