Adjustment

Post date: Nov 17, 2009 11:34:50 PM

Based on the cases of Clemson and Eastern Michigan, I have decided to revise how teams who are the only I-A team to lose to a given opponent are penalized. So any team that gets a fractional (below 1.000000) rating as an opponent will instead get a rating of 1, so that no team loses more than half a point from its point total for a given loss. Given that even after 10 games the best teams are only at just over 1 for their total rating (not to be confused with "rating as an opponent," which is as high as 6.2), I think half of a point is more than an adequate penalty for even the worst losses. Losses to I-AA teams (since obviously such teams also have at least one I-A win) will also result in a subtraction of no more than half of a point. I-AA opponents aren't added in the same way, but I try to ensure that the losses are applied similarly to other bad losses. Even though in the case of Eastern Michigan, they only go from #120 to #119, it is worth mentioning that they were penalized worse for losing to Ball St. than Western Kentucky had been for losing to Central Arkansas.

Wins against such teams will also be slightly higher, but it is such a small difference (about .01), I don't mind the change for the sake of consistency.