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College Football Playoff resume rankings: Kentucky reaches No. 1, Texas climbs to No. 5 despite two losses

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David Cobb

Five SEC victories have Kentucky sitting atop college football in resume strength

• 4 min read

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Kentucky's rise to No. 1 in college football's Week 9 resume rankings illustrates why the totality of what a team has done should be evaluated in debates over postseason credentials.

While it's technically true that -- based on the AP poll -- a win over LSU is UK's only "ranked" win entering Week 9, it's worth peeling back the layers a bit. Doing so reveals that Kentucky has some fortification on its ledger. The Wildcats own road wins over Texas A&M, South Carolina and Oklahoma. All three are power-rated as top-30 teams in Andrew Percival's CFB Metrics Consensus.

The CFB Metrics Consensus folds 10 different power ratings into a single metric to paint a true picture of how difficult an opponent is to beat. It is the new baseline metric for our weekly resume rankings, which give Kentucky a significant edge on No. 2 UCLA. Using a consensus rating as the baseline helps eliminate any perceived biases that may be present in any single rating.

Using a consensus power rating as the baseline for evaluating resumes helps the SEC. For example, a two-loss Texas team lands at No. 5 this week. Though the Ole Miss team Texas just beat is now No. 12 in the AP poll, the Rebels are No. 9 in the CFB Metrics Consensus. The Longhorns also own wins over No. 1 Ohio State and a road win over No. 11 Texas.

The resume rankings use a simple formula inspired by the NCAA's Wins Above Bubble (WAB) metric in college basketball. For our purposes, it measures the likelihood that the average No. 25 team in the CFB Metrics Consensus would win a game. No. 25 would beat No. 26 on a neutral field roughly 51% of the time. Thus, a neutral-site win over No. 26 will yield a 0.49 addition to a team's resume score.

If you beat a top-five team on the road? Hey-O! That's a gold mine. Auburn added 0.91 to its resume score based on its win at No. 4 Georgia, reflecting that the average No. 25 team would only win that game 9% of the time. Road wins are more valuable than home wins.

Against that backdrop, here are college football's resume rankings entering Week 9.

College Football Playoff Resume Rankings

1
  • W vs. Youngstown State (+0.01)
  • L vs. No. 6 Alabama (-0.21)
  • W @ No. 27 Texas A&M (+0.50)
  • W vs. No. 101 South Alabama (+0.06)
  • W @ No. 26 South Carolina (+0.52)
  • W vs. No. 5 LSU (+0.81)
  • W @ No. 24 Oklahoma (+0.56)
  • W vs. No. 71 Vanderbilt (+0.14)

Resume score: 2.39

2

Resume score: 1.87

3

Resume score: 1.87

4

Resume score: 1.82

5
  • W vs. No. 68 Texas State (+0.14)
  • W vs. No. 1 Ohio State (+0.92)
  • W vs. No. 62 UTSA (+0.16)
  • W @ No. 11 Tennessee (+0.77)
  • L vs. (N) No. 24 Oklahoma (-0.49)
  • L vs. No. 17 Florida (-0.42)
  • W vs. No. 9 Mississippi (+0.73)

Resume score: 1.81

6

Resume score: 1.59

7

Resume score: 1.55

8
  • W vs. (N) No. 25 Louisville (+0.49)
  • W vs. No. 133 Charlotte (+0.01)
  • W vs. No. 5 LSU (+0.81)
  • L @ No. 17 Florida (-0.33)
  • W @ No. 71 Vanderbilt (+0.21)
  • W vs. No. 23 Missouri (+0.47)
  • L @ No. 8 Texas (-0.17)

Resume score: 1.49

9

Resume score: 1.46

10

Resume score: 1.41

11
  • W vs. No. 135 Akron (+0.01)
  • W @ No. 56 Purdue (+0.28)
  • L vs. No. 3 Miami (-0.14)
  • W @ No. 25 Louisville (+0.54)
  • W @ No. 72 NC State (+0.20)
  • W vs. No. 102 Stanford (+0.06)
  • W @ No. 91 California (+0.14)

Resume score: 1.09

12
  • W vs. Tennessee State (+0.01)
  • W vs. No. 114 Western Kentucky (+0.04)
  • W @ No. 64 Arkansas (+0.24)
  • W vs. No. 24 Oklahoma (+0.45)
  • W vs. No. 71 Vanderbilt (+0.14)
  • W @ No. 6 Alabama (+0.87)
  • L vs. No. 33 Auburn (-0.66)

Resume score: 1.09

13
  • W vs. Campbell (+0.01)
  • W vs. No. 97 Florida Atlantic (+0.07)
  • L vs. No. 26 South Carolina (-0.59)
  • W vs. No. 9 Mississippi (+0.73)
  • W @ No. 33 Auburn (+0.44)
  • L @ No. 23 Missouri (-0.42)
  • W @ No. 8 Texas (+0.83)

Resume score: 1.07

14
  • W vs. No. 121 Rice (+0.03)
  • W vs. (N) No. 28 Wisconsin (+0.45)
  • W @ No. 56 Purdue (+0.28)
  • W vs. No. 65 Michigan State (+0.15)
  • W @ No. 49 North Carolina (+0.32)
  • L @ No. 15 BYU (-0.30)
  • W vs. No. 102 Stanford (+0.06)

Resume score: 0.99

15
  • W vs. No. 53 Clemson (+0.20)
  • W vs. No. 76 Louisiana Tech (+0.12)
  • L @ No. 9 Mississippi (-0.19)
  • W vs. No. 27 Texas A&M (+0.40)
  • W vs. McNeese State (+0.01)
  • L @ No. 20 Kentucky (-0.38)
  • W vs. No. 37 Mississippi State (+0.31)
  • W @ No. 33 Auburn (+0.44)

Resume score: 0.91

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