Sunday, November 30, 2008

Breakin' the tie...

We don't have much to add to what we said last week. All eyes will be watching how this week's BCS Standings break the Big 12 South division tie. Using our own random walker rankings as an imperfect stand-in for what the group of computer systems will do, it appears that Oklahoma should pick up ground on Texas in the computers this week. Importantly, Oklahoma led Texas in both polls last week, but ended up far enough behind Texas in the computers to be behind Texas in the Standings (an average of the three). We'd guess that Oklahoma will gain enough ground in the computers, between their win over highly-ranked Oklahoma State and the follow-on effects of Kansas beating Missouri, that they will close the gap with Texas in the computers. So, quite simply, it might end up to the selections of the pollsters; if they stay consistent from last week, Oklahoma will go to the Big 12 Championship, but if they change their collective minds, it could still be Texas. We'll find out soon enough, and then we'll argue about it for at least a week (if not longer)... Boise State's slimmest of hopes for a BCS bowl remain alive, but still slim. As discussed last week, it first hinges on the last at-large bid, which might still be up for grabs if USC wins the Pac-10 by beating UCLA next week. If that happens, it should come down to a bowl game selection between Boise State and Ohio State...

Random Walker Rankings through November 29th

We remain grateful to both Kenneth Massey for maintaining his comparisons page and to Peter R. Wolfe for making game results available online.

Below we list rankings according to the Random Walker (RW) system of first-place votes and the Random Walker First-Last (RWFL) system at our selected p=0.75. We use the random walkers to rank all 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, plus the extra made-up "team" representing their collective Football Championship Subdivision opponents. The "votes" in the Random Walker (RW) system are all essentially first-place votes, teams with more votes ranked more highly. The Random Walker with First & Last (RWFL) system is a combination of "first-place" and "last-place" votes. We have determined that our bias parameter p=0.75 has nice properties for RWFL (near the minimum crossing probability when compared against round-robin standings), so we use p=0.75 for both RW and RWFL and are happy that this is coincidentally the same primary value we have used in the past for the RW rankings.

The breakdown of the top teams across different p values for both RW and RWFL can be seen in the figures below. Additionally, we plot the fraction of ranking violations---that is, the fraction of game outcomes that have been contrary to the rankings---for each system across the p values. Ranking violations like these are also included on Kenneth Massey's site, and can be used as one measure of the efficacy of a rank ordering; indeed, one could instead choose p to minimize such errors, but we are more comfortable at the selected fixed values for ease of explanation.




























