Key for Stats in the Conversation
- Team Record
- DI-A: Record of this team against DI-A opponents.
- BCS: Record of this team against BCS-conference opponents and Notre Dame.
- .vs .500+ BCS: Record of this team against opponents who have a 0.500 or better record against BCS-conference teams and Notre Dame, as well as a better than 0.500 record against all DI-A competition.
- Opp. Record
- DI-A: Cumulative record of this team's opponents (excluding non-DI-A) against DI-A school. Wins and losses against this team are not counted.
- BCS: Cumulative record of this team's opponents (excluding non-DI-A) against BCS-conference schools and Notre Dame. Wins and losses against this team, provided this team is in a BCS-conference or Notre Dame, are not counted.
- CPU Rankings
- Top 40: Record of this team against consensus Top 40 teams in the three computer rankings. An opponent is considered to be a consensus Top 40 team if they are ranked at or higher than 40 in at least two of the three computer polls. The Top 40 teams reflect the best one-third of DI-A teams.
- KM: Kenneth Massey's Ratings are utilized by the BCS. The poll is a matrix system where every team is linked to every other team through the results of the game. Because the ratings are used for the BCS, this version of the ratings does not include margin of victory. At the start of the season, this ranking may draw upon rankings from last year.
- JS: Jeff Sagarin is another BCS contributor, but his pure points (predictor) ratings are used in place of his BCS rankings. This rating is an ELO-Chess based model; however, margin of victory is included.
- DW: David Wislon's system is a points-based rating. Teams are assigned a certain number of point for each game based on the result and the quality of the opponent. The method is iterative, but not closed like Massey's and Sagarin's. This method does not require any data from last year.
