College Football

College football’s best teams to watch: Introducing the CFB Entertainment Index

Introducing a new metric that ranks college football teams by how entertaining they are.

Jun 20, 2013, 2:00 PM UTC

Jonathan Ferrey

This is the College Football Entertainment Index, or CFBEI for short. The idea behind it is to take aspects of a football game that most people find fun and entertaining, and create a composite with which we can find out which teams are the most fun. Since different people find different aspects of football entertaining, this won’t ring true for everyone, but I think this will generally apply to most fans.

Here’s how the CFBEI is calculated:

The following stats are accumulated, with each team ranked 1-124: scoring offense, scoring defense, total points per game, margin of victory/defeat (indicated by +/-), adjusted pace (Football Study Hall explanation), and F/+ (Football Outsiders explanation). Those rankings are then added together, with the lowest sum representing the most entertaining college football team.

This metric is intended to reward teams that play in close, high-scoring games and run a lot of plays along the way (whether Bret Bielema likes it or not). Scoring defense and F/+ are included to counterbalance things a little, and provide some reward for overall quality and defensive prowess.

Here is the CFBEI from the 2012 season:

More: SB Nation's preseason All-Americans The world's best CFB preview countdown


Rk	Team	CFBEI	Off. Rk	Def. Rk	Total Pts Rk	+/- Rk	Adj. Pace Rk	F/+ Rk
1	Oregon	166	2	25	9	123	5	2
2	Arizona	193	15	104	6	23	7	38
3	Texas A&M	205	5	26	13	118	40	3
4	Clemson	205	6	46	16	107	8	22
5	Oklahoma State	211	3	64	5	111	16	12
6	West Virginia	211	9	117	4	9	25	47
7	Nebraska	214	28	58	26	57	26	19
8	Baylor	215	4	113	3	59	6	30
9	UCLA	222	31	59	28	51	18	35
10	Ball State	230	33	93	18	11	11	64
11	Marshall	231	7	123	2	16	1	82
12	Arizona State	233	14	40	25	99	14	41
13	Nevada	233	18	102	8	31	3	71
14	Tennessee	239	22	107	7	5	41	57
15	Fresno State	241	17	36	33	99	22	34
16	Texas Tech	241	20	91	10	41	34	45
17	Tulsa	243	30	35	49	83	4	42
18	Georgia Tech	244	34	65	29	39	28	49
19	Oklahoma	245	16	50	21	89	61	8
20	Ole Miss	254	44	60	45	30	35	40
Rk	Team	CFBEI	Off. Rk	Def. Rk	Total Pts Rk	+/- Rk	Adj. Pace Rk	F/+ Rk
21	Texas	254	23	72	19	47	69	24
22	North Carolina	258	8	53	13	105	33	46
23	Ohio State	259	21	31	39	101	53	14
24	Syracuse	260	55	48	69	38	13	37
25	Rice	261	41	78	31	14	10	87
26	Troy	263	52	84	36	1	12	78
27	Louisiana Tech	265	1	119	1	90	2	52
28	Northern Illinois	266	13	21	48	115	36	33
29	Toledo	267	45	67	40	24	37	54
30	ULM	271	32	73	24	35	32	75
31	Northwestern	272	43	29	74	68	29	29
32	Houston	274	38	110	11	26	9	80
33	Arkansas State	282	26	43	44	77	39	53
34	Ohio	289	42	47	60	53	19	68
35	Oregon State	294	37	22	81	86	50	18
36	Kansas State	297	11	28	37	109	103	9
37	N.C. State	298	71	52	79	18	15	63
38	East Carolina	299	47	89	23	2	48	90
39	Indiana	300	51	105	15	33	22	74
40	Western Michigan	301	61	75	46	4	30	85
Rk	Team	CFBEI	Off. Rk	Def. Rk	Total Pts Rk	+/- Rk	Adj. Pace Rk	F/+ Rk
41	Penn State	302	62	17	105	73	20	25
42	Louisville	304	50	37	68	61	60	28
43	San Diego State	306	36	42	57	64	63	44
44	San Jose State	307	29	24	64	97	61	32
45	Florida State	309	10	6	77	119	92	5
46	Georgia	311	19	18	56	114	98	6
47	Duke	314	46	111	12	33	31	81
48	TCU	316	68	30	89	41	57	31
49	UL-Lafayette	318	24	63	22	61	89	59
50	Kent State	321	35	44	53	65	76	48
51	UCF	326	25	27	54	93	91	36
52	Miami	326	49	83	29	8	92	65
53	Michigan State	328	110	9	123	29	42	15
54	Virginia Tech	330	83	32	109	17	46	43
55	Utah State	332	27	7	92	116	73	17
56	Purdue	332	65	87	40	19	45	76
57	BYU	335	66	3	117	104	22	23
58	Air Force	336	73	71	61	13	17	101
59	Alabama	338	12	1	96	122	106	1
60	Iowa State	345	87	38	104	6	55	55
Rk	Team	CFBEI	Off. Rk	Def. Rk	Total Pts Rk	+/- Rk	Adj. Pace Rk	F/+ Rk
61	SMU	345	53	54	63	36	69	70
62	Missouri	348	80	68	74	20	48	58
63	USC	349	40	41	61	63	117	27
64	LSU	351	57	12	111	88	73	10
65	Wisconsin	352	59	16	101	78	82	16
66	Cincinnati	361	39	14	90	98	94	26
67	Washington	361	90	39	105	3	68	56
68	South Carolina	364	48	13	95	93	102	13
69	Notre Dame	368	82	2	121	90	66	7
70	Stanford	368	72	11	116	80	78	11
71	Utah	382	75	49	84	11	97	66
72	Michigan	384	58	19	96	73	118	20
73	Pittsburgh	385	77	23	110	40	84	51
74	Boise State	386	54	8	115	101	87	21
75	Vanderbilt	388	56	15	101	84	82	50
76	MTSU	391	76	62	71	10	76	96
77	Mississippi State	399	60	34	83	46	114	62
78	Western Kentucky	399	70	51	79	22	108	69
79	UAB	402	69	114	16	69	43	91
80	Florida	407	78	5	119	87	114	4
Rk	Team	CFBEI	Off. Rk	Def. Rk	Total Pts Rk	+/- Rk	Adj. Pace Rk	F/+ Rk
81	Bowling Green	408	94	10	120	44	73	67
82	Wyoming	416	74	99	38	49	56	100
83	Akron	418	79	108	31	70	21	109
84	UTSA	419	63	96	33	25	86	116
85	Virginia	421	95	70	85	45	43	83
86	FIU	425	84	90	59	50	53	89
87	Connecticut	433	120	20	122	15	95	61
88	Central Michigan	437	64	95	35	26	122	95
89	Navy	438	85	55	91	7	103	97
90	New Mexico	441	81	79	66	32	69	114
91	Rutgers	445	98	4	124	59	121	39
92	Texas State	448	67	100	27	37	118	99
93	Army	451	89	106	43	81	26	106
94	Arkansas	452	91	82	78	54	87	60
95	Minnesota	454	96	45	114	20	100	79
96	South Florida	459	106	57	107	52	64	73
97	Buffalo	460	100	69	94	58	47	92
98	Iowa	467	113	33	118	26	105	72
99	Memphis	481	88	80	70	43	106	94
100	North Texas	486	105	61	101	54	52	113
Rk	Team	CFBEI	Off. Rk	Def. Rk	Total Pts Rk	+/- Rk	Adj. Pace Rk	F/+ Rk
101	Temple	489	86	88	67	48	116	84
102	UTEP	490	102	77	88	66	64	93
103	California	491	93	98	64	75	84	77
104	UNLV	506	97	97	71	79	59	103
105	Miami (OH)	521	92	103	50	85	89	102
106	Maryland	527	109	56	111	56	109	86
107	Boston College	543	111	76	98	72	98	88
108	South Alabama	546	116	74	107	81	50	118
109	Washington State	550	108	101	76	95	72	98
110	Florida Atlantic	551	107	85	87	76	81	115
111	Kansas	556	118	112	73	112	37	104
112	Hawai'i	560	103	109	58	103	66	121
113	Colorado State	580	104	81	86	67	123	119
114	Wake Forest	581	117	92	92	95	78	107
115	Tulane	591	99	118	42	110	111	111
116	Colorado	591	121	124	20	124	78	124
117	Auburn	593	115	66	113	70	124	105
118	Eastern Michigan	601	101	115	47	108	120	110
119	Southern Miss	607	112	116	54	113	95	117
120	Kentucky	617	119	86	99	92	109	112
121	Massachusetts	628	124	121	82	121	58	122
122	Illinois	630	122	94	100	106	100	108
123	New Mexico State	639	114	120	52	117	113	123
124	Idaho	646	123	122	50	120	111	120

