Great stuff TD
THNX for sharing.
For the record I believe Michigan may be the most underrated team going into 2018 season.........I think that offense will be much better after only having just a couple returning starters on offense coming in to 2017.......There defense brings back a ton of production in an already elite defense..................I actuall have them ranked 5th overall.
Obviously gotta go with Bama Clemson GA and OHST to fill out the top 5
Great stuff TD
THNX for sharing.
For the record I believe Michigan may be the most underrated team going into 2018 season.........I think that offense will be much better after only having just a couple returning starters on offense coming in to 2017.......There defense brings back a ton of production in an already elite defense..................I actuall have them ranked 5th overall.
Obviously gotta go with Bama Clemson GA and OHST to fill out the top 5
Alright team, I’m a little later than estimated.
Ever look at those Against the Spread (ATS) statistics at the end of the year and notice that some teams were great ATS (2017: Iowa State 11-1-1 and Fresno State 11-2-1) and some teams were terrible ATS (2017: Hawaii 1-10-1, UTEP 2-9-1, and WKU 3-10)? What does this mean? …. Some teams were undervalued most of the season from their true value and other teams were overvalued most of the season from their true value. So if a team’s true CUMULATIVE value (numerically – their PR#) was “100% accurate” all season long, then theoretically their ATS record is 6-6 and their full season Against the Spread margin is net zero (*ATS margin being the number of points they did or didn’t cover by). I can tell you that “100% accurate” doesn’t exist for determining a “one size fits all” PR#, but going through the process of trying to get close to a 6-6 ATS record and net 0.0 margin for ATS margin does make you notice things about each team. Some teams are quite consistent week to week and other teams are more volatile in their performance. I also notice tiers for a lot of teams. As just one example, a team might have what looks like a pretty accurate PR# against most of the teams on their schedule in the “same weight class” but as soon as they play a top 10 team they can’t keep up even with the point spread. And/or the opposite also occurs; they may not only beat but also cover vs. terrible teams. So, slight adjustments up or down to a team’s base PR# for a certain situations may be necessary. Some good to great teams choose not to run up the score on lesser opponents. Some ball control teams do well at keeping it close and covering vs. tough opponents. The list of different situations goes on and on. A lot of this is intuitive and not surprising, but going through the numbers review process I find to be both fascinating and rewarding in the long run.
I was done with this final 2017 review effort, then recently decided to take one more pass at it and adjust individual team ratings based on conference ratings (i.e., the entire conference’s combined non-conference ATS record and ATS margins—because their in-conference ATS record and ATS margin are 0.500 and net zero by definition). Basically, slide the entire conference up or down together.
So, reasons to look back at the previous season, rather than starting over from scratch every year: 1. Establish an accurate starting point for offseason adjustments. 2. Noticing how well a team improved (or regressed) in the last 4-8 games of the season (especially with first or second year head coaches). 3. Noticing how bad a team performed with a lame duck coach that ends up being fired – i.e., the new head coach inherits a team that is not as bad as the raw #s indicate. 4. Noticing what types of tier teams exist and being on the lookout for similar teams in the upcoming season. 5. Determining what types of teams are consistent or volatile.
Anyway, here are my final 2017 post season ratings. I’ll try to get into some more detailed breakdowns later this weekend for each team. And there do end up being a few teams that I intentionally keep at a PR# that results in an ATS W/L record a couple notches above or below a 6-6 record for various reasons. Specific examples later as I find time to post (Pretty damn busy lately). And before I forget to mention, I choose to count any ATS margin result that is between +0.99 and -0.99 (less than a full point win or loss) as a push in their ATS record. This just helps me notice when a team is very consistent (some teams have 2, 3, or 4 pushes in a season with this approach).
Alright team, I’m a little later than estimated.
Ever look at those Against the Spread (ATS) statistics at the end of the year and notice that some teams were great ATS (2017: Iowa State 11-1-1 and Fresno State 11-2-1) and some teams were terrible ATS (2017: Hawaii 1-10-1, UTEP 2-9-1, and WKU 3-10)? What does this mean? …. Some teams were undervalued most of the season from their true value and other teams were overvalued most of the season from their true value. So if a team’s true CUMULATIVE value (numerically – their PR#) was “100% accurate” all season long, then theoretically their ATS record is 6-6 and their full season Against the Spread margin is net zero (*ATS margin being the number of points they did or didn’t cover by). I can tell you that “100% accurate” doesn’t exist for determining a “one size fits all” PR#, but going through the process of trying to get close to a 6-6 ATS record and net 0.0 margin for ATS margin does make you notice things about each team. Some teams are quite consistent week to week and other teams are more volatile in their performance. I also notice tiers for a lot of teams. As just one example, a team might have what looks like a pretty accurate PR# against most of the teams on their schedule in the “same weight class” but as soon as they play a top 10 team they can’t keep up even with the point spread. And/or the opposite also occurs; they may not only beat but also cover vs. terrible teams. So, slight adjustments up or down to a team’s base PR# for a certain situations may be necessary. Some good to great teams choose not to run up the score on lesser opponents. Some ball control teams do well at keeping it close and covering vs. tough opponents. The list of different situations goes on and on. A lot of this is intuitive and not surprising, but going through the numbers review process I find to be both fascinating and rewarding in the long run.
I was done with this final 2017 review effort, then recently decided to take one more pass at it and adjust individual team ratings based on conference ratings (i.e., the entire conference’s combined non-conference ATS record and ATS margins—because their in-conference ATS record and ATS margin are 0.500 and net zero by definition). Basically, slide the entire conference up or down together.
So, reasons to look back at the previous season, rather than starting over from scratch every year: 1. Establish an accurate starting point for offseason adjustments. 2. Noticing how well a team improved (or regressed) in the last 4-8 games of the season (especially with first or second year head coaches). 3. Noticing how bad a team performed with a lame duck coach that ends up being fired – i.e., the new head coach inherits a team that is not as bad as the raw #s indicate. 4. Noticing what types of tier teams exist and being on the lookout for similar teams in the upcoming season. 5. Determining what types of teams are consistent or volatile.
Anyway, here are my final 2017 post season ratings. I’ll try to get into some more detailed breakdowns later this weekend for each team. And there do end up being a few teams that I intentionally keep at a PR# that results in an ATS W/L record a couple notches above or below a 6-6 record for various reasons. Specific examples later as I find time to post (Pretty damn busy lately). And before I forget to mention, I choose to count any ATS margin result that is between +0.99 and -0.99 (less than a full point win or loss) as a push in their ATS record. This just helps me notice when a team is very consistent (some teams have 2, 3, or 4 pushes in a season with this approach).
Just a sample of what I'll try to show next (running out of time tonight):
ACC:
Boston College:
Power Rating = 76.2
ATS record: 5-7-1 *suggests they should be rated lower to improve their ATS record.
ATS margin: +3.1 ppg *suggests they should be rated higher to lower their ATS margin toward 0.0.
**This ATS margin figure decreases to +0.8 if the Syracuse game is excluded (QB Dungey out).
ATS margin first 6 regular
season games: -9.0 ppg (ATS record: 1-5)
ATS margin last 6
regular season games: +16.1 ppg (ATS record 4-1-1)
ATS margin
average/mean vs. #3 -#21 rated opponents:
-8.4 ppg (ATS record: 0-3-1)
ATS margin
average/mean vs. #24 -#28 rated opponents:
+4.1 ppg (ATS record: 2-2)
ATS margin
average/mean vs. #41 -#85 rated opponents:
+14.6 ppg (ATS record: 3-1)
*Notice the very first team is an example of you can’t have it both ways (Record suggests they are overvalued, Margins suggest they are undervalued). This is obviously because when they won, they won big. Inconsistent teams for ATS margin lead me to do a standard deviation on this statistic so that I could then rank all teams from most consistent ATS margins to most volatile ATS margins. Will post that info later.
