Computer polls like the NYT don't have to see a single down ... they simply plug in the results of the game and let the computer spit out the numbers. It's all done by formulas ... obviously, the NYT uses some really strange formulas!
It's ludicrous to say that the NYT poll is BIASED against LSU or any other theam. These are computer formulas they came up with at the beginning of the season that can not be changed midway through the season. Seems to be popular belief that the NYT has a person that ranks the teams and this is not true. I don't think a person WOULD screw up these rankings as much as the computers do. Now, with that being said, I agree that the NYT computers are the most screwed up of the BCS computers (with Sagarin running a close second). I don't know what kind of formula you could use to put a 3 loss team 7 spots ahead of a one loss team that is from THE SAME CONFERENCE. Doesn't make any sense to me.
Seriously, you guys need to use your heads now. THINK! LMFAO @ NYT poll, not that Florida is #4, but LSU is #11. Glad to see the media is getting on their buttz. LSU gets to have 1 poll deleted from BCS consideration so NYT alone cannot screw us. After FLA beats FSU and drops into the Top 10 AP/ESPN, lets hope ... NO ... LET'S PRAY TOGETHER ... FLA jumps by Tenn in the BCS poll and we play FLA again in the SECCG, THUS GETTING TO KEEP A CRITICAL -0.5 Quality Win point deduction for beating GA. THIS ... and moving to #2 AP/ESPN ... IS THE ONLY WAY WE GET SUGAR (WE MUST PLAY FLA IN THE SECCG) If we play GA, we knock them out the Top 10 and screw ourselves of .5 point deduction. This really sucks ... but Scott Rabalais has a good article about it in the advocate. http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/111903/lsu_rab001.shtml Can Florida beat FSU? Can Florida jump Tenn in the BCS polls? It's gonna be close. NYT is actually helping LSU more by keeping FLA 4th. My money's on FLA on Nov 29th in the Swamp. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/polls/2003/bcs/
Wow, seems Rabalais basically said everything I said yesterday It's nice to see I'm not the only one to see this as a possibility. Good to see some experts are seeing it as well.
Still, the NYT poll may not be "technically" hurting us, but if it ranks others ahead of us (who are behind us in the actual polls), it helps THEM gain on us.
I agree. Now, trying to make sense of this MESSED UP system, let's look at the patterns. It seems the teams that are ranked the highest are the ones that has beaten the best opponents. My examples are this are: 3) Texas, they beat Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and Nebraska, all of which were ranked high up. 4) Florida, who beat Georgia, LSU, and Arkansas in consecutive weeks. 11) LSU, we haven't beaten but two teams that were highly ranked when we beat them. Georgia and Auburn. Maybe that's what's holding us back with them. 25) TCU. Here's a team that is a top 10 team in the polls, and most computers seem to give them the nod because of their undefeated season. Not NYT. They have them all the way back at 25. The highest team from a non-BCS conference is Miami (OH) at 22. I think the thing with this poll is beating respected teams. We will get a chance to do that in a big way the next three weeks, so I'm thinking there's a chance we'll climb up that one soon.
But it seems "respected" teams are more likely to be "teams with history" because neither K-State, nor Nebraska are THAT quality of wins this year.
Well, Kansas State and Nebraska aren't much of a quality win, but they did have inflated records when they played Texas. And records are the only thing that computers are allowed to look at. History never comes into play (or at least it's not supposed to). Nebraska only had 1 loss when they played Texas, and Kansas State only had two losses.
