The 2008 Elite Selection Playoff Initial Release

It's that time of year again. That's right, it's Week Six of the 2008 college football season, time for the release of the Elite Selection Playoff. For those new to this college football ranking system, a detailed explanation can be found here.

Elite Selection Playoff

First out of the gate are the Oklahoma Sooners, largely due to the pollsters' (deserved) love affair with this team. The Crimson Tide trail by less than two-hundredths of a point and sit atop the AV computer ranking.

Elite Selection Playoff
	Rank	Team	Mascot	AP	C*	AV	Points
	1	Oklahoma	Sooners	1	1	4	1.000
	2	Alabama	Crimson Tide	2	4	1	0.986
	3	Missouri	Tigers	3	2	3	0.972
	4	Texas	Longhorns	5	5	5	0.875
	5	Penn State	Nittany Lions	6	6	9	0.792
	6	Texas Tech	Red Raiders	7	7	11	0.736
	7	LSU	Tigers	4	3	22	0.681
	7	Vanderbilt	Commodores	13	14	2	0.681
	9	Utah	Utes	14	13	7	0.611
	10	Boise St	Broncos	15	16	6	0.569
	10	Georgia	Bulldogs	10	10	17	0.569
	12	Southern Cal	Trojans	8	9	21	0.556
	13	Brigham Young	Cougars	9	8	23	0.528
	14	Ohio State	Buckeyes	12	11	24	0.431
	15	Oklahoma St	Cowboys	17	17	14	0.417
	16	Florida	Gators	11	12	32	0.403
	17	South Florida	Bulls	19	20	15	0.333
	18	Virginia Tech	Hokies	18	18	19	0.319
	19	Kansas	Jayhawks	16	15	30	0.292
	20	Ball St	Cardinals	25	NR	8	0.264
	21	Michigan St	Spartans	23	19	18	0.250
	21	Northwestern	Wildcats	NR	22	12	0.250
	23	California	Golden Bears	NR	25	10	0.236
	24	Wake Forest	Demon Deacons	21	21	20	0.222
	25	Pittsburgh	Panthers	24	NR	13	0.208

*Coaches' Poll

Strength of Schedule

The most heavily weighted part of the AV computer ranking is the strength of schedule. To date, the Washington Huskies have faced the toughest schedule, followed closely by Nebraska. It is important to keep in mind that the AV strength of schedule is based only on games played through Week Six, i.e. it does not include every opponent on a team's schedule until the final week of the season.

Strength Of Schedule
	Rank	Team	Points
	1	Washington	1.000
	2	Nebraska	0.932
	3	Oregon St	0.893
	4	North Texas	0.842
	5	Syracuse	0.802
	6	Utah St	0.785
	7	Bowling Green	0.774
	8	Florida Atlantic	0.751
	9	New Mexico	0.748
	10	Michigan	0.740

Margin of Victory

Penn State and Oklahoma have been racking up huge victories over their opponents coming in at first and second, respectively, in margin of victory.

Margin of Victory
	Rank	Team	Points
	1	Penn State	1.000
	2	Oklahoma	0.949
	2	Texas	0.949
	4	Missouri	0.919
	5	Tulsa	0.896
	6	TCU	0.876
	7	Texas Tech	0.873
	8	Brigham Young	0.871
	8	Oklahoma St	0.871
	10	Arizona	0.856

AV Computer Ranking

Finally, the AV computer ranking (only the top 50 are shown) is led by Alabama, followed by Vanderbilt, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. For the Irish faithful, Notre Dame makes its debut at No. 34. Its 4-1 record is trumped by the 73rd-ranked strength of schedule.

Last year Notre Dame's schedule ranked sixth in the country. At the onset of this season it was estimated that the Irish would play the 60th toughest strength of schedule. So far this seems to be very plausible.

AV	Team	Mascot	Points	SOS	QWL	AWP	MOV
1	Alabama	Crimson Tide	0.841	52	4	1	13
2	Vanderbilt	Commodores	0.781	55	33	4	40
3	Missouri	Tigers	0.757	77	33	14	4
4	Oklahoma	Sooners	0.756	86	33	4	2
5	Texas	Longhorns	0.754	87	33	4	2
6	Boise St	Broncos	0.735	92	33	12	19
7	Utah	Utes	0.730	104	33	1	18
8	Ball St	Cardinals	0.722	110	33	1	11
9	Penn State	Nittany Lions	0.716	110	33	11	1
10	Texas Tech	Red Raiders	0.704	114	33	4	7
11	California	Golden Bears	0.703	46	5	30	15
12	Northwestern	Wildcats	0.699	112	33	4	35
13	Pittsburgh	Panthers	0.695	73	3	24	60
14	Oklahoma St	Cowboys	0.693	112	33	14	8
15	South Florida	Bulls	0.683	72	21	16	21
16	Tulsa	Golden Hurricanes	0.681	117	33	4	5
17	Georgia	Bulldogs	0.680	38	33	24	28
18	Michigan St	Spartans	0.679	56	17	21	29
19	Virginia Tech	Hokies	0.674	64	28	17	46
20	Wake Forest	Demon Deacons	0.669	22	33	36	51
21	Southern Cal	Trojans	0.663	32	20	38	16
22	LSU	Tigers	0.660	118	33	12	26
23	Brigham Young	Cougars	0.660	119	33	4	8
24	Ohio State	Buckeyes	0.658	66	33	21	37
25	Georgia Tech	Yellow Jackets	0.654	58	25	30	24
26	North Carolina	Tar Heels	0.650	71	25	24	33
27	TCU	Horned Frogs	0.641	94	33	17	6
28	Connecticut	Huskies	0.639	89	33	17	40
29	Cincinnati	Bearcats	0.639	77	33	24	37
30	Kansas	Jayhawks	0.631	81	22	30	25
31	Kentucky	Wildcats	0.630	91	13	30	17
32	Florida	Gators	0.628	87	33	24	12
33	Nebraska	Cornhuskers	0.622	2	25	53	46
34	Notre Dame	Fighting Irish	0.617	73	33	36	48
35	Minnesota	Golden Gophers	0.616	101	33	21	31
36	Navy	Midshipmen	0.615	43	8	39	58
37	Maryland	Terrapins	0.610	82	1	41	69
38	Florida St	Seminoles	0.605	102	29	30	14
39	Boston College	Eagles	0.600	106	32	24	20
40	Auburn	Tigers	0.596	46	12	41	43
41	Western Michigan	Broncos	0.585	115	33	17	36
42	South Carolina	Gamecocks	0.577	68	10	41	42
43	East Carolina	Pirates	0.572	53	7	45	67
44	Duke	Blue Devils	0.557	23	18	53	52
45	Oregon	Ducks	0.555	89	14	39	22
46	Colorado	Buffaloes	0.555	15	33	53	80
47	Nevada	Wolf Pack	0.554	40	33	45	57
48	Illinois	Fighting Illini	0.553	29	33	48	53
49	Wisconsin	Badgers	0.552	33	31	48	39
50	Air Force	Falcons	0.547	60	15	45	44