Metrics & Rating Tiers Explained
Every number on Power Up Rankings comes from game results. Here is what each one means. Jump to: Rank · Rating · Tiers · NOW · Win % · Place · Change
Rank
Rank orders all FBS teams by rating, from #1 (best rating) down to the last spot. It's computed from results only, with no polls or votes.
Rating
The rating is the core Power Up number. Lower is better, like a golf score. A rating below 0 is rare territory; most FBS teams fall between 0 and 10.
Rating Tiers
Each rating falls into one of 12 tiers. Tier boundaries are percentiles of every Modern Formula Regular Season Final rating across all loaded seasons, so a tier means the same thing in 1984 as it does today even as the rating scale drifts. Paramount is roughly the best 1% of season-ending ratings; Rock Bottom is the worst 10%. Every tier in between is split into thirds:
- ＋ means the best third of the tier, sitting closest to the tier above
- no mark means the normal, middle third of the tier
- − means the lowest third of the tier, sitting closest to the tier below
It works like school grades. A B− still counts as a B, just a little closer to a C, and a C+ is close to a B without quite earning it. In the same way, a tier with a − is still that tier, and a tier with a ＋ is knocking on the door of the one above.
Example: a 2.10 rating is Rebuilding, 2.50 is Rebuilding −, and 2.90 is Struggling ＋.
| Tier | Rating Range | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| Paramount | Below -0.18 | A historically dominant season, the very top of the scale. |
| Legendary | -0.18 – -0.01 | National title favorites playing at an exceptional level. |
| Elite | -0.01 – 0.11 | Top-tier programs with legitimate playoff credentials. |
| Contender | 0.11 – 0.25 | Strong teams in the playoff and major-bowl conversation. |
| Challenger | 0.25 – 0.48 | Good teams capable of beating anyone on a given Saturday. |
| Competitive | 0.48 – 0.73 | Solid, above-the-middle teams that win their share. |
| Pretender | 0.73 – 0.99 | Respectable records that don't hold up against top competition. |
| Developing | 0.99 – 1.80 | Teams building toward something, with uneven results. |
| Rebuilding | 1.80 – 2.70 | Programs in a down stretch, resetting the roster. |
| Struggling | 2.70 – 3.80 | Teams finding few wins against FBS competition. |
| Failing | 3.80 – 5.64 | A difficult season near the bottom of the FBS. |
| Rock Bottom | 5.64 and above | The very bottom of the scale. |
NOW — Net Opponent Wins
NOW measures who you've played and how it went. For every win, the beaten opponent's win total is added. For every loss, the opponent's loss total is subtracted. Beating good teams pushes NOW up; losing to poor teams pulls it down.
- FCS opponents don't count toward NOW.
- Because opponents keep playing, a team's NOW can change even during a bye week.
Win %
Wins divided by games played. Overtime games count like any other game result.
Place
Place ranks all FBS teams by Win %. On conference pages, Place is the conference standing, ordered by conference win %, then conference wins, then Power Up rank.
Change
How many spots a team moved since the previous week's final rankings. Pre-season Change compares to the prior season's final rankings.