Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
Around SBN: Leandro Damiao Is Still Really Good

The RTT computer BlogPoll ballot: raw numbers, week thirteen

This here's the RTT Ready, Fire, Aim BlogPoll computer ballot. For a complete refresher on what we're doing, go here, here, here, and here. You can also hit the "blogpoll" tag below the post for a list of all of the related stories.

Prior tweaks to the system: (1) added experience ratings; (2) adjusted the weighting with a "square root of the sum of the squares." Why? I'll you why: I don't know. (3) revised the way tied teams were ranked; (4) began sorting the win/loss category based on losing percentage to hopefully alleviate the penalty to teams with early byes; (5) (a) adjusted the weighting of the win/loss factor and (b) adjusted the strength of schedule factor by subjecting the NCAA past opposition figures to a strength of conference rating. Conferences were divided into two categories: BCS and non-BCS; and (6) modified the Conference Ratings so that there were three categories instead of just BCS and non-BCS. The new categories are (a) the SEC and the Big12, (b) the other BCS conferences, and (c) the non-BCS conferences.

Tweaks for this week:

  • None.
  • The categories again: Win/Loss, Strength of Schedule, Pass Efficiency Defense, Rush Defense, 3rd Down Offense, Total Defense, Pass Efficiency Offense, Experience, Opponents Points Per Game, Total Offense, and 3rd Down Defense. The AVG R column is Average Ranking, and the last column is Weighted Average.
  • The current weighting of the categories: 100, 15, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Then tweaked by the square root of the sum of the squares maneuver.
  • Current spreadsheet here.

All right, then. The Top 35, according to the computer:

Star-divide

Rank
Team
WL
SOS
PED
RD
3DO
TD
PEO
EXP
OPPG
TO
3DD
AVG R
W AVG
1
Alabama
1
23
7
3
36
3
60
95
6
58
2
26.73
66.69
2
Florida
6
6
6
13
12
9
5
116
3
18
18
19.27
71.33
3
Oklahoma
6
4
32
12
16
56
2
59
54
3
4
22.55
74.19
4
Texas
6
1
55
4
3
53
3
116
26
8
39
28.55
87.74
5
Texas Tech
6
5
69
38
4
74
8
68
69
4
42
35.18
98.17
6
Penn St.
5
55
5
8
6
4
18
38
4
15
14
15.64
111.37
7
Ohio St.
11
30
12
23
32
10
27
59
7
82
35
29.82
121.01
8
Southern California
10
53
1
6
25
2
9
72
1
16
6
18.27
136.15
9
Georgia
14
2
58
15
43
23
16
90
56
24
52
35.73
144.52
10
Utah
1
80
23
17
23
17
17
14
14
32
12
22.73
148.94
11
Oklahoma St.
14
18
68
26
20
76
4
45
56
7
45
34.45
152.07
12
Missouri
14
15
74
37
5
89
7
32
52
5
77
37.00
155.23
13
TCU
11
72
3
1
7
1
50
26
2
26
5
18.55
166.71
14
Cincinnati
14
39
37
18
105
37
23
59
30
49
10
38.27
167.04
15
Boise St.
1
92
2
20
29
16
12
114
5
14
13
28.91
174.50
16
Florida St.
22
33
20
21
18
7
76
53
19
45
1
28.64
214.26
17
BYU
11
97
57
64
2
55
13
49
34
17
98
45.18
216.51
18
Oregon St.
22
42
31
22
51
13
29
12
36
29
7
26.73
219.43
19
Ball St.
1
118
29
69
9
57
6
53
9
12
79
40.18
225.02
20
Michigan St.
20
47
33
74
91
61
79
68
41
66
81
60.09
225.10
21
Northwestern
20
65
35
42
22
50
85
59
24
65
29
45.09
227.73
22
Georgia Tech
22
48
26
29
57
19
62
109
12
53
54
44.64
228.98
23
Boston College
22
49
4
7
75
5
104
68
15
95
19
42.09
231.13
24
Oregon
22
64
51
32
70
73
83
38
73
11
72
53.55
247.89
25
Western Mich.
14
110
54
52
34
85
15
14
40
22
65
45.91
249.88
26
Central Mich.
22
76
104
61
10
99
19
95
83
28
73
60.91
270.39
27
Tulsa
14
119
109
28
1
95
1
49
85
1
82
53.09
273.82
28
West Virginia
29
58
16
41
53
33
28
53
11
61
71
41.27
289.58
29
Pittsburgh
29
40
86
24
65
36
73
77
64
56
70
56.36
290.65
30
Connecticut
29
61
8
27
99
14
110
109
20
60
16
50.27
300.80
31
Rice
22
105
90
105
13
111
11
32
107
10
105
64.64
304.20
32
Iowa
32
51
9
10
60
12
47
53
8
51
28
32.82
309.45
33
Mississippi
34
8
59
9
39
30
31
26
25
39
15
28.64
315.27
34
South Carolina
34
14
18
35
72
11
80
26
23
96
23
39.27
317.72
35
LSU
34
9
40
15
74
32
88
77
66
47
25
46.09
319.85

