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2008-2009
College Football Season
Pre-Game
Archives |
2008 Season Overachievers and Underperformers
by Mike Mitchell
December 14, 2008
Each season, certain teams perform far better than expected. Others do much worse.
Every team on the overachiever list, with the exception of Baylor, is headed to a bowl game. Oklahoma and Florida, the BCS title game contenders, rank 2nd and 4th on the over-achiever list.
Fresno State and Kansas are the only teams from the underperformers list that are headed to bowl games, and four of those teams will have a different head coach next season (Miami, Auburn, Washington, Wyoming).
Here is a look at the biggest Overachievers and Underperformers of 2008. The information was gleaned from comparing the power rating of each team in the preseason, to their actual power rating at the end of the regular season, according to the Congrove Computer Rankings (CCR Top 120).
| TOP 10 OVERACHIEVERS: |
| Pos. |
Team |
Preseason
Power |
Postseason
Power |
Gain |
| 1. |
Mississippi |
60.00 |
75.46 |
15.46 |
| 2. |
Oklahoma |
82.45 |
94.87 |
12.42 |
| 3. |
Iowa |
64.49 |
76.58 |
12.09 |
| 4. |
Florida |
84.38 |
96.23 |
11.85 |
| 5. |
Baylor |
53.10 |
64.41 |
11.30 |
| 6. |
Penn State |
77.36 |
87.54 |
10.18 |
| 7. |
Alabama |
74.75 |
84.38 |
9.62 |
| 8. |
N.C. State |
54.01 |
63.45 |
9.44 |
| 9. |
Arizona |
67.60 |
76.89 |
9.29 |
| 10. |
Boise State |
75.04 |
83.70 |
8.66 |
| TOP 10 UNDERPERFORMERS: |
| Pos. |
Team |
Preseason
Power |
Postseason
Power |
Loss |
| 1. |
Washington State |
61.58 |
46,34 |
-15.23 |
| 2. |
Indiana |
66.82 |
54.99 |
-11.83 |
| 3. |
Tulane |
58.56 |
46.93 |
-11.62 |
| 4. |
Washington |
61.37 |
51.07 |
-10.31 |
| 5. |
Fresno State |
75.54 |
65.31 |
-10.23 |
| 6. |
Central Florida |
70.93 |
60.85 |
-10.08 |
| 7. |
Miami (Ohio) |
62.50 |
52.65 |
-9.86 |
| 8. |
Auburn |
80.04 |
70.77 |
-9.27 |
| 9. |
Kansas |
85.04 |
76.04 |
-9.00 |
| 10. |
Wyoming |
62.97 |
54.61 |
-8.36 |
See 2007 Overachievers and Underperformers. |
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