Preseason Prediction Accuracy (2013-2017)

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

Magazine	Rank	Total Score	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013
Cap Heresy	1	681	138	145	139	139	120
Arena Fanatic	2	686½	134	145½	127½	145½	134
Phil Steele	3	691	158½	148	131	134½	119
Pick Six Previews	4	694	150½	141½	135	137	130
McIllece Sports	5	701	156	147	130	136	132
Athlon	6	705	146	137	133	151	138
GamePlan	7	716	157	149	133	147	130
Media polls	8	721½	145	149	145	143	139½
Lindy's	9	723	157	148	141	145	132
Gold Sheet	10	727	158	148	139	156	126
USA Today	11	736	167	144	145½	137	142½
compughterratings.com	12	755	159½	154½	157	149	135
CollegeFootballPoll.com	13	774	162½	150	161½	175	125
Street & Smith / The Sporting News	14	777	178	147	153	151	148

This page shows the accuracy of preseason magazines' conference predictions for the five-year span 2013-2017 ("the last five 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 "2015-2017 (last three 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.
Click here to visit the reviews index.
See the notes file for further information on the scoring process.