BACKGROUND INFO
Online since June of 1999, CollegeFootballPoll.com is independently owned and operated.
It hosts the Congrove Computer Rankings created by Dave Congrove, a college football fanatic who desired to create an unbiased comparison of major college football teams. He was looking for answers, and not attempting to validate a theory. Thus, he devised a formula that contains only hard data and nothing which could be perceived as opinion. In 1993, the Congrove Computer Rankings were born and were initially syndicated on radio with a twice-weekly show. When the website was launched in 1999, the radio show was retired.
The rankings and website have been referenced by numerous newspapers, sports radio stations, college game day programs, and school media guides across the country. Mr. Congrove has been interviewed on ESPN radio affiliates and other sports stations.
Dave Congrove is a:
- member of the Football Writers Association of America
- voting member of the Vince Lombardi Award
- voting member for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award
- nominating member for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy
- nominating member for the Outland Trophy
- nominating member for the 25-player FWAA All-America Team
CollegeFootballPoll.com is also a member of the Big Lead Sports network of quality internet sites that cover the entire spectrum of collegiate and professional sports.
ABOUT THE RANKINGS
Congrove's approach is vastly different from the numerous computer rankings available and the goals can be summarized in two words - simplicity and accountability.
Simplicity. The computer program is designed to predict who is supposed to beat who and by how much.
What actually happens when the game is played directly alters subsequent predictions. A unique "season-averaging variable" prevents wild fluctuations due to anomalies, and renders it meaningless to "run up the score".
A strong team that is supposed to whip an obviously out-matched opponent by 40, but wins by 60, only sees a fraction of the difference added to their power rating. If they win by only 20, the failure to "cover" the other 20 points also declines their power rating only fractionally.
The rise and fall of a team's Power Rating is relevant to the strength of the team it played, whether it won or lost, and how other teams fared against similar opponents.
Accountability. The Congrove Computer Rankings are designed to
predict the outcome. Success is determined by how many games were predicted correctly.
College Football Poll.com not only publishes the
rankings, but also provides the
computer's pick of every game and tracks the
success rate by each team and conference. Our users can plainly see where the computer is right, and where it is wrong. Or, as Congrove half-jokingly likes to say, "You can plainly see where teams failed to do what they were supposed to do. Nothing ticks me off more than two football teams blowing a perfectly good prediction."
Additionally, the
Season Preview section features team pages that highlight the computer's predicted record of every team for every year since 1993, and compares it to their actual record.
Results. The Congrove Computer Rankings have picked the winner in 74.8% of all games played since 1993 (9,039-3,046) while beating the spread in 53.9% of those games (5,968-5,103). In the 2009 season, the computer won 75.1% SU and 53.8% ATS.
(year-by-year record of computer).
For 2009, it projected the exact regular season record of 23 teams, came within one victory on 34 others, and within two victories on 23 more teams.
The computer has
predicted the national title match-up three times (1993, 1998 and 2005), and at least one contestant every year except 1994, 1997, 2001 and 2006. The team it picked to win the title did so three times (1993, 1998, and 1999), and lost in the title game four times (2000, 2003, 2004, 2005).
More. We bring you much more than college football computer rankings.
Pre-game and
post-game columns are just a small part of the original editorial content, plus there is season historical data and one of the most complete portals to official college sites and resources found anywhere on the net.
See more content choices by visiting our
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