Strength of schedule is not a factor in the BCS Formula and hasn't been since 2004 whe the AP Poll walked out and they revamped the process. Most of the computer polls factor it in, but that's only four out of six rankings used that are averaged out and count as 33% of the BCS formula. The two human polls carry more weight. I will be shocked if LSU is ranked lower than #2 in the first BCS Poll. The computer polls really like Bama, but the human polls really like LSU.
The third of the BCS, is derived from 6 computer rankings. Some of them actually do factor in SOS. It amounts to being watered down compared to back when but still does factor in so you are both correct...and incorrect. :yelwink2: Colley relies heavily on strength of schedule to rank his teams. It also has some weight in both the Billingsley and Anderson & Hester.
stat guys and computers will love them some LSU we got it all this year I wish I could go watch Rocky Top melt down
Good post and actually weighted in the human vote pretty heavily too just not in a separate ranking. They got rid of it for that reason because SOS was actually being weighted twice and then some by some of the computers.
Thanks for repeating what I said? Except that they don'y use all 6 rankings. They drop the highest and the lowest and then average the 4 that are left.
All of them take into account the SOS and most go further with strength of victory indicators (meaning how many top 10, top 15, top 25 teams did you beat as well as quality of losses). Your schedule is paramount to your ranking in the computer polls, plain and simple.
Sagain's ratings formula is secret. All we know, as far as I know, is that the major variables are wins, losses and venue of game. I understand that even at face value this makes strength of schedule implicit in his rankings. Some of them have some really weird deals. One is based on the "likelihood" of one team beating another. The polls don't even all account for road wins. Anderson & Hester take home and away results into account when calculating strength of schedule. Colley disregards home-field advantage in any matchup. Massey's ratings includes home field advantage and Sagain views road wins as more difficult (three points more difficult), and a road win is weighted more in his process. It amazes me just how much we REALLY DO NOT KNOW about from where some of these polls derive their rankings.
