Figuring out the computers
A reader wants to know why the BCS computers rank OU below Missouri, even though OU beat Missouri, and why OU is below and Ohio State and Arizona State in the computers. Well, I think I know the answer. North Texas and Utah State. OU’s schedule is being dragged down by two of the worst teams in Division I-A. Out of 119 teams, they probably rank 116 and 118, something like that. Heck, it’s possible they are 118 and 119. Utah State is 0-10; North Texas is 1-8, with the win over Louisiana-Monroe.
Throw in Baylor and Iowa State, and a bunch of mediocre teams like A&M, Miami, Colorado, etc., and the Sooners don’t have much to brag about on that schedule. Texas and Missouri, that’s about it. Most computers don’t give extra factor to head-to-head result. The computers look at Missouri and OU, which have identical records, and MIssouri has played a tougher schedule, so Mizzou gets the nod.
Arizona State clearly has played a better schedule than OU. Now, I have no idea why Ohio State is head of OU. Its schedule appears pretty weak, but I suspect it’s all about North Texas and Utah State.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
Let me first say that, all my life, I’ve been a huge Sooner fan. But, I’m afraid that the team is way over rated this year. For the last few years, I’ve been very disapointed in our defense and how we can consistently get burned (mostly in the passing game) by teams like Baylor and others. I’m I the only OU fan that would like to see Brett Venables go? I think he is a horrible coach and it shows more and more each year. Please, bring Mike Stoops back!
Don’t get me wrong, I love my Sooners but I just feel that we are over-rated no matter what poll you look at. Yes, we’ve got a really good chance to win out but I’m affraid we’ll get creamed by a quality opponent (read excellent passing qb) in a bowl game. I hope I’m wrong.
Why does OU schedule North Texas and Utah State? I can see a rationale for North Texas–we recruit that part of the Lone Star State, so it gets us more exposure. What the justification for Utah State is I can’t imagine. Why we would schedule them both in the same year is beyond me.
OU is reaping the harvest of weak scheduling. That’s why the Sooners get no respect from the computers.
The computers do some weird things — and ranking OU behind Mizzou is one of the weirdest. I’ll bet one thing that helps Mizzou with the computers is that it’s loss to OU was a “better loss” than Oklahoma’s loss to Colorado. The Sooners actually make the Tigers look good — in the “quality of the loss” component.
Failure to take head-to-head results into account, though, is dealt with much like the problem of not taking point differential into account. The BCS folks would argue that even if the computers don’t use these things in their calculations, the human polls certainly do; and that’s why OU stays ahead of Missouri in the over-all standings.