Week 6 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

First network ranking of the year! No great surprises, beyond perhaps the ordering of the undefeated.

Explanation: [PDF]
Full Ranking: [CSV]

Top 25:

  1. Georgia

  2. Oklahoma State

  3. Michigan

  4. Iowa

  5. Oklahoma

  6. Cincinnati

  7. Notre Dame

  8. Kentucky

  9. Penn State

  10. Wake Forest

  11. UTSA

  12. Michigan State

  13. SMU

  14. Kansas State

  15. Auburn

  16. Nevada

  17. Baylor

  18. San Diego State

  19. Ohio State

  20. Arkansas

  21. Wisconsin

  22. Ole Miss

  23. Alabama

  24. Texas

  25. Houston

2021 State of World Liberty Index

by Patrick Rhamey

Please Note: The index uses sources that are 1-2 years behind the present, so any recent developments related to COVID-19 are not captured.

The State of World Liberty Index was a combination of indices compiled originally by Nick Wilson in 2006. Since then, I've periodically updated the index.  My methodology is similar to the original with the following exceptions: I use only the civil liberties portion of Freedom House, economic liberty (Fraser/Heritage) is weighted evenly with social liberty, and the Reporters without Borders Press Freedom Scores are of equal weight to each of the Freedom House Civil Liberties sub-components.  All changes are done with the purpose of creating the most accurate relative ranking of countries by the degree of liberty (economic and social) enjoyed by the average individual within the state or territory.  Note, the ranking is not reflective of, nor does it include, political or electoral rights.  Where data is available, territories or colonies (e.g. Hong Kong) are included.

Also included is a ranking of the Conservative-Progressive spectrum, where conservative is very high economic liberty relative to social liberty, and progressive is very high social liberty relative to economic liberty.  This added dimension allows for grouping states by both freedoms and ideology, such as Moderate Free (United Kingdom) and Moderate Tyranny (Angola), Progressive Free (Norway) and Progressive Tyranny (Venezuela), and Conservative Free (Hong Kong) and Conservative Tyranny (Turkmenistan).

Also please note, rankings used to create the below are typically delayed by one to two years.  So, they do not fully reflect any recent events that may have occurred within the past 6-12 months like the COVID-19 pandemic or the Biden presidency.

Full rankings, along with past years, are here: (LINK)

2021 Liberty by Quintile.  Colors represent countries grouped by quintiles in order of blue (top 20%), green (20-40%), yellow (40-60%), orange (60-80%), and red (80-100%).

2021 Most Free Countries:

1. New Zealand
2. Switzerland
3. Ireland
4. Australia
4. Canada
4. Finland
4. Denmark
8. Netherlands
9. Sweden
9. Norway
9. Estonia
9. Luxembourg

2021 Most Oppressive Countries:

1. North Korea
2. Venezuela
3. Libya
4. Eritrea
4. Syria
4. Cuba
7. Turkmenistan
8. Iran
9. Sudan
10. Yemen

2021 Five Year change in Liberty.  Blue is an increase in rank by >20 and green >10 since 2017. Orange is a fall in rank of >10 and red >20 since 2017.

2021 Greatest 5 Year Increase:

1. The Gambia
2. Ecuador
3. Malaysia
4. Uzbekistan
5. Thailand
5. Timor-Leste
5. Sri Lanka
5. Argentina
9. Angola
9. Slovenia

2021 Greatest 5 Year Decrease:

1. Nicaragua
2. Burkina Faso
3. Tanzania
4. Hong Kong
5. Dominica
6. India
7. Namibia
7. Kiribati
9. Tunisia
9. Liberia
9. Comoros
9. Tajikstan

2021 Conservative-Progressive Ranking. Grouped by quintile, red is very conservative, pink is conservative, yellow is moderate, light blue is progressive, and blue is very progressive.

The below image graphs the amount of liberty enjoyed by the average citizen of a state (x-axis) by the balance of whether the state more heavily regulates economic or social behaviors (y-axis).

