English

The Bowl Championship Series: A Mathematical Review

Popular Physics 2007-05-23 v1 Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability

Abstract

We discuss individual components of the college football Bowl Championship Series, compare with a simple algorithm defined by random walks on a biased graph, attempt to predict whether the proposed changes will truly lead to increased BCS bowl access for non-BCS schools, and conclude by arguing that the true problem with the BCS Standings lies not in the computer algorithms, but rather in misguided addition.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.physics/0403049,
  title  = {The Bowl Championship Series: A Mathematical Review},
  author = {Thomas Callaghan and Peter J. Mucha and Mason A. Porter},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0403049},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

12 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Notices of the AMS