The Secret Desire of the BCS Ranking:
MegaRanking

The MegaRanking does not invent rules or tamper with the computer ratings as the BCS does. It also adds something the BCS lacks - what the fans think! If you want the two best teams, VOTE!

Components:

• Superlist - Computer ratings are impartial

• The Coaches' Poll - Coaches know which teams they fear

• Rick Workman's Poll - Fans know whom they like to watch

WHAT A COMBINATION!

This is
YOUR BCS

This BCS concept allows you to be a part of it!

VOTE!

Go to Rick's poll and tell us your choice of the top 25 teams. We have the coaches, we have the computers. We have fans but we want you, too!

The Superlist is a formula based upon the median ranking among nine excellent rating systems.

The Coaches' Poll has always been used to choose bowl contenders and national champions. It has its faults but is usually very reliable nevertheless. I do not publish the Coaches' Poll in any form. I only use the positions to calculate the MegaRanking.

The Workman Poll is the missing piece in the BCS. Don't you think fans should have their say on what teams go to the big games? Last year the fans did quite a good job. And if you don't like the current rankings of the Better BCS Ranking, you can go to the Workman Poll and express your displeasure by voting for your favorite team.

Credit, of course, goes to the compilers and the coaches who vote in the Coaches' Poll, David Wilson who maintains the American College Football Directory that I have always visited often and who calculates the Superlist I formulated with the help of him and Stewart Huckaby. Thanks also to the nine computer rating systems that contribute to it in any given year. Thanks to Kenneth Massey who maintains the College Football Ranking Comparison which I also visit frequently, and our newest contributor, Rick Workman who maintains the Workman Poll and, of course, the fans who vote in it each week.

EXPLANATION

The BCS has been fiddling around with the computers and polls for years trying to get the perfect formula. First they find eight good computer systems and fiddle around with them, then they publish polls without permission, then they make changes every year. One year it's the computers' fault, next year it's the polls' fault. Then they worry about which teams would make more money and draw a better audience and things go haywire as they did last year. I have a better solution.

The computers do a great job. I have been doing some fiddling around of my own and have the perfect solution that should make everyone happy. The answer is to use the following components:

1. The Superlist - compiled from nine highly reliable computer rating systems with a much better formulation than that of the BCS;

2. The Oddsmakers' Ratings; and

3. The Workman Poll (voted by fans) of whom they think should play.

The MegaRanking is calculated in an exaggerated mathematical formula centering mostly on the median rank of the three components as well as how many of the components actually included the team in its top 25.

12/11/2008

MegaRanking

The final MegaRanking for the season.

The MegaRanking is a unique combination of the SuperList, the
Workman Poll, and the Oddsmakers. Why the Oddsmakers? Can you think
of anyone who has more on the line (no pun intended) that depends on being
correct?

As I promised you, the last of the computers came in and nothing in the top
twelve changed. Pittsburgh joined the list and Ball State fell out.

We now have two clear leaders who will actually play for the championship.
Unfortunately, Texas won't play USC, Penn State won't play Alabama, and
Texas Tech won't play Utah. Oh, well. It could have been great.

An even better set-up would have been an eight-game playoff. By week,
and assuming that the highest-rated team won each game, we would have
seen:

Week One

Oklahoma vs Utah
USC vs Penn State
Texas vs Alabama
Florida vs Texas Tech

Week Two

Oklahoma vs USC
Texas vs Florida

Week Three

Oklahoma vs Florida

Seven games. One undeniable champion. Only fools would think the colleges couldn't make more
money by having the seven additional games. The only way that could happen is if nobody showed
up to watch. Keep pushing, you aggravated coaches and future president.

Here's whom the computers, oddsmakers, and fans like:

The actual positions of the teams in the various components are not revealed here because I like to protect others' property. For that information please go to their sites.