Blog Archives
NCAA Football Rankings – 11/4/2012
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BCS: Why bother with the computers?
The BCS is either unbelievably brilliant or completely idiotic. They use computer rankings to legitimize themselves, while at the same time, completely ignoring the computer rankings.
Louisiana Tech is a perfect example of this. Currently, Louisiana Tech is 25th in the BCS standings in spite of the fact that exactly ZERO computer polls have them in the top 25. They crack the BCS standings by coming in at 23 and 24 in the USA Today and Harris polls, respectively. The polls outweigh the computers in such a way that they practically don’t matter.
Another good example of this is Florida State who currently sits at 9 in the BCS rankings. Five of the six rankings have the Seminoles in the top 25 with ranks of 12, 18, 21, 22, and 25, while Sagarin leaves them out entirely. Their average computer rank is 21. In both polls, however, they are currently ranked 7th. And thanks to the way the BCS performs the weighting the average of 7, 7, and 21 is 9. That’s BCS math for you.
The weighting for the BCS is one-third each for the two polls and one-third for the computer rankings. However, if you look at the top 13 in both BCS polls, they are exactly the same. This has the effect of essentially using only one poll but giving it two-thirds weight and giving the computers only one-third. Voters can simply get together and vote in such a way that renders the computers meaningless. Only one of the six computer rankings, Richard Billingsley, has Alabama ranked number 1, and yet they are nearly a unanimous number one in the voting. Some more solid BCS math for you.
Whoever set up the BCS either had no idea what they were doing, tried to set-up a fair, rational system of ranking incorporating human voters and computers, and failed spectacularly, or knew exactly what they were doing, incorporated computers to make themselves look legitimate, and was wildly successful in maintaining the status quo. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between genius and insanity.
Cheers.
NCAA Football Rankings – 10/28/2012
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Full Rankings
NCAA Football Rankings – 10/21/2012
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An arbitrary ranking of NCAA college basketball teams – 12/11/2011
Rankings as of noon on 12/11/2011 .
| Team | Rank | Change | Record | AP (12/12/11) |
| Indiana | 1 | 0 | 9-0 | 18 |
| Illinois | 2 | 0 | 10-0 | 19 |
| Syracuse | 3 | 0 | 10-0 | 1 |
| Minnesota | 4 | 0 | 10-1 | |
| Marquette | 5 | 0 | 9-0 | 11 |
| Northwestern | 6 | 0 | 7-1 | 40 |
| Ohio State | 7 | 0 | 8-1 | 2 |
| Missouri | 8 | 0 | 9-0 | 10 |
| Duke | 9 | 0 | 9-1 | 7 |
| Louisville | 10 | 0 | 9-0 | 4 |
| Baylor | 11 | 0 | 7-0 | 6 |
| Northern Iowa | 12 | 0 | 9-1 | 35 |
| Purdue | 13 | 0 | 9-2 | |
| Michigan State | 14 | 0 | 8-2 | 21 |
| Wisconsin | 15 | 0 | 8-2 | 14 |
| Pittsburgh | 16 | 0 | 9-1 | 15 |
| Seton Hall | 17 | 0 | 8-1 | |
| Kansas | 18 | 0 | 7-2 | 12 |
| Xavier | 19 | 0 | 8-0 | 8 |
| San Diego State | 20 | 0 | 9-2 | 28 |
| Connecticut | 21 | 0 | 8-1 | 9 |
| Oklahoma | 22 | 0 | 7-1 | |
| Ole Miss | 23 | 0 | 8-1 | |
| Michigan | 24 | 0 | 7-2 | 20 |
| Saint Louis | 25 | 0 | 9-1 | 32 |
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
One More Arbitrary NCAA Football Ranking Scheme for the BCS – 12/4/2011
Rankings as of 12/04/2011. Previous weeks rankings here.
