October 2008 Archives

No big upsets last week but there was some movement in the top 10 since the Week 8 poll, with Florida and Georgia gaining on other teams after blowout victories.

Here is the top 10; the full rankings are below the fold.

Took the day off work.

Voted Early.

Tried to explain to a senior citizen that she shouldn’t be afraid of voter fraud.

Went to the state fair.

Watched draft horse competition.

Drank smoothie.

Watched Hereford bull competition.

Looked at champion goats and sheep.

Ate steak sandwich with Coke.

Looked at championship rabbits.

Drank lemonade.

Watched more draft horses competition.

Watched trick bike show.

Ate roasted turkey leg.

Rode Ferris wheel.

Rode the Zipper with screaming wife.

Ate deep fried Snickers with Coke.

Saw championship arts and crafts.

Went home.

Wrote blog post.

Now that we are three weeks into the College Football season, it’s time to rank the teams based on their quality. I used the algorithm that I described last year with the changes the end of last season.

The basic premise is that each of the teams in the dataset is positioned on a number line. Teams push and pull against the teams that they have played. The basic rules are that teams that win should push down/pull up teams that lost, and teams that lost should push up/pull down the teams that won. If a game is close, then the teams should be close on the number line, and if a game is a blowout, then teams should be far apart on the number line. The net quality of a team is derