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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/angrysquirrel777 on 2024-11-13 17:50:57+00:00.
I have posted this analysis before for past years but figured with new rankings this year and finalized rankings from last year it was time to look at it again!
This looks at how often a conference gets the “benefit of the doubt” by being the highest ranked team with X number of losses. For example, in the most recent CFP rankings, Oregon (B1G) is the highest ranked 0 loss team, Ohio State (B1G) is the highest rank 1 loss team, Alabama is the highest rank 2 loss team, etc.
To get the all time and season total numbers you just add each occurrence up from each week. So from the example above, the B1G would have 2 instances of a higher ranking and the SEC would have 1.
2024
| Conference | Top Ranked 0 Loss | Top Ranked 1 Loss | Top Ranked 2 Loss | Top Ranked 3 Loss | Top Ranked 4 Loss | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEC | 2 | 2 | ||||
| B1G | 2 | 2 | 4 | |||
| Big XII | 0 | |||||
| ACC | 2 | 2 | ||||
| PAC 12 | 0 | |||||
| Independent | 0 |
2023
| Conference | Top Ranked 0 Loss | Top Ranked 1 Loss | Top Ranked 2 Loss | Top Ranked 3 Loss | Top Ranked 4 Loss | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEC | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 13 | |
| BIG | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Big XII | 1 | 1 | ||||
| ACC | 0 | |||||
| PAC 12 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 | ||
| Independent | 0 |
All Time Historical
| Conference | Top Ranked X Loss | % of Favorability |
|---|---|---|
| SEC | 144 | 54.1% |
| B1G | 39 | 14.6% |
| PAC 12 | 32 | 12.0% |
| ACC | 28 | 10.5% |
| Big XII | 21 | 7.8% |
| Independent | 2 | .7% |
Surprisingly, the Big XII has been the most overlooked conference when comparing similar teams in the last decade. 2023 was huge for the PAC 12 though, with 9/32 of its total occurrences coming from one year.
Unsurprisingly, the SEC has far and away been the most favored conference when comparing similar teams. It has 144 out of 266 of the total possible occurrences, 54%.