The BCS explained: It used to be that a national champion in college football was determined solely by human polls. However, human polls are suspect because you are asking each voter to process the results of hundreds of college football games from teams all across the country and form a well thought out, reasoned ranking of the top 25 teams, which is clearly impossible; It’s too much data for a human to handle. That’s why the BCS introduced the computer rankings which could, without personal bias, crunch the numbers and produce a ranking taking all games into account equally. The computer rankings, on the average, do a very reasonable job of ranking the teams. Ultimately, however, the non-human polls, a computational exercise in futility, are simply ignored, as they are overwhelmed by the human polls, and the BCS gets what it wants while it hides behind the computer polls to offer a whiff of legitimacy to the absolute garbage it spews out.
BCS Bowl Team
ACC Big East Big Ten Big 12 Pac 12 SEC Other
| Team | Rank | Change | Record | BCS Rank |
| LSU | 1 | – | 13-0 | 1 |
| Oklahoma State | 2 | – | 11-1 | 3 |
| Kansas State | 3 | ↑↑ | 10-2 | 8 |
| Alabama | 4 | ↑ | 11-1 | 2 |
| Oklahoma | 5 | ↓↓ | 9-3 | 14 |
| Baylor | 6 | ↑ | 9-3 | 12 |
| Stanford | 7 | ↓ | 11-1 | 4 |
| Oregon | 8 | ↑↑↑ | 11-2 | 5 |
| Arkansas | 9 | ↓ | 10-2 | 6 |
| South Carolina | 10 | ↓ | 10-2 | 9 |
| USC | 11 | ↓ | 10-2 | |
| Georgia | 12 | – | 10-3 | 16 |
| Virginia Tech | 13 | – | 11-2 | 11 |
| Boise State | 14 | ↑↑↑ | 11-1 | 7 |
| Michigan | 15 | ↑ | 10-2 | 13 |
| Wisconsin | 16 | ↑↑ | 11-2 | 10 |
| Texas | 17 | ↓↓↓ | 7-5 | 24 |
| Clemson | 18 | ↑↑↑↑ | 10-3 | 15 |
| Nebraska | 19 | ↓ | 9-3 | 20 |
| Houston | 20 | ↓↓↓↓↓ | 12-1 | 19 |
| Missouri | 21 | – | 7-5 | |
| TCU | 22 | ↑↑↑↑↑ | 10-2 | 18 |
| Michigan State | 23 | ↓↓↓ | 10-3 | 17 |
| Penn State | 24 | ↑ | 9-3 | 22 |
| Texas A&M | 25 | ↓ | 6-6 |
And finally, representing the Big East/Big Least: West Virginia
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
One More Arbitrary NCAA Football Ranking Scheme for the BCS – 11/27/2011
Rankings as of 11/27/2011. Previous weeks rankings here.
Some people were not thrilled about my rankings last week when I still had Oklahoma State ranked number 1. For example, one guy critically criticized me by saying: “I’m impressed! You spell very well and your paragraph structure is spot in. That us amazing since it is apparent that you are fucking retarded.” He will be happy to know that I now have LSU ranked number 1.
| Team | Rank | Change | Record | BCS Rank |
| LSU | 1 | 1 | 12-0 | 1 |
| Oklahoma State | 2 | -1 | 10-1 | |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 1 | 9-2 | |
| Alabama | 4 | 1 | 11-1 | |
| Kansas State | 5 | -2 | 9-2 | |
| Stanford | 6 | 3 | 11-1 | |
| Baylor | 7 | 0 | 8-3 | |
| Arkansas | 8 | -2 | 10-2 | |
| South Carolina | 9 | 1 | 10-2 | |
| USC | 10 | 2 | 10-2 | |
| Oregon | 11 | 0 | 10-2 | |
| Georgia | 12 | 2 | 10-2 | |
| Virginia Tech | 13 | -5 | 11-1 | |
| Texas | 14 | -1 | 7-4 | |
| Houston | 15 | 0 | 12-0 | |
| Michigan | 16 | 2 | 10-2 | |
| Boise State | 17 | 4 | 10-1 | |
| Nebraska | 18 | 5 | 9-3 | |
| Wisconsin | 19 | 10-2 | ||
| Michigan State | 20 | 4 | 10-2 | |
| Missouri | 21 | 1 | 7-5 | |
| Clemson | 22 | -6 | 9-3 | |
| Iowa State | 23 | -6 | 6-5 | |
| Texas A&M | 24 | -4 | 6-6 | |
| Penn State | 25 | -6 | 9-3 |
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
One More Arbitrary NCAA Football Ranking Scheme for the BCS – 11/20/2011
Rankings as of 11/20/2011. Previous weeks rankings here.
