I mentioned in another thread that the Harbin System that the Ohio High School Athletic Association uses to pick its playoff participants would work well for the NCAA with just a couple of tweaks. I analyzed last seasons results to see what the playoff participants would look like using the following system:
- 5 Primary points for a win versus a power 5 team
- 4 Primary points for an OT win versus a power 5 team
- 3 Primary points for a win versus a group of 5 team
- 2 Primary points for an OT win versus a group of 5 team
- all games versus 1-AA and lower teams count as a loss (no points)
- Secondary points are all primary points of defeated opponents
- Primary Points + Secondary Points = Total Points
Here's the top 10 for last year:
- Notre Dame 56 + 304 = 360
- Clemson 58 + 301 = 359
- Ohio State 57 + 287 = 344
- Alabama 56 + 276 = 332
- Oklahoma 55 + 276 = 331
- Washington 45 + 240 = 285
- The Weasels 48 + 233 = 281
- Georgia 46 + 220 = 266
- Texas 43 + 210 = 253
- Washington St 41 + 193 = 234
One point separated Oklahoma and Alabama! The tie breaker would be Primary Points. I haven't had time to do the average the points per game to see if that changes anything. I will do that at some point later today. The ZERO points for 1-AA and reduced points for group of five teams has a significant impact on teams trying to skate by into the playoffs. (looking at you Georgia).