Candidates for human override (those that are around five spots or more off from the major polls):

Possibly out of order

  • Any of the Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech rock, paper, scissors scenario, although I think it's fine.
  • Alabama and Florida

Possibly too high

  • Florida State

Possibly too low

  • Southern Cal
  • Utah

Any others that you see?

Current draft ballot, without any interventions yet:

RankTeamDelta
1 Alabama 1
2 Florida 2
3 Oklahoma 2
4 Texas 1
5 Texas Tech 4
6 Penn State 2
7 Ohio State --
8 Southern Cal 2
9 Georgia --
10 Utah 2
11 Oklahoma State 1
12 Missouri 1
13 TCU 2
14 Cincinnati 2
15 Boise State 1
16 Florida State 8
17 Brigham Young --
18 Oregon State 7
19 Ball State 1
20 Michigan State 7
21 Northwestern 1
22 Georgia Tech 4
23 Boston College 3
24 Oregon 2
25 Western Michigan 5

Dropped Out: Pittsburgh (#19), LSU (#21), North Carolina (#23).

We'll use up to two vetoes of the computer rankings. Now soliciting suggestions.

Comment 10 comments  |  0 recs  | 

Do you like this story?

Comments

Display:

Poll

All of these numbers….Why would you jump Oklahoma over Texas? Didn’t Texas beat Oklahoma? Head-to head match-up doesn’t mean anything?

by mmmjtx on Nov 23, 2008 9:13 AM EST reply actions  

RPS

The trio of Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma all beat one-another, round-robin style. UT beat OU; TT beat UT; and OU beat TT. So yes, UT did beat OU head-to-head, but UT lost to TT who, in turn, got spanked by OU. In this case, the head-to-head meetings don’t really mean squat.

by Aerobab on Nov 23, 2008 10:15 AM EST up reply actions  

Agreed

Head-to-head normally would mean something, but in the case of the 3-way tie, you have to look at the “style points”. I mean, if you use the head-to-head argument, shouldn’t Tech still be ranked above Texas? It’s a crapshoot, and quite honestly, with the way Oklahoma and Florida are both firing on all cylinders right now, that would be the absolute best National Championship game I could imagine for this season, and we should all pray for that.

At least we still have Eric Berry

by Volorado on Nov 23, 2008 11:18 AM EST up reply actions  

I would not.

Oklahoma’s seasonal body of work is better than Texas’s. If OU and UT win their final games, OU’s main metrics will only improve – especially SoS, and the argument in favor of Oklahoma will only strengthen.

Texas’s only real hope is for both OU and TTech to lose their final game.

by David Hooper on Nov 23, 2008 3:57 PM EST up reply actions  

anybody else

think that southern cal should be ahead of osu? Thats my only beef.

At least he's better than Esteban Yan.

by jacksonian on Nov 23, 2008 11:51 AM EST reply actions  

USC is insistent on screwing up polls.

Because the PAC-10 does not have a championship game, USC plays their final regular season game against UCLA during championship weekend. They also have their Notre Dame game to play during Thanksgiving weekend, so they’ve only played 10 games. Meanwhile, OSU and Penn State have both finished out their entire regular seasons and have 12 games played.

So the win/loss metric (the most heavily weighted one, at that) is comparing a team that has played its entire regular season to one that has 2 games left to go. USC does have the better percentage record (which is what’s being compared), but the 9-1 percentage is not as good as it will be if they win their next two games (11-1). If that happens, the improvement in W/L will guarantee that USC finishes ahead of OSU. But if they lose one or both of those games, they’ll fall behind. That really sounds about right, since USC has been just as flaky as OSU this year (and perhaps more so).

Another way of looking at it is this: USC is not yet rewarded for the assumption of winning those last two games. They’ll get that reward after it actually happens.

I’m in favor of “penalizing” USC right now. They whine how the lack of a champ game makes it harder to get to the MNC, yet they’re very happy to use the extra time to buy themselves more bye weeks, more rest for their players, more time to prepare for their games, etc. They’re playing both sides of the argument, so let them earn the accolades before they get them.

by David Hooper on Nov 23, 2008 3:39 PM EST up reply actions  

I should say, though,

that if USC had played even 1 more game by now, I’d be quite happy having them ahead of OSU. Even if it was a 2-point victory against Little Sisters of the Poor Junior Varsity.

by David Hooper on Nov 23, 2008 6:45 PM EST up reply actions  

Utah

Boy, that Michigan game looked so much more impressive at the beginning of the season, didn’t it?