2021 Most Conservative:

1. Bahrain
2. Singapore
3. Saudi Arabia
4. United Arab Emirates
4. Azerbaijan
6. Rwanda
7. Turkmenistan
8. Uzbekistan
8. Eritrea
10. China

2021 Most Progressive

1. Kiribati
2. Micronesia
3. Dominica
4. Barbados
5. Argentina
6. Suriname
7. Belize
8. Sao Tome y Principe
8. Uruguay
8. Norway



2020 Week 7 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

Typically I’d wait until all teams are connected to all other teams by wins or losses before producing a ranking, showing where each team falls in the network of wins and losses for all of FBS football. That’s not going to happen this year due to a number of conferences playing only conference games. What we can do as of right now is provide two rankings because there are two separate networks: one of the SEC and one of ACC/Big12/AAC/CUSA/Sun Belt/Independents which I’ll label the “Big Group”.


Big Group Top 25 (Explanation)

1. BYU
2. Clemson
3. North Carolina
4. Oklahoma State
5. Miami
6. SMU
7. Boston College
8. Louisiana-Lafayette
9. Virginia Tech
10. Notre Dame
11. NC State
12. Coastal Carolina
13. Marshall
14. Liberty
15. UCF
16. Cincinnati
17. Iowa State
18. Tulsa
19. UAB
20. Air Force
21. Houston
22. Memphis
23. Louisiana Tech
23. Troy
25. Kansas State
25. Pittsburgh

SEC Top 5
1. Alabama
1. Georgia
3. Texas A&M
4. Auburn
4. Florida

2020 State of World Liberty Index

by Patrick Rhamey

The State of World Liberty Index was a combination of indices compiled originally by Nick Wilson in 2006. Since then, I've periodically updated the index.  My methodology is similar to the original with the following exceptions: I use only the civil liberties portion of Freedom House, economic liberty (Fraser/Heritage) is weighted evenly with social liberty, and the Reporters without Borders Press Freedom Scores are of equal weight to each of the Freedom House Civil Liberties sub-components.  All changes are done with the purpose of creating the most accurate relative ranking of countries by the degree of liberty (economic and social) enjoyed by the average individual within the state or territory.  Note, the ranking is not reflective of, nor does it include, political or electoral rights.  Where data is available, territories or colonies (e.g. Hong Kong) are included.

Also included is a ranking of the Conservative-Progressive spectrum, where conservative is very high economic liberty relative to social liberty, and progressive is very high social liberty relative to economic liberty.  This added dimension allows for grouping states by both freedoms and ideology, such as Moderate Free (New Zealand) and Moderate Tyranny (Angola), Progressive Free (Finland) and Progressive Tyranny (Venezuela), and Conservative Free (Hong Kong) and Conservative Tyranny (Afghanistan).

Also please note, rankings used to create the below are typically delayed by one to two years.  So, they do not reflect any recent events that may have occurred within the past 6-12 months like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Full rankings, along with past years, are here. The Conservative/Progressive ranking are here.

2020 Liberty by Quintile.  Colors represent countries grouped by quintiles in order of blue (top 20%), green (20-40%), yellow (40-60%), orange (60-80%), and red (80-100%).

2020 Most Free Countries:

1. New Zealand
2. Switzerland
3. Ireland
4. Finland
5. Canada
5. Australia
5. Luxembourg
5. Denmark
5. Netherlands
10. Sweden
10. Norway

2020 Most Oppressive Countries:

1. North Korea
2. Venezuela
3. Eritrea
4. Syria
5. Libya
5. Cuba
7. Turkmenistan
8. Sudan
9. Central African Republic
9. Equatorial Guinea

2020 Five Year change in Liberty.  Blue is an increase in rank by >20 and green >10 since 2015. Orange is a fall in rank of >10 and red >20 since 2015.