(I’ve made a few small corrections from my original post; I found a mistake in the data. For instance, Michigan State is now in the top 25 at number 24.)
Ok. I know. This isn’t going to look good, but…….I still have Oklahoma State ranked 1 even after their loss to Iowa State. (A defense of my rankings) They nearly survived the Big 12 gauntlet undefeated, which would have been a most impressive feat. I’m not sure I can defend this, but since none of the BCS rankings have to defend their methodology then neither should I.
Big movers this week include Baylor, Virginia Tech, and Stanford who are all up 4 spots to 7, 8, and 9, respectively. The biggest move up this week is Iowa State, who jumps 5 spots to 17.
Clemson falls 8 spots after its loss to North Carolina State and they end up 16. Likewise, Nebraska falls 7 spots to number 23 after losing to Michigan.
Cheers.
| Team | Rank | Change | Record | BCS Rank |
| Oklahoma State | 1 | 0 | 10-1 | 4 |
| LSU | 2 | 0 | 11-0 | 1 |
| Kansas State | 3 | 1 | 9-2 | 11 |
| Oklahoma | 4 | -1 | 8-2 | 9 |
| Alabama | 5 | 0 | 10-1 | 2 |
| Arkansas | 6 | 0 | 10-1 | 3 |
| Baylor | 7 | 4 | 7-3 | 18 |
| Virginia Tech | 8 | 4 | 10-1 | 5 |
| Stanford | 9 | 4 | 10-1 | 6 |
| South Carolina | 10 | -1 | 9-2 | 12 |
| Oregon | 11 | -4 | 9-2 | 10 |
| USC | 12 | 2 | 9-2 | NR |
| Texas | 13 | -3 | 6-4 | 25 |
| Georgia | 14 | 1 | 9-2 | 13 |
| Houston | 15 | 2 | 11-0 | 8 |
| Clemson | 16 | -8 | 9-2 | 17 |
| Iowa State | 17 | 5 | 6-4 | NR |
| Michigan | 18 | 0 | 9-2 | 15 |
| Penn State | 19 | 0 | 9-2 | 19 |
| Texas A&M | 20 | 0 | 6-5 | NR |
| Boise State | 21 | 2 | 9-1 | 7 |
| Missouri | 22 | 2 | 6-5 | NR |
| Nebraska | 23 | -7 | 8-3 | 21 |
| Michigan State | 24 | 1 | 9-2 | 14 |
| Auburn | 25 | -4 | 7-4 | 24 |
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
One More Arbitrary NCAA Football Ranking Scheme for the BCS – 11/13/2011
Rankings as of 11/13/2011. Previous weeks rankings here.
No changes at the top. I’ve still got Oklahoma State number 1, as I have all season. LSU comes in at number 2 and Oklahoma at number 3. Texas falls 4 spots after failing to score a touchdown in their loss to Missouri. Oregon jumps to 7 after it’s victory over previously undefeated Stanford, who falls to 13.
The two biggest movers upward were Nebraska and Michigan. Nebraska defeated Penn State to climb 8 spots to 16 and Michigan beat a rapidly fading Illinois team to climb 7 spots to 18.
