Sports

AA: Maxwell predicts region standings, WL records

By Todd Holcomb
Aug 14, 2014

The Maxwell Ratings have predicted the region standings and the won-lost records of Georgia’s Class AA teams. The computer ratings are the work of Loren Maxwell, founder of the Georgia High School Football Historical Association. He has been involved with sports ratings since 1986.

His region-by-region breakdowns are based on a Monte Carlo simulation of the 2014 season. The simulation completed 1,000,000 trials at the rate of approximately 51 seasons per second.

While the Maxwell Ratings reflect each team’s strength, the Monte Carlo simulation highlights the impact of the season’s structure (i.e., schedules, region alignments, etc.).

All out of state opponents were considered equal to the average of the GHSA team’s classification (i.e., out of state opponents of Class AA GHSA teams were treated as an average Class AA team).

Although some regions may use different criteria, in the simulation all region standings were deciding by recursive head-to-head comparisons with all remaining ties being broken randomly.

Region Strength and Parity

Each region is shown with its “Competitive Rating”, which is the rating required to win 80% of all games against the region’s teams in an infinite round robin competition, its “Average Rating”, which is the rating required to win 50% of all games against the region’s teams in an infinite round robin competition, and its “Parity Index”, which is the probability of the region champion being a different team in two consecutive simulations adjusted for the number of teams in the region. The Parity Index takes into account each team’s schedule and game site. A higher Parity Index indicates a region whose championship is more open than a region with a lower Parity Index.

Region Competitive Rating Average Rating Parity Index
1 - AA 65.44 46.51 0.680
6 - AA 62.64 34.30 0.496
4 - AA 56.93 38.07 0.269
2 - AA 55.21 33.25 0.572
5 - AA 54.87 35.24 0.684
3 - AA 48.75 31.31 0.587
7 - AA 42.13 24.87 0.583
8 - AA 39.85 16.43 0.215

Region by Region Breakdown

Each team is shown with its rating, schedule strength, projected overall and region records, average finish in the region, and the number of times winning the region along with its associated odds.

1 - AA

Projected Record
Team Rank Rating Sch Str Overall Region Avg Fin First Odds
Brooks County 3 67.21 45.31 8.44-1.56 5.28-0.73 1.60 583,039 0.72
Fitzgerald 6 58.09 43.19 7.59-2.41 4.32-1.68 2.51 223,805 3.47
Thomasville 8 54.29 49.46 5.78-4.22 3.88-2.12 2.88 162,866 5.14
Early County 14 48.08 40.86 6.09-3.91 3.21-2.79 3.77 23,404 41.73
Seminole County 16 43.87 34.16 6.29-3.71 2.70-3.31 4.43 6,831 145.39
Berrien 38 23.82 48.09 1.26-8.74 0.82-5.18 6.47 31 32,257.06
Pelham 37 24.42 43.46 2.69-7.31 0.81-5.19 6.34 24 41,665.67

2 - AA

Projected Record
Team Rank Rating Sch Str Overall Region Avg Fin First Odds
Benedictine 5 61.98 38.58 8.09-1.91 6.48-0.52 1.46 640,111 0.56
Vidalia 9 53.32 31.68 8.33-1.67 5.75-1.25 2.03 296,419 2.37
McIntosh County Academy 17 41.20 37.88 5.49-4.51 4.41-2.59 3.49 40,242 23.85
Bryan County 23 37.48 30.74 6.12-3.88 3.99-3.01 3.92 19,756 49.62
Bacon County 28 31.89 34.49 4.62-5.38 3.37-3.63 4.60 3,438 289.87
Long County 44 16.62 31.95 2.58-7.42 1.48-5.52 6.71 30 33,332.33
Groves 47 13.55 26.80 3.17-6.83 1.19-5.81 7.06 4 249,999.00
Jeff Davis 45 14.36 24.56 3.79-6.21 1.32-5.68 6.72 - -

3 - AA

Projected Record
Team Rank Rating Sch Str Overall Region Avg Fin First Odds
Jefferson County 11 49.99 36.76 6.98-3.02 5.20-0.80 1.46 666,649 0.50
Dublin 19 40.14 32.69 6.26-3.74 4.16-1.84 2.62 218,669 3.57
Screven County 25 33.76 26.80 6.10-3.90 3.33-2.67 3.70 55,010 17.18
Metter 30 31.63 31.16 5.08-4.92 3.04-2.96 3.96 30,539 31.75
Swainsboro 27 33.00 35.86 4.53-5.47 3.22-2.79 3.70 27,979 34.74
East Laurens 41 18.26 23.86 4.23-5.77 1.45-4.55 5.99 1,135 880.06
Harlem 50 9.57 26.93 2.62-7.38 0.60-5.40 6.56 19 52,630.58