2020 Greatest 5 Year Increase:

1. The Gambia
2. Malaysia
3. Kyrgyzstan
4. Thailand
4. Ecuador
4. Kosovo
7. Solomon Islands
8. Bhutan
8. Argentina
8. Slovenia

2020 Greatest 5 Year Decrease:

1. Nicaragua
2. Tanzania
3. Turkey
4. Chile
5. Hong Kong
5. Burundi
5. Egypt
8. Dominica
9. Kuwait
9. Comoros

2020 Conservative-Progressive Ranking. Grouped by quintile, red is very conservative, pink is conservative, yellow is moderate, light blue is progressive, and blue is very progressive.

The below image graphs the amount of liberty enjoyed by the average citizen of a state (x-axis) by the balance of whether the state more heavily regulates economic or social behaviors (y-axis).

2020 Most Conservative:

1. Bahrain
2. Saudi Arabia
2. United Arab Emirates
4. Azerbaijan
4. Singapore
6. Rwanda
7. Turkmenistan
8. China
9. Uzbekistan
9. Kazakhstan

2020 Most Progressive

1. Kiribati
2. Micronesia
3. Barbados
4. Argentina
5. Dominica
6. Solomon Islands
7. Uruguay
8. Sao Tome y Principe
9. Norway
10. Portugal
10. Greece
10. Belize
10. Sweden
10. St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Final Ranking 2019-2020

by Patrick Rhamey

In the final ranking, LSU holds number 1 soundly. Also of note from the bowl season is Alabama’s redemptive moment against Michigan, rocketing them up to number 5. Clearly, Oklahoma should never have been involved in the conversation, with the network ranking placing them at 16 before the playoff. We would have been better served by no less than 4 Big 10 teams and 3 SEC teams, as well as Notre Dame, Cincinnati, or Navy.

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)

  1. LSU

  2. Clemson (+1)

  3. Ohio State (-1)

  4. Penn State (nc)

  5. Alabama (+9)

  6. Minnesota (+1)

  7. Notre Dame (+3)

  8. Florida (+3)

  9. Cincinnati (-4)

  10. Georgia (+5)

  11. Iowa (+2)

  12. Auburn (-3)

  13. Michigan (-7)

  14. Navy (+5)

  15. Oklahoma (+1)

  16. Memphis (+2)

  17. Wisconsin (nc)

  18. Appalachian State (+2)

  19. Oregon (+6)

  20. Baylor (-12)

  21. SMU (-9)

  22. Air Force (+1)

  23. Texas (+3)

  24. Texas A&M (+4)

  25. Utah (-4)

Week 15 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

As usual, it’s the number 4 spot that causes all the debate. In terms of the total quality of a team’s body of work, Penn State deserved to have it. A number of teams deserved it more than Oklahoma, sitting at number 16. However, there are more variables in play for the playoff committee than just the total body of work, so if the decision was between Oklahoma and Oregon, they chose correctly.

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)

  1. LSU (+1)

  2. Ohio State (-1)

  3. Clemson (nc)

  4. Penn State (nc)

  5. Cincinnati (nc)

  6. Michigan (nc)

  7. Minnesota (nc)

  8. Baylor (nc)

  9. Auburn (+1)

  10. Notre Dame (-1)

  11. Florida (+1)

  12. SMU (-1)

  13. Iowa (nc)

  14. Alabama (+1)

  15. Georgia (-1)

  16. Oklahoma (nc)

  17. Wisconsin (nc)

  18. Memphis (nc)

  19. Navy (+1)

  20. Appalachian State (+1)

  21. Utah (-2)

  22. Boise State (nc)

  23. Air Force (nc)

  24. Oklahoma State (nc)

  25. Oregon (+2)

The problem of ranking bodies of work versus taking into consideration other variables, like holding a power 5 conference championship, underscores the need for reform in the NCAA football system. Ideally, the best system would divide college football into a two tiered, 8 conference system whose mechanics mirrored the Champion’s League in European soccer.

We can use last year and this year’s seasons to illustrate how this might work. First, we would need to divide college football into 8 geographically/culturally/historically relevant conferences of 16 teams. There are 130 teams, so we will have to bid a gentle adieu to the bottom two teams from the 2018 season, Connecticut and Central Michigan.

