Methodology

What the awards answer

The D2CFB national and conference awards use a published formula, so anyone can check a winner against the box scores it rests on. Every statistic a box score prints is converted to its approximate value in points, one currency across positions: a yard of field position is worth 0.07 points, a turnover 4 points, and a touchdown adds 1.5 points on top of its yards. That is why an interception (4) outweighs a solo tackle (0.5).

Each football conference has its own Offensive, Defensive and Special Teams Players of the Week, Month and Year (the full season). Conference boards rank all eligible players in that conference using the same scores, opponent factors, participation minimums and tie rules as the national boards. These are D2CFB selections. Independents and schools without a recognized football conference compete nationally.

A school's curated football conference is saved when a period's conference boards are first computed, so a later affiliation change cannot relabel its award history. Conference awards for existing periods are added from the stored weekly ratings using the period's saved settings; national boards and winners stay intact. All standing winners appear on the award record and their school pages.

Opponent, week, month and season

Each game's scores are multiplied by 1 + the opponent's power rating ÷ 140, held between 0.85 and 1.15, from the same week's power rankings: an average Division II opponent is 1.00.

A week's score is the sum of the player's games that week. A month's is the total ÷ (games + 1) and the season's the total ÷ (games + 2), which discounts a small sample without punishing a bye; a player needs 75% of the team's box-scored games, the NCAA's own rule, and a game with no box score counts on neither side. A week belongs to the month its Saturday falls in; December is awarded only with at least 2 weeks of finals. The top score wins if it is above zero; a tie at one decimal names co-winners.

Only players at Division II football schools are ranked. A week is published the Monday after its games and frozen when the next week's games begin, as the power rankings are; winners are named when a period is frozen.

Corrections

A box-score error can make the wrong winner. A curated correction can replace a winner, vacate an award or add a co-winner, always with a published reason, and the formula's own pick stays visible. A winner is never deleted: a changed award is revoked with the reason and the date, and the season record shows it.

What the numbers cannot see

• Offensive linemen and blockers: no box score credits them.
• Fumble recoveries and fumbles lost by a player: box scores print them for the team only.
• Touchdowns worded unusually in a scoring summary earn no touchdown bonus, though their yards count.
• Tackles, hurries and breakups vary with the home scorekeeper.
• Games without a usable box score: their players cannot be candidates, and each period says how many finals it rests on.
• Some hosts cut names at 15 characters, which can split one player in two across a month.

Sources

Expected points per yard: the cfbfastR college expected-points model. Turnover and sack values: Brian Burke, Advanced Football Analytics (2008). Touchdown credit: Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt (Pro Football Reference). Crediting and the 75% qualification rule: the NCAA Football Statisticians' Manual. Replacement levels and kicking rates were measured from 2026 Division II box scores.