Fire The Computer

Well, the first BCS rankings of the year were released yesterday, and on the surface there were no surprises, as Penn State came in at #3. But if you dig a little deeper, you might be surprised- and pissed off.

Just check out what E!SPN’s Adam Rittenberg points out in his post on the rankings:

“The computers like Ohio State even if the voters don't. The Buckeyes come in at No. 9 in the BCS standings, buoyed by a computer ranking (No. 5) higher than Penn State's (No. 7).”

Right, it makes perfect sense that Ohio State would be above Penn State in the computer rankings, given the fact that they got killed by a team that lost to a team that Penn State killed. And, oh yeah, we’re undefeated.

What the fuck kind of algorithm is running on that computer?

And if that’s not enough to fire you up, check out this snippet from E!SPN’s story on the BCS rankings. The article talks about Penn State’s relatively low score, then offers this analysis:

“In fact, fourth-place Oklahoma (.832) might be able to catch Penn State, even if coach Joe Paterno's team wins out.”

Now that is just insanity, and in fact, there’s really no truth in it. If Penn State wins out (and that’s obviously still a big if) and gets leapfrogged by a one-loss Oklahoma team, we’re turning in our IDs as college football fans.

But the real point is that if these scenarios are even being mentioned in the national news, it just shows how awful this system is. The next time Tim Cowlishaw defends the BCS on Around the Horn, please email him and tell him that both he and the BCS are jokes.

But no worries, if the Lions go to Columbus and beat the Buckeyes, we’re at least 75% sure our computer ranking will top theirs next Sunday.

The recap will be up this evening.