2008 Random Walker Rankings (p=0.75)
Games Through Saturday November 29th

RW
RWFL
RankTeam (Wins-Losses)% of Total Votes Team (Wins-Losses)%(First)-%(Last)
1Oklahoma (11-1)2.4099Oklahoma (11-1)2.1205
2Texas (11-1)2.3095Texas (11-1)2.0672
3Alabama (12-0)2.1853Alabama (12-0)1.8886
4Florida (11-1)2.1021Florida (11-1)1.8138
5Texas Tech (11-1)2.0875Texas Tech (11-1)1.7311
6Utah (12-0)2.0415Utah (12-0)1.7200
7Southern Cal (10-1)1.9146Southern Cal (10-1)1.6069
8Penn State (11-1)1.7845Penn State (11-1)1.4542
9Boise St (12-0)1.7435Boise St (12-0)1.3941
10Georgia Tech (9-3)1.5604Ohio State (10-2)1.1365
11Boston College (9-3)1.5059Georgia Tech (9-3)1.1092
12Ball St (12-0)1.4819Boston College (9-3)1.0862
13Ohio State (10-2)1.4742Ball St (12-0)1.0593
14Cincinnati (10-2)1.4207Cincinnati (10-2)1.0225
15North Carolina (8-4)1.3617Georgia (9-3)0.9924
16Georgia (9-3)1.3532TCU (10-2)0.9175
17Florida St (8-4)1.3379North Carolina (8-4)0.8800
18Virginia Tech (8-4)1.3349Florida St (8-4)0.8793
19TCU (10-2)1.3303Michigan St (9-3)0.8527
20Oklahoma St (9-3)1.2467Oklahoma St (9-3)0.8479
21Pittsburgh (8-3)1.2451Virginia Tech (8-4)0.8474
22Michigan St (9-3)1.2219Pittsburgh (8-3)0.8159
23Oregon St (8-4)1.2017Missouri (9-3)0.7589
24Missouri (9-3)1.1565Oregon St (8-4)0.7492
25Wake Forest (7-5)1.1481Oregon (9-3)0.7319
26Oregon (9-3)1.1393Brigham Young (10-2)0.6765
27Mississippi (8-4)1.1306Wake Forest (7-5)0.6576
28Brigham Young (10-2)1.1200Nebraska (8-4)0.6532
29Maryland (7-5)1.1137Mississippi (8-4)0.6258
30Clemson (7-5)1.0949California (7-4)0.5957
31Nebraska (8-4)1.0698Northwestern (9-3)0.5499
32Miami FL (7-5)1.0589Clemson (7-5)0.5402
33California (7-4)1.0578Miami FL (7-5)0.5340
34Northwestern (9-3)1.0317Maryland (7-5)0.5020
35Iowa (8-4)0.9905Iowa (8-4)0.4786
36Connecticut (7-4)0.9656Kansas (7-5)0.4360
37North Carolina St (6-6)0.9596Connecticut (7-4)0.4255
38Kansas (7-5)0.9425South Carolina (7-5)0.3900
39South Carolina (7-5)0.9371South Florida (7-4)0.3525
40South Florida (7-4)0.9140North Carolina St (6-6)0.3518
41Virginia (5-7)0.9127West Virginia (7-4)0.3434
42Navy (7-4)0.9072Navy (7-4)0.3145
43West Virginia (7-4)0.8844Western Michigan (9-3)0.2932
44Rutgers (6-5)0.8548Air Force (8-4)0.2858
45East Carolina (8-4)0.8457Rice (9-3)0.2653
46Tulsa (10-2)0.8442Tulsa (10-2)0.2537
47Rice (9-3)0.8324East Carolina (8-4)0.2333
48Vanderbilt (6-6)0.8287Rutgers (6-5)0.2287
49Air Force (8-4)0.8269Virginia (5-7)0.2067
50Western Michigan (9-3)0.8235LSU (7-5)0.2004
51LSU (7-5)0.8144Wisconsin (7-5)0.1687
52Central Michigan (8-4)0.7642Vanderbilt (6-6)0.1540
53Wisconsin (7-5)0.7612Central Michigan (8-4)0.1065
54Nevada (7-5)0.7422Notre Dame (6-6)0.0633
55Hawai`i (7-5)0.7319Minnesota (7-5)0.0495
56Notre Dame (6-6)0.7305Nevada (7-5)0.0456
57Arkansas (5-7)0.7115Hawai`i (7-5)0.0343
58Kentucky (6-6)0.7061Kentucky (6-6)0.0147
59Minnesota (7-5)0.6905Fresno St (7-5)-0.0105
60Arizona (6-5)0.6647Arkansas (5-7)-0.0318
