Everyone has a bone to pick with the BCS standings. And usually, it’s about overrated teams getting a pass from the pollsters at the expense of talented upstarts. There’s a consensus that Ohio State didn’t deserve to be #1 two weeks ago when South Florida was unbeaten (except in Ohio, where knowing the strength of your schedule is about as popular as gay marriage). The computers agreed. The computers ranked Ohio State fifth at the time. But the pollsters were too busy throwing their annual Buckeye Lovefest to look at the statistics objectively, and USF suffered. The computers were right, mainly because they are physically unable to place their lips on Jim Tressel’s ass.
This week, though, we saw the other side of the coin: a team that the computers ranked high that didn’t deserve to be ranked high. That team is 4-3 UConn, ranked #23 in this week’s BCS standings. Wait, they’re not 4-3? Oh, right. I forgot about things like this:
Yeah. That was the difference maker last week. And the pollsters recognized that (and, perhaps, the other game they stole back in September), and placed them outside of the top 25. But the BCS computers ranked them 16th - ahead of Cal, USC, and Penn State - teams that would likely bowl them over. The computers don’t take into account the fact that two of their six wins - against mediocre teams, no less - were decided by bad calls. Two bad calls stand between a 6-1 record and a 4-3 record. But the computers don’t know that. They only know the score, the stats, and the strength of schedule. Those dastardly computers.
The human element is crucial in determining the BCS standings. While computers can strip the pollsters of their personal biases and self-serving interests in their own conferences, they can’t recognize the weaknesses that the numbers don’t tell. UConn is the only team in the BCS standings that isn’t ranked in either poll. The computers merely inflated their ranking, and the polls worked to deflate it. If we relied on the computers alone, we would have to live with a cocky UConn team ranked somewhere in between Auburn and South Carolina. Thankfully, that’s not the case, and Connecticut fans can continue pretending that they get no respect, when they’re really getting just the respect they deserve.
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