Sagarin Rankings

[Big_BisonFan]

Sept 5, 2005
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt05.htm
Just a few interesting rankings. NW St beat Monroe this past weekend.

NDSU *- 108 (1st GWFC)
NW ST - 124
Cal Poly - 132 (2nd GWFC)
SDSU - 156 (4th GWFC)

Ball State - 128
Louisiana Monroe - 169

[Gamehunter]

???

Is Monroe really that bad?

So they are saying we should beat NW St by 13 points in next Saturday's game.

Provided no change, The rankings suggest we should beat Weber St. in the Dome by 60 points :o

If either one of those estimates turn out to be remotely close I will be surprised.

[Rodentia]

The Sun Belt is the worst conference in I-A, and UL-Monroe is not a strong Sun Belt team. NDSU would compete quite well in the Sun Belt if they played in I-A.

[swaghook]

Don't take to much stock in those rankings NW will be a very hard team to beat at their house. Much like the Bison are a hard team to beat at the Fargodome.

[Sioux_Yeah_Yeah]

You always have to remember that those are the Sagarin ratings. They are skewed to what he sees as important. I could set up a ranking system based on what Florida does well and they would be in the top 5 at the end of the year every year. It's just that Sagarin gets the national attention and his ranking system is used in the BCS poll. I don't like those computer polls at all as they are so skewed. I think the coaches poll is the best poll, but it is still skewed as many coaches don't watch other teams play. The media poll is too biased toward there region. Polls suck. That's why the lesser levels do it right, play it out on the field.

[Dallas_Demon]

Agreed. The initial preseason ratings have a huge effect on a team's ratings during the season. This is particularly evident with the Atlantic 10 conference. Granted, they had a great year last year, but on any given year almost all A10 schools have a very high rating to begin the season. The fact that they only play (I think) 2 non-conference games in a season, with one typically an easy game, allows the ratings to stay high overall in the conference for the season. If a team with a high rating beats another team with a high rating the losing team's points will still remain high.

Unfortunately, for some reason, he always resets the Southland teams to have a low rating going into the season. It's hard to get your rating to be higher if overall the teams you are playing don't all have higher scores. For example, when Northwestern beat App. St., App. St. quickly got a higher rating than Northwestern when their conference play started even though they were losing games.

[Bisonguy]

Most of the rankings are still using last year's info until there's about four or five games played. The more games played in the current season, the more "accurate" they are.

[Sioux_Yeah_Yeah]

Dallas Demon, You're right on. His initial ranking, I think he calls it "Pure Points"?? make a huge difference on where the team is ranked the entire year. So even a team that comes from the depths to go undefeated will still be behind a host of teams with worse records just because they were ranked higher at the beginning.

Perhaps they should do away with all polls until week 6. I like that the BCS doesn't put one out until week 7 or 8.

[JBB]

The way it works is true, but it is measuring the relative strength of teams, not their records. Its very possible that a team with a loss or two is stronger than a team that is undefeated.

[Sioux_Yeah_Yeah]

The way it works is true, but it is measuring the relative strength of teams, not their records. *Its very possible that a team with a loss or two is stronger than a team that is undefeated. *



You're right, and I'm not implying that just because a team has a better record they're better, but with the computer polls there is just to much that skews the results. i.e. total offense, or QB rating or put in whatever you want and you'll get your team #1

[somebison]

currently tops in IAA :o :o :o

60 overall, just ahead of Kansas, Indiana and Penn St,

[Tatanka]

Very interesting... Will be interesting to see if the local fencerider media pick up on this...

[BisonSig]

Well the Bison are good, :) but I don't think that we are that good. ;D ;D

[Bisonguy]

currently tops in IAA *:o :o :o

60 overall, just ahead of Kansas, Indiana and Penn St,

As of this week's ranking, it looks like Montana State will be a battle (MSU currently about a 0.7 point favorite when home field is factored in).

[swaghook]

I'm thinking that MT St will be the hardest game of the year. With SIU and now Nichols St right behind. And of course we still need to beat the Cali schools.

[IowaBison]

Only eight behind the Sooners! :P

[Bisonguy]

Only eight behind the Sooners! *:P

NDSU would be over a one point favorite if the game was played at the Fargodome.
;D ;D ;D :o :o :o ;D ;D ;D ;D ::) ::)