Preseason Prediction Accuracy (2014-2016)

See "notes" following the table for more information on its contents.

Magazine	Rank	Total Score	2016	2015	2014
McIllece Sports	1	413	147	130	136
Phil Steele	2t	413½	148	131	134½
Pick Six Previews	2t	413½	141½	135	137
Arena Fanatic	4	418½	145½	127½	145½
Athlon	5	421	137	133	151
Cap Heresy	6	423	145	139	139
USA Today	7	426½	144	145½	137
CPA Rankings	8t	429	151	135	143
GamePlan	8t	429	149	133	147
Lindy's	10	434	148	141	145
Media Polls	11	437	149	145	143
Gold Sheet	12	443	148	139	156
Compu-Picks	13	449	165	140	144
Street & Smith / The Sporting News	14	451	147	153	151
compughterratings.com	15	460½	154½	157	149
CollegeFootballPoll.com	16	486½	150	161½	175

This page shows the accuracy of preseason magazines' conference predictions for the three-year span 2014-2016 ("the last three years" going into the 2017 season). In order to qualify for either table, a magazine must have been published for every year used in that table.

There is also a "2012-2016 (last five years)" table, a "2007-2016 (last ten years)" table, and a "1993-2016 (all-time)" table.

Tables with more years have the advantage of having a larger sample of data: a single unusually lucky or unlucky year has less impact on the standings. However, tables with fewer years have the advantage of including more magazines: several of the magazines available today were not published if one goes back far enough.

Notes:

Lower scores are "better." The lower the score, the closer the magazine's predictions were to the actual results.
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See the notes file for further information on the scoring process.