I kind of feel bad for them. Utah is in the strongest mid-major conference and beat both BYU and TCU. They also scheduled the “all-time winningest active 1-A team” that beat Florida in their bowl game last year. Given that the game was schedule a long time ago, they couldn’t have seen this coming.

It wouldn’t take much improvement in SoS for Utah to be ranked somewhere around 6-7 in Joel’s computer right now. The only real hope for Utah is for their opponents and opponents’ opponents to win out in common games (especially Notre Dame v. USC and UCLA v. USC). They could gain a few ticks, but it’d be too little, too late.

This year’s Utah really goes to show that a mid-major has no practical shot at the MNC. Only Alabama is undefeated out of the major conferences, yet neither Utah nor BSU has a chance, despite having both been in BCS games in the recent past – and having won them. It’s not like either team is a 1-and-done kind of team.

I just don’t know what else it would take for them.

by David Hooper on Nov 23, 2008 3:51 PM EST reply actions  

Florida State

FSU will drop appropriately to 30ish once they lose to Florida. (Which they will.)

BTW, did you know that Air Force is currently the only 8-4 team in 1-A? FWIW.

by David Hooper on Nov 23, 2008 3:55 PM EST reply actions  

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome to the SB Nation blog about the Tennessee Volunteers.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recommended FanPosts

Checkerboard_enzone_small
My Signing Day Experience

Recent FanPosts

Gameday_depot_hat_guy_190x190__no_drop_shadow__small
Say Hello to Cleverbot, Who's Well Acquainted with Florida Fan Complexes
Dool-aid_small
When Defense of an Icon Goes Bad
Associated_20press_clayliston_1965_l_small
Wherein Kentucky Basketball Fans Expand Their Vocabulary
Vollyroger_small
Tennessee vs. Northern Illinois baseball series
20050073_detail_small
2010 LSU Game: Is Dooley Secretly A Genius?
20050073_detail_small
Evidence that 2012 should be The Year of the Vol
Checkerboard_enzone_small
State Of The Class: A List Of Tennessee's 2012 Recruits - UPDATED
A_cullen_the_bug_small
Where Do We Go From Here with Stokes?
A_cullen_the_bug_small
Joe Paterno Near Death?

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

SHOP THE ROCKY TOP TALK STORE

Gameday Depot University Apparel

Animated Drive Charts

RTT Classics

RTT Classics 2008 Animated BlogPoll2007 Animated BlogPollLOL! Your logo is so scary! Welcome to Rocky Top Talk Tradition! Fiddlin' on the Roof2008 Animated BlogPoll The Season of Which We Do Not Speak Pearlfection Case Study: 2QB Systems and the 2005 Tennessee Volunteers The 2007 College Football Blogger Awards The 2006 College Football Blogger Awards The 20 coolest college football logos The 10 worst college football logos The 29 most boring college football logos 2006 Animated BCS Race 2005 Animated Race to the Rose Bowl

FanShots

Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.

Recent FanShots

Kenneth Bynum is All Vol!
Oh, look. Kentucky fans got their feelwins hurt.
Softball - #9 Tennessee defeats #1 Arizona State 3-0 in Tempe
#9 Lady Vols softball opens the season in the Kajikawa Classic
Peyton Manning's face is everywhere!!
Potential Alzheimer's treatment with results.
Volunteer baseball TV schedule announced
Feelslike98 Film Room
Your 2012 University of Tennessee Volunteers Recruiting Class
USA Today Pre-season Coach's baseball poll

+ New FanShot All FanShots >

YouTube


Editor-in-Chief

Gameday_depot_hat_guy_190x190__no_drop_shadow__small Joel Hollingsworth

Senior Editor

Gromit_small David Hooper

Associated_20press_clayliston_1965_l_small kidbourbon

Tennessee_logo_small Will Shelton

Tumblr_lx1hpdd3yx1r2a42bo1_250_small Chris Pendley

Mutantenemy_small Incipient_Senescence

Ut_small Brad Shepard

Author

Avatar2_small rustytanton

Vols_dooley_hair_small Getoffmyvols

Pygmy_marmoset_small marmotman

Picture_081_small Joseph Stanley

Jackson_the_mule_avatar_small Jackson the Mule

Img_0171_small RockyTopinKY

6156218740_03c5ca84f5_m_small VolnVA

Top_small _trey_

Small Chien Rouge