Month: December 2017

For the sixth consecutive season, the College Football Researchers Association has crowned a Player of the Year, and this season Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield takes the title.  The Sooner quarterback garnered six of the nine first place votes and won by a decisive 17 points.  In four of the past five seasons, the CFRA Player of the Year has gone on to take the Heisman Trophy, with the one exception being Deshaun Watson last season who most likely would have won the Heisman if the poll was conducted after last year’s playoff.  The full breakdown of votes is below with the number of first-place votes each player received in parentheses:

1.  Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma (6)– 41 points

2.  Bryce Love, Stanford– 24 points

3.  Rashaad Penny, San Diego State (2)– 13 points

4.  Saquon Barkley, Penn State– 12 points

5.  Lamar Jackson, Louisville (1)– 12 points

6.  McKenzie Milton, UCF– 6 points

7.  Nick Chubb, Georgia– 4 points

7.  Minkah Fitzpatrick, Alabama– 4 points

7.  Kelly Bryant, Clemson– 4 points

10. Mason Rudolph, Oklahoma State– 3 points

11. Sam Darnold, Southern California– 2 points

11. Josh Adams, Notre Dame– 2 points

11. Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin– 2 points

11. Daniel Carlson, Auburn– 2 points

15. Anthony Miller, Memphis– 1 point

15. Bradley Chubb, NC State– 1 point

15. Steve Ishmael, Syracuse– 1 point

15. Hunter Renfrow, Clemson– 1 point

For the third year in row, the CFRA has selected the same teams in their final four as the playoff committee.  The glaring disparity between our rankings and the other human polls is that the undefeated UCF Knights come in as a high as # 6 and were also able to garner two first-place votes.  Without further ado, here is this year’s CFRA Final Regular Season Poll.

1.  Clemson (6)– 245 points

2.  Oklahoma (2)– 238 points

3.  Georgia– 230 points

4.  Alabama– 215 points

———————————————————————————–

5.  Ohio State– 200 points

6.  UCF (2)– 186 points

7.  Wisconsin- 184 points

8.  Southern California– 177 points

9.  Auburn– 169 points

10. Penn State– 168 points

11. Miami-FL– 141 points

12. Washington– 140 points

13. TCU– 138 points

14. Notre Dame– 117 points

15. Oklahoma State– 95 points

16. Stanford– 91 points

17. Memphis– 75 points

18. LSU– 74 points

19. Michigan State– 63 points

20. Virginia Tech– 51 points

21. Washington State– 49 points

22. Mississippi State– 44 points

23. Northwestern– 39 points

24. NC State– 26 points

25. South Florida– 23 points

 

Others Receiving Votes: Boise State 18, Toledo 11, Kentucky 9, South Carolina 8, Washington State 7, Florida Atlantic 5, Iowa State 4, Troy 3, Michigan 3, San Diego State 2, Louisville 1, Fresno State 1

Dropped Out: Michigan 17, Michigan State 20, West Virginia 24, San Diego State 25

Teams Ranked Higher in CFRA than AP, Coaches, and CFP Polls: UCF (6), Oklahoma State (15), Memphis (17), Virginia Tech (20), Mississippi State (22).

Teams Ranked Lower in CFRA than AP, Coaches, and CFP Polls: Wisconsin (7), Auburn (9), Penn State (10), LSU (18), Northwestern (23), Boise State (NR).

Teams Ranked Exactly the Same in All 4 Major Human Polls (AP, CFP, CFRA, and Coaches): Clemson (1), Oklahoma (2), Georgia (3), Alabama (4), Ohio State (5).