Preseason Prediction Accuracy (2012-2016)

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

Magazine	Rank	Total Score	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012
Phil Steele	1	669½	148	131	134½	119	137
Cap Heresy	2	690	145	139	139	120	147
Athlon	3	693	137	133	151	138	134
Arena Fanatic	4	694½	145½	127½	145½	134	142
CPA Rankings	5	700	151	135	143	129	142
McIllece Sports	6	704	147	130	136	132	159
Lindy's	7	705	148	141	145	132	139
GamePlan	8	706	149	133	147	130	147
Compu-Picks	9	709	165	140	144	128	132
Media polls	10	728½	149	145	143	139½	152
USA Today	11	730½	144	145½	137	142½	161½
compughterratings.com	12	736½	154½	157	149	135	141
The Sporting News	13	740	147	153	151	148	141
College Football Poll	14	779½	150	161½	175	125	168

This page shows the accuracy of preseason magazines' conference predictions for the five-year span 2012-2016 ("the last five years" going into the 2017 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 "2014-2016 (last three years)" table, a "2007-2016 (last ten years)" table, and a "1993-2016 (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.