61Fresno St (7-5)0.6631Colorado St (6-6)-0.0410
62Duke (4-8)0.6574Arizona (6-5)-0.0573
63Tennessee (5-7)0.6493Colorado (5-7)-0.0653
64Colorado (5-7)0.6435Houston (7-5)-0.1004
65Houston (7-5)0.6432Illinois (5-7)-0.1229
66Stanford (5-7)0.6363Tennessee (5-7)-0.1315
67Colorado St (6-6)0.6362Buffalo (7-5)-0.1363
68Louisiana Tech (7-5)0.6345Stanford (5-7)-0.1375
69Baylor (4-8)0.6090Louisiana Tech (7-5)-0.1548
70Troy (7-4)0.6067Baylor (4-8)-0.1564
71Illinois (5-7)0.6008Duke (4-8)-0.1631
72Louisville (5-6)0.6001Arizona St (5-6)-0.1647
73Buffalo (7-5)0.5972Troy (7-4)-0.1684
74Arizona St (5-6)0.5903Louisville (5-6)-0.1894
75Bowling Green (6-6)0.5765Auburn (5-7)-0.2229
76Auburn (5-7)0.5758Purdue (4-8)-0.2730
77Texas A&M (4-8)0.5755Kansas St (5-7)-0.2828
78Kansas St (5-7)0.5495San Jose St (6-6)-0.2955
79Mississippi St (4-8)0.5427Texas A&M (4-8)-0.3155
80Purdue (4-8)0.5412Northern Illinois (6-6)-0.3458
81San Jose St (6-6)0.5395UNLV (5-7)-0.3609
82Southern Miss (6-6)0.5347Southern Miss (6-6)-0.3637
83UNLV (5-7)0.5344UCLA (4-7)-0.3818
84Arkansas St (6-5)0.5260Florida Atlantic (6-6)-0.4150
85Northern Illinois (6-6)0.5051Mississippi St (4-8)-0.4333
86Michigan (3-9)0.5000Arkansas St (6-5)-0.4496
87UCLA (4-7)0.4946Bowling Green (6-6)-0.4537
88Florida Atlantic (6-6)0.4883New Mexico (4-8)-0.4871
89Syracuse (3-9)0.4814Memphis (6-6)-0.5138
90New Mexico (4-8)0.4781UTEP (5-7)-0.5326
91Middle Tennessee St (5-6)0.4685Temple (5-7)-0.5366
92UTEP (5-7)0.4658Syracuse (3-9)-0.5480
93Memphis (6-6)0.4635Michigan (3-9)-0.5914
94Indiana (3-9)0.4618Akron (5-7)-0.6132
95Temple (5-7)0.4492Indiana (3-9)-0.6374
96Wyoming (4-8)0.4480Wyoming (4-8)-0.6389
97Utah St (3-9)0.4448Middle Tennessee St (5-6)-0.6552
98Akron (5-7)0.4369Marshall (4-8)-0.6637
99Marshall (4-8)0.4344Utah St (3-9)-0.6755
100Central Florida (4-8)0.3921Louisiana-Lafayette (5-6)-0.7116
101Eastern Michigan (3-9)0.3874Central Florida (4-8)-0.8008
102Louisiana-Lafayette (5-6)0.3768Ohio U. (4-8)-0.8346
103Kent St (4-8)0.3757Florida Int'l (4-7)-0.8643
104Ohio U. (4-8)0.3716Alabama-Birmingham (4-8)-0.8743
105New Mexico St (3-9)0.3711Kent St (4-8)-1.0386
106Florida Int'l (4-7)0.3698Washington St (2-11)-1.0620
107Washington St (2-11)0.3492Iowa St (2-10)-1.0879
108Alabama-Birmingham (4-8)0.3463New Mexico St (3-9)-1.1113
109San Diego St (2-10)0.3417Toledo (3-9)-1.1199
110Washington (0-11)0.3409Eastern Michigan (3-9)-1.1364
111Western Kentucky (2-9)0.3369Louisiana-Monroe (4-8)-1.1884
112Toledo (3-9)0.3279Army (3-8)-1.2521
113Army (3-8)0.3275San Diego St (2-10)-1.3513
114Iowa St (2-10)0.3237Idaho (2-10)-1.4577
115Louisiana-Monroe (4-8)0.3234Tulane (2-10)-1.4638
116FCS teams (XXX-XXX)0.3040Western Kentucky (2-9)-1.5812
117Tulane (2-10)0.2999Washington (0-11)-1.5971
118Miami OH (2-10)0.2969Miami OH (2-10)-1.6346
119Idaho (2-10)0.2923SMU (1-11)-1.8200
120SMU (1-11)0.2857FCS teams (XXX-XXX)-1.8933
121North Texas (1-11)0.2121North Texas (1-11)-2.1141

