"Average Conference Ranking, the final regular-season rankings of all conference teams in the computer rankings used by the BCS each year".
Frankly, when I saw this I thought that there was no way of figuring this out; but after a short search on that new fangled world wide web, I found the computer rankings for each team for the 2008 - 2011 season for each of the six computer models used in the BCS standings calculation at the end of the regular season.
Here are the rankings of the eleven BCS conferences over the 2008 - 2011 time period, and I have provided a step-by-step guide on how to calculate this.
| Rank | Ave. Conf. | Conference |
| 1 | 2 | SEC |
| 2 | 2.25 | Big12 |
| 3 | 3.75 | ACC |
| 4 | 3.75 | P12 |
| 5 | 4.5 | Big10 |
| 6 | 5 | BigEast |
| 7 | 6.75 | MountainWest |
| 8 | 8.5 | CUSA |
| 9 | 8.75 | WAC |
| 11 | 9.75 | MidAmerican |
| 10 | 11 | SunBelt |
1. To calculate the average conference ranking at the end of the regular season we need to get the rankings of all 120 teams for the six computer models for the four seasons. I used the following webpages (2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011) and then found the six computer models labeled as SAG, AND, BIL, COL, MB and WOL.
2. For the 2008 season, I averaged each of the computer models by conference. For example the ACC in 2008 had an average of 36 for COL's computer model. Repeat for each of the five remaining computer models and then repeat for the ten remaining NCAA BCS conferences.
3. For each conference, average the six computer models and rank from highest to lowest.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons.
5. At this point you should have all eleven conferences ranked for the four season. I then averaged the rankings and ranked from highest to lowest to get the average conference ranking listed above.