College Football Rankings: Season's OCGR Debut Gives Us Texas-USC 1-2

The 2008 debut of the OCGR is here.  With minimal data, the OCGR, of course, gives us more questions than answers.  Here is the Oct. 12 version:

(Ratings as of Oct. 12)

Rank	Team	Record	OCGR
1	Texas	6-0	78.41
2	USC	4-1	66.83
3	Oklahoma	5-1	66.17
4	Florida	5-1	65.57
5	Penn State	7-0	65.00
6	Alabama	6-0	63.87
7	Missouri	5-1	59.91
8	Oklahoma State	6-0	58.53
9	Utah	7-0	58.26
10	Georgia	5-1	56.95
11	California	4-1	54.72
12	Boise State	5-0	53.64
13	Michigan State	6-1	53.59
14	North Carolina	5-1	52.97
15	TCU	6-1	52.80
16	Wake Forest	4-1	52.70
17	Ohio State	6-1	52.51
18	South Florida	5-1	51.44
19	Virginia Tech	5-1	51.09
20	Kansas	5-1	48.97
21	BYU	6-0	48.91
22	Texas Tech	6-0	47.12
23	Ball State	7-0	46.84
24	Vanderbilt	5-1	46.24
25	LSU	4-1	42.83
26	Tulsa	6-0	41.93

You may look at this and think to yourself that this is worthless.  It is, and it isn't.  Let's do a little digging.

The OCGR is made up of 60 percent statistics and 40 percent strength of schedule of games played.  Once that is calculated, the rating is then multiplied by the winning percentage.  It is shocking to see USC, Oklahoma, and Florida ahead of Penn State and Alabama.  Time for a breakdown.

Texas

73 percentile or higher in each main category (offense, defense, special teams, SOS)

Stock: Buy

They are strong, but their SOS can get even stronger with more Big 12 action.

USC

Very dominant in defense and strength of schedule.

Stock: Sell

With a weak Pac-10 and possible future losses by Ohio State, their strength of schedule can possibly nosedive over the next few weeks.

Oklahoma

The loss hurts, but the team is strong in all categories.

Stock: Hold

Stats and Schedule should hold constant.

Florida

The offense is actually the weakest point of the team (saying something about the other components).

Stock: Buy

Strength of schedule increases due to SEC play.

Penn State

Dominant in statistics, but their out of conference schedule hurts with the likes of Temple and Syracuse.

Stock: Buy

With the Big Ten conference games, SOS should improve dramatically from the 0.2963 rating so far.

Alabama

Defense is strong, but the offense and special teams are iffy at best.

Stock: Buy

They have room to improve in everything but the defense.

Surprises of the week: BYU and LSU debuting at 21 and 25 respectively

I am as surprised as anyone at how low they are.  Both teams' strength of schedule are a lot lower than one would think.

For more in-depth coverage and background of the OCGR, please visit the OCGR's website here.

As for the conference strength ratings, the ACC jumps to No. 3 as the SEC and Big 12 hold at one and two.

Conference strength through games played on Oct. 11

Rank	Conference	OOC Record	Rating
1	SEC	28-5	0.6676
2	Big 12	38-10	0.6474
3	ACC	32-10	0.6216
4	Big Ten	31-10	0.6097
5	MWC	25-11	0.5849
6	Big East	22-12	0.5775
7	Pac-10	13-15	0.5283
8	Independents	12-13	0.5075
9	WAC	17-17	0.5006
10	MAC	20-28	0.4674
11	Conference USA	16-27	0.4373
12	Sun Belt	8-21	0.3989