College Football Power Rankings

2008 Pre-Season Ranking

By Paul Bessire, WhatIfSports.com

July 22nd, 2008

WhatIfSports simulated every possible matchup in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) 100 times, and used the winning percentages from those 700,000+ games to deterministically evaluate all teams to come up with the best possible ranking of how every team compares to every other team. The inputs to the simulations are based on a rigorous analysis of each team that first considers strength-of-schedule-adjusted team and player ratings from 2007 and then makes modifications for 2008 based on returning starters (who, where and how many), expected progression of returning players in new roles, depth at each position and incoming recruits and transfers.

Check out our Pre-Season Preview for final standing and scores from every regular season, conference championship and bowl game.

Teams Ranked by Winning Percentage
(everyone plays everyone 100 times)

	Team	Change	Win Pct	PF/G	PA/G
1.	Ohio State Buckeyes	0	98.4%	49.7	7.7
2.	Georgia Bulldogs	0	96.8%	44.7	11.1
3.	Oklahoma Sooners	0	94.8%	48.3	18.3
4.	LSU Tigers	0	94.2%	42.6	11.8
5.	USC Trojans	0	93.0%	40.6	10.5
6.	W. Virginia Mountaineers	0	91.4%	41.4	17.9
7.	Clemson Tigers	0	89.9%	36.6	14.9
8.	Florida Gators	0	87.6%	38.6	19.3
9.	Missouri Tigers	0	85.6%	42.0	22.4
10.	Wisconsin Badgers	0	85.0%	34.6	15.9
11.	Texas Longhorns	0	83.8%	38.5	20.6
12.	Illinois Fighting Illini	0	82.3%	34.2	18.5
13.	Kansas Jayhawks	+2	79.3%	38.8	25.1
14.	Alabama Crimson Tide	-1	78.3%	33.0	17.2
15.	WF Demon Deacons	-1	78.0%	29.2	16.0
16.	Texas Tech Red Raiders	0	78.0%	33.8	20.8
17.	Virginia Tech Hokies	0	77.6%	27.9	15.8
18.	Auburn Tigers	0	75.7%	25.7	14.1
19.	South Florida Bulls	0	75.2%	33.7	20.4
20.	Arizona St. Sun Devils	+2	73.1%	32.7	22.9
	Team	Change	Win Pct	PF/G	PA/G
21.	Fresno State Bulldogs	0	72.3%	37.7	27.0
22.	Tennessee Volunteers	+1	71.4%	35.0	24.5
23.	Brigham Young Cougars	-3	69.8%	33.4	23.7
24.	Purdue Boilermakers	+3	69.5%	31.3	22.8
25.	Oklahoma State Cowboys	+3	68.8%	36.7	29.2
26.	Cincinnati Bearcats	-1	68.3%	29.7	21.5
27.	Michigan Wolverines	-3	66.9%	28.2	20.1
28.	TCU Horned Frogs	+6	66.6%	26.0	19.1
29.	Oregon Ducks	0	65.9%	28.6	20.6
30.	Utah Utes	-4	65.6%	28.0	20.7
31.	Florida State Seminoles	+6	64.9%	28.0	21.8
32.	Pittsburgh Panthers	-1	64.7%	27.9	20.7
33.	Maryland Terrapins	-3	63.7%	30.6	24.9
34.	Penn State Nittany Lions	+5	63.3%	28.3	22.3
35.	North Carolina Tar Heels	+3	63.1%	30.4	25.1
36.	Indiana Hoosiers	-1	62.7%	29.4	23.5
37.	Louisville Cardinals	-1	62.6%	36.5	31.1
38.	California Golden Bears	+4	62.6%	30.7	25.3
39.	Boise State Broncos	+6	61.7%	27.5	23.2
40.	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	0	61.5%	29.3	25.1
	Team	Change	Win Pct	PF/G	PA/G
41.	Connecticut Huskies	+5	61.4%	27.5	22.3
42.	Houston Cougars	+2	61.3%	29.3	24.7
43.	UCLA Bruins	-10	61.1%	25.1	21.0
44.	Kansas State Wildcats	+6	60.6%	32.3	27.8
45.	East Carolina Pirates	-4	60.5%	28.3	24.2
46.	Nevada Wolf Pack	+5	60.4%	36.0	32.2
47.	Michigan State Spartans	-15	59.5%	27.7	22.9
48.	UCF Knights	0	59.4%	25.5	21.4
49.	Arizona Wildcats	+3	59.4%	29.4	25.0
50.	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	-3	59.3%	26.0	21.9
51.	S. Carolina Gamecocks	-8	59.2%	26.0	22.4
52.	Arkansas Razorbacks	-3	58.9%	27.0	23.4
