Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Final Rankings 2017

Another season, another national championship for Alabama and Nick Saban after a thrilling national championship game. However, after Central Florida completed an undefeated season by beating Auburn who beat both Alabama and Georgia, it is fair to wonder if Central Florida should be national champion or share the national championship with Alabama. Central Florida decided that they earned it and declared themselves national champions, threw a parade, and made the short trip to Disney World. Our rankings have them finishing at number 2 for most values of our parameter.


Saturday, December 16, 2017

Bowl Game Predictions and Confidence Rankings 2017

The college bowl games began today! For those who may be participating in a bowl game picking competition similar to ESPN's Capital One Bowl Mania, the following predictions and confidences are computed using the final regular season rankings.

I will update this post later with the winners/losers to see how it does.

Update: The bowls are complete and the results of the predictions are updated below. In ESPN's Capital One Bowl Mania, this entry finished at 94% of the entries in the competition with 551 points.

WinnerLoserConfidence Score
LouisvilleMississippi St1
Kansas StUCLA2
Boston CollegeIowa3
TempleFlorida Int'l4
TexasMissouri5
Georgia StWestern Kentucky6
MarshallColorado St7
NavyVirginia8
Michigan StWashington St9
ArizonaPurdue10
Middle Tennessee StArkansas St11
HoustonFresno St12
Utah StNew Mexico St13
South CarolinaMichigan14
Miami FLWisconsin15
StanfordTCU16
Penn StateWashington17
West VirginiaUtah18
Ohio U.Alabama-Birmingham19
North Carolina A&TGrambling St20
Ohio StateSouthern Cal21
Central MichiganWyoming22
TroyNorth Texas23
DukeNorthern Illinois24
Virginia TechOklahoma St25
Boise StOregon26
Wake ForestTexas A&M27
GeorgiaOklahoma28
South FloridaTexas Tech29
SMULouisiana Tech30
San Diego StArmy31
North Carolina StArizona St32
Winner of Clemson/AlabamaWinner of Georgia/Oklahoma33
MemphisIowa St34
Florida AtlanticAkron35
Florida StSouthern Miss36
NorthwesternKentucky37
Central FloridaAuburn38
ToledoAppalachian St39
Notre DameLSU40
ClemsonAlabama41

Final Regular Season Rankings of 2017

Due to some technical difficulties with upgrading my operating system, the first post of the 2017 season unfortunately comes as the last ranking before the bowl games. The College Football Playoff matchups have been set to be #1 Clemson vs #4 Alabama and #2 Oklahoma vs #3 Georgia. Using our rankings, Alabama would not have made the cut and instead would be replaced with the only undefeated team, Central Florida. UCF is not even in the top 10 in the CFP rankings due to their perceived weak schedule. Interestingly, they are never lower than #3 in our rankings even as our parameter p goes to 0.5 where strength-of-schedule has the greatest emphasis. Central Florida will get a chance to prove themselves against Auburn, who gave both Alabama and Georgia their only losses of the season.


Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Bowl Game Predictions and Confidence Rankings 2016

With the bowl games set to start this Saturday, it's time to use the Random Walker Rankings to predict the winners. Additionally, following the ESPN Capital One Bowl Mania format, we have a confidence rank/score for each game, where 1 is least confident and 42 is most confident. Our predicted winners are the higher ranked teams and the confidence rank is based on the difference in percentage of walkers between the two teams.

As the games proceed, I will update this post with the results and tally the final score and how the Random Walkers entry does in the ESPN competition.

WinnerLoserConfidence Score
Appalachian StToledo1
LouisvilleLSU2
North Carolina CentralGrambling St3
Western MichiganWisconsin4
MemphisWestern Kentucky5
Eastern MichiganOld Dominion6
TennesseeNebraska7
Colorado StIdaho8
VanderbiltNorth Carolina St9
Louisiana-LafayetteSouthern Miss10
WyomingBrigham Young11
IowaFlorida12
Arkansas StCentral Florida13
MarylandBoston College14
Middle Tennessee StHawaii15
Washington StMinnesota16
North CarolinaStanford17
ColoradoOklahoma St18
TroyOhio U.19
UtahIndiana20
Georgia TechKentucky21
Ohio StateClemson22
ArmyNorth Texas23
West VirginiaMiami FL24
Mississippi StMiami OH25
OklahomaAuburn26
HoustonSan Diego St27
Virginia TechArkansas28
GeorgiaTCU29
New MexicoTexas-San Antonio30
Texas A&MKansas St31
TempleWake Forest32
TulsaCentral Michigan33
MichiganFlorida St34
NavyLouisiana Tech35
South FloridaSouth Carolina36
Air ForceSouth Alabama37
Alabama/Washington winnerOhio State/Clemson winner38
PittsburghNorthwestern39
Penn StateSouthern Cal40
Boise StBaylor41
AlabamaWashington42

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Final Regular Season Rankings of 2016

Alabama, Clemson, Penn State, Washington, Western Michigan, and Oklahoma capped off their impressive seasons with conference championships this weekend. This presents the most challenging scenario for the College Football Playoff committee. Alabama and Clemson seem to have the strongest cases for the playoff, but Ohio State, Penn State, and Washington each have a very strong case for the final two spots. Michigan, Western Michigan, and Oklahoma also had great seasons that many could use as justification for an 8-team playoff.

The random walkers, who don't care about explicitly about conference championships or preseason favorites or school reputation, have Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, and Penn State as the top 4 teams for almost all parameter values. The only exceptions are that at low "p" values (where strength of schedule is most important), Washington moves into number 4 and Penn State falls to 5, and at high "p" values (where win-loss record is most important) undefeated Western Michigan moves into the top 4 while again Penn State falls out.

It will be interesting to see if the CFP committee agrees. I can see three possible outcomes, ranked below in order of likelihood:
1) "Eye test" wins out: Ohio State and Washington get in.
2) Conference championships and head-to-head win out: Penn State and Washington get in.
3) "Eye test" and stronger weighting towards late season results win out: Ohio State and Penn State (9 game win streak after starting 2-2) get in. This is how the random walkers would vote.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Rankings through November 26, 2016

Alabama still reigns supreme while the Big 10 dominates the playoff discussion with 4 teams in our top 6. The result of "The Game" leads to a potential nightmare scenario for the playoff committee. Neither Ohio State nor Michigan qualified for the Big 10 championship game which will feature Penn State and Wisconsin. A Penn State win will mean that in addition to winning the Big 10, they will also have a head-to-head win over Ohio State. The committee would then have to choose between leaving Ohio State out, leaving out the Big 10 champion who beat Ohio State, or possibly leaving out one loss ACC or Pac 12 champions. The decision would be much easier if Penn State loses, Clemson loses, or Washington loses. I don't mention Alabama because I think they are guaranteed a spot no matter what happens in the SEC championship game.

I anticipate a lot of talk about an 8-team playoff over the next week. A possible approach would to give the Big 5 conference champions a spot plus a Group of 5 team and 2 at-large picks. This year I think that would look like Alabama, Clemson, Washington, Penn State/Wisconsin, Oklahoma/Oklahoma State, Western Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan. 

Monday, November 21, 2016

Rankings through November 19, 2016

After a fairly quiet week, with the exception of Louisville's upset loss and Ohio State's narrow escape, the rankings have mostly stayed the same. As we approach Rivalry Week, Ohio State vs Michigan, Washington vs Washington State, Alabama vs Auburn, and Clemson vs South Carolina loom large.