College football playoff chase after Week 2
Getting things started!
Welcome to the MVP Chase, where I, James Leroy Wilson, rank players and teams using objective data.
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I constructed a college football computer ranking for the 2023 season. I had no preseason rankings, as there was no data to input. And after a handful of games in Week 0 and then a full slate in Week 1, there was very little data to go on. The winning teams had a weak schedule (they beat winless teams) and the losing teams had a strong schedule (they lost to undefeated teams).
After Week 2, however, there is some more information. We see which teams had the best start. It doesn’t necessarily mean the most talented teams are in the Top 25 yet. Georgia isn’t ranked because they throttled an FCS school and winless Ball State; other teams had a more impressive resume. For instance, Duke dominated two teams, Clemson and Louisiana (aka Lafayette) who themselves dominated their other opponent.
There are no projections. For example, Texas beat Alabama last week. Assuming Alabama eventually wins 9–11 games, that will help…
