jnl@alice.UucP (jnl) (01/12/86)
Russel Pierce wrote: . . . >Anyway, here are my top twenty picks for the season. The factors >I used were the winning percentage of each team (including bowl >games), the winning percentage of the teams they played (again >including the bowl games), and then averaging the standings with >the two major polls (UPI and AP). For comparison, my original >rankings before I blended in the UPI and AP polls are shown >in parenthesis after each team name. Also, for a team to be >selected in my poll they had to show up at least two times in the >polls. That is why I did rank Florida, but I didn't rank Fresno >St. or Bowling Green. Why would RP ever want to consider quality of opposition in his top 20 ranking??? Probably because it makes a lot of sense to do so!!! Note that this consideration (also used in the NY Times computer poll) did not make his team (Tennessee) #1 either. The flaw with such an approach, however, is that the BAD GUY factor is conspicuously absent. But, not to worry, a simple average with the AP and UPI polls gets those nasty cheatin' GATORS out of the #1 spot! >1. Oklahoma (2) 11. Air Force (14) >2. Florida (1) 12. Ohio St. (12) >3. Michigan (3) 13. Arkansas (16) >4. Tennessee (5) 14. Florida St. (13) >5. Penn St. (8) 15. Maryland (10) >6. Texas A&M (6) 16. Nebraska (18) >7. UCLA (7) 17. Baylor (17) >8. Alabama (4) 18. Georgia Tech (15) >9. Iowa (9) 19. BYU (19) >10.Miami (11) 20. LSU (20) Opponent's records should necessarily be considered so that teams that subscribe to the blowout philosophy (eg Nebraska, Miami, Fla St, etc) are not unjustly ranked too high. If scoring proficiency is of interest, one can always turn to George's rankings.