The Book 2016: Week 2

The Declaration of Independence tells us that all men are created equal, but as we know in college football, not all teams are equal and therefore, not all games are equal either.  This can be looked at in several different lights.

It is pretty easy when analyzing a schedule and comparing games against say Florida State or Clemson, as opposed to Georgia Tech or NC State, and then against Wagner, to say that the teams you are comparing are at three distinct tiers.  But it is also just as true that games early in the season shouldn't carry the same weight as those in the middle of the season or at the end of the season.  Let's call that one, the Texas A&M theory, where the Aggies come out flying every year (this year being no exception) and then tail off as the season progresses.

In the words of former Cardinal and Viking coach Dennis Green, "they are who we thought they were", at least until the next week!

Teams are not equal and neither are they the same as the season progresses.  Pre-season polls tell us that too.  Rare is the case that even the majority of teams in the pre-season top 10 wind up there at seasons end.

So this year, we are going address both the former and the latter as we look at our poll through the eyes of the College Football Playoff selection committee and the Book.

It is about both who you beat and when you beat them this year as we seek to rank the best in the land, so while I think it is pretty clear after week 1 that Alabama may be the best team in the country, the truth is that several teams had better wins that Bama in week 1 and therefore in our brave new world, are ranked higher than the Tide.

The poll then is solely based on what you have done year to date and then we are using a multiplier that increases as the season goes along to increase value to games week after week.  In week one of course, that doesn't matter, only one data point, but as the season moves along, it should have an impact..we shall see!

After week 1 then, the Houston Cougars are the number 1 team in the country, leveraging the win over preseason #2 Oklahoma to that top spot.  Our other playoff teams, should the season have ended after the first week would be #2 Wisconsin, #3 Florida State and #4 Texas, with afforementioned A&M Aggies, Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, South Alabama (I told you this would be weird to start with!) and BYU rounding out the top 10.

BC's loss means that the Eagles must be below all the teams who started out with a win of any sort.  The Eagles check in at #107 this week and although they are undoubtedly nowhere near that from a power rating perspective, as Bill Parcells says, "you are what your record says you are", or in this case, what your record says, who you played and when you played them.

Speaking of power ratings, the Book didn't do so well in week 1, struggling to its worst opening week in some time, but a lot of time to recover.  The Book is very bullish on BC this week, picking the Eagles as 21.6 point favorites over the Minutemen.

Take a look at the new ratings below...be patient..don't panic and tell me I am nuts..and let's see how things sort out over the next three months!

Enjoy the games and Go Eagles!

Note:  the Massey composite rankings are as of Tuesday afternoon, September 6.