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For as much criticism as the Bowl Championship Series received during its existence, the computers often got it right at the end of the season when selecting college football’s two best teams for the national title game.
Using those same calculations, here’s how the computers rank the current Top 16 teams in the second College Football Playoff Poll:
Side-by-side comparison of the latest @CFBPlayoff ranking and what the #BCS would have looked like this week pic.twitter.com/HxjFHK6wTP
— BCSKnowHow.com (@BCSKnowHow) November 11, 2015
The most notable takeaway is that BCS computers credit teams for being unbeaten, evidenced by Houston’s No. 16 ranking, Baylor at No. 4 and Oklahoma State at No. 5. In Tuesday’s CFP Poll, the Cowboys rose six spots to No. 8 after taking out previously-unbeaten TCU.
The computers don’t seem convinced that Iowa is one of the nation’s four best teams despite being unbeaten in the Big Ten with a win over Northwestern. The Hawkeyes are ranked seventh overall using the BCS formula, but come in at No. 5 in the CFP Poll.
In the SEC, there isn’t much fluctuation between the league’s three best teams — Alabama, LSU and Florida. All are ranked inside the Top 10 of the BCS rankings, but the Gators find themselves just outside at No. 11 in the CFP.
