need to know

WIMfactor launched in 2022 providing analysis for FBS teams. In 2023 it added analysis for FCS teams and then added NFL analysis in 2024. This year WIMfactor has joined with UtterSport.com to expand even further. We hope to roll out analysis for basketball soon and then see where the future takes us beyond that. As WIMfactor analysis depends on data from games played, the analysis becomes available around week 5. But it gets more and more accurate as the season progresses and more data is available. Return often.

WIM stands for “What If Matchup.” A WIM provides data to help answer the question, “What if Team One were to play Team Two, who should we expect to win?” The WIM analyzes the games and opponents of each selected team to find common threads in the prior games that may help answer that question.

The different levels relate to how closely a matchup relates to an actual matchup between the two teams.

• Level One (Head-to-Head): These are matchups between the two selected teams—the two teams have played against each other.
• Level Two (Common Opponent): The selected teams have each played the same opponent. There are two games associated with this level: one game where each selected team played the common opponent.
• Level Three (Opponent Matchup): Opponents of the selected teams have played each other. There are three games associated with this level: a game between Team One and its opponent, between Team Two and its opponent, and the game when those opponents played each other.
• Level Four (Opponents' Common Matchup): Opponents of the selected teams have played a common opponent. There are four games associated with this level: the games between each selected team and an opponent (2 games), and the games between those opponents and an opponent common to both of them (2 games).

The overall matchup rating provides an indication of which team is favored in the given matchup, based on a neutral site and without considering injuries to players. The score represents the strength of the prediction—based on the WIMfactor analysis. The score is not a point spread for a matchup between the two selected teams. WIMfactor analyzes all available threads of linked opponents (for all four levels) and provides a resulting score for the matchup. The higher the number, the greater the chance of victory for that team.

Each week, WIMfactor predicts each game of each league on the "week" page. On that page, there is also a link to the previous week's results. Following that link will enable a user to see all results with a record for the week indicated at the bottom of the chart. Prior weeks may also be selected on that page.

Using the WIMfactor data, each week we provide a ranking of each team of a given league (FBS, FCS, and NFL). This ranking does not consider a team's record or reputation. The ranking depends only on the team's performance on the field in the given season.

Currently, all content is free so everyone has an opportunity to experience the quality content that WIMfactor provides.

We update games and scores each weekend as games are completed. The "What If Matchups" feature analyzes games from the prior weekend starting on Tuesday of each week. Check in each Tuesday to see new matchups created over the weekend.

Week one of college football includes all games through September 5, which is the Monday of Labor Day weekend. The first games of the season, however, occur the prior weekend on Saturday, August 27. Most of the teams that play that first weekend, play again the next weekend, so by the end of week one they have played two games. To clearly distinguish when the respective games are played, we identify the games played during the first weekend as "Week 0."

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