Of Rankings And Ratings

Although the folks who put it together would probably grimace at the idea, think of the Gridiron Power Index as sort of the BCS of rankings at the Football Championship Subdivision level. Basically, it takes various rankings and ratings, crunches the number and comes up with what it calls, "the index ranking for the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision and a top indicator of at-large playoff selection."

That out of the way, here is how the first GPI of the fall ranks Ivy League teams nationally:

27. Harvard
45. Yale
61. Brown
64. Penn
67. Princeton
70. Cornell
73. Dartmouth
T-113.Columbia

And Dartmouth's other opponents:
74. Holy Cross
88. Butler
105. Bucknell

The GPI also ranks leagues. Here's how that looks:

1. Missouri Valley Football Conference
2. Southland Conference
3. Colonial Athletic Association
4. Ohio Valley Conference
5. Big Sky Conference
6. Southern Conference
7. Big South Conference
8. Ivy League
9. Independents
10. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
11. Patriot League (Holy Cross, Bucknell)
12. Northeast Conference
13. Southwestern Athletic Conference
14. Pioneer Football League (Butler)

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As long as today is about rankings, here's how the well-regarded Massey system sees the Ivy League
20. Harvard
56. Yale
57. Brown
61. Princeton
63. Penn
64. Dartmouth
80. Cornell
112. Columbia

Massey has Dartmouth with 4.41 more expected wins and 3.59 more expected losses. In other words, a slightly better chance of finishing 5-5 than 6-4 if I'm reading it correctly ;-)

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The Columbia Spectator also has power rankings although the fact that Yale is listed at 1-1 instead of 2-0 may have skewed the rankings:
1. Harvard
2. Penn
3. Princeton
4. Brown
5. Dartmouth
6. Yale
7. Cornell
8. Columbia

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Dartmouth soph Kyle Bramble gets a hometown mention in the News and Tribune after scoring his first career touchdown Saturday night. (Thanks for the link ;-)

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Former Dartmouth assistant Chris Wilkerson is now 4-0 in his first year as a head coach at the University of Chicago after Saturday's 31-17 win over Kalamazoo.

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After That Certain '14 finished a strong second in the election for Dartmouth student body president last spring, at least one of us here on Moose Mountain rationalized that at least she wouldn't get back to her room one day to find 60 Minutes or the New York Times waiting to talk to her, a result of some of the controversies that have plagued the school in the past several years. Turns out it could have happened. The New York Times education page had a story yesterday headlined: Dartmouth in the Glare of Scrutiny on Drinking.