If sufficient " inter-divisional " league play is not accomplished , teams in an isolated division may be artificially propped up or down in the overall ratings due to a lack of correlation to other teams in the overall league . This phenomenon is evident in systems that analyze historical college football seasons , such as when the top Ivy League teams of the 1970s , like Dartmouth , were calculated by some rating systems to be comparable with accomplished powerhouse teams of that era such as Nebraska , USC , and Ohio State . This conflicts with the subjective opinion that claims that while good in their own right , they were not nearly as good as those top programs . However , this may be considered a " pro " by non-BCS teams in Division I-A college football who point out that ratings systems have proven that their top teams belong in the same strata as the BCS teams . This is evidenced by the 2004 Utah team that went undefeated in the regular season and earned a BCS bowl bid due to the bump in their overall BCS ratings via the computer ratings component . They went on to play and defeat the Big East Conference champion Pittsburgh in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl by a score of 35-7 . A related example occurred during the 2006 NCAA Men 's Basketball Tournament where George Mason were awarded an at-large tournament bid due to their regular season record and their RPI rating and rode that opportunity all the way to the Final Four
Big East Conference
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
Sports rating system