This would result in something like the following. This first step highlights the problem of reforming college football - the conferences themselves. The unevenness in size, quality, and composition of the conferences is in many ways the source of most current issues. Given their money and power, breaking them up would be impossible, but also necessary.

Next, hold an 8 team playoff with the champion of each conference, which would look something like this at the end of the 2018 season:

Playoff aside, we then use the results from conference play to determine the movement between the two tiers of each conference. So, for the Greater Appalachia conference, Wake Forest and Pitt, at the bottom of tier 1, would bounce down to tier 2 for the 2019 season. Indiana and Ohio, at the top of tier 2, then bounce up to the tier 1 for the 2019 season. This allow programs to cycle in and out over time to mirror the changes in team quality that inevitably occur. No one is permanently relegated to a second tier “conference” nor is anyone permanently in the top tier regardless of their quality. This helps both promote competition and keep the quality of the competition more balanced.

This reshuffling would result in conferences that look like the following for the 2019 season:

This would result in a playoff at the end of this season that would look something like the following, including both the 4 in the current CFP, alongside Oregon, Georgia, Utah, and Michigan.

For the teams not in the playoff, the current bowl system could continue unaffected. Furthermore, with 8 teams in each tier, the remaining games of each season could remain dedicated to cross conference rivalries. The change is itself simple and sensible, though it would require remaking college football from the bottom up, eliminating the current conferences entirely, to make it happen.

*playoff images made using challonge.com

Week 14 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

The Big 10 makes big gains due to secondary effects caused by teams that they had beaten earlier in the season, even for a team like Michigan that lost this week. Driving this effect for both Penn State and Michigan are the ties created with the PAC12 by Notre Dame defeating USC. Unlike most of the games so late in the season where intra-conference play doesn’t reveal much new information, a cross-national game like USC and Notre Dame, with its multi-conference schedule, creates ties that provide important information about the teams that beat Notre Dame earlier in the season. The result of this new information going into conference championship week is that Penn State, not Georgia who remains in the distant teens due to a South Carolina loss, or Utah or Oklahoma who are even further back, is most deserving of the fourth place spot. After Cincinnati, positions 6 and 7 are also held by Big 10 schools, Michigan and Minnesota. However, only Cincnnati and Baylor play this week in the top 10 but outside the top 3, so things are unlikely to change dramatically by next week.

Alabama falls to number 15.

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)

  1. Ohio State (nc)

  2. LSU (nc)

  3. Clemson (nc)

  4. Penn State (+2)

  5. Cincinnati (-1)

  6. Michigan (+2)

  7. Minnesota (nc)

  8. Baylor (+2)

  9. Notre Dame (nc)

  10. Auburn (+5)

  11. SMU (+1)

  12. Florida (+1)

  13. Iowa (-2)

  14. Georgia (nc)

  15. Alabama (-10)

  16. Oklahoma (nc)

  17. Wisconsin (nc)

  18. Memphis (+2)

  19. Utah (-1)

  20. Navy (-1)

  21. Appalachian State (+1)

  22. Boise State (-1)

  23. Air Force (nc)

  24. Oklahoma State (+1)

  25. Texas (-1)

Week 13 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

Ohio State jumps into the number 1 spot after defeating Penn State, but the top 4 remain the same with Alabama still waiting in the background. If the top 4 teams hold steady, however, it is unlikely the network ranking will change. Even if Ohio State were to lose to Michigan or Minnesota, or LSU were to lose to Georgia, it probably wouldn’t knock them out of the top 4.

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)

  1. Ohio State (+1)

  2. LSU (-1)

  3. Clemson (nc)

  4. Cincinnati (nc)

  5. Alabama (nc)

  6. Penn State (nc)

  7. Minnesota (nc)

  8. Michigan (nc)

  9. Notre Dame (+1)

  10. Baylor (+1)

  11. Iowa (+3)

  12. SMU (-3)

  13. Florida (-1)

  14. Georgia (+2)

  15. Auburn (nc)

  16. Oklahoma (+1)

  17. Wisconsin (+1)

  18. Utah (+1)

  19. Navy (+8)

  20. Memphis (+1)

  21. Boise State (-1)

  22. Appalachian State (nc)

  23. Air Force (+7)

  24. Texas (nc)

  25. Oklahoma State (+4)

Week 12 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

Alabama begins to make its case, though its not clear they’ll be able to hang on without Tua. Cincinnati climbs into the top four.