4 - AA

Projected Record
Team Rank Rating Sch Str Overall Region Avg Fin First Odds
Lamar County 2 70.19 36.67 9.37-0.63 4.80-0.21 1.14 874,785 0.14
Bleckley County 13 48.51 36.01 7.27-2.73 3.48-1.52 2.41 101,825 8.82
Northeast 20 39.37 37.35 5.36-4.64 2.61-2.39 3.24 20,822 47.03
Macon County 24 34.38 45.69 3.03-6.97 2.14-2.86 3.93 2,072 481.63
Putnam County 36 26.49 28.32 4.74-5.26 1.33-3.67 4.71 386 2,589.67
Monticello 42 18.08 34.03 2.57-7.43 0.64-4.36 5.58 110 9,089.91
Crawford County† 56 -13.45 -4.82 3.55-6.45
† - Plays non-region schedule

5 - AA

Projected Record
Team Rank Rating Sch Str Overall Region Avg Fin First Odds
Heard County 10 53.31 37.66 7.26-2.74 4.14-0.86 1.65 572,165 0.75
Bowdon 12 49.97 35.82 7.46-2.54 3.92-1.09 2.01 307,268 2.25
Bremen 21 39.10 28.04 6.51-3.49 2.83-2.17 3.14 81,876 11.21
Manchester 22 38.70 33.01 6.00-4.00 2.83-2.17 3.33 38,546 24.94
Temple 49 10.39 18.75 4.16-5.84 0.70-4.30 5.40 89 11,234.96
Chattahoochee County 51 9.27 23.00 3.50-6.50 0.58-4.42 5.46 56 17,856.14

6 - AA

Projected Record
Team Rank Rating Sch Str Overall Region Avg Fin First Odds
Lovett 1 74.43 40.93 8.71-1.29 6.64-0.36 1.34 688,629 0.45
Greater Atlanta Christian 4 66.56 40.89 8.10-1.90 6.12-0.88 1.76 303,005 2.30
Holy Innocents 18 40.48 35.23 5.79-4.21 4.15-2.86 3.84 7,322 135.57
Pace Academy 32 30.86 39.05 3.83-6.17 3.19-3.82 4.67 503 1,987.07
B.E.S.T. Academy 29 31.71 38.40 4.21-5.79 3.18-3.82 5.07 314 3,183.71
Wesleyan 26 33.55 34.08 4.94-5.06 3.40-3.60 4.45 227 4,404.29
Hapeville 52 7.07 35.47 1.59-8.41 1.10-5.90 7.03 - -
K.I.P.P. Atlanta Collegiate 55 -9.10 33.08 1.10-8.90 0.22-6.78 7.84 - -

7 - AA

Projected Record
Team Rank Rating Sch Str Overall Region Avg Fin First Odds
Darlington 15 44.88 26.45 8.07-1.93 5.35-0.65 1.46 684,024 0.46
Dade County 33 29.59 30.59 4.77-5.23 3.63-2.37 3.08 127,432 6.85
Model 34 29.45 26.26 5.68-4.32 3.64-2.36 3.31 92,910 9.76
Coosa 35 27.96 30.85 4.44-5.56 3.42-2.58 3.56 84,602 10.82
Gordon Lee 40 19.15 25.03 3.82-6.18 2.24-3.76 4.85 8,340 118.90
Chattooga 43 17.29 27.32 3.06-6.94 1.95-4.05 5.21 2,615 381.41
Armuchee 53 6.19 23.69 1.87-8.13 0.76-5.24 6.52 77 12,986.01

8 - AA

Projected Record
Team Rank Rating Sch Str Overall Region Avg Fin First Odds
Washington-Wilkes 7 54.53 25.84 8.58-1.42 5.85-0.15 1.11 898,649 0.11
Rabun County 31 31.22 23.68 6.03-3.97 4.47-1.53 2.41 89,890 10.12
Union County 39 20.94 16.20 5.46-4.54 3.45-2.55 3.31 7,510 132.16
Greene County 46 13.77 22.57 3.57-6.43 2.72-3.28 4.36 2,187 456.25
Riverside Military Academy 48 12.08 14.32 4.59-5.41 2.53-3.47 4.52 1,640 608.76
Oglethorpe County 54 4.79 29.61 1.91-8.09 1.78-4.22 5.46 124 8,063.52
Social Circle 57 -17.66 15.43 0.72-9.28 0.20-5.80 6.84 - -

About the Author

Todd Holcomb

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