Power Points System vs Final AP Poll

This year's Power Points Standings counted all games with FCS wins and losses treated as equal to the least valuable FBS win (Southern Mississippi) and loss (New Mexico State). The best case scenario for the Power Points System is for all FBS teams to know the rules and compete accordingly while playing equal maximum game regular season schedules versus FBS competition only. None of these conditions exist. Obviously, its best if teams know the rules they are playing by in order to pursue schedules in their best interests. Furthermore, equal maximum game schedules gives all teams equal maximum possible power points. However, as things stand, some teams can earn extra games that others cannot. Finally, the artificial values assigned to FCS games are for demonstrative purposes only. If it were necessary to accommodate these games, they would be treated differently than they are here. All of this meant to add context to the results.

This year the Power Points Standings and the AP Poll agreed on 22 top 25 teams. The PPS favored Arkansas State, Tulsa, and Kent State. The AP favored Northwestern, Vanderbilt, and Michigan. That said, among AP top 25 teams only, the two systems agreed on the higher ranked team in 257 of 300 pairs (86%). Four teams favored by the PPS (Stanford, Florida, San Jose State, and Nebraska) accounted for 26 of 43 disputed pairs. Among the 43 disputed pairs, at least five AP pollsters (out of 59) sided with the PPS on 32 pairs. Four disputed pairs saw the PPS favor teams that no AP pollster favored. Those pairs are Notre Dame over Alabama, Florida over Oregon, San Jose State over LSU, and Nebraska over Louisville. (Officially, Alabama was awarded first place as the top bowl champion despite finishing with fewer power points than Notre Dame.)

Among the 43 disputed pairs, 11 involved teams separated by one spot in AP, nine by two spots, six by three spots, and the remaining 17 by four or more spots with Nebraska over Louisville (12 spots) being the largest difference. Once again, four teams favored by the PPS (same four mentioned before) accounted for 16 of the 17 largest differences. If we remove Stanford, Florida, San Jose State, and Nebraska and compare the remaining teams, the PPS and AP agree on 193 of 210 pairs (92%). Among the 17 disputed pairs, seven involve teams separated by one spot in AP, six by two spots, three by three spots, and one by five spots (NIU over Northwestern). Overall, there are 11 disputed pairs in which the PPS favored team was favored by two or less AP pollsters. Florida, San Jose State, and Nebraska account for eight of the 11.

Among the 43 disputed pairs, PPS favored teams own a 23-13-7 advantage based on most wins versus AP ranked teams. The advantage is 23-7-5 when the PPS is not favoring San Jose State. Among the 43 disputed pairs, PPS favored teams own 78 wins versus AP ranked teams. AP favored teams own 57 such wins. On nine occasions, a PPS favored team defeated at least two more AP ranked teams. Only one AP favored team defeated at least two more AP ranked teams.