BCS Standings 2011: Stanford Cardinal and More Teams Computers Need to Respect
There may come a day when humans and machines finally come to blows. Until then, we'll just have to be content with the weekly man vs. machine battle that is waged in the BCS rankings.
Provided you've been a BCS hater for long enough, my guess is that you have some notion of what I'm talking about. The BCS rankings are two parts human polls and one part computer calculations. The two components rarely agree, and that leads to plenty of puzzling rankings.
On occasion, the humans are wrong about the rankings. But more often than not, it's the computers that are wrong.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
This week, I'm thinking the computers are the guilty party once again. To illustrate the point, I'd like to point out four teams that didn't get enough respect from the computers.
Wisconsin (No. 18)
Okay, so the Badgers are no longer a national title contender. In fact, they have pretty much done everything in their power to earn a little disrespect.
That said, the computers crossed the line in Week 11. While both human polls have Wisconsin at No. 14, the BCS computers have it at No. 28.
In other words, the computers don't think the Badgers are a Top 25 team. I take this to mean that they think the Big Ten sucks, and that the Badgers are a sucky Big Ten team.
If you ask me, this is only half true. The Badgers aren't that sucky.
Penn State (No. 12)
I actually think Penn State is ranked a little too highly, but at the same time I can't really think of a reason why the Nittany Lions should be ranked any lower.
The computers can, though. They have the Nittany Lions at No. 16, and one system has them as low as No. 19.
Once again, this is a clear example of the computers' hate for the Big Ten, which they seem to think is chock-full of gutless sissies.
In other words, they think the Big Ten is playing the other football.
Houston (No. 11)
Houston is a team that many will wager should be ranked lower, but I think it's ranked just right. No. 11 is a good spot for the Cougars.
If the computers had their way, the Cougars would be ranked No. 13. Not a huge disparity, of course, but I think it's a classic example of how the computers don't take margin of victory and overall dominance into account.
Basically, the computers just don't care that the Cougars have scored at least 49 points in six straight games. That's a lot of points, and a lock of wreckage in Houston's wake.
Stanford (No. 4)
By now, you've probably voiced your own frustration at Stanford being ranked below Alabama, which just suffered its first loss of the season against LSU. After all, Stanford's schedule isn't that weak, and the Cardinal is undefeated, after all.
This is thanks to the computers. The Cardinal is No. 3 in the Harris Poll and No. 2 in the USA Today poll, but the computers have Stanford at No. 7.
Apparently, the Pac-12 is that lousy. Also apparently, the computers simply can't fall in love with Andrew Luck like the rest of us.
BCS Standings for Week 11
| 1 | LSU | .9931 |
| 2 | Oklahoma State | .9447 |
| 3 | Alabama | .8836 |
| 4 | Stanford | .8749 |
| 5 | Boise State | .8473 |
| 6 | Oklahoma | .7978 |
| 7 | Oregon | .7708 |
| 8 | Arkansas | .7452 |
| 9 | Clemson | .6435 |
| 10 | Virginia Tech | .5913 |
| 11 | Houston | .551 |
| 12 | Penn State | .484 |
| 13 | South Carolina | .453 |
| 14 | Kansas State | .381 |
| 15 | Georgia | .370 |
| 16 | Texas | .366 |
| 17 | Michigan State | .337 |
| 18 | Wisconsin | .305 |
| 19 | Nebraska | .279 |
| 20 | Auburn | .210 |
| 21 | Georgia Tech | .209 |
| 22 | Southern Mississippi | .204 |
| 23 | Cincinnati | .187 |
| 24 | Michigan | .177 |
| 25 | Baylor | .071 |
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
