Top	2	5	10	15	20	25
Avg.	0.5	0.9	1.73	1.97	2.08	2.26
"="	1	1	1	3	5	5
OBO	1	3	7	7	8	8

    

 

Table Legend

Rewards standings before the bowl games and after them.

Commentary: Overall, Rewards matched the polls pretty closely this year - better than most other years on average, especially with regards to the top 20 and 25. However, the system didn't rank Notre Dame as highly as the polls did because it deemed the Irish only had one "strong win" (over 7-5 Michigan), and the next "best win" was over 5-6 Purdue. But, ND almost beat USC, so perhaps the polls were right in this case. The "before" Rewards ranking placed Texas (#2 in the polls) above USC (#1 in both polls), and the Longhorns did defeat the Trojans for the BCS Consensus National Championship in the Rose Bowl. (Similarly with West Virginia and Georgia regarding that "disagreement". Virginia Tech's pre-bowl Reward ranking seemed to match their success that season better than the pre-bowl polls, as validated by their post bowl poll position, and Rewards Ranking - both being close to their pre-bowl Rewards ranking.) Rewards also ranked Miami of Florida higher than the polls after the bowl games, based on wins over top 10 team Virginia Tech, and 8-4 Clemson; their overwhelming loss to LSU in the Peach Bowl probably lowered them in the eyes of the voters.