College Football Kraus Index: Week One

Week One of college football is in the books. I was going to write an article about Big Ten football, or, even more specifically, about Ohio State, but, let's be honest, it has been done to death and you SEC folks have already let me know in no uncertain terms what you think of that kind of article.

Being a numbers kind of a guy, I decided to take a different approach, and if this thing flies (comments please) I will make it a weekly article.

The Kraus Index

I am indexing (not ranking) every Division 1-A (Bowl Championship Subdivision) football team each week based on its performance that week.

This is not a ranking of who is the best or who will win the BCS, though rankings do play a part in the calculation. Each team receives a index score based on how well they did that week.

The calculation takes into account points scored and given up, turnovers, yards gained and given up, and the ranking and conference of the opponent. I decided not to go any further in depth, as I like to try to maintain the semblance of a life.

This index acts as a barometer as to how your team did in respect to all the other teams. For instance, OSU did blank the Youngstown State Penguins, but because of Y-St.'s conference and division affiliation, the Buckeyes only score a 2.09 index. The leader is Alabama, which scored 5.57 for soundly beating a top-rated team.

How do I know that my methodology is sound? I don't, but it is my way of figuring this out. Second, take a look at the ESPN Bottom 10 and line it up with the bottom of my list. Pretty darn close.

Based on comments, I will possibly tweak my methodology in future weeks. I might even divulge the calculations I used to come up with the index scores.

Conference Average Scores:

Conference    Average
SEC    1.55
Big 12    1.22
Pac 10    0.81
Big Ten    0.79
C-USA    0.23
MWC    0.19
MAC    (0.78)
1-A Indep    (1.72)
ACC    (1.90)
Big East    (2.16)
Sun Belt    (4.53)
WAC    (4.84)

Team Scores:

Team    TOTAL
Alabama    5.57
East Carolina    3.84
Missouri    3.58
Arizona    3.57
UCLA    3.56
Bowling Green    2.99
USC    2.81
Florida    2.75
South Carolina    2.71
Oregon    2.53
Auburn    2.52
Wake Forest    2.48
Eastern Michigan    2.46
Boston College    2.45
Texas    2.43
Kansas    2.34
Kentucky    2.34
Southern Miss    2.27
Oklahoma State    2.26
Kansas State    2.20
Ohio State    2.09
Northwestern    2.08
TCU    2.04
Rice    2.00
Arkansas State    2.00
Tulsa    1.94
Buffalo    1.88
Houston    1.87
Fresno State    1.80
Oklahoma    1.77
UCF    1.73
Indiana    1.67
Cincinnati    1.65
UNLV    1.65
Penn State    1.64
Utah    1.61
Air Force    1.59
Temple    1.58
Colorado    1.52
Iowa    1.51
Vanderbilt    1.51
Boise State    1.51
Nebraska    1.51
Wisconsin    1.47
California    1.46
Miami (FL)    1.45
Nevada    1.43
South Florida    1.42
Louisiana Tech    1.41
Stanford    1.39
Mississippi    1.33
Georgia Tech    1.31
Troy    1.28
Connecticut    1.28
Navy    1.17
Duke    1.12
Ball State    1.03
Georgia    1.02
LSU    1.02
Iowa State    0.99
Minnesota    0.93
Central Michigan    0.92
Texas Tech    0.86
Arizona State    0.81
Maryland    0.80
BYU    0.79
Wyoming    0.77
Marshall    0.74
West Virginia    0.67
San Jose State    0.27
North Carolina    0.21
Arkansas    0.11
Tennessee    (0.52)
Illinois    (0.84)
Northern Illinois    (0.95)
Oregon State    (0.96)
Michigan State    (1.01)
Ohio    (1.27)
Memphis    (1.48)
Michigan    (1.61)
Middle Tennessee    (1.66)
Mississippi State    (1.71)
Virginia Tech    (1.73)
Akron    (1.76)
Texas A&M    (1.81)
Pittsburgh    (1.86)
Western Michigan    (1.97)
Utah State    (2.12)
Colorado State    (2.20)
Miami (OH)    (2.36)
Western Kentucky    (2.47)
Clemson    (2.94)
UAB    (2.97)
Baylor    (3.02)
Washington State    (3.09)
Syracuse    (3.17)
UTEP    (3.26)
Louisiana-Lafayette    (3.36)
Rutgers    (3.73)
Army    (3.85)
Florida International    (3.92)
Washington    (4.03)
Southern Methodist    (4.10)
San Diego State    (4.68)
Florida Atlantic    (5.24)
Hawaii    (5.98)
North Texas    (7.58)
Virginia    (8.03)
Kent State    (11.95)
Louisville    (13.51)
Louisiana-Monroe    (17.77)
North Carolina State    (18.06)
Idaho    (37.07)

Teams that did not play:

Florida State, Purdue, Notre Dame, Tulane, Toledo, New Mexico, and New Mexico State.