On a weekend of college football games, it is often quite overwhelming sifting through all of the matchups. If only there was a way of knowing which games were the most appealing in some objective way. If you ever have faced this conundrum, you’ve come to the right place! Using my power rankings of a given week, I have created a formula that calculates a “game score” for every matchup for the upcoming weekend, and ranks all of the games accordingly. Only games featuring two FBS teams and at least one power 5 team, or games featuring a top 25 team, are ranked. It’s a bit time-consuming entering these games in, so for now no rankings for group of 5 games.
My formula is based off of two components: overall team quailty and team rankings similarities. Unsurprisingly, teams featuring better teams will be scored better than games with weaker schools. However, the “closeness” of the teams has to be taken into account as well. Sure, Ohio State is a high quality team, but their lopsided matchup against Rutgers this weekend is not appealing due to the talent disparity. Where the game is played is also taken into account (I would rather watch #5 at #20 than #20 at #5, for example).
Things that are NOT included are factors like the general reputation of the schools involved, the style of play that the teams use, and the past history of a given matchup. Certainly rivalry games are more fun regardless of the quality of the teams, but that is not considered here. Also, Texas Tech vs. OK State this weekend may be an entertaining shootout, but their styles are not taken into account for my rankings.
Without further ado, here are the Week 5 Game Rankings. Interestingly, the 2nd and 3rd best games of the week are both on Friday night. Friday night lights!! A lower value of “Score” corresponds with a more intriguing game.
The rankings listed for each team come from my Week 4 power rankings, found here: http://rpubs.com/ditrapani4/312342
| Rank | Away | Home | Score | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 Clemson | AT | 11 Virginia Tech | 8.88 | 8:00pm |
| 2 | 4 USC | AT | 18 Washington St | 12.5 | (Fri) 7:00pm |
| 3 | 18 Miami | AT | 17 Duke | 12.9 | (Fri) 10:30pm |
| 4 | 23 Mississippi St | AT | 22 Auburn | 15.34 | 8:00pm |
| 5 | 16 OK State | AT | 26 Texas Tech | 15.46 | 6:00pm |
| 6 | 25 Memphis | AT | 28 UCF | 16.24 | 7:00pm |
| 7 | 34 Vanderbilt | AT | 13 Florida | 21.11 | 12:00pm |
| 8 | 2 Georgia | AT | 39 Tennessee | 22.63 | 3:30pm |
| 9 | 37 Indiana | AT | 8 Penn State | 22.83 | 3:30pm |
| 10 | 31 California | AT | 47 Oregon | 23.41 | 10:30pm |
| 11 | 41 Florida State | AT | 28 Wake Forest | 23.52 | 3:30pm |
| 12 | 33 Iowa | AT | 50 Michigan State | 24.46 | 4:00pm |
| 13 | 45 South Carolina | AT | 45 Texas AM | 24.59 | 7:30pm |
| 14 | 50 Maryland | AT | 35 Minnesota | 27.08 | 12:00pm |
| 15 | 42 Colorado | AT | 61 UCLA | 28.05 | 10:30pm |
| 16 | 50 Northwestern | AT | 15 Wisconsin | 28.21 | 12:00pm |
| 17 | 57 Texas | AT | 63 Iowa State | 28.93 | (Thurs) 8:00pm |
| 18 | 57 Arizona St | AT | 30 Stanford | 30.27 | 4:00pm |
| 19 | 59 Ole Miss | AT | 5 Alabama | 32.66 | 9:00pm |
| 20 | 69 Troy | AT | 38 LSU | 34.66 | 7:00pm |
| 21 | 60 Illinois | AT | 83 Nebraska | 34.7 | (Fri) 8:00pm |
| 22 | 79 E Michigan | AT | 39 Kentucky | 38.49 | 4:00pm |
| 23 | 75 N Illinois | AT | 10 San Diego St | 38.76 | 10:30pm |
| 24 | 78 Syracuse | AT | 27 NC State | 38.83 | 12:20pm |
| 25 | 86 North Carolina | AT | 47 Georgia Tech | 40.67 | 12:00pm |
| 26 | 97 N Mexico St | AT | 56 Arkansas | 44.19 | 12:00pm |
| 27 | 12 Ohio State | AT | 100 Rutgers | 44.66 | 7:30pm |
| 28 | 111 C Michigan | AT | 89 Boston College | 47.4 | 1:00pm |
| 29 | 9 Washington | AT | 109 Oregon State | 47.97 | 8:00pm |
| 30 | 103 Miami OH | AT | 20 Notre Dame | 48.58 | 5:00pm |
| 31 | 21 S Florida | AT | 116 E Carolina | 49.15 | 12:00pm |
| 32 | 121 Rice | AT | 71 Pittsburgh | 51.78 | 12:00pm |
| 33 | 118 Baylor | AT | 44 Kansas State | 52.35 | 12:00pm |
Before a long day of sitting on the couch watching game after game, it is nice to be able to get an idea of what the best games are for a given time slot. Here, I sort the rankings from above by the time in which the game is played, so readers can examine which games are best at a given time.
