Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Outside of the BCS, there have been few analytical tools in college sports that have generated as much intense passion, proponents, Jeremiads, and controversy as the RPI formula.
It shouldn’t be so despised, when taken at face value, right? The RPI seems at first blush a laudable — if not simplified — thumbnail of a team’s performance against its schedule. Per the ole’ Wiki:
[The] index comprises a team’s winning percentage (25%), its opponents’ winning percentage (50%), and the winning percentage of those opponents’ opponents (25%). The opponents’ winning percentage and the winning percentage of those opponents’ opponents both comprise the strength of schedule (SOS).