We have included nine more years of ratings in this update and are now through 26 years of Ivy League ratings. Also, as always check out the past Ivy League Elo articles to see more analysis of the formulas and other past years.
The Big Red did not play too well during this nine year period. The team finished last in Elo rating two times and did not claim any titles. Cornell reached a new low with a final rating of 1298 in the 1975 season and did not manage have a rating over 1600 at any point in this time span. However, they did do well in the 1980 season, finishing second in rating, but were still unable to replicate their championship season of 1971.
Cornell did not make much noise during these years and it’s clear that Yale dominated. Yale claimed six of the nine Ivy League titles and seven Elo titles. The bulldogs were always the first or second best team in terms of ratings and peaked at a rating of 1690. Also, after the start of the 1974 season Yale only dropped below a 1600 rating twice. There were several firsts for the other Ivy League teams. Harvard claimed its first Elo title and Ivy League Championship with a win over Yale at the end of the 1975 season. Brown was also able to finally find success. Brown claimed its first Ivy title in 1976 and maintained a high Elo rating competitiveness for the majority of these years. It was a big step up for the Bears, who had failed to even have a rating higher than 1500 since 1958.
The championship totals have had a slight change due to Yale’s dominance. Dartmouth and Yale are now tied at 23 titles each and have been the two best teams over most of the Elo ratings. Every team finally has been able to claim at least one championship even though Dartmouth and Yale have claimed almost 75% of the titles so far.
Overall, Elo has been quite accurate in predicting the Ivy League Champion. The Elo Champion has claimed a part of the Ivy League title 85% of the time and was correct in 20 of the 21 most recent seasons. Elo ratings have been historically accurate so far and we are continuing to calculate the ratings for the teams.
CORRECTION: Last week’s Championship graph incorrectly listed the year as 1956-1967. The correct range displayed was 1956 – 1972.
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