2012 Bowl-o-rama, Day 10

Will we ever reach Mt. .500?  Will there ever be a rainbow?  Next two days are key.

Music City:  Vanderbilt -7 v. North Carolina State
Sun:  USC -7.5 v. Georgia Tech
Liberty:  Iowa State -1.5 v. Tulsa
Peach:  LSU -6 v. Clemson

Bowl Season:  7-12

2012 Bowl-o-rama, Day 9

That was a pretty awful day of football, no?  And I'm not even talking about the fact I went 0-3.

Armed Forces:  Air Force -2.5 v. Rice

Pinstripe:  West Virginia -4 v. Syracuse

Kraft Fight Hunger:  Arizona State -14 v. Navy

Alamo:  Oregon State -3.5 v. Texas

BWW:  TCU -2 v. Michigan State

Bowl Season 4-10

2012 Bowl-o-rama, Day 8

Yesterday was quite the day full of back door covers, but I'll take the 2-1 record anytime.  Let's keep that rolling today.

Independence Bowl:  ULM -7 v. Ohio
Russell Athletic:  Virginia Tech -1 v. Rutgers
Texas:  Texas Tech -13.5 v. Minnesota

Bowl season:  4-7

2012 Bowl-o-rama, Day 7

And I am on tilt at the moment.  3 games today, going with all three favorites.

Military:  San Jose St -7 v. Bowling Green
Belk:  Cincinnati -9 v. Duke
Holiday:  UCLA -3 v. Baylor

Bowl Season: 2-6

2012 Bowl-o-rama, Day 6

Western Kentucky -6 v. Central Michigan

Bowl Season:  2-5

2012 Bowl-o-rama, Day 5

The summit of Mount .500 will not be reached by Christmas.

Hawaii Bowl:  Fresno State -12 v. SMU

Bowl Season 2-4

2012 Bowl-o-rama, Day 4

My goal is to be over .500 by Christmas.  That begins today.

New Orleans Bowl:  ULLAF -7 v. East Carolina

Las Vegas Bowl:  Boise State -6 v. Washington

Bowl Season:  1-3

2012 Bowl-o-rama, Day 3

That pick last night was looking good for 3 quarters.  Too bad they play four.

Beef O'Brady's Bowl:  Central Florida -7 v. Ball State

Bowl Season:  1-2

Bowl-o-rama, Day 2

BYU - 3 v. San Diego State

Bowl season:  1-1

2012-13 Bowl-o-rama, Day 1

Let the feast begin with a couple of entertaining games.  And don't forget about today's 1-AA semifinal on ESPNU.

New Mexico Bowl:  Arizona -9 v. Nevada
Idaho Potato Bowl:  Utah State -10.5 v. Toledo

Last year:  15-20

Final 2012 Ratings - Comparisons

At the close of the season, I decided to compare my ratings with some others that are floating around out there:

-Football Outsiders F/+ ratings has been compared throughout the season since Week 7:  http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/fplus2012




-Colley's Bias Free Matrix Rankings are the only portion of the BCS computer component whose methodology is made public:  http://www.colleyrankings.com/



-Jeff Sagarin's schedule strength is compared:



Interesting looks to be sure.  It's nice to see a methodology that took a little effort to create beyond being some fat hack making ad hoc arguments.

Bowl-o-rama begins Saturday. Picks everyday. I thank you for your readership, as always.

Final 2012 Ratings

In an effort to make things easier to consume, the final ratings of the season are broken up into a couple of posts.  Coming early next week will be the comparison with F/+ rankings from Football Outsiders, plus a comparison with the Colley Ratings Matrix, the only part of the BCS computers made public and a comparison with Jeff Sagarin's Strength of Schedule calculations.



Bold X's are BCS teams. MTSU and LaTech being the highest ranked teams not going bowling aren't surprises. Air Force is the lowest-rated bowl team at 107th, which is also not unusual.

If you removed any sort of identifiers from the resumes of Florida State, Louisville and Northern Illinois, they would appear to be the same team.  Yet, Northern Illinois is being vilified as receiving some sort of undeserved charity due to their loss against Iowa, while Louisville is there after winning a league that's at best equal to the MAC, while losing at home to a crappy UConn team.  It's lazy, dishonest punditry like what has been heard this past week that caused me to start these ratings in the first place.

I'd be inclined to name Notre Dame, Kansas State, Oregon and Florida as a 4-team playoff based on their resumes here.  I'm hard-pressed to include Alabama (although I can see the argument for them over K-State), who are only in ahead of Oregon due to:

a)losing one week before and
b)only falling three spots in the polls after their loss when Oregon fell four

Alabama's strength of schedule really took a beating over the last month of the season.  Western Carolina and Auburn did them no favors, nor did fading Mississippi State.

Biggest gain from Week 6 to Week 14, Northwestern, 81 places
Biggest loss from Week 6 to Week 14, Tulane, 89 places

Finally, a look at each team's average placement throughout the season: