Each week of the American college football season, sports writers publish power rankings for the major conferences, including the Atlantic Coast Conference, or ACC. Headlines such as "Clemson takes the lead" reflect how often the Clemson Tigers have been near the top of that league, while programmes like North Carolina move up or down depending on results. This article explains what power rankings are and how to read them, rather than ranking any particular week.
Rankings versus standings
Standings are factual: they record wins and losses. Power rankings are opinion. A writer or panel judges which teams are playing best right now, taking into account the quality of opponents, margins of victory, injuries and how convincing performances looked. A team with a worse record can therefore sit above one with a better record.
What moves a team up or down
- Quality wins. Beating a strong opponent, especially away from home, carries weight.
- Bad losses. Losing to a weaker side can cause a sharp drop.
- Momentum. A run of wins can lift a team into contention.
- Injuries. Losing a starting quarterback, for instance, changes expectations.
Conference rankings and national rankings
Conference power rankings compare teams within one league. National polls, compiled by journalists or coaches, compare teams across the country. The two influence each other in public debate, and both feed conversations about which teams deserve places in the national play-offs.
A word about the word "power"
As a clean-energy journal, we notice that this "power" has nothing to do with electricity. In sport, power rankings simply measure competitive strength. If you came here looking for the other kind, our wind basics page and guide to how a wind turbine works explain how power is actually generated.
Reading rankings sensibly
- Treat early-season rankings as guesses; they become more meaningful as games accumulate.
- Compare several sources rather than relying on one writer.
- Remember that the final word is always the result on the field.
KBB2 Wind Notes is an independent clean-energy explainer and Cape Town days-out journal, and this page is kept as a general archive article. To explore the rest of the site, start at the home page.