As for Georgia, the quality of their overall wins is better than any team in college football except LSU. But unlike the committee, the Network Ranking does not simply ignore the South Carolina loss. The only worse single loss in the top 25 is Boise State’s loss to BYU. There’s a way forward for Georgia, specifically beating LSU in the SEC Championship (and perhaps some Big 10 chaos), but without that the Network will rule them undeserving.

You may also be wondering why Oklahoma actually fell rather than rose. Kansas State (Oklahoma’s only loss) lost to West Virginia, which dramatically outweighed negatively any positive gains from beating Baylor.

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)

  1. LSU (nc)

  2. Ohio State (+1)

  3. Clemson (+1)

  4. Cincinnati (+2)

  5. Alabama (+3)

  6. Penn State (-1)

  7. Minnesota (-5)

  8. Michigan (+4)

  9. SMU (nc)

  10. Notre Dame (+5)

  11. Baylor (-4)

  12. Florida (+2)

  13. Oregon (-3)

  14. Iowa (+11)

  15. Auburn (-4)

  16. Georgia (+1)

  17. Oklahoma (-4)

  18. Wisconsin (+3)

  19. Utah (nc)

  20. Boise State (nc)

  21. Memphis (-3)

  22. Appalachian State (+1)

  23. Texas A&M +3)

  24. Texas (-2)

  25. Pitt (+4)

Week 11 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

LSU emerged triumphant, and Minnesota fairly catapults into the top 4 after their defeat of Penn State. Of course, if Minnesota and Ohio State both win out, that issue will be resolved in the Big 10 championship, leaving the committee to decide if the Big 12 Champion or another one loss team should go to the playoff.

There has been some talk that Alabama is not out of it. They still have the iron bowl to get them back in the conversation, but otherwise playing two FCS teams in a single season seriously hurts their case against other one loss contenders.

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking):

  1. LSU (nc)

  2. Minnesota (+3)

  3. Ohio State (nc)

  4. Clemson (nc)

  5. Penn State (-3)

  6. Cincinnati (nc)

  7. Baylor (+1)

  8. Alabama (-1)

  9. SMU (nc)

  10. Oregon (nc)

  11. Auburn (nc)

  12. Michigan (nc)

  13. Oklahoma (+1)

  14. Florida (-1)

  15. Notre Dame (+4)

  16. Navy (+4)

  17. Georgia (+6)

  18. Memphis (+3)

  19. Utah (+3)

  20. Boise State (+5)

  21. Wisconsin (+5)

  22. Texas (+5)

  23. Appalachian State (-8)

  24. Kansas State (nc)

  25. Iowa (-9)

Week 10 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

No changes in the top 4, but Alabama and LSU comes up next week. Biggest gain comes from Memphis with their defeat of unbeaten SMU, while Florida falls 6 spots after losing to Georgia, who climbs back into the top 25.

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)

  1. LSU (nc)

  2. Penn State (+1)

  3. Ohio State (-1)

  4. Clemson (nc)

  5. Minnesota (+1)

  6. Cincinnati (+2)

  7. Alabama (+2)

  8. Baylor (+5)

  9. SMU (-4)

  10. Oregon (+2)

  11. Auburn (-1)

  12. Michigan (+3)

  13. Florida (-6)

  14. Oklahoma (+2)

  15. Appalachian State (-4)

  16. Iowa (+1)

  17. Wake Forest +1)

  18. UCF (+4)

  19. Notre Dame (+2)

  20. Navy (nc)

  21. Memphis (+9)

  22. Utah (+2)

  23. Georgia (+6)

  24. Kansas State (+2)

  25. Boise State (+3)

Week 9 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

Some significant shuffling across the top teams this week following the tumult in the Big 12. Baylor stays immune but both Texas and Oklahoma fall. Despite TCU’s defeat of Texas, which should help SMU, SMU’s soft schedule just can’t keep up with the Power 5 and they fall out of the top 4. Big winner this week is Michigan, catapulting back into the top 25 following their defeat of Notre Dame. That, then, contributes to Penn State’s 3 spot jump, placing them in third behind Ohio State.

