ESPN's final SP+ rankings cast a favorable light on the Ivy League.
Per ESPN, the SP+ is "intended to be predictive and forward-facing. It is not a résumé ranking that gives credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling -- no good predictive system is. It is simply a measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football. If you're lucky or unimpressive in a win, your rating will probably fall. If you're strong and unlucky in a loss, it will probably rise." (LINK)
Got that? Me neither, but here are the rankings anyway (LINK):
1. Montana State (15-1): 29.2
2. South Dakota State (12-3): 28.2
3. North Dakota State (14-2): 26.6
4. South Dakota (11-3): 22.2
5. Delaware (9-2): 16.9
6. UC Davis (11-3): 15.3
7. Harvard (8-2): 15.2
8. Jackson State (12-2): 14.8
9. Mercer (11-3): 14.2
10. Incarnate Word (11-3): 13.9
11. UT Martin (9-5): 13.6
T-12. Richmond (10-3): 12.1
T-12. Stephen F. Austin (7-5): 12.1
14. Montana (9-5): 12.0
15. North Carolina Central (8-3): 11.6
16. Northern Arizona (8-5): 11.4
17. Idaho (10-4): 11.1
18. Missouri State (8-4): 11.0
19. Yale (7-3): 10.8
20. Tarleton State (10-4): 10.3
21. SEMO (9-4): 10.2
22. Chattanooga (7-5): 10.0
23. Illinois State (10-4): 9.4
24. Dartmouth (8-2): 8.7
25. Villanova (10-4): 8.5
Green Alert Take: Whither tri-champion Columbia?
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Speaking of flawed rankings, the final Learfield Directors' Cup ranking from the fall is out. Find it HERE.
Here's where Ivy League schools fared in the standings, which purport to grade the overall success of an athletic department by awarding points, as Wikipedia explains, "based on order of finish in various championships sponsored by the NCAA. A first-place finish in a sport earns 100 points, second place 90 points, third place 85 points, fourth place 80 points, and lesser values for lower finishes (exact numbers beyond fourth place depend on the sport and division).
17. Princeton
32. Harvard
82. Cornell
115. Yale
118. Penn
Not accruing any points:
Brown
Columbia
Dartmouth
The top 10 schools:
1. North Carolina
2. Stanford
3. Penn State
4. BYU
5. Virginia
6. Notre Dame
7. Oregon
8. Ohio State
9. Washington
10. Texas
Princeton had the highest finish among FCS schools at No. 17, with Northern Arizona at No. 26 and Harvard at 32.
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EXTRA POINT
Had a dream last night that the Maine Cabin Masters were working on our '84 VW camper van. Might not be a bad idea. ;-)