| Rank | Away | Home | Score | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 57 Texas | AT | 63 Iowa State | 28.93 | (Thurs) 8:00pm |
| 2 | 4 USC | AT | 18 Washington St | 12.5 | (Fri) 7:00pm |
| 21 | 60 Illinois | AT | 83 Nebraska | 34.7 | (Fri) 8:00pm |
| 3 | 18 Miami | AT | 17 Duke | 12.9 | (Fri) 10:30pm |
| 7 | 34 Vanderbilt | AT | 13 Florida | 21.11 | 12:00pm |
| 14 | 50 Maryland | AT | 35 Minnesota | 27.08 | 12:00pm |
| 16 | 50 Northwestern | AT | 15 Wisconsin | 28.21 | 12:00pm |
| 25 | 86 North Carolina | AT | 47 Georgia Tech | 40.67 | 12:00pm |
| 26 | 97 N Mexico St | AT | 56 Arkansas | 44.19 | 12:00pm |
| 31 | 21 S Florida | AT | 116 E Carolina | 49.15 | 12:00pm |
| 32 | 121 Rice | AT | 71 Pittsburgh | 51.78 | 12:00pm |
| 33 | 118 Baylor | AT | 44 Kansas State | 52.35 | 12:00pm |
| 24 | 78 Syracuse | AT | 27 NC State | 38.83 | 12:20pm |
| 28 | 111 C Michigan | AT | 89 Boston College | 47.4 | 1:00pm |
| 8 | 2 Georgia | AT | 39 Tennessee | 22.63 | 3:30pm |
| 9 | 37 Indiana | AT | 8 Penn State | 22.83 | 3:30pm |
| 11 | 41 Florida State | AT | 28 Wake Forest | 23.52 | 3:30pm |
| 12 | 33 Iowa | AT | 50 Michigan State | 24.46 | 4:00pm |
| 18 | 57 Arizona St | AT | 30 Stanford | 30.27 | 4:00pm |
| 22 | 79 E Michigan | AT | 39 Kentucky | 38.49 | 4:00pm |
| 30 | 103 Miami OH | AT | 20 Notre Dame | 48.58 | 5:00pm |
| 5 | 16 OK State | AT | 26 Texas Tech | 15.46 | 6:00pm |
| 6 | 25 Memphis | AT | 28 UCF | 16.24 | 7:00pm |
| 20 | 69 Troy | AT | 38 LSU | 34.66 | 7:00pm |
| 13 | 45 South Carolina | AT | 45 Texas AM | 24.59 | 7:30pm |
| 27 | 12 Ohio State | AT | 100 Rutgers | 44.66 | 7:30pm |
| 1 | 1 Clemson | AT | 11 Virginia Tech | 8.88 | 8:00pm |
| 4 | 23 Mississippi St | AT | 22 Auburn | 15.34 | 8:00pm |
| 29 | 9 Washington | AT | 109 Oregon State | 47.97 | 8:00pm |
| 19 | 59 Ole Miss | AT | 5 Alabama | 32.66 | 9:00pm |
| 10 | 31 California | AT | 47 Oregon | 23.41 | 10:30pm |
| 15 | 42 Colorado | AT | 61 UCLA | 28.05 | 10:30pm |
| 23 | 75 N Illinois | AT | 10 San Diego St | 38.76 | 10:30pm |