NCAA Football is a notoriously difficult subject to analyze. There are 130 teams, 124 of which are spread out among 10 conferences, with wildly disparate financial resources (LSU vice Louisiana-Monroe) and admissions standards (Stanford vice San Jose State).
At the end of the year, the available data set from which to draw conclusions and definitively assess all 130 teams is somewhere between 11 and 13 games. We’re expected to take UNLV, UConn, Utah, and the U and place them in rank order because of what they did in 12 games against no common opponents. No wonder the championship-then-BCS-then-Playoff discussions in this sport have been so contentious.