Outside the top 25, South Carolina lost to Tennessee. This has dramatic negative implications for Georgia, falling out of the top 25 altogether.

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)

  1. LSU (nc)

  2. Ohio State (+2)

  3. Penn State (+3)

  4. Clemson (-1)

  5. SMU (-3)

  6. Minnesota (+1)

  7. Florida (-2)

  8. Cincinnati (+3)

  9. Alabama (nc)

  10. Auburn (-2)

  11. Appalachian State (+3)

  12. Oregon (nc)

  13. Baylor (nc)

  14. Texas A&M (+4)

  15. Michigan (+13)

  16. Oklahoma (-6)

  17. Iowa (+5)

  18. Wake Forest (+1)

  19. Texas (-4)

  20. Navy (+4)

  21. Notre Dame (-4)

  22. UCF (+9)

  23. San Diego State (-2)

  24. Utah (+3)

  25. Wisconsin (-2)

Week 8 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

Gone is Wisconsin and Boise State, both in rather spectacular fashion. SMU jumps all the way to second with its win over Temple. Alabama falls a spot to 9 due to its chronic inability to play any half-decent opponents. Next week’s game against Arkansas is not likely to accomplish much on that front. Finally, Pitt cracks back into the top 25 following their victory over Syracuse.

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)

  1. LSU (nc)

  2. SMU (+8)

  3. Clemson (+2)

  4. Ohio State (nc)

  5. Florida (+1)

  6. Penn State (+3)

  7. Minnesota (+4)

  8. Auburn (-1)

  9. Alabama (-1)

  10. Oklahoma (+3)

  11. Cincinnati (+5)

  12. Oregon (+3)

  13. Baylor (-1)

  14. Appalachian State (nc)

  15. Texas (+2)

  16. Louisiana Tech (+5)

  17. Notre Dame (+3)

  18. Texas A&M (+8)

  19. Wake Forest (+8)

  20. Georgia (+3)

  21. San Diego State (+8)

  22. Iowa (-3)

  23. Wisconsin (-21)

  24. Navy (+15)

  25. Pitt (+9)

Week 7 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

Now that we’ve entered conference play, things are beginning to sort themselves out. Even if you think Alabama is number 1, there’s no question after their sound defeat of Florida yesterday that LSU has the best body of work. Georgia’s loss to South Carolina has sweeping consequences, dropping Notre Dame along with the Dawgs.

The highest ranked team in the State of Texas is SMU…

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)

  1. LSU (+6)

  2. Wisconsin (+17)

  3. Boise State (+1)

  4. Ohio State (-3)

  5. Clemson (+7)

  6. Florida (-3)

  7. Auburn (-5)

  8. Alabama (+3)

  9. Penn State (-4)

  10. SMU (-1)

  11. Minnesota (+21)

  12. Baylor (+3)

  13. Oklahoma (+3)

  14. Appalachian State (+18)

  15. Oregon (+6)

  16. Cincinnati (-2)

  17. Texas (-4)

  18. Michigan (+9)

  19. Iowa (+10)

  20. Notre Dame (-12)

  21. Louisiana tech (+35)

  22. Iowa State (+30)

  23. Georgia (-17)

  24. TCU (+33)

  25. Arizona State (nc)

Week 6 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

Big move by Ohio State both with their defeat of Michigan State as well as Cincinnati's win over UCF. Boise State hangs in there, but with a low strength schedule they’re unlikely to stay in the top 4 for long. The biggest move comes from Navy with their defeat of Air Force.

