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DunkelIndex.com
About Us
The Dunkel Index has been a family-owned enterprise for 76 years. Started by Dick Dunkel, Sr., in 1929, it was designed to settle a dispute over which college football team was the best at the time. Because teams back then rarely traveled across country to play each other, there was a constant debate between the East and West coast over who was Number 1. So Dick, Sr., came up with an ingenious solution: Take what data is available, create a few formulas and calculate mathematically the best teams in the land. It was an idea that soon took off.
Dick, Sr., took some scratches on index cards and turned it into a system that was syndicated nationwide. Because
of its novel approach and unparalleled accuracy, the Dunkel Index quickly became the de facto authority on college football. Hundreds of newspapers around the country carried the Index and Dick, Sr., continued to produce these power ratings by hand until the early 1970s.
In 1972, he handed off the ratings to his oldest son, Dick, Jr., who along with his brother, Bob, took on the task of expanding the effort. Under their leadership, the Index moved into professional basketball and football. In addition, Dick, Jr., was able to computerize the models, which enabled Dunkel to cover every college program from Division I to the NAIA. Dunkel also did high school ratings in Florida and a variety of other locations.
But the market for the ratings started to change in the early 1980s. Newpapers, which had been the primary source of revenue, increasingly found that they did not have the news space available to carry the Index. A handful of larger ones, such as the New York Times, started their own computer rankings based on the same concepts as Dunkel.
As a new outlet, Dick, Jr., moved the ratings onto the Internet. Working through
the Daytona Beach News-Journal, he created a website so that everyone who had
used the Index in the early days could once gain access its numbers. The Index
also became part of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in 1999 and continued to participate in the computer rankings through the 2001 season.
The death of Dick, Jr., in 2003 left the Index in limbo. The News-Journal terminated its agreement to serve as the web host and provide the computers for running the calculations. Facing the possibility of not producing the ratings for the first time in decades, Dick’s two sons, Bob and Richard, stepped in to carry on the tradition. Creating their own website, they’ve been able to keep the Index going
and will be entering their third season as the leaders of the operation.
Today the Dunkel Index is enjoying renewed success. Powered by the new website
and a growing cadre of loyal followers, the Index continues to produce ratings
and picks that are among the best in the business. While others have created
their own systems to compete with the Index, Dunkel remains the standard in the
field. The formulas that Dick, Sr., came up with in 1929 remain an accurate measurement of the relative strength of teams and a powerful forecaster of future performance. Fine tuning through three generations of Dunkels has made the Index even more accurate.
The Dunkel Index has had a long and interesting past. And now under the guidance of Bob and Richard, the Index should have an equally strong future. The family appreciates all the people who have used the Dunkel Index over the years and is committed to carrying on the tradition established by Dick, Sr., 76 years ago.
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL
FINAL 2009 DUNKEL TOP 5
DIVISION IA
1. Alabama 115.676
2. Florida 110.370
3. Texas 109.929
4. Boise State 107.739
5. TCU 107.230
(Through Games on 1/7)
FINAL 2009 DUNKEL TOP 5
DIVISION IAA
1. Villanova 86.981
2. Montana 85.073
3. William & Mary 83.835
4. Appalachian State 81.816
5. Richmond 79.909
(Through Games on 12/18)
PRO FOOTBALL
FINAL REGULAR SEASON DUNKEL TOP 5
1. New Orleans 142.626
2. Indianapolis 139.044
3. Minnesota 137.750
4. Dallas 137.542
5. San Diego 136.964
(Through Games on 2/7)
CFL FOOTBALL
FINAL 2009 DUNKEL TOP 5
1. Montreal 121.334
2. Saskatechewan 114.639
3. Calgary 111.718
4. BC 108.774
5. Edmonton 108.335
(Through Games on 11/29)
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
THIS WEEK'S DUNKEL TOP 5
1. Duke 77.315
2. Kansas 76.837
3. Kansas State 74.956
4. Ohio State 74.239
5. Kentucky 73.517
(Through Games on 2/28)
PRO BASKETBALL
THIS WEEK'S DUNKEL TOP 5
1. LA Lakers 123.579
2. Cleveland 123.478
3. Orlando 122.056
4. Denver 121.162
5. Utah 120.717
(Through Games on 2/28)
WNBA BASKETBALL
FINAL 2009 DUNKEL TOP 5
1. Phoenix 115.333
2. Indiana 113.532
3. Los Angeles 112.012
4. Seattle 111.883
5. Atlanta 110.672
(Through Games on 10/9)
PRO HOCKEY
THIS WEEK'S DUNKEL TOP 5
1. Washington 12.150
2. San Jose 12.110
3. Chicago 11.974
4. Los Angeles 11.807
5. Buffalo 11.789
(Through Games on 2/14)
PRO BASEBALL
FINAL 2009 DUNKEL TOP 5
1. NY Yankees 16.958
2. LA Angels 16.331
3. Philadelphia 16.140
4. Boston 15.885
5. Texas 15.652
(Through Games on 11/4)
Check out all our rankings and picks by clicking on the headings in the left-hand column
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