First of all, I want to thank everyone who's read and responded to my ratings. I've thought about it and this week's ratings is probably the last I'll do. There are a few reasons for this.
First, I do the ratings longhand, using a spreadsheet. I don't use a computer other than for housing the spreadsheet. It takes quite a bit of time to do the ratings. I have some other projects I'm working on this season and just don't have the time for it any longer.
Second, I'm 63 years old and have been following high school football on a regular basis, in multiple states, since 1961. So, I've been following high school football for close to 55 years. I'm finding as I get older, I'm developing different interests.
Third, there are several other ratings and rankings systems out there. I began this one about two or three years ago, as a fun experiment. So, I really don't see the value in these ratings, considering you have Maxpreps, Calpreps, Carolina Preps Power Rankings, The A/P rankings, Simmons' Ratings and a myriad of others one can choose from.
So, I'm going to share the method I used. During the time I did the ratings, there were many questions about them. Often, the ratings didn't match one's perceptions of a particular team.
First of all, when I began the season with the ratings, there was no carryover from the prior season whatsoever. I saw no point in that. Each season is different. To me, you can't and shouldn't give credit to a team for what they're doing or about to do in the 2015 season, based on what they did in the 2014 season. Each season is different.
Now, my method. For better or worse, this is the method I've used.
I've used a points system similar to that which other states use. Points are awarded whether a team wins or loses a game during a particular week. The points are awarded as follows
For a win over a 4A team, 28 points. 3A team, 24 points. 2A team 20 points and 1A team 16 points.
If a school plays a private school team, I go by the enrollment of that private school. Regarding schools such as Country Day, Charlotte Latin, Providence Day and Charlotte Christian, I use the enrollment figures of their upper schools, as they have students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12th. Then being the school is private, I bump that school up a classification.
For example, Charlotte Catholic plays Charlotte Country Day. Country Day's upper school has 1A enrollment, but being it's a private school, it's bumped up to 2A.
For a loss, points are awarded, again based on classification. For a 4A team 14 points, 3A team 12 points, 2A team 10 points and 1A team 8 points.
Then bonus points are awarded for each game an opponent has won. If a team defeated an opponent, it would get 2 points for each game the defeated had won. If a team lost to an opponent, it would receive 1 point for each game that opponent had won.
So, a team losing to a better team with 7 wins would receive 7 bonus points, as opposed to losing to a team with 3 wins, therefore receiving 3 bonus points.
Next points are awarded based on whether a team won a game at home or on the road. To win a game at home is 1 point. A win on the road is 2 points. A win at a neutral site, such as Memorial Stadium in Charlotte is worth 1.5 points.
Next points are awarded for point differential. A value of .35 is awarded for each point of differential. For example, a team with a cumulative point differential for the season of 75 points would receive 26.25 points. This value is awarded in the positive or negative. For example, if a team has a negative point differential of -45. They would be awarded a value of -15.75 points. Of course, that hurts a team as that negative total is subtracted from their point total.
Points are awarded for a team's ranking in the Associated Press weekly poll. The points are awarded on a 10,9,8.basis. For example a team ranked first by the A/P receives 10 points, second 9 points so on down to the 10th ranked team.
Then points are awarded the same way according to a team's ranking in the Carolina Preps Power Rankings and Maxpreps ratings. The difference is points are awarded on a 25,24,23,21...basis. 25 points for a first place ranking, 24 for a second place ranking and so on.
Next points are awarded for a teams strength of schedule rating according to maxpreps. One point is awarded for each point of a team's strength of schedule rating. For example for a schedule strength of 17.4, a team is awarded 17.4 points.
So for the strength of a teams schedule there are a couple of safeguards. The first one is the points awarded depending on what classification an opponent is in and bonus points based on the games an opponent has won. The second one is the Maxpreps strength of schedule rating.
Next all the points are added together to arrive at a point total. That total is divided is by the number of games played. The result, is the points average that is used to rank the teams.
For good or bad, better or worse, that is the methodology I've used. So, again, thanks to all who have read the rankings and commented and even those who offered criticism. Believe it or not, I listened to it and tweaked the method from year to year.
I'm looking forward to the rest of this season.
