Michigan #3 in the "Marble Game"
http://thenemindex.blogspot.com
In my opinion the best college football ranking system, and definitely the simplest. Rules: to start the season, every D1 school gets 100 marbles, then gets 10 marbles for each P5 team on their schedule. If you win at home (or at a neutral site), you get 20% of the other team's marbles; win on the road, you get 25%. Everything gets rounded to whole numbers. And that's it. (The site also has, and is named for, another ranking system that's more geektastic; but I recommend the Marble Game.)
1. Georgia
2. Iowa
3. Michigan
4. Oklahoma
5. Alabama
October 3rd, 2021 at 8:06 PM ^
Doesn't that give heavy advantage to those that play shitty teams first while they have all their marbles?
October 3rd, 2021 at 8:23 PM ^
So, what you're saying is that it's just like real life?
October 4th, 2021 at 8:29 AM ^
I think you've lost your marbles. JK, I couldn't resist.
October 3rd, 2021 at 9:57 PM ^
Much like Penn State is getting a lot of credit for scraping by Wisconsin early and Michigan is getting “they aren’t that good” credit.
October 3rd, 2021 at 9:58 PM ^
Yep. Frankly, that's a flaw which really makes the whole system questionable.
Michigan & Penn State both won at Wisconsin. But U-M gains less marbles from their win, solely because of timing.
A better score-agnostic system would simply say "U-M & PSU both won at Wisconsin - they are equal events in our algorithm."
October 3rd, 2021 at 10:33 PM ^
Except that Michigan lit Wisconsin up.
October 3rd, 2021 at 11:32 PM ^
Not to be rude, but I explicitly said a "score-agnostic system" (which is what Marbles is, it is score-agnostic).
October 4th, 2021 at 12:41 AM ^
You’re not being rude at all.
October 4th, 2021 at 3:53 AM ^
Score agnostic translates to: Not know score.
October 4th, 2021 at 7:33 AM ^
It’s not record agnostic, so a win of 1-2 Wisconsin has less value than a win over 0-0 Wisconsin. Those games are not equal events because more data about the team is available.
October 4th, 2021 at 8:55 AM ^
Further to your point, when beating a 2-6 team that has already "lost their marbles", that gets you 20% or 25% of the remaining 40-ish marbles.
October 4th, 2021 at 12:46 AM ^
That advantage is small by the end of the season because good teams are contending for a lot more marbles by then. Michigan earned 34 marbles and PSU earned 50 for their wins at Wisconsin. In 2019, Minnesota lost 97 marbles to Wisconsin in the last regular season game; the #1 and #10 teams were separated by 414 marbles; #10 and #20 were separated by 129. By the time Michigan plays PSU on the road the 16-marble difference for Wisconsin won't matter much.
October 3rd, 2021 at 8:09 PM ^
who is tootles in this scenario?
October 3rd, 2021 at 8:59 PM ^
+1 underrated comment
October 3rd, 2021 at 10:31 PM ^
Uconn?
October 3rd, 2021 at 8:09 PM ^
I like it. But then, I’ve lost all my marbles.
October 3rd, 2021 at 8:12 PM ^
I've never heard of this but I like the results so far, so I move we replace all of the rankings with this system.
Imagine the shitstorm if those were the playoff teams. It would be glorious.
October 3rd, 2021 at 8:41 PM ^
This is under the modified version with the rules you describe. In the standard version(which does not give marbles for P5teams) we are 5.
October 3rd, 2021 at 9:09 PM ^
Number 5? oh man! Must be all our bad coaches and three star recruits.
October 3rd, 2021 at 8:54 PM ^
The Wolverines are a consensus top 5 team by the computer ratings. (Massey website.)
Iowa, OSU, and PSU are right there also.
October 3rd, 2021 at 9:10 PM ^
Oklahoma has looked like crap every week. They will be exposed
October 3rd, 2021 at 9:31 PM ^
Florida State looked like crap every week in 2014, and they still went undefeated until they "got exposed" by Oregon in the College Football Playoff.
October 3rd, 2021 at 9:36 PM ^
Sounds like Notre Dame every year.
Thank you Cincy for ending the insanity!
October 3rd, 2021 at 9:42 PM ^
I talked to a ND grad/huge football fan last night—she fully admitted that her team’s been an absolute mirage and that they should really be 2-3 right now.
October 4th, 2021 at 4:02 AM ^
Cinci is the new team to root against… They will likely be undefeated with their shit schedule & will get serious consideration for the 3rd playoff spot after Alabama and Georgia. That would leave 1 spot open for the remaining four P5 conferences.
October 4th, 2021 at 9:38 AM ^
Disagree. A strong Cincinnati should dilute fucc Ohio State's recruiting advantage. I look forward to the day Cincinnati becomes a P5 school.
October 4th, 2021 at 10:08 AM ^
The only way that both Bama and Georgia make it in is if Bama loses the West as a one-loss team (won't happen, nobody else in the West is close), then Georgia beats the West champ in the SECCG. If Bama and Georgia play in the SECCG, the winner will go to the playoff and the loser will go to the Sugar Bowl.
One-loss Big Ten and Big 12 champs would both make it in over Cincy, even if undefeated. A one-loss PAC12 champ would also make it in over Cincy.
We've watched all these movies before. We know how they end.
October 4th, 2021 at 7:30 AM ^
Who in the Big 12 will expose them though? Not sure they can't ride their schedule to the playoffs.
October 3rd, 2021 at 9:10 PM ^
Let's go for all the marbles!
October 3rd, 2021 at 9:37 PM ^
The marble game, eh? Let’s just hope that Michigan is Sang-woo and Ohio State is Ali when that matchup rolls around.
October 3rd, 2021 at 10:18 PM ^
Is there a big race at the end of the regular season to determine the winner?
October 3rd, 2021 at 11:12 PM ^
And #8 in USA Today Coaches Poll.
October 3rd, 2021 at 11:14 PM ^
Sorry, Marble-Games have been ruined for me after having watched The Squid Game. 
October 4th, 2021 at 3:27 AM ^
I had thoughts, after seeing the title, that this might be some story from the late 80s about Michigan native Roy Marble and his Iowa Hawkeyes vs our Bill Frieder-era Wolverines.
October 4th, 2021 at 5:57 AM ^
I think Iowa is about to have their marble count reduced by 20%.
October 4th, 2021 at 7:32 AM ^
There's already been two references in this post, but you should definitely watch Squid Game on Netflix if you haven't already.
October 6th, 2021 at 11:09 AM ^
Legit one of the most entertaining (and surprisingly moving, and thought-provoking) shows that I've seen lately.
October 4th, 2021 at 8:58 AM ^
10 bonus marbles just for playing Duke, Arizona, or Vandy? GTFO.
It seems like this ranking system is specifically built to keep non P5 teams out of the discussion.
October 4th, 2021 at 9:57 AM ^
You actually think this is the best CFB ranking? Please tell me that was a joke. This is nothing more than a fun thing to track but it's absolutely not a legitimate ranking system.