Sagarin ratings:

[Skjellyfetti]

1. Montana
2. North Dakota State
3. Northern Iowa
4. Georgia Southern
5. Appalachian State
6. New Hampshire
7. James Madison
8. Delaware
9. Eastern Washington
10. Wofford
11. Montana State
12. William & Mary
13. Sam Houston State
14. Maine
15. Villanova
16. Cal Poly
17. Furman
18. South Dakota State
19. Harvard
20. Southern Utah
21. Southern Illinois
22. Weber State
23. Youngstown State
24. Lehigh
25. Richmond
26. Chattanooga
27. Northern Arizona
28. Illinois State
29. Central Arkansas
30. Stephen F. Austin

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt12.htm

[underdawg]

Er, I'm an SIU Saluki Fan but Sagarin rating us ahead of YSU and ISU Red and Blue is probably insane, pre-season. Those three have earned the right to be rated preseason by their play on the field last year. WE may be really good this year but that's yet to be determined.

[blueballs]

No way SHSU is #13 starting out...

.... Also, any poll that doesn't have Chattanooga as unanimous, undisputed, unchallenged #1 is either ignorant or stupid or both.

[UNH Fanboi]

No way SHSU is #13 starting out...

.... Also, any poll that doesn't have Chattanooga as unanimous, undisputed, unchallenged #1 is either ignorant or stupid or both.

I believe Sagarin's preseason rankings are based on the past several years' results, hence why Towson is unranked and SHSU is so low. It makes sense--success tends to breed success in college football in the long run.

[Hammerhead]

Just for comparison, here are last year's Sagarin ratings after week 1.

1 Richmond 67.93
2 Appalachian State 66.09
3 Villanova 65.97
4 Massachusetts 63.97
5 Eastern Washington 63.91
6 Southern Illinois 63.79
7 Delaware 63.72
8 Georgia Southern 63.66
9 William & Mary 62.99
10 Montana 62.82
11 North Dakota State 62.71
12 James Madison 62.58
13 Northern Iowa 62.25
14 Sacramento State 61.96
15 New Hampshire 61.51
16 South Dakota State 61.13
17 Wofford 60.88
18 South Alabama 60.44
19 Pennsylvania 59.54
20 Montana State 57.96
21 Maine 57.79
22 Stephen F. Austin 57.50
23 Harvard 57.48
24 Elon 57.32
25 Northern Arizona 57.24
26 Jacksonville State 57.13
27 Weber State 56.78
28 Lehigh 56.45
29 Central Arkansas 55.74
30 Furman 55.23

[FormerPokeCenter]

The Sagarin ratings aren't worth bothering with until Week 4, when there are enough common opponents between the teams so that the computer can index all the teams...

Jeff Sagarin has written on this extensively. It's notoriously wrong in the first few weeks.....

In the last half of the season, it gets VERY accurate...now, not so much....

Sagarin admits this....

[MTfan4life]

Sagarin preseason ratings are practically comparable to drawing out of a hat. They're still more accurate than the FCS Coaches Poll, though.

[fatmonarch]

How many years previous does sagarin take into account?

This is one of the many times I wish ODU had played more than 3 seasons.

[skinny_uncle]

The Sagarin ratings aren't worth bothering with until Week 4, when there are enough common opponents between the teams so that the computer can index all the teams...

Jeff Sagarin has written on this extensively. It's notoriously wrong in the first few weeks.....

In the last half of the season, it gets VERY accurate...now, not so much....

Sagarin admits this....

It will change as games get played just like any of the preseason polls.

[Mr. C]

I never have understood why people are so fascinated with and why so many folks use the Sagarin ratings. They are really poorly done and one of the major reasons why is that Sagarin doesn't even include ALL games from ALL divisions in them. I remember starting to question them back in 1995 when Appalachian State went up to Marshall and beat the Thundering Herd, finished the regular season unbeaten and were still ranked BELOW Marshall during all of that time. In the years since, I've learned how his system works and have even more questions about its accuracy.

On top of all of that, it's pretty stupid to release ratings based on PREVIOUS years before anyone has played a game.

[UNH Fanboi]

I never have understood why people are so fascinated with and why so many folks use the Sagarin ratings. They are really poorly done and one of the major reasons why is that Sagarin doesn't even include ALL games from ALL divisions in them. I remember starting to question them back in 1995 when Appalachian State went up to Marshall and beat the Thundering Herd, finished the regular season unbeaten and were still ranked BELOW Marshall during all of that time. In the years since, I've learned how his system works and have even more questions about its accuracy.

On top of all of that, it's pretty stupid to release ratings based on PREVIOUS years before anyone has played a game.

Sagarin is legit. With 120+ teams and limited interconference play, it is a limited tool, but a good one nonetheless. In the long run, Sagarin's predictions will beat 99% of pundits. Sagarin is used as a baseline by many respected sports betters.

[Grizalltheway]

I never have understood why people are so fascinated with and why so many folks use the Sagarin ratings. They are really poorly done and one of the major reasons why is that Sagarin doesn't even include ALL games from ALL divisions in them. I remember starting to question them back in 1995 when Appalachian State went up to Marshall and beat the Thundering Herd, finished the regular season unbeaten and were still ranked BELOW Marshall during all of that time. In the years since, I've learned how his system works and have even more questions about its accuracy.

On top of all of that, it's pretty stupid to release ratings based on PREVIOUS years before anyone has played a game.

Yeah, well Marshall went on to the national championship game that season and App didn't. So it looks like they had the order correct all along.

[Tribal]

I wish this was the ranking after week 11.

[Grizo406]

I wish this was the ranking after week 11.

Hopefully, it will be!??!

[UAalum72]

I never have understood why people are so fascinated with and why so many folks use the Sagarin ratings.

1) It's been well known for many years from its publication in the McPaper, long before the internet surpassed print as a news source

2) His use of rating points, and relating them to football scoring, makes it easy to compare any two teams in his system, for prediction or argument.
" To make predictions for upcoming games, simply compare the RATINGS of the teams in question and allow an ADDITIONAL 3 points for the home team."

This is a lot more user-friendly than systems that use an arbitrary 'index' which doesn't instinctively translate the relative strength of two teams.

[Tod]

Yeah, well Marshall went on to the national championship game that season and App didn't. So it looks like they had the order correct all along.

Was going to say this. Will simply agree.