It is that time of year again! What time you ask? Fanson baby watch 2012? Well, yes, but it is also time once again to break open the football spreadsheet. I introduced the spreadsheet last, year, but just to refresh everyone’s memory, I starting putting the spreadsheet together in grad school and I have been making steady improvements to it over the years. I used to just track scores and standings, but over time I have refined the algorithms to predict game outcome / point spreads and generate power rankings. As the 2012 season approaches, I have once again inputted the schedule information into the latest version of the spreadsheet and am taking an early look at what to expect. If I take the pre-season rankings for each team, convert that to an estimated power ranking, and simulate the season by correcting for a teams performance at home or on the road (roughly a 3-point advantage for the home team), I have been able to predict the final record of ...