Why I like the BCS Rankings

As much criticism as the BCS computer rankings have generated, I can't help but think they are an improvement on polls created solely from the voting of either coaches or sportswriters, who regularly show that they don't know a lot about the teams they don't regularly play or write about.

Take this USA Today column, for example. The columnist writes the following about Texas and Oklahoma:

Texas and Oklahoma are challengers for No. 1. But they play each other and have tough schedules in and out of the Big 12.

At least the unnamed columnist got half of it right. The Big 12 is a solid football conference, with few easy games (Baylor may be the equivalent of Vandy in the SEC in football). But out of conference? Please. Texas plays North Texas, North Carolina, Houston, and Tulane. Not exactly a murderer's row. Oklahoma plays Tulsa, Alabama, UTEP, and South Florida. Not very scary.

Don't get me wrong -- I think the Big 12 is a tough enough conference that its powers shouldn't schedule too many tough games outside of conference play. One quality opponent (like Alabama or North Carolina) is plenty. But let's not talk about how tough the non-conference schedule is. It just reveals that the columnist really hasn't bothered to do much research.

And it makes the case to let the statistics geeks figure out how teams stack up against each other purely by the numbers.

[Posted at 16:52 CST on 08/30/02] [Link]