These dashboards present the college football watchability index, which highlights the most- and least-watchable games of the week. The absolute value of the point spread is on the horizontal axis and this represents a measure of uncertainty of outcome. Lower point spreads, in absolute value terms, are expected to be closer games. The total (over/under) is plotted on the vertical axis, with higher totals representing games that are expected to be higher scoring. The shape of the point representing each game represents day and start time. The color of the point is differentiated by the use of Sagarin Ratings for each team and sums them for the two teams playing in the game. Gold represents a combined high sum (could be 2 good teams or a dominant team in the game) and Red represents a combined low sum (not among the better teams playing in the game).
The conference championship games with the biggest playoff implications are, somewhat unfortunately, in the upper-right quadrant of games. Although they are anticipated to be high scoring, they are not expected to be close. Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State are all double-digit favorites, but hopefully (except for fans of those teams) the underdogs will keep it closer than expected in these contests. The games that are expected to be the most entertaining (those in the upper-left quadrant – high scoring and close) have a great Big 12 Championship game (Oklahoma-Iowa St.), a good Pac-12 Championship Game (Oregon-USC), and an anticipated shootout in Mississippi-LSU, in addition to Florida St.-Wake Forest and Stanford-UCLA.
The lower-left quadrant of games are expected to be close, but relatively lower scoring. The Conference USA (UAB-Marshall) and Mountain West (Boise St.-San Jose St.) Championship Games are located in this region. The AAC Championship game (Tulsa-Cincinnati) is located in the lower-right quadrant and is expected to be low scoring and not especially close.
My top viewing picks for each time slot this weekend are Oregon-UCS (Friday night), Oklahoma-Iowa St. (Saturday early), Clemson-Notre Dame (Saturday Midday), Alabama-Florida (Saturday Evening), and Arizona St.-Oregon St. (Saturday late). Enjoy the games!
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