53.	Kentucky Wildcats	0	57.1%	22.1	18.7
54.	C. Michigan Chippewas	+1	56.3%	30.7	28.5
55.	New Mexico Lobos	-1	55.5%	22.8	20.6
56.	Nebraska Cornhuskers	+9	53.3%	26.1	24.6
57.	Florida Atlantic Owls	0	53.2%	27.9	27.0
58.	Colorado Buffaloes	+1	53.2%	26.7	26.2
59.	Mississippi State Bulldogs	-1	52.2%	20.2	20.0
60.	Tulsa Golden Hurricane	+1	50.3%	31.2	31.3
	Team	Change	Win Pct	PF/G	PA/G
61.	Air Force Falcons	-5	50.1%	26.5	26.5
62.	Mississippi Rebels	+2	49.6%	24.8	24.9
63.	Boston College Eagles	-3	49.6%	21.5	21.8
64.	GA Tech Yellow Jackets	-1	49.2%	25.2	24.7
65.	Iowa Hawkeyes	+1	48.7%	21.7	22.8
66.	Wyoming Cowboys	+1	48.0%	20.1	21.7
67.	Ball State Cardinals	-5	47.4%	30.1	31.5
68.	Washington Huskies	0	46.9%	28.4	29.5
69.	Miami (OH) RedHawks	+4	46.8%	20.8	23.2
70.	Temple Owls	+4	45.7%	21.6	24.5
71.	Texas A&M Aggies	-2	45.6%	28.3	31.2
72.	Oregon State Beavers	-1	45.2%	20.2	22.7
73.	Navy Midshipmen	-3	44.2%	27.6	29.8
74.	Hawaii Warriors	+1	42.8%	22.3	25.5
75.	W. Michigan Broncos	+3	41.1%	21.3	26.1
76.	Rice Owls	+10	40.4%	23.7	29.0
77.	Northwestern Wildcats	0	40.2%	23.8	28.5
78.	Minn. Golden Gophers	+1	38.5%	29.8	34.4
79.	Virginia Cavaliers	+6	38.3%	16.6	21.9
80.	Duke Blue Devils	-4	38.3%	20.4	25.6
	Team	Change	Win Pct	PF/G	PA/G
81.	S. Miss Golden Eagles	-1	37.9%	22.5	28.9
82.	Ohio Bobcats	-1	37.8%	21.4	27.6
83.	Miami (FL) Hurricanes	-11	36.6%	18.3	24.7
84.	SMU Mustangs	-1	36.0%	26.0	33.4
85.	LA-Monroe Warhawks	+2	35.6%	23.2	30.4
86.	Bowling Green Falcons	-2	34.5%	21.9	29.2
87.	Washington St. Cougars	-5	34.5%	20.9	28.2
88.	Baylor Bears	0	33.9%	22.9	29.7
89.	Colorado St. Rams	0	31.7%	21.2	29.9
90.	Buffalo Bulls	0	29.9%	22.5	31.2
91.	UTEP Miners	+2	28.1%	19.5	30.5
92.	Marshall Thundering Herd	+9	26.8%	20.4	32.8
93.	Vanderbilt Commodores	+5	26.7%	16.4	28.4
94.	Northern Illinois Huskies	+1	26.3%	19.8	31.8
95.	Idaho Vandals	+5	26.2%	20.2	32.2
96.	New Mexico State Aggies	0	26.0%	20.8	32.5
97.	Kent St. Golden Flashes	-3	26.0%	19.3	30.8
98.	UNLV Rebels	-6	26.0%	21.4	33.8
99.	Arkansas St. Indians	-8	25.8%	19.1	30.7
100.	Toledo Rockets	-1	24.7%	21.2	34.3
	Team	Change	Win Pct	PF/G	PA/G
101.	Memphis Tigers	-4	24.3%	18.8	31.0
102.	Syracuse Orange	0	23.5%	19.0	32.0
103.	LA-Laf Ragin' Cajuns	0	22.5%	21.1	34.4
104.	Mid Tenn Blue Raiders	+1	22.3%	16.9	31.5
105.	Stanford Cardinal	-1	21.3%	16.3	29.9
106.	Tulane Green Wave	+4	20.4%	17.4	34.1
107.	Louisiana Tech Bulldogs	-1	19.3%	15.6	31.4
108.	Akron Zips	+4	19.1%	13.9	31.9
109.	Troy Trojans	-1	17.6%	13.2	31.0
110.	E. Michigan Eagles	-1	17.1%	15.0	33.2
111.	NC St. Wolfpack	0	16.8%	13.8	31.2
112.	North Texas Mean Green	-5	16.0%	16.3	32.9
113.	UAB Blazers	+3	15.6%	14.3	32.3
114.	Western Kentucky Hilltoppers	-1	14.5%	14.8	34.2
115.	Iowa State Cyclones	0	12.8%	12.3	31.7
116.	San Jose State Spartans	-2	10.7%	11.1	32.1
117.	San Diego State Aztecs	+1	9.6%	12.1	36.1
118.	Utah State Aggies	-1	8.9%	12.4	35.8
119.	Fla. Int. Golden Panthers	0	7.1%	10.8	36.8
120.	Army Black Knights	0	6.3%	8.7	35.7

We hope that you enjoy our Beyond the Boxscore feature. As with all of our games, we are willing to listen to feedback and improve this page and content to make it as interesting and user-friendly as possible. With any comments, questions or topic suggestions, please contact BtB@whatifsports.com. Thanks!

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