Dunkel Index

The Dunkel Index, also known as the Dunkel College Football Index, is a sports team rating system and pick service originally developed in 1929 by Richard C. "Dick" Dunkel, Sr. (1906–1975) to mathematically calculate the best college football teams. Dunkel rated college football teams from 1929 until his death in 1975. His ratings are recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in its Football Bowl Subdivision record book. The NCAA describes Dunkel's methodology as a "power index system." Dunkel described his system an index and claimed that "his difference by scores is scientifically produced." It was cited as the first college football ratings system.

From the late 1930s through the early 1960s, Dunkel also hosted a weekly radio program called "Dick Dunkel Football Forecasts".

Dunkel died at age 69 in December 1975 at Daytona Beach, Florida. From 1975 to 2002, Dunkel's son, Dick Dunkel, Jr., continued to issue ratings, but the popularity of the syndicated service declined. Starting in 2002, the rankings were prepared jointly by Dick Dunkel, Jr., Bob Dunkel, and John Duck, executive producer of the Daytona Beach News Journal.