Clemson:
Power Rating = 95.4
ATS record: 7-7
ATS margin: +0.2 ppg
ATS margin first 10
regular season games: -1.4 ppg (ATS record: 4-6) *Also, for games 6-10,
they were 0-5 ATS. Clemson seems to
intentionally put it on cruise control until their best effort is needed.
ATS margin last 3
regular season games: +10.7 ppg (ATS record 3-0) *I do include conference championship
games as regular season (both teams are motivated, unlike some bowl games).
ATS margin average/mean vs. #1 -#25 rated opponents: +3.4 ppg (ATS record: 4-2) *This figure was +7.1 ppg going into the Alabama game. Clemson plays well (generally) against better opponents.
ATS margin average/mean vs. #26 -#45 rated opponents: -3.5 ppg (ATS record: 2-4) *Anybody have Wake Forest +21 against Clemson last year? Never in doubt, right!!?? Down 28-0 with 12 minutes left to play. Dabo tends to go on cruise control vs. opponents in this tier. Same thing happened in the 2016 championship season, they turned it on when they needed to.Just a sample of what I'll try to show next (running out of time tonight):
ACC:
Boston College:
Power Rating = 76.2
ATS record: 5-7-1 *suggests they should be rated lower to improve their ATS record.
ATS margin: +3.1 ppg *suggests they should be rated higher to lower their ATS margin toward 0.0.
**This ATS margin figure decreases to +0.8 if the Syracuse game is excluded (QB Dungey out).
ATS margin first 6 regular
season games: -9.0 ppg (ATS record: 1-5)
ATS margin last 6
regular season games: +16.1 ppg (ATS record 4-1-1)
ATS margin
average/mean vs. #3 -#21 rated opponents:
-8.4 ppg (ATS record: 0-3-1)
ATS margin
average/mean vs. #24 -#28 rated opponents:
+4.1 ppg (ATS record: 2-2)
ATS margin
average/mean vs. #41 -#85 rated opponents:
+14.6 ppg (ATS record: 3-1)
*Notice the very first team is an example of you can’t have it both ways (Record suggests they are overvalued, Margins suggest they are undervalued). This is obviously because when they won, they won big. Inconsistent teams for ATS margin lead me to do a standard deviation on this statistic so that I could then rank all teams from most consistent ATS margins to most volatile ATS margins. Will post that info later.
Clemson:
Power Rating = 95.4
ATS record: 7-7
ATS margin: +0.2 ppg
ATS margin first 10
regular season games: -1.4 ppg (ATS record: 4-6) *Also, for games 6-10,
they were 0-5 ATS. Clemson seems to
intentionally put it on cruise control until their best effort is needed.
ATS margin last 3
regular season games: +10.7 ppg (ATS record 3-0) *I do include conference championship
games as regular season (both teams are motivated, unlike some bowl games).
ATS margin average/mean vs. #1 -#25 rated opponents: +3.4 ppg (ATS record: 4-2) *This figure was +7.1 ppg going into the Alabama game. Clemson plays well (generally) against better opponents.
ATS margin average/mean vs. #26 -#45 rated opponents: -3.5 ppg (ATS record: 2-4) *Anybody have Wake Forest +21 against Clemson last year? Never in doubt, right!!?? Down 28-0 with 12 minutes left to play. Dabo tends to go on cruise control vs. opponents in this tier. Same thing happened in the 2016 championship season, they turned it on when they needed to.Slightly less on UCF with a new staff, but still the value is there on all three.
Also, smaller on RSW totals:
LSU over 6.5
Tennessee Under 6.5
Waiting on one Big Ten RSW total in particular to be offered. Will be a larger play than the other two.
Slightly less on UCF with a new staff, but still the value is there on all three.
Also, smaller on RSW totals:
LSU over 6.5
Tennessee Under 6.5
Waiting on one Big Ten RSW total in particular to be offered. Will be a larger play than the other two.
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