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Now the fun really starts?

Volumes could be (and are being) written about the possible mess on the way to the national championship game selection. I can only hope that the near-playoff we're going to be treated to in the SEC and Big 12 will build some future interest in a true playoff system. From all accounts, it still appears that an Alabama-Florida SEC Championship game will be an unofficial national semifinal, assuming of course they both win out until then. In an amusing twist, the Big 12 conference championship matchup will be determined by the BCS standings if OU, Texas, and Texas Tech all win next weekend, the highest ranked among those three playing Missouri for the conference championship. If that team then beats Mizzou, they're all but assured a spot in the national title game; but if the conference championship goes to Missouri, it's going to be chaos...

Meanwhile, in the "BCS Busters" department, I don't want to say it, but I have to acknowledge the facts, and those facts say it is now more unlikely that Boise State is going to get a BCS bowl bid. Don't send me hate mail over this; I wish it weren't so. But their chances under the governing BCS rules are becoming thinner after this past weekend. Utah has all but officially wrapped up an automatic BCS bowl bid, barring lots of pollsters changing their minds from previous weeks and moving Boise State ahead of the Utes. The special rules that force inclusion of high ranking conference champions outside the big 6 conferences only applies to a single school, which will be Utah, assuming again they stay ahead of Boise State in the BCS Standings. The second such school has to get a bid through the normal at-large selection process, of which there will only be 3 openings left. For Boise State's purposes, a hopeful key phrase in the rules is "No more than two teams from a conference may be selected, regardless of whether they are automatic qualifiers or at-large selections." Importantly, the top of the BCS Standings is packed full of teams from the SEC and Big 12, so it's safe to say that two from each will get BCS bowl bids. That is, two of the remaining three at-large bids will go to these two conferences. So does Boise State have a shot at that last spot if they win out? After yesterday, I'm not confident. Specifically, Oregon State is now one win away from a trip to the Rose Bowl, in which case you have to think that USC is going to get an at-large BCS bid. Indeed, if USC somehow climbs to #4 in the Standings before the end of the season, that at-large bid becomes automatic under the rules. So Boise State fans have to be cheering for Oregon to beat Oregon State next weekend, and for USC to win the conference to take the Rose Bowl bid. Alternatively, USC could drop out of the picture altogether with losses to both ND and UCLA; but that's not something I'd be counting on happening! So, Boise State fans need USC to win the Pac-10. Otherwise, there is no realistic route to a BCS bowl for Boise State. If USC does win the Pac-10, then the last at-large BCS bid appears to come down to a choice, made by the bowl games themselves, between Boise State and Ohio State (ignoring other teams that might become technically eligible but that I think are even less likely to be chosen).

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Random Walker Rankings through November 22nd

The random walker rankings are back again for 2008! We remain grateful to both Kenneth Massey for maintaining his comparisons page and to Peter R. Wolfe for making game results available online.

Below we list rankings according to the Random Walker (RW) system of first-place votes and the Random Walker First-Last (RWFL) system at our selected p=0.75. The breakdown of the top teams across different p values for both RW and RWFL can be seen in the figures below. Additionally, we plot the fraction of ranking violations---that is, the fraction of game outcomes that have been contrary to the rankings---for each system across the p values. Ranking violations like these are also included on Kenneth Massey's site, and can be used as one measure of the efficacy of a rank ordering; indeed, one could instead choose p to minimize such errors, but we are more comfortable at the selected fixed values for ease of explanation.


We use the Random Walkers to rank all 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, plus the extra made-up "team" representing their collective Football Championship Subdivision opponents. The "votes" in the Random Walker (RW) system are all essentially first-place votes, teams with more votes ranked more highly. The Random Walker with First & Last (RWFL) system is a combination of "first-place" and "last-place" votes. We have determined that our bias parameter p=0.75 has nice properties for RWFL (near the minimum crossing probability when compared against round-robin standings), so we use p=0.75 for both RW and RWFL and are happy that this is coincidentally the same primary value we have used in the past for the RW rankings.



