We're now in the third and final installment looking at the computers that help make up college football's BCS system.
The Massey Ratings
The Massey Ratings, named after Kenneth Massey, a mathematics professor. Massey actually puts together two different sets of rankings - the Massey Rankings and his version of the BCS Rankings. The Massey Rankings include margin of victory, whereas the BCS rankings do not.
Massey's BCS Rankings have a few unique features. LIke others, it accounts for strength of schedule. But his rankings also place a lesser emphasis on early-season games and factor in homefield advantage. Massey's rankings also start every team out equally.
Massey obviously supports the BCS, but would change one thing if he could:
I think the biggest thing that is hurting college football is the lack of quality inter-conference games. Due to the premium placed by the media on win-loss records, most athletic directors are trying to assure themselves of 3-4 easy home wins each year in their out-of-conference schedule. Great matchups like Texas vs Ohio St in 2005 are few and far between. I would like to see something like an ACC-SEC challenge, whereby teams are matched up for 12 games over one weekend. This would get fans and media excited, and also provide a more solid basis for comparing teams from different conferences.
Dr. Peter Wolfe's Rankings
Fewer details on Dr. Wolfe's rankings are listed on his site than the other computers we've looked at. His system rates teams according to mutual opponents, connecting all teams in college football with each other. His rankings also factor in the locations of games played.
Dr. Wolfe provides rankings for all 700+ varsity college football teams in Division I, Division 1-AA, Division II, Division III, and NAIA. The rankings don't factor in games played against junior colleges or club teams. That of course, doesn't really affect the I-A / FBS schools.
He also ranks teams' conferences (The Big East is, by the way, seventh behind the Mountain West and Independents, but ahead of the ACC).