Methodology

Who’s In? Where Do They Rank?

Ranked By shows the percentage and number of available voters who include a team. Average When Ranked shows where those voters place it. Unranked (NR) has no numeric rank.

If six of twelve voters rank a team #20 and six leave it out, we show 50% inclusion and an average of #20 among the six who ranked it.

Consensus and Points

Consensus is the published AP ranking. Each first-place vote earns 25 points, down to one point for 25th; an omitted team earns zero points. Equal point totals share a rank and the next position is skipped. All teams tied at #25 are included in the Top 25.

Placement Spread and Vote Ranges

SD measures spread among voters who rank the team. A higher SD means less placement agreement within that group. It does not measure how many voters omit the team. If all six voters above choose #20, ranked SD is zero even though inclusion is split 50/50. With one ranked ballot SD is also zero; check the sample count.

Every vote range uses the same #1–#25 scale. The darker line spans numbered votes, and the dot shows their average. Omissions are shown separately. The histogram plots numbered votes; its exact-count table also includes NR.

Placement Differences and MAD

We calculate a difference only when both the voter and consensus rank the team. Consensus #20 and a vote of #15 gives +5; consensus #12 and a vote of #18 gives −6. Positive means above consensus.

Placement MAD averages the absolute differences across shared teams. We show the number compared because it can differ between voters. Placement outlier lists use these numeric differences only. No shared teams means no placement score.

Added and Omitted Teams

Added means a voter ranks a team outside the consensus Top 25. Omitted means the voter leaves out a consensus Top 25 team. A swap usually counts as one addition and one omission. Ties at the consensus cutoff can make those counts unequal.

The inclusion leaderboard sorts by the total of additions and omissions, while showing each separately. Individual inclusion differences are listed by voter and team. A low placement MAD can coexist with many inclusion differences: read both measures together.

Weekly Insights

Biggest Disagreement on Ranking highlights positive ranked-vote SD among teams with at least 10 ranked votes. Overall Ballot Analytics highlights positive placement MAD among voters with at least 10 teams ranked by both their ballot and AP. These minimums help avoid tiny comparisons; they are not tests of statistical significance. The weekly dashboard uses the same highlight rules. Teams do not have to appear in the AP Top 25 to qualify for ranking spread.

Biggest Individual Vote Differences orders each voter–team pair by the absolute difference between that vote and the AP rank. Both must be numbered ranks; an unranked team has no numeric gap. A vote of #16 for an AP #25 team has a nine-position gap and ranks ahead of a vote of #17, which has an eight-position gap. A voter can appear more than once. The expandable Overall Ballot Analytics table keeps the separate whole-ballot comparison, where every shared ranked team affects the average.

Closest In/Out Splits uses every ballot and ranks teams by how close their inclusion rate is to 50%. For example, 29 ranked and 40 unranked ties 40 ranked and 29 unranked. Numbered positions do not affect this list. A team ranked #20 by half the voters and left out by the other half has an even in/out split but zero ranking spread.

The spotlight compares a team with the immediately preceding complete poll in the same season. Counts and percentages use each week’s own voters. Averages use only ranked ballots; SD is shown with at least 10 ranked votes. Missing weeks are not bridged.

Most Omitted sorts AP-ranked teams by the number of voters who leave them out. Most Included Outside the AP Top 25 sorts unranked AP teams by the number of voters who include them. Each shows the complete ballot count. Reports include five entries plus any ties at the cutoff. Tied scores share a rank; ordering uses full precision, so rounded scores can look equal without being tied.

Missing Data and Archive Averages

A missing ballot is unavailable data, not an unranked vote for every team. No available ballots means no inclusion percentage. If nobody ranks a team, inclusion is 0% and placement statistics are unavailable.

Archive placement MAD averages eligible weekly scores with equal weight and shows the scored ballot count. Average shared-team counts and additions/omissions use all available ballots. Changing comparison sets and incomplete archives limit comparisons across voters and seasons.

Conference Comparisons

Conference membership follows the sport and season of the poll. We publish a conference comparison only when the teams receiving votes have sourced membership for that season. FBS Independents is a group of unaffiliated teams.

If a voter puts two shared SEC teams three and one positions above consensus, their conference placement is +2. If they also leave out an SEC team in the AP Top 25, that is shown as one omission; it is not assigned a numeric rank. No shared ranked teams means no placement score.

Season views give each eligible weekly score equal weight. Added and omitted teams are averaged per submitted ballot. Sample shows available ballots, ballots with a placement score, and shared team votes compared. The same team in three weeks counts as three team votes, not three different teams.

Voters can have different comparison sets. Omitting lower-ranked teams can change a placement average, so placement alone cannot establish conference preference. Fewer than ten polls is flagged as a small sample; reaching ten does not establish statistical significance. These pages describe observed votes and do not assign lasting tendency labels.

Conference points sum AP points for all member teams, including those outside the Top 25. Point share divides this by points for all teams. Season snapshots average weekly totals and shares equally. Conference sizes and team performance differ, so these totals describe representation, not favoritism.

Agreement Is Not Accuracy

These statistics measure agreement with the poll, not how well a voter predicts results or why they voted a certain way. Consensus includes the voter being compared. A few ballots can reveal weekly differences, but are not enough to establish a lasting team or conference tendency.