Computers save pollsters from an unwanted burden

2009-09-08T11:21:09-04:00

2008-11-30T18:35:14-05:00

2856

2008-11-30T18:35:14-05:00

286

2008-12-04T17:56:13-05:00

Jas Powers

Houston 625513

2876 :GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR II US Ranked 4th After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II. " Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland , France , Norway , Sweden , Denmark , Belgium and the Netherlands . Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work--including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule--our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking." Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated "The US only had two major victories-- Japan and Germany . The computer models, unlike humans, aren't influenced by head-to-head contests--they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event." German Chancellor Adolph Hiter said "Yes, we lost to the US ; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks." Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn 'style points' to enhance Germany 's rankings. Hitler protested "Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces." The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented " France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2." Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines . What a system!! Jim Powers Houston 3541795

2008-12-04T16:58:02-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/527/245/thumb/Family_Pig.jpg 4 KS

Daddy Pig

Lenexa 527685

2875 Play off. I'm so sick of all the discussion about who should be allowed to play for the championship, etc., etc. We need a playoff just like every other college sport and division. If the Big 12 wants to have a championship game, fine. But we need to have a seperate play off to guarantee a legitimate champion. How many exciting games and opportunities has March Madness provided? Have a dozen or so teams in the play off, play some or all of the games at current bowl sights... It'd be the biggest event in sports! Come on! By the way, I'm a Nebraska fan! 3541086

2008-11-30T18:56:52-05:00

dr.g

Fort Worth 616006

19 Still amazed at how OU's slaughter of Tech actually PENALIZED them. They crush the no. 2 ranked team, one described by Stewart and others as "unstoppable and dynamic" and suddenly that is reason to ignore the Tech-UT game result. That type of logic as well as the constant promotion for Texas by ESPN, Stewie and other media outlets is the reason the polls tightened. I mean, you go ON THE ROAD and beat the number 12 ranked team and that, apparently, is worth nothing. The Sooners played a better schedule and had the ONLY meaningful road win among the Big 12 south contenders. What the Big 12 should do is let Ou and Texas play again next week. Missouri (remember how great they were supposed to be, UT fans?) isn't worthy to play in KC next Sat. 3486755

2008-12-04T10:42:27-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/593/818/thumb/colt-mccoy-p1.jpg 59 tn

longhornsfan_10

erwin 594458

Still amazed at how OU's slaughter of Tech actually PENALIZED them. They crush the no. 2 ranked team, one described by Stewart and others as "unstoppable and dynamic" and suddenly that is reason to ignore the Tech-UT game result. That type of logic as well as the constant promotion for Texas by ESPN, Stewie and other media outlets is the reason the polls tightened. I mean, you go ON THE ROAD and beat the number 12 ranked team and that, apparently, is worth nothing. The Sooners played a better schedule and had the ONLY meaningful road win among the Big 12 south contenders. What the Big 12 should do is let Ou and Texas play again next week. Missouri (remember how great they were supposed to be, UT fans?) isn't worthy to play in KC next Sat.

2874 blah blah blah..ONLY? meaningful road win? well beating ou in a neutral field isn't excatly a road win but it's close enought..and as far as the ""THOUGHEST"" schedule you ""MIGHT"" be right but what about the back-to-back-to-back-to-back tough games TX had? you had 4 games and a ""BYE"" week inbetween the tx LOST till the txtech game, and finished of the season with the OSU game which was a good one without a doubt.. the head-to-head should of been inforced end of discussion..top 2 teams in the conference is how it SHOULD be but sadly it's not! oh ur D against teams not that good looks bad on the resume 4 teams (kansas, kansas st., texas a&m, and nebraska all scored more than 20 on OU? TExas only team that wasn't a ranked team that scored more than 20 was baylor..if OU goes to national championship agains gator..they gonna tear up a new one on OU..sad but true 3534374

2008-12-03T21:23:02-05:00

Tumbleweed43

Yukon 621947

2873 Texas45-OU 35 OU played Tenn-Chatt because Clemson backed out at the last minute and there were no good teams available on short notice. Mizzou is not a strong team. They lost to OSU at home, also Texas beat OSU by only 4 pts at Austin. Who did Kansas beat last weekend? 3530138

2008-12-03T19:14:23-05:00

wesgolf

Austin 624350

2871 I wonder, Stuart, how Mack Brown will rank Tx Tech vs. UT in the final coaches poll? After all, they both have identical records in conference and overall, and Tech beat UT HEAD TO HEAD! Can you, and Mack, say "integrity"? 3528799

2008-12-03T19:59:46-05:00

588

Tbrent

Austin 619397

I wonder, Stuart, how Mack Brown will rank Tx Tech vs. UT in the final coaches poll? After all, they both have identical records in conference and overall, and Tech beat UT HEAD TO HEAD! Can you, and Mack, say "integrity"?

2872 Like Stoopes, Leach, Saban, Carroll, etc., Mack is a man of principal. Yes, that is principal, not principle. 3529424

2008-12-03T19:14:23-05:00

wesgolf

Austin 624350

2008-12-03T19:11:04-05:00

AFSooner

Colorado Springs 178071

2870 I asked because Coach Tuberville had a good record at Auburn and there are quite a few openings right now. Wondering where he might go. I could see Coach Leach going before Coach Muschamp. Coach leach was at Kentucky before going to Texas Tech (via Oklahoma). 3528825

2008-12-03T19:07:40-05:00

AFSooner

Colorado Springs 178071

2869 I saw that. Is there a hometown or place he calls home (besides Auburn)? 3528786

2008-12-03T19:04:03-05:00

588

Tbrent

Austin 619397

2868 Turberville out at Auburn. Any chance Will Muschamp splits UT or Leach splits TTech? 3528709

2008-12-03T19:02:44-05:00

AFSooner

Colorado Springs 178071

2867 Barry Switzer was in a great position to make the change to a passing team. He was a well-liked coach who had two National Championships and had the hometown hero in Troy Aikman. I think OU could have gone through the growing pains of changing offensive styles, had it not come down to a broken leg. Once Troy Aikman went down for the year, Coach Switzer had to go with his strength and what a surprise Jamielle Holloway was for the Sooners. With a powerful running game to go with an incredible defense, they could make the run in 1985. Even though they had the early loss. I think every championship team has a measure of good luck some time during the season. OU's luck was their schedule strength, lossing early and lighting teams up down the stretch. You cannot take anything away from Texas' year. They ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. 3528707

2856

<div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://img.fannation.com/upload/si_blog_post_images/bob-stoops-113008.jpg" alt="Bob-stoops-113008" width="298" height="235" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">Bob Stoops has reason to smile after the latest BCS rankings.</div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">AP</div> </div> <p>For the first time in the 11-year history of the BCS, I find myself thankful for the computers.</p> <p>As I wrote <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/stewart_mandel/11/24/bcs.trouble">earlier this week</a>, BCS voters were dealt an unwanted burden this weekend thanks to an ill-devised Big 12 tiebreaker format that forced them to play a role in determining that conference's South Division champion. I'm sure many of them felt conflicted about the Texas-Texas Tech-Oklahoma conundrum right down to the final seconds of Saturday night's Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game. I myself went back and forth on the issue a thousand times over the past week, even contradicting my own written words in the process (as several of you have pointed out), before finally concluding that the Longhorns <a href="/si_blogs/the_sweep/posts/27662-texas-still-gets-my-no-2-vote-over-oklahoma">deserved to stay ahead of the Sooners</a>.</p> <p>Apparently, numerous Harris and coaches poll voters came to the same conclusion, as Texas gained a combined 49 points on Oklahoma from last week's polls, despite the fact the Sooners, not the Longhorns, were the ones to post a road win over a top-15 foe this week. Still, there was hardly a consensus. Texas finished six points ahead of Oklahoma amongst the 113-member Harris panel, while the Sooners edged the Longhorns by one point in the 65-person coaches poll. Essentially, the human verdict was a draw.</p> <p>In the end, the Big 12 South's title-game participant was determined not by a Facebook group or an airplane banner on Texas' behalf, or by the "emotions" (I'm still not sure how that word came into the discussion, but whatever) of watching Oklahoma's weekly 60-point outbursts. The Sooners are going to Kansas City because a set of completely impartial judges evaluated the data and determined that Oklahoma had a more impressive season than Texas.</p> <p>Oklahoma finished No. 1 or 2 in five of the six BCS computers. Texas finished third or lower in three of them. The Sooners' average computer rating was 1.5; the Longhorns' 2.5. According to CollegeBCS.com's <strong>Jerry Palm</strong>, Oklahoma's win in Stillwater pushed it ahead of Texas in the two computers that account for home/away status, <strong>Jeff Sagarin</strong>'s and <strong>Peter Wolfe</strong>'s. A week ago, Texas' strength-of-schedule rating in Sagarin's poll was fifth; Oklahoma's 25th. After both the Bedlam game and Texas' game against 4-8 Texas A&M, that margin closed to 12th and 17th.</p> <p>Not that any of this makes me feel more comfortable about the situation that transpired. If 11-1 Oklahoma beats 9-3 Missouri next week and heads to the BCS Championship Game, we're basically looking at a repeat of the 2000 season, in which Florida State edged out Miami for No. 2 in the final standings despite the Hurricanes' head-to-head win over the Seminoles. While <strong>Bob Stoops</strong> was adamant that the Texas-OU head-to-head result was irrelevant in this case because of Texas Tech's role in the three-way tie, the fact is, that should never have been of concern to the pollsters. Their job is to rank the teams in the order they see fit, not break a divisional tie.</p> <p>Apparently, somebody at the SEC foresaw this exact scenario when he or she devised that conference's tiebreaker. It states that in the event of an unbreakable three-way tie, if the top two teams are within five spots of each other in the BCS standings, "the head-to-head results of the top two ranked tied teams shall determine the [title game] representative."</p> <p>Something tells me that will come up in the Big 12's meetings next spring.</p> 27741 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/940/61/thumb/mandel_stewart.jpg 2 NY

Stewart Mandel

New York 94361