OT: How does the #1 BCS ranked team end up a 10-point underdog?

[Tobias]

It seems odd that when it comes to voting with their wallets in the form of taking risks many people disagree with the BCS ranking system. Why should a team be #1 when most think the probability of beating the #4 team is less than 50:50? :confused:

Is this a mini class in free markets? Maybe we should use Vegas spreads to rank teams.

What do you think? Would Vegas do a better job than BCS? :)

[Elefantino]

Two words: Tim Tebow

http://gximg.ny.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=GS&Date=20081111&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=811110934&Ref=AR&MaxW=600&border=0

[RPS]

:crap: :crap: :crap: :crap:

Somebody had to go and jinx my team.

[bzbvh5]

Someone sent this to me and I thought I'd share.

BCS DECLARES GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR II
US Ranked 4th

After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II.

"Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work--including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule--our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking."

Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated "The US only had two major victories--Japan and Germany. The computer models, unlike humans, aren't influenced by head-to-head contests--they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event."

German Chancellor Adolph Hitler said "Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks." Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn 'style points' to enhance Germany's rankings. Hitler protested "Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces."

The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented " France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2."

Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines.

And my 2 cents: Yes! But as we all know, France was way over rated in the pre season poles. And Germany which had several recruiting violations only lost to Russia because Russia is used to playing in the snow and had more scholarship players.

[dauwhe]

I don't really pay attention to this stuff, but that was really funny! Thanks for sharing...

:banana:

Dave

[RPS]

Two words: Tim TebowI just hope it was enough to earn a spot.

I don't gamble, but my understanding is that a line is based on a point spread that makes equal numbers of people take the bet on either side. If that's the case, it suggests most people who gamble on football thought the Gators were better than Alabama by 10 points (more or less) which turned out very close. It's still interesting that the computer models don't come close to the AP poll or to the very large numbers of gamblers.

If the computers remain in left field relative to human opinions, it's possible that Oklahoma and Texas could end up in a rematch. :(