Texas A&M and Auburn both fell 6 spots to 20 and 21, respectively. Texas A&M lost in 4 OT to Kansas State while Auburn fell to Georgia. Missouri and Michigan State squeak their way into the top 25 at 24 and 25, respectively, as Texas Tech and Georgia Tech drop out.
By conference, I have 8 Big 12 teams in the top 25 and 6 SEC teams. The Big 10 has 4 teams, the Pac 12 gets 3, and the ACC has 2. Mountain West and Conference USA have one team each.
| Team | Rank | Change | Record | BCS Rank |
| Oklahoma State | 1 | 0 | 10-0 | 2 |
| LSU | 2 | 0 | 10-0 | 1 |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 0 | 8-1 | 5 |
| Kansas State | 4 | 1 | 8-2 | 13 |
| Alabama | 5 | -1 | 9-1 | 3 |
| Arkansas | 6 | 1 | 9-1 | 6 |
| Oregon | 7 | 2 | 9-1 | 4 |
| Clemson | 8 | 2 | 9-1 | 7 |
| South Carolina | 9 | 2 | 8-2 | 12 |
| Texas | 10 | -4 | 6-3 | 23 |
| Baylor | 11 | 2 | 6-3 | 22 |
| Virginia Tech | 12 | 0 | 9-1 | 8 |
| Stanford | 13 | -5 | 9-1 | 9 |
| USC | 14 | 4 | 8-2 | NR |
| Georgia | 15 | 2 | 8-2 | 14 |
| Nebraska | 16 | 8 | 8-2 | 16 |
| Houston | 17 | 2 | 10-0 | 11 |
| Michigan | 18 | 7 | 8-2 | 18 |
| Penn State | 19 | -3 | 8-2 | 21 |
| Texas A&M | 20 | -6 | 6-3 | NR |
| Auburn | 21 | -6 | 6-4 | 24 |
| Iowa State | 22 | -1 | 5-4 | NR |
| Boise State | 23 | -3 | 8-1 | 10 |
| Missouri | 24 | 2 | 5-5 | NR |
| Michigan State | 25 | 3 | 8-2 | 15 |
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
One More Arbitrary NCAA Football Ranking Scheme for the BCS – 11/6/2011
Rankings as of 11/6/2011. Previous weeks rankings are here.
What a game last night between LSU and Alabama! #FieldGoalsAreAwesome
I’ll update the BCS ranks when the new ones come out.
| Team | Rank | Change | Record | BCS Rank |
| Oklahoma State | 1 | 0 | 9-0 | |
| LSU | 2 | 1 | 9-0 | |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 2 | 8-1 | |
| Alabama | 4 | 0 | 8-1 | |
| Kansas St. | 5 | -3 | 7-2 | |
| Texas | 6 | 6 | 6-2 | |
| Arkansas | 7 | 3 | 8-1 | |
| Stanford | 8 | 0 | 9-0 | |
| Oregon | 9 | 4 | 8-1 | |
| Clemson | 10 | -4 | 8-1 | |
| South Carolina | 11 | -2 | 7-2 | |
| Virginia Tech | 12 | 2 | 8-1 | |
| Baylor | 13 | 3 | 5-3 | |
| Texas A&M | 14 | -7 | 5-4 | |
| Auburn | 15 | 4 | 6-3 | |
| Penn State | 16 | 1 | 8-1 | |
| Georgia | 17 | 7 | 7-2 | |
| USC | 18 | -3 | 7-2 | |
| Houston | 19 | 6 | 9-0 | |
| Boise State | 20 | 1 | 8-0 | |
| Iowa State | 21 | 11 | 5-4 | |
| Georgia Tech | 22 | 0 | 7-2 | |
| Texas Tech | 23 | -12 | 5-4 | |
| Nebraska | 24 | -6 | 7-2 | |
| Michigan | 25 | -5 | 7-2 |
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
Stats in the Wild 