Preseason Prediction Accuracy (2016-2018)

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

Magazine	Rank	Total Score	2018	2017	2016
Athlon	1	392	109	146	137
ESPN	2	405	126	133	146
Sports Crunchers	3	408	121	142	145
Pick Six Previews	4	411	119	150½	141½
Arena Fanatic	5t	411½	132	134	145½
DRatings.com	5t	411½	114½	149	148
Gold Sheet	7	413	107	158	148
Media Polls	8	417	123	145	149
Lindy's	9	425	120	157	148
GamePlan	10	428	122	157	149
Sports Formulator	11	431½	115½	162	154
Phil Steele	12	433	126½	158½	148
McIllece Sports	13	435½	132½	156	147
CollegeFootballPoll.com	14t	443½	131	162½	150
compughterratings.com	14t	443½	129½	159½	154½
Street & Smith / The Sporting News	16	444	119	178	147

This page shows the accuracy of preseason magazines' conference predictions for the three-year span 2016-2018 ("the last three years" going into the 2019 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 "2014-2018 (last five years)" table, a "2009-2018 (last ten years)" table, and a "1993-2018 (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.