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Scientists Attempt To Answer The Question: Who's Number One?

Date:
September 26, 2005
Source:
Rochester Institute of Technology
Summary:
Mathematicians and students at Rochester Institute of Technology are developing new models aimed at providing better ranking methods with less controversy.
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Every year, there is endless debate in the press and inliving rooms across the country concerning sports rankings,particularly when it comes to deciding who are the best teams incollege football.

Mathematicians and students at RochesterInstitute of Technology are developing new models aimed at providingbetter ranking methods with less controversy.

“Current sportsrankings such as the Bowl Championship Series take into account manyfactors, but head to head competition is not emphasized enough,” saysDarren Narayan, assistant professor of mathematics at RIT and head ofthe project.

When one team beats another, and the loser is rankedahead of the winner, it weakens the credibility of the ranking in theeyes of the public. This becomes further apparent when one team soundlydefeats another in the final game of the regular season, but findsthemselves ranked immediately below the team they just beat.

Themost glaring example occurred in 2002 when the University of Coloradowas ranked third in the final Bowl Championship Series poll even thoughthey beat the number two team, the University of Nebraska, by the scoreof 62-26 in the final game of the season. As a result of the finalrankings, Colorado was kept out of the national championship game.Ironically a similar scenario happened the year before when FloridaState and Miami were ranked second and third respectively, despite thefact that Miami defeated Florida State during the regular season.

Themodel Narayan has developed incorporates results of head to headcompetition, considering both the score and at what point of the seasonthe game took place. He is also examining various ranking techniquesinvolving an arbitrarily large number of teams.

The project hasincluded participation from four RIT undergraduates, Jennifer Baldwin,Ryan Fuller, Gregory Dufore and William Kronholm.

Narayan hopes to release their findings to the NCAA and other institutions following completion of their research.


Story Source:

Materials provided by Rochester Institute of Technology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

Rochester Institute of Technology. "Scientists Attempt To Answer The Question: Who's Number One?." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 26 September 2005. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050926081128.htm>.
Rochester Institute of Technology. (2005, September 26). Scientists Attempt To Answer The Question: Who's Number One?. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 29, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050926081128.htm
Rochester Institute of Technology. "Scientists Attempt To Answer The Question: Who's Number One?." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050926081128.htm (accessed March 29, 2024).

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