Well, it's that time of the year again ... FOOTBALL !!!! Okay, there are many changes in 2004; including a new conference (GWFC) which is mixed with post-season eligible and non, the A-10 has finally split and will bring us more OOC competition, several conference changes, and more. Again in 2004, Pete's will offer a ranking/rating of schedules for each of the play-off conferences. This means we will cover a few teams that are not yet eligible for the post season. We have used basically the same schedule rating system as 2003, with 1 major change: we will not be lending extra weight to the BCS clubs. Instead, we will be using a ranking of the entire IA field in addition to a reduced factor. Simply put, as we are not in favor of the BCS vs I-AA matches, we are treating most IA clubs more closely to I-AA clubs; so money games will bring you nothing more in our rating. In addition, we have increased our factor of DII games, which will increase the penalty for playing these games. We expect clubs to schedule to win on the field, not in the check register. This also means they must schedule competatively. So, with that in mind, let's take a look. Pete's plans of showing all conference schedules by mid-August. We have used a premiliminary listing of all our covered teams. Again, the listing used in our schedule previews/ratings is NOT our official 2004 Pete's Preseason Power Poll, but fairly close. We need a couple weeks of camps to finalize.

What is a Schedule:

     There are many colleges and AD's trying to set a schedule that we feel should accomplish the following:

- Play all required conference games (if affiliated),
- Make certain that you have the financial resources to fulfill your schedule,
- Schedule non-conference games that you can afford and win,
- Make certain the schedule has enough strength to place the club in the post-season (record permitting),
- Schedule as many home games as possible.

We do not rank non-scholarship clubs and will deduct for I-AA non-scholarship games at almost the same rate as a DII club. (the factor is the same for all DII and all I-AA non-scholarship teams). Also, the spread for conference games is not as large as non-conference opposition. After all, it is not uncommon for a low-end conference team to do well against another in-conference power. This because they play a similar style of ball and meet each other every year. In addition, there is a factor for home vs. away games. Away being a bit more difficult. Click on the conference to view the preview.

Last year we received email asking why we do not rank the teams nationally, as opposed to conference. We considered it for 2004; however, we decided to maintain the rankings by conference and ask the readers to compare teams within each conference. Since most all teams play a majority of their games within their respective conference ... the ranking is really only fair when you compare a team to other teams in the same conference. This way, all teams are impacted equally by a conference's top and bottom teams. In addition, the smaller conference "powers" would be unfairly ranked (high or low), as it is difficult for high-end clubs to find games outside their own conference. However, we did rate all teams on individual games. So, here is a listing of the teams in each conference: