As I was sitting around last Sunday looking at the first BCS standings of the season, I had the following train of thought:
I wonder what goes into all these computer programs that rank the teams.
Hey, I'm in a computer methods class, I could make a program to rank all the teams.
No I couldn't, I've learned the basics of PowerPoint and Excel, these kind of programs are way too complicated for what I know how to do.
Well, maybe that would be a good thing. I could make a program that wasn't so complicated.
And so I went to work. At the sacrifice of the homework I was supposed to be doing for that class, I developed a spreadsheet to rank all of the teams in the FBS division.
So why do I think it's in the least bit accurate?
Because it only considers wins and losses. No polls, no past-year performances, no conference affiliations.
So here it is, the unadulterated top 25:
| 1 | Iowa |
| 2 | Texas |
| 3 | Cincinnati |
| 4 | Alabama |
| 5 | Florida |
| 6 | TCU |
| 7 | Boise State |
| 8 | Pittsburgh |
| 9 | West Virginia |
| 10 | Oregon |
| 11 | Georgia Tech |
| 12 | Penn State |
| 13 | USC |
| 14 | Oklahoma State |
| 15 | LSU |
| 16 | Utah |
| 17 | Houston |
| 18 | Central Michigan |
| 19 | Ohio State |
| 20 | South Carolina |
| 21 | Arizona |
| 22 | South Florida |
| 23 | Miami (FL) |
| 24 | Virginia Tech |
| 25 | Kansas |
As you can see, the formula favors undefeated teams, which I feel is reasonable. What separates the teams with the same record is a strength of schedule formula based on the win-loss record each team's opponents and each team's opponent's opponents.
Let me know what you think. Is this poll fair? Is it accurate?
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