FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2000
Controversial complications come from competition
team is number one in four computer
rankings, number two in three others, and
kT number six in one. The number six
aMH ranking will be disregarded
IHf x~. . j with the total remaining
Caught in the Grasp being l+l+l + l + 2 +
Douglas Smith £££££%*
1.43. Next, say the team has
the
Divide this by twenty-five and
you will get 1.12. This is top secret
material which only two people in the
NCAA know how to figure out. Then say
they have one loss, since losses count more
in the record category. Adding the previous
numbers up will give you 6.05. Remember,
the lower the score the better your ranking
will be in the BCS.
With all that said why does it cause
problems? Well first off the entire
problem exists that at the end of the season
that there will possibly be more than two
undefeated teams. Being a student of Penn
State, most of us can relate to controversy
caused by two undefeated teams at the end
of the year.
At the time this week’s BCS standings
were released, three undefeated teams
existed. Oklahoma is number one in the
poll. Virginia Tech is number two. How
ever, Texas Christian University is sitting
back at number nine. This is because of
their strength of schedule that is listed at
111 out of 115. That does not bode well for
their chances despite being undefeated. It is
hard to argue with Oklahoma because of the
way they handily beat former number one
Nebraska this past week. Many college
football fans are rooting for the Sooners.
However, Virginia Tech squeezed out a
victory against an improving Pitt Panther
team this past weekend. In the days prior
to the BCS, this would have caused the
Hokies to move back in the polls simply
because Pitt is not ranked. The controversy
could be even bigger following this week's
action when Virginia Tech takes on Miami
Well it is that time of year again. The
orange feels the woods, basketball fans try
to figure out what players moved around in
the off-season, and everyone scratches their
head about the Bowl Championship Series
(BCS) points system. This is, of course, the
complicated system that allows for numer
ous items to decide who are the number one
and two college football teams in the land to
play in one of four bowl games on January
3 in front of a primetime audience. Does it
work? Honestly, who knows?
Okay, so here is how it works. The first
item of business is the two popular polls.
These are the Associated Press poll and the
USA Today poll. A team's average position
from the two polls is taken into consider-
ation. Next are computer rankings. This is
the sum of the seven best marks received in
eight computer rankings averaged. Jeff
Sagarin, Anderson and Hester, and the
Dunkel Index are a few of those rankings
used. Third is the infamous strength of
schedule. This is the ranking out of 115
NCAA Division I-A teams divided by
twenty-five. This is calculated by determin
ing the win-loss record of the team’s
opponents, which count for two-thirds of
the tally, and its opponents' opponents,
which count one-third. Finally the record is
taken into consideration
Now follow along closely because it's
time for an example. A team is ranked
number two in one poll and three in another.
Two plus three divided by two is 2.5. This
Behrend Scores
Women’s Soccer
AMCC Tournament
Oct. 28 Vs. Pitt-Bradford
W 8-2
Oct. Oct. 29 vs. Frostburg W
5-4
AMCC Champs
Men’s Soccer
Oct. 21 vs. Brockport
W 5-2
Oct. 25 at Case Western
Reserve L 2-1
Volleyball
Oct. 28 vs. Pitt-Greensburg
W 3-1
Cross Country
AMCC Championships at
Frostburg
Oct. 28
Men
Penn State Behrend 21
La Roche 46
Pitt-Bradford 69
Frostburg DNP
Women
Frostburg 26
Penn State Behrend 29
Pitt-Biadford 76
Women’s Tennis
The season has concluded.
Allegheny Mountain
(Standings as of October 30, 2000)
WOMEN’S SOCCER
School
Penn State Behrend
La Roche
Frostburg
Pitt-Bradford
L.ake Erie
Pitt-Greensburg
MEN’S SOCCER
School
Frostburg
La Roche
Penn State Behrend
Pitt-Greensburg
Lake Erie
Pitt-Bradford
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
School
Frostburg
Penn State Behrend
Pitt-Bradford
Penn State Altoona
Pitt-Greensburg
La Roche
Lake Erie
AMCC STANDINGS
Conference record
5-0
3-2
3-2
2-3
2-3
0-5
Conference record
5-0
4-1
3-2
2-3
1-4
0-5
Conference Record Overall
11-0 30-3
10-2 14-12
7-4 18-10
6-5 13-12
4-8 5-18
2-9 3-23
0-12 0-12
!giate Conference
SPORTS
(Fl.). Miami is ranked five in the BCS and
has an explosive offense. The Hokies could
be without their Heisman hopeful, Michael
Vick. So what if Virginia Tech loses?
Another simple question that arises is
why should we trust these computer
rankings? Jeff Sagarin has been used for
years as a simple point of interest. Who are
these guys and how do they calculate their
rankings? Fans may have only heard of the
New York Times ranking, for all the BCS
gurus know. It may be an obscure question,
but nevertheless it is valid.
The next general question that arises is
what does the strength of schedule mean?
Let’s look at the three undefeated teams
mentioned above. The team most in
question for staying undefeated is Virginia
Tech who plays Miami this week. The
Hurricanes are 3-0 in the Big East Confer
ence and 6-1 overall and ranked high in all
polls. The BCS came out last week, so the
game against Pitt counted in the first BCS
standings of the season. Pitt was 2-1 in the
Big East and 5-1 overall going into last
week’s game, but they are not ranked. West
Virginia and Boston College have also won
more than half of their games overall on the
season. So it seems that the competition is
stiff. Also, the opponents’ opponents are
basically the teams of the Big East. It
seems as though the 18 ranking out of 115 is
justified. Oklahoma has a ranking of 12 out
of 115, which is justified simply for playing
the former number one team, Nebraska.