2008 Random Walker Rankings (p=0.75)
Games Through Saturday November 22nd

RW
RWFL
RankTeam (Wins-Losses)% of Total Votes
Team (Wins-Losses)%(First)-%(Last)
1Texas (10-1)2.3680Texas (10-1)2.1289
2Alabama (11-0)2.3317Alabama (11-0)2.0357
3Oklahoma (10-1)2.2593Oklahoma (10-1)1.9523
4Florida (10-1)2.1220Florida (10-1)1.8241
5Texas Tech (10-1)2.0932Utah (12-0)1.7469
6Utah (12-0)2.0743Texas Tech (10-1)1.7235
7Southern Cal (9-1)1.8659Southern Cal (9-1)1.5516
8Penn State (11-1)1.8156Penn State (11-1)1.4866
9Boise St (11-0)1.6526Georgia (9-2)1.3229
10Georgia (9-2)1.6402Boise St (11-0)1.2815
11Ohio State (10-2)1.4787Ohio State (10-2)1.1402
12Oklahoma St (9-2)1.4079Oklahoma St (9-2)1.0301
13Ball St (11-0)1.3948Missouri (9-2)0.9975
14Florida St (8-3)1.3799Cincinnati (9-2)0.9851
15Cincinnati (9-2)1.3796Ball St (11-0)0.9535
16Georgia Tech (8-3)1.3728Oregon St (8-3)0.9187
17Missouri (9-2)1.3498Florida St (8-3)0.9140
18Oregon St (8-3)1.3426TCU (10-2)0.9134
19TCU (10-2)1.3296Georgia Tech (8-3)0.8761
20Boston College (8-3)1.3090Boston College (8-3)0.8371
21North Carolina (7-4)1.2789Michigan St (9-3)0.8355
22Michigan St (9-3)1.2113North Carolina (7-4)0.7594
23Virginia Tech (7-4)1.2067Virginia Tech (7-4)0.6781
24Miami FL (7-4)1.1360Brigham Young (10-2)0.6749
25Mississippi (7-4)1.1321Miami FL (7-4)0.6520
26Brigham Young (10-2)1.1250Pittsburgh (7-3)0.6514
27Maryland (7-4)1.1248Mississippi (7-4)0.6096
28Pittsburgh (7-3)1.1176California (7-4)0.5878
29Connecticut (7-3)1.0744Connecticut (7-3)0.5803
30Wake Forest (6-5)1.0609Nebraska (7-4)0.5760
31California (7-4)1.0447Northwestern (9-3)0.5545
32South Carolina (7-4)1.0347Oregon (8-3)0.5461
33Northwestern (9-3)1.0346South Carolina (7-4)0.5386
34Nebraska (7-4)1.0150Maryland (7-4)0.5209
35Iowa (8-4)0.9956Wake Forest (6-5)0.5143
36Oregon (8-3)0.9875Iowa (8-4)0.4846
37West Virginia (7-3)0.9865West Virginia (7-3)0.4800
38Clemson (6-5)0.9655LSU (7-4)0.4221
39LSU (7-4)0.9587Central Michigan (8-3)0.4151
40Virginia (5-6)0.9320Western Michigan (9-2)0.4057
41Vanderbilt (6-5)0.9316Clemson (6-5)0.3429
42Central Michigan (8-3)0.9146Vanderbilt (6-5)0.3040
43Western Michigan (9-2)0.8979Air Force (8-4)0.2855
44Navy (6-4)0.8395Kansas (6-5)0.2638
45Air Force (8-4)0.8357Virginia (5-6)0.2488
46Kansas (6-5)0.8274Tulsa (9-2)0.2112
47Rutgers (6-5)0.8252Kentucky (6-5)0.2027
48North Carolina St (5-6)0.8227Rice (8-3)0.1945
49Tulsa (9-2)0.8186Rutgers (6-5)0.1927
50East Carolina (7-4)0.8100Navy (6-4)0.1916
51Kentucky (6-5)0.8029Wisconsin (7-5)0.1885
52Rice (8-3)0.7830East Carolina (7-4)0.1581
53Wisconsin (7-5)0.7715South Florida (6-4)0.1424
54South Florida (6-4)0.7555North Carolina St (5-6)0.1287
55Hawai`i (6-5)0.7231Buffalo (7-4)0.1171
56Notre Dame (6-5)0.7169Minnesota (7-5)0.0495
57Colorado (5-6)0.7095Notre Dame (6-5)0.0448
58Houston (7-4)0.7084Colorado (5-6)0.0268
59Louisiana Tech (7-4)0.6892Fresno St (7-4)0.0156
60Nevada (6-5)0.6880Houston (7-4)0.0077
61Minnesota (7-5)0.6875Hawai`i (6-5)-0.0255
62Buffalo (7-4)0.6827Colorado St (6-6)-0.0312
63Fresno St (7-4)0.6774Arizona (6-5)-0.0435
64Arizona (6-5)0.6697Louisiana Tech (7-4)-0.0650
65Duke (4-7)0.6647Nevada (6-5)-0.0687
66Arkansas (4-7)0.6582Illinois (5-7)-0.0941
67Colorado St (6-6)0.6474Stanford (5-7)-0.1306
68Stanford (5-7)0.6448Troy (7-4)-0.1358
69Tennessee (4-7)0.6293Baylor (4-7)-0.1373
70Troy (7-4)0.6231Arkansas (4-7)-0.1444
71Illinois (5-7)0.6139Duke (4-7)-0.1629
