The final week of the college football regular season has arrived and what a ride it has been. Hopefully my weekly power ratings article and the ratings updates from my colleague Steve Makinen have given you some idea of how to create your own spreads, along with refraining from overreactions about teams on a weekly basis. There are a lot of changes I will be making to my process and what I consider to be important going into next season, but there will be plenty of time to ponder those adjustments.
For now, we’re looking at one last round of games with a lot of different factors in play. Some teams are vying for bowl eligibility. Some are looking for division or conference titles. Some have no stakes, other than personal pride, going out a winner or to send off respected seniors with a victory. Some teams won’t really show up at all. Each game has to be looked at individually for these elements.
The lines are going to be the lines, though. The oddsmakers aren’t interested in how bettors might approach a game. They’re going to trust their numbers, see what influential minds and money have to say and then try to get to the right number as fast as possible, much like they do every week. Just because all of these external handicapping factors are present doesn’t mean any of them are built into the line.
With a lot of intangibles to think about that can’t really be quantified, I use my power ratings less this week than any other week, but they still have a place in my process.
Here are my Week 13 Power Ratings:
