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The BCS FormulaHave Questions? We Have the BCS Know How.
Understanding the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) formula is easier than it seems. Let’s break down the three elements that make up this controversial ranking system: Human ElementThe BCS consists of two human elements, or polls from which two-thirds of the BCS formula is taken. The two polls are the Harris Interactive College Football Poll and the USA Today Coaches’ Poll. The human element is used is as follows: First, take the Harris Interactive, which includes 115 voters. All 115 voters vote on teams 1-25 and points are awarded on a reverse basis, 25 for a first-place vote, 24 for a second-place vote, 23 for a third-place vote, and so on until one point is awarded for a 25th-place vote. If all 115 voters decided to vote one team first, the team would be awarded 115 times 25 points, or 2875 Harris Poll Points. Therefore, a perfect score in the eyes of the Harris Poll voters is a 2850. The BCS takes the votes received by a team and divides that number by the perfect score (2850) for a decimal value of 1.000 or less. For example, Boise State, the BCS’s No. 7 in the sixth BCS standings of 2011, received 2037 points from the Harris Poll voters on November 20, the seventh Harris Poll of the year. The BCS divided 2037 by the perfect score 2875, to arrive at the Boise State’s Harris Poll score. Harris Poll BCS Calculation Boise State Example: (2037/2875)=0.7085 The same calculation is mirrored with the ESPN/USA Today Coach’s Poll. The Coach’s Poll consists of 59 voters, and the scale scoring for votes mirrors that of the Harris Poll’s. Therefore, in the Coach’s Poll, the perfect score is 59 times 25, or 1475. The BCS then completes the same calculation and divides the score received by a team by the perfect score, 1475. For example, the Boise State Broncos received 982 points from the Coaches’ Poll on November 20. The BCS divided 982 by 1475, the perfect score in 2011 to arrive at Boise State’s Coaches Poll score. Coaches’ Poll BCS Calculation Boise State Example: (982/1475)=.6658 Computer ElementThe third and final part of the BCS calculations is derived from six computer rankings posted weekly. The six computer polls, managed by people, newspapers and the BCS itself are: Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin’s USA Today and Peter Wolfe. Find out how each one of the six BCS computer polls works here. The BCS aggregates the standings of each of the six computer polls and awards teams 25 points for a first-place standing on a computer poll, 24 for a second, 23 for a third, and so on, just as in the human element, until one point is given for a 25th-place vote. The BCS takes the six point values and removes the lowest and highest point values given to a specific team. Four point values are left, which the BCS adds together. Because a perfect score would mean receiving four first-place votes, or four 25 point values, the BCS divides the team’s four computer ranking point values by 100 to arrive at the composite computer ranking value. Computer Poll BCS Calculation Boise State Example:
Boise State’s seventh place vote from Billingsley and 12th place vote from Massey are thrown out because they are the highest and lowest rankings they received from the six computers. 17+18+16+18=69 69/100=.690 Final CalculationThe BCS completes the procedure by averaging the three values it received from the Harris Interactive College Football Poll, the USA Today Poll and the Computer Polls. The final BCS Ranking is a decimal between .0000 and 1.0000. (Harris Poll % + Coaches’ Poll % + Computer Poll %)/3 = BCS Ranking Boise State BCS Ranking Example (.7085+.6658+.690)/3= .6881 That’s it! That’s not too bad now, is it? |
Recent Comments
11 Comments
2010-07-08
23:47:17
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ivan_Maisel. Ivan_Maisel said: Coaches poll is one-third of BCS rating, along with Harris poll and six combined computer ratings: http://tinyurl.com/29o4uvo [...]
2010-07-09
15:46:22
USC should not be ranked in any poll. Almost as if the game isn't played.
The game shouldn't even have an impact to a school playing them win or lose. Almost like a gimme loss if USC's opponent wanted to treat it as a bye week and focus on the next game.
Nothing USC does should count for two years in my opinion other than that they get a lot of practice on the field and in how to control their program.
2011-10-21
15:23:42
[...] And for dorky peeps like me who need their yearly BCS refresher, here is a good link to exactly how those numbers are calculated. [...]
2011-11-12
13:05:12
please tell me how boise st. can be ranked as high as they are with the pathetic schedual they play. Isnt the computer ranks strenght of schedual?
2011-11-26
16:23:23
99% of the American populace knows the system is flawed. With some geek crunching numbers in a dark room somewhere doesn't know shit about real rankings.
2011-11-26
16:32:25
99% of the American Populace knows the BCS is flawed. Some geek in a dark room somewhere crunching #'s about a sport they have neither Played nor watched is insane
2011-12-04
21:03:50
The BCS was setup so the that the bowl hosting the National Championship game had "First" access at all eligible colllege teams. The Sugar Bowl Committee can and should pick OSU for a true National Championship game. Otherwise this would only be an SEC BCS Championship. How can you be a National Champion if you only beat teams in your conference. NFC AFC , SEC SEC?
2011-12-05
06:31:05
The BCS has evolved into a god. It was supposed to be a guide, not a god. Time to scrap it and develop a playoff system. The LSU-Alabama rematch is proof that the system is broken. NOBODY wants to be bored to death with that match-up again. The only way to find out of the SEC is REALLY the strongest is for them to get out and play the winner of another conference. Maybe that's why the BCS wants to keep it all SEC. The sports writers have hyped the SEC so much that they would be shown for the opinionated fools they are if LSU got blown out by another conference champion like Oklahoma State. I hope everybody boycotts the game and leaves the game and network with terrible ratings. The only way to wake up the NCAA enough to scrap this assanine system is to hit them in the pocketbook. Rent Blindside and watch it instead of the "BS Championship Game".. It will be more exciting than the LSU-Alabama rematch.
2011-12-07
16:23:11
@oldraider, they have played other teams that were supposedly the best in America for the Championship game for the last 5 years and won every time. What else do you seek?
2012-01-10
21:00:30
[...] less useful than Dixville Notch for making predictons: 1) The BCS formula; 2) A Zogby Interactive [...]
2012-01-18
17:09:31
[...] to be chosen. The two options on the table are a college basketball-style panel of judges, or a BCS-style formula that spits out the top ranked teams. The poll above shows that thirty-eight states across the [...]