Oklahoma is a member of the Big 12
conference that has two divisions and only
five teams under the 500-mark for the
season. Oklahoma has to play one of those
teams this week in Baylor. This will hurt
their rank in strength of schedule. They will
not play another ranked team unless they
meet up with Nebraska in the Big 12
Conference championship game. Still it is
hard to knock them out of the number one
position if they do not lose from here.
Texas Christian University (TCU) plays
in the Western Athletic Conference with the
THE SCOREBOARD
Overall
13-
14-
11-7
7-12
7-13
0-12
Overall
12-4
6-8-2
8-8-1
8-8-2
1-12
4-12
likes of Nevada and the University of Texas-
E 1 Paso. TCU will not play a ranked team.
The Horned Frogs have outscored their
opponents 253 to 51. The most exciting
game of the year is the last game against
Southern Methodist University simply
because of rivalry. Still the top eight teams
all have rankings in the top twenty, so
strength of schedule will most likely not
have much to do with the final rankings.
With all this said the rankings have to be
taken at face value. Oklahoma is standing at
number one with 2.48 points. This is almost
five points ahead of number two Virginia
Tech. Florida State, Nebraska, Miami, and
Florida seem to be the only other teams in
contention at this point in the season.
Looking at these facts, other questions
arise. First, can Florida State overtake the
Hokies even if both teams win out? If the
Seminoles make it to the national champion
ship game on January 3, some people may
say it is rigged. Somehow it seems as it
they always find a way to wiggle back into
the top two. The Seminoles have 7.93
points and the Hokies have 7.15. They both
have similar remaining schedules as far as
strength of their opponents. However.
Florida State plays Florida is the last
regularly scheduled game of the season,
which could actually give them a slight
advantage being that it is the last game ol
the season. This all will come down to
Florida State working its way to a two point
advantage on the Hokies in the computer
rankings.
Next scenario: Virginia Tech loses, but
Oklahoma, Florida State and Miami win out.
Miami gave Florida State their only loss
earlier this season. Once again this would
come down to the computers with the
'Canes having to finish about one point
ahead of the ‘Noles. Still Miami finds itself
behind Oregon in some computer rankings,
so despite being ahead of Florida State in
the AP and USA Today polls they would lose
out in the end.
National Football
League
Games for Week 9
Sunday, October 29, 2000
1:00PM
Washington at Arizona
Indianapolis at Chicago
Tampa Bay at Atlanta
Baltimore at Cincinnati
San Francisco at New Orleans
Buffalo at New England
Miami at Detroit
Pittsburgh at Tennessee
N.Y. Giants at Clev eland
Dallas at Philadelphia
4:15 PM
San Diego at Seattle
Kansas City at Oakland
Denver at N.Y. Jets
8:35 PM
Carolina at St. Louis
Monday, October3o, 2000
9:00 PM
Minnesota at Green Bay
NASCAR
WINSTON CUP
Leaders as of 10/15
1. Bobby Labonte, 4645.
2. Dale Earnhardt, 4444
3. Jeff Burton, 4394
4. Dale Jarrett, 4315
5. Ricky Rudd, 4272
6. Tony Stewart, 4210
7. Rusty Wallace, 4115
8. Mark Martin, 4042
9. Jeff Gordon, 3904
10. Ward Burton, 3809
11. Mike Skinner, 3514
12. Steve Park, 3512
13. Matt Kenseth, 3436
14. Johnny 8en50n,3389
15. Joe Nemechek, 3246
What happens to Nebraska now if they
FILE PHOTO
Oklahoma’s Torrance Marshall holds up an
orange after beating Nebraska this past
weekend.
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BCS Ranking
Rank School BCS Rating
Oklahoma
2. Virginia Tech
3. Florida State
4. Nebraska
5. Miami (Fla.)
6. Florida
7. Oregon
8. Washington
9. TCU
10. Purdue
11. Oregon State
12. Michigan
13. Clentson
14. Notre Dame
15. Mississippi State
CLASSIFIEDS
win out? That could mean the Cornhuskers
would beat the Sooners in the Big 12
championship game knocking them out of
the number one position. This would make
Nebraska a favorite again from the rankings
if they can stay ahead of Miami. This is
very likely. With all of that now said most
experts say wait until November 6 and take
a closer look since there are some very
interesting games this weekend.
One more item arises from this mess.
Notre Dame is sitting at number 14 right
now and is praying for TCU to move up. A
special stipulation in the BCS guidelines
states that if Notre Dame has nine wins they
are automatically included in a BCS bowl
game if a non-BCS conference champion or
an independent are ranked in the top six. If
this isn’t biased I don't know w-hat is.
Apparently television viewing does
indeed rule. (Yeah it does!) This stipulation
would leave no at-large bids open for other
teams. Of course none of this will affect the
championship game at the FedEx Orange
bowd on January 3.
So did you get any of that? The teams
will begin to be weeded out as the weeks
progress. Regardless, controversies will
always exist in some way, shape, or lorm.
Smith’s sports column appears every
two weeks
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