How are the Rankings determined?

The Ultimate Power Rankings take a unique view on what rankings represent. Most Power Rankings attempt to rank teams based on quality. They attempt to answer the questions "Which is the best team in the league? Which is the second best team?" and so on. At the Ultimate Power Rankings we make no attempt to say what team is better than any other team. We show what position or rank a team has EARNED up to this point in the season. Therefore, we don't take into consideration how many points a team won by, how they are performing now compared to a month ago, or even who is hurt and who isn't. These rankings are based on the only stat that should matter, wins and losses. The Ultimate Power Rankings are determined by combining the team's record with their strength of schedule to calculate their 'Rankings Points'. The teams are then rank ordered based on those points.

It is best explained through example, let's say in a NFL game the Patriots play the Cowboys. If the Patriots win they get as many points as the Cowboys have wins while the Cowboys lose as many points as the Patriots have losses. Because of this, if a team beats a good team with lots of wins they get more points than if they beat a poor team with few wins. The same is true for the alternative, if a team loses to a bad team they will get penalized more than losing to a good team. Additionally, the amount of points a team receives or loses for their wins and losses is continually updated as the season progresses. For example, if the Patriots beat the Cowboys when the Cowboys had 6 wins, the Patriots get 6 points but for the rest of the season whenever the Cowboys win the Patriots get another point as well.

These rankings show the rank each of the teams has earned to this point in the season.
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Welcome

Welcome to the Ultimate Power Rankings! We are currenlty only providing NFL Power Rankings for the 2009 season. You can click on the archive to learn how the rankings are developed. I hope you enjoy!