Preseason Prediction Accuracy (2014-2018)

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

Magazine	Rank	Total Score	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014
Athlon	1	676	109	146	137	133	151
Pick Six Previews	2	683	119	150½	141½	135	137
Arena Fanatic	3	684½	132	134	145½	127½	145½
Phil Steele	4	698½	126½	158½	148	131	134½
McIllece Sports	5	701½	132½	156	147	130	136
Media polls	6	705	123	145	149	145	143
GamePlan	7t	708	122	157	149	133	147
Gold Sheet	7t	708	107	158	148	139	156
Lindy's	9	711	120	157	148	141	145
Street & Smith / The Sporting News	10	748	119	178	147	153	151
compughterratings.com	11	749½	129½	159½	154½	157	149
CollegeFootballPoll.com	12	780	131	162½	150	161½	175

This page shows the accuracy of preseason magazines' conference predictions for the five-year span 2014-2018 ("the last five 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 "2016-2018 (last three 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.
Click here to visit the reviews index.
See the notes file for further information on the scoring process.