72Baylor (4-7)0.6079Louisville (5-6)-0.1888
73Louisville (5-6)0.5817Auburn (5-6)-0.1988
74Auburn (5-6)0.5803Tennessee (4-7)-0.2157
75Mississippi St (4-7)0.5786Purdue (4-8)-0.2561
76Texas A&M (4-7)0.5640UCLA (4-6)-0.2629
77Arizona St (4-6)0.5611Arizona St (4-6)-0.2670
78Purdue (4-8)0.5534Kansas St (5-7)-0.2879
79Kansas St (5-7)0.5454Northern Illinois (6-5)-0.2879
80UCLA (4-6)0.5346San Jose St (6-6)-0.3183
81San Jose St (6-6)0.5318Texas A&M (4-7)-0.3321
82Bowling Green (5-6)0.5309Mississippi St (4-7)-0.3505
83UNLV (5-7)0.5276UNLV (5-7)-0.3954
84Arkansas St (5-5)0.5211UTEP (5-6)-0.4084
85Northern Illinois (6-5)0.5176Southern Miss (5-6)-0.4176
86Southern Miss (5-6)0.5091Arkansas St (5-5)-0.4875
87Michigan (3-9)0.5050New Mexico (4-8)-0.4933
88UTEP (5-6)0.4995Florida Atlantic (5-6)-0.5143
89New Mexico (4-8)0.4808Akron (5-6)-0.5158
90Syracuse (3-8)0.4766Syracuse (3-8)-0.5307
91Middle Tennessee St (5-6)0.4740Michigan (3-9)-0.5500
92Indiana (3-9)0.4662Bowling Green (5-6)-0.5758
93Florida Atlantic (5-6)0.4612Memphis (5-6)-0.5924
94Akron (5-6)0.4541Indiana (3-9)-0.6045
95Marshall (4-7)0.4533Middle Tennessee St (5-6)-0.6172
96Wyoming (4-8)0.4444Marshall (4-7)-0.6215
97Memphis (5-6)0.4357Temple (4-7)-0.6548
98Temple (4-7)0.4187Central Florida (4-7)-0.6575
99Utah St (2-9)0.4138Wyoming (4-8)-0.6722
100Central Florida (4-7)0.4120Louisiana-Lafayette (5-6)-0.7191
101New Mexico St (3-8)0.3902Florida Int'l (4-6)-0.7652
102Florida Int'l (4-6)0.3897Utah St (2-9)-0.8625
103Louisiana-Lafayette (5-6)0.3715Ohio U. (3-8)-0.9288
104Washington St (2-10)0.3620Toledo (3-8)-0.9382
105Ohio U. (3-8)0.3557Washington St (2-10)-0.9981
106Toledo (3-8)0.3449New Mexico St (3-8)-1.0001
107San Diego St (2-10)0.3422Alabama-Birmingham (3-8)-1.0715
108Western Kentucky (2-9)0.3379Iowa St (2-10)-1.1016
109Washington (0-11)0.3354Louisiana-Monroe (4-8)-1.1863
110Army (3-8)0.3281Army (3-8)-1.2387
111Louisiana-Monroe (4-8)0.3259Kent St (3-8)-1.3300
112Tulane (2-9)0.3249Tulane (2-9)-1.3602
113Iowa St (2-10)0.3246San Diego St (2-10)-1.3729
114Alabama-Birmingham (3-8)0.3204Eastern Michigan (2-9)-1.4263
115Eastern Michigan (2-9)0.3171Miami OH (2-9)-1.4882
116Miami OH (2-9)0.3099Idaho (2-10)-1.4959
117Kent St (3-8)0.3094Western Kentucky (2-9)-1.5605
118FCS teams (XXX-XXX)0.3033Washington (0-11)-1.5963
119SMU (1-10)0.2953SMU (1-10)-1.7256
120Idaho (2-10)0.2927FCS teams (XXX-XXX)-1.9049
121North Texas (1-10)0.2182North Texas (1-10)-2.0391

Moving to a blog

As the regular season of college football heads towards another slate of potential controversy, we've found ourselves using our rankings page for occasional commentary, both about the race for bids in the BCS National Championship game and about the race among the so-called BCS busters to see if one of them secures an "automatic" bid and if others have a shot at one of the remaining at-large bids. Unfortunately, because of the format of our old web page, it was difficult to organize an historical record of such comments. So we are finally moving to a blog...

Lots more about the current season will hopefully get posted quickly. And we will eventually move or provide links to some of the other rankings we've made over the past 5 years of running the "Random Walker Rankings" (still available at http://rankings.amath.unc.edu/old).

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