Bethune-Cookman Tops HBCU Football Power Rankings

By Donal Ware

HBCU Columnist

College Sports Journal

 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. — After clinching the MEAC championship with a 49-7 victory over Savannah State, Bethune-Cookman remains atop the Boxtorow/BCSP HBCU football power rankings for the second-straight week.

 

Arkansas-Pine Bluff has won five-straight and has peaked at No. 3 in the Boxtorow poll and No. 4 in the BCSP poll.  

 

The Golden Lions have continued to climb in the computer polls and with their mean of 3.00 ties them with Tennessee State for No. 2 this week with an overall average of 3.33.

 

 

 

Tennessee State remains a unanimous No. 1 amongst all four computer polls but are 5 and 4, respectively in the BCSP and Boxtorow polls.

 

The Alabama State Hornets have also been hot, winners of six of their last seven and move up two spots to No. 4 this week, supplanting undefeated and two-time defending CIAA Champion Winston-Salem State who moves down to No. 5.

 

Jackson State, also winners of four-straight enter the poll for the first time this year at No. 6.  This year JSU has knocked off No. 4 Alabama State and Saturday defeated No. 10 Alabama A&M 35-21.  

 

If the Tigers defeat Alcorn State on Saturday, they will play the Golden Lions in the SWAC championship game on December 8 in Birmingham, AL.

 

Delaware State also renters the power rankings this week at No. 8.

 

North Carolina Central made the most significant move dropping from No. 5 last week to No. 9 after falling to Florida A&M 22-21 on Saturday.

 

Much like the BCS, Boxtorow/BCSP HBCU football power rankings uses a pair of major HBCU weekly polls – the Black College Sports Page Top Ten and the Boxtorow HBCU Football Top 10 media poll – and four computer polls. Two of the computer polls, Massey Ratings and Peter Wolfe Ratings, are used in the actual BCS rankings.

 

The formula is such that the mean of the rankings of each school in the computer poll is added with the two “human” polls and divided by 3 to get the “BCF-BCS” ranking and ultimately the top 10 rankings. The human polls count 67 percent towards the outcome and the computer polls count 33 percent.

 

 

Boxtorow/BCSP HBCU Football Power Rankings

Week of 11/12/12

 

Rank School                    Record Average CPU Average BCPS Boxtorow

1.  Bethune-Cookman     (8-2)    2.00      2.00             2      2

T-2 Tennessee State        (8-2)    3.33      1.00             5     4

T-2 Arkansas-Pine Bluff    (8-2)    3.33      3.50             4     3

4.  Alabama State           (7-3)    5.42     4.25             6     6

5.   Winston-Salem State  (11-0) 5.58    14.75            1     1

6    Jackson State             (6-4)   7.50     5.50             8  T-9

7.   Tuskegee                   (9-1)   8.58    17.75            3     5

8.   Delaware State           (6-4)   8.83     6.50             9   11

9.   North Carolina Central (6-4)    8.92     6.75           11  T-9

10. Alabama A&M             (7-3)    9.08     8.25           12  T-7

 

Editor's Note: Donal Ware is one of the leading voices in Historically Black College and University football. His Boxtorow.com website, popular articles for such publications as Jet magazine and regular radio shows for such networks as Sirius/XM have given him a high profile in the college and professional sports world. You can read more of his material at Boxtorow.com