Preseason Prediction Accuracy (2015-2017)

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

Magazine	Rank	Total Score	2017	2016	2015
Arena Fanatic	1	407	134	145½	127½
ESPN	2	414	133	146	135
Athlon	3	416	146	137	133
Cap Heresy	4	422	138	145	139
Pick Six Previews	5	427	150½	141½	135
McIllece Sports	6	433	156	147	130
Phil Steele	7	437½	158½	148	131
GamePlan	8t	439	157	149	133
Media Polls	8t	439	145	149	145
Gold Sheet	10	445	158	148	139
Lindy's	11	446	157	148	141
DRatings.com	12	453	149	148	156
USA Today	13	456½	167	144	145½
compughterratings.com	14	471	159½	154½	157
CollegeFootballPoll.com	15	474	162½	150	161½
Street & Smith / The Sporting News	16	478	178	147	153

This page shows the accuracy of preseason magazines' conference predictions for the three-year span 2015-2017 ("the last three years" going into the 2018 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 "2013-2017 (last five years)" table, a "2008-2017 (last ten years)" table, and a "1993-2017 (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.