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)

  1. Ohio State (+7)

  2. Auburn (-1)

  3. Florida (+17)

  4. Boise State (-2)

  5. Penn State (+13)

  6. Georgia (+7)

  7. LSU (-1)

  8. Notre Dame (+13)

  9. SMU (+7)

  10. Virginia (+13)

  11. Alabama (nc)

  12. Clemson (-8)

  13. Texas (-6)

  14. Cincinnati (+14)

  15. Baylor (+24)

  16. Oklahoma (+17)

  17. Wake Forest (-5)

  18. Pitt (+25)

  19. Wisconsin (+7)

  20. Memphis (+14)

  21. Oregon (+16)

  22. Appalachian State (-5)

  23. Air Force (-13)

  24. Navy (+36)

  25. Arizona State (-22)

Week 5 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

Week 5 is here, and things are beginning to settle down. The popular speculation team known as Alabama slowly rises through the ranks, alongside Georgia, but the best SEC teams in body of work - meaning actually beating teams that have gone on to beat others - are Auburn and LSU. Our #1 team from a couple weeks back, Florida, has slowly fallen as the quality of their wins has failed to keep up with the gains made by others.

The Boise State/Air Force/Arizona State cluster is pretty strong in the network currently due to some strong wins branching outward from the three. That will probably decline over the coming weeks, but it’s a strong start.

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)

  1. Auburn (+2)

  2. Boise State (-1)

  3. Arizona State (+12)

  4. Clemson (+4)

  5. Colorado (-3)

  6. LSU (-2)

  7. Texas (+2)

  8. Ohio State (+8)

  9. Oklahoma State (+14)

  10. Air Force (nc)

  11. Alabama (+9)

  12. Wake Forest (+5)

  13. Georgia (+6)

  14. Michigan State (nc)

  15. Mississippi State (-10)

  16. SMU (-3)

  17. Appalachian State (+8)

  18. Penn State (nc)

  19. Kansas State (-13)

  20. Florida (-9)

  21. Notre Dame (+14)

  22. California (-15)

  23. Virginia (-11)

  24. Iowa (+2)

  25. Washington (-4)

Week 4 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

This week is exceedingly late due to travel. Special thanks to Alexandra Joosse at William and Mary for helping out on the software front.

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)

  1. Boise State (+17)

  2. Colorado (+31)

  3. Auburn (nc)

  4. LSU (+11)

  5. Mississippi State (+25)

  6. Kansas State (+2)

  7. California (+3)

  8. Clemson (-6)

  9. Texas (+29)

  10. Air Force (+14)

  11. Florida (-10)

  12. Virginia (+6)

  13. SMU (-1)

  14. Michigan State (-16)

  15. Arizona State (-7)

  16. Ohio State (-12)

  17. Wake Forest (-11)

  18. Penn State (+8)

  19. Georgia (+7)

  20. Alabama (-8)

  21. Washington (+15)

  22. Wisconsin (+4)

  23. Oklahoma State (+3)

  24. Minnesota (-18)

  25. Appalachian State (+12)

Week 3 Network Ranking

by Patrick Rhamey

At the end of week 3, all FBS teams are connected by at least one win or loss (illustration below).

As a reminder, this ranking evaluates the relative quality of total combined wins less the impact of losses, resulting in a ranking of “total body of work”. It is not, on its own, predictive. So, the greatest team in college football might be an Alabama, a Georgia, or an LSU, but their total value of wins doesn’t do enough to provide evidence of such because they have not defeated teams who also have good wins. LSU is toward the top with its defeat of Texas, but defeating Georgia Southern does very little, and Nichols State does nothing at all. Alabama is in a similar situation with South Carolina, Duke, and New Mexico State. The quality of Georgia’s wins are so phenomenally bad that even one loss teams that Eastern Michigan and BYU fair better.

Of course this will all change as we begin to enter conference play and the season continues to evolve, but these early non-conference games provide an important baseline. If Alabama or Georgia is that good, perhaps they shouldn’t schedule so many cupcakes during the first quarter of the season. For now, best total body of work goes to the Gators.

Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)

1) Florida
2) Clemson
3) Auburn
4) Ohio State
5) Utah
6) Minnesota and Wake Forest
8) Arizona State and Kansas State
10) Kentucky and California
12) Alabama, Iowa, and SMU
15) LSU and UCF
16) Wyoming
17) Boise State, Michigan, and Virginia
21) Memphis and Notre Dame
23) Eastern Michigan
24) Air Force
25) BYU

2019 State of World Liberty Index

by Patrick Rhamey

The State of World Liberty Index was a combination of indices compiled originally in 2006 by Nick Wilson.  Since then, I've periodically updated the index.  My methodology is similar to the original with the following exceptions: I use only the civil liberties portion of Freedom House, economic liberty (Fraser/Heritage) is weighted evenly with social liberty, and the Reporters without Borders Press Freedom Scores are of equal weight to each of the Freedom House Civil Liberties sub-components.  All changes are done with the purpose of creating the most accurate relative ranking of countries by the degree of liberty (economic and social) enjoyed by the average individual within the state or territory.  Note, the ranking is not reflective of, nor does it include, political or electoral rights.  Where data is available, territories or colonies (e.g. Hong Kong) are included.

Also included is a ranking of the Conservative-Progressive spectrum, where conservative would be very high economic liberty but low social liberty, and progressive would be very high social liberty but low economic liberty.  This added dimension allows for grouping states by both freedoms and ideology, such as Moderate Free (New Zealand) and Moderate Tyranny (North Korea), Progressive Free (Ireland) and Progressive Tyranny (Venezuela), and Conservative Free (Hong Kong) and Conservative Tyranny (Syria).

Also please note, rankings used to create the below are typically delayed by one to two years.  So, they do not reflect any recent events that may have occurred within the past 6-12 months.

Full rankings are here.

2019 Liberty by Quintile.  Colors represent countries grouped by quintiles in order of blue (top 20%), green (20-40%), yellow (40-60%), orange (60-80%), and red (80-100%).

2019 Most Free Countries:

1. New Zealand
2. Switzerland
3. Ireland
3. Australia
3. Canada
6. Netherlands
6. Finland
8. Norway
8. Luxembourg
8. Sweden

2019 Most Oppressive Countries:

1. North Korea
2. Syria
2. Eritrea
4. Venezuela
5. Cuba
6. Libya
7. Turkmenistan
8. Equatorial Guinea
8. Sudan
10. Central African Republic

2019 Five Year change in Liberty.  Blue is an increase in rank by >20 and green >10 since 2014.  Orange is a fall in rank of >10 and red >20 since 2014.

2019 Greatest 5 Year Increase:

1. Jamaica
2. Argentina
3. Cote d’Ivoire
4. Kyrgyz
4. Ecuador
4. Slovenia
7. The Gambia
7. Malawi
7. East Timor
7. Burkina Faso

2019 Greatest 5 Year Decrease:
1. Turkey
2. Djibouti
3. Bahamas
3. Nicaragua
5. Dominica
5. Barbados
5. Bahrain
8. Maldives
9. Brazil
10. St. Vincent

2019 Conservative-Progressive Ranking. Grouped by quintile, red is very conservative, pink is conservative, yellow is neutral, light blue is progressive, and blue is very progressive.

Below image graphs the amount of liberty enjoyed by the average citizen in a state (x-axis) by the balance on whether the state more heavily regulates economic or social behaviors (y-axis).  

2019 Most Conservative:

1. Bahrain
2. United Arab Emirates
3. Rwanda
4. Saudi Arabia
5. Singapore
5. Turkmenistan
7. Azerbaijan
8. Laos
9. China
9. Qatar

2019 Most Progressive:

1. Kiribati
2. Argentina
3. Micronesia
4. Barbados
5. Sao Tome y Principe
5. Dominica
7. Solomon Islands
8. Uruguay
8. Greece
8. Brazil
8. Benin