How the CSR is Calculated

CSR is built on a simple principle:

Wins and Losses tell the biggest story.

Unlike ranking systems that rely on margin of victory, advanced efficiency metrics, recruiting rankings, preseason expectations, or subjective voting, the Common Sense Rankings focus exclusively on game results and the strength of the competition involved.

Direct Results

Every game a team plays contributes positive or negative points to a team's ranking.

• A win earns positive points.
• A loss incurs negative points.

The specific value of each result is determined by the strength of the opponent's conference at that point in the season.

Conferences are evaluated weekly based on their performance against other conferences during the current season. As conferences succeed or struggle in non-conference and inter-conference competition, the value of wins and losses against teams from those conferences adjusts accordingly.

As a result:

• Defeating a team from a strong conference earns more credit.
• Losing to a team from a strong conference carries a smaller penalty.
• Defeating a team from a weaker conference earns less credit.
• Losing to a team from a weaker conference carries a larger penalty.

Conference strength is recalculated throughout the season, allowing rankings to evolve as more results become available.

Opponent Performance

The Common Sense Rankings also recognize that a team's résumé is affected by how its opponents perform throughout the season.

A team's score is influenced not only by its own results but also by the success of the teams it has faced.

For example:

• Teams receive additional credit when opponents they have defeated go on to earn wins against opponents from conferences that have strong inter-conference records.
• Teams incur additional penalties when opponents they have lost to accumulate additional losses to teams from conferences with poor inter-conference records.

This strategy rewards teams whose victories continue to gain value as the season unfolds while providing additional context for losses.

Balance of the System

The system is intentionally designed so that:

Direct game results and opponent performance carry roughly equal influence over a full season.

In other words, a team's own wins and losses remain the foundation of its ranking, but the performance of the teams connected to those results provides an equally important layer of context.

This balance allows the rankings to reward both accomplishment and schedule quality without relying on subjective judgment or advanced statistical modeling.

What the Rankings Do Not Consider

The Common Sense Rankings do not account for:

• Margin of victory
• Style points
• Recruiting rankings
• Preseason expectations
• Previous rankings
• Media perception
• Historical performance from previous seasons

Each season begins with a clean slate, and rankings are determined solely by the results produced during that season.

The Goal

The objective of the Common Sense Rankings is to create a transparent, results-driven system that answers a simple question:

Based on who teams have beaten, who they have lost to, and how their opponents have performed, who has built the strongest résumé?

The Common Sense Rankings are designed to reward results, account for strength of competition, and let each season speak for itself.