Using this data, let’s make some predictions for the 2013 season:

Projected 2013 top 10

Based on some educated guesses, returning coaches and personnel, and new coaches and contributors, here’s a rough stab at the top 10 most entertaining teams in 2013:

1.Oregon
2. Texas A&M
3. Clemson
4. Oklahoma State
5. Baylor
6. Arizona
7. Texas Tech
8. West Virginia
9. Nebraska
10. UCLA

Biggest risers?

The two most obvious answers here are Cal and Auburn. Both teams have been taken over by coaches who run high-scoring, up-tempo offenses, and both were just dreadful with the ball in their hands in 2012. It will be a huge surprise if both of these teams don’t make drastic improvements in 2013.

Biggest fallers?

Louisiana Tech and Syracuse won’t drop completely off the map, but both will embark on the 2013 season with new coaches and without key offensive personnel. Sustaining a top-30 ranking will be exceedingly difficult to repeat for either.

Worst team to watch

Man, it’s tough to go against Idaho. It’s tough to be a Vandals fan right now, and with only 11 starters coming back, 2013 should be another exercise in masochism.

We’ll be updating these numbers once the 2013 season starts, so fans can track where their favorite teams stand week-by-week, or so fans just looking for a fun game can get some direction on who to watch.

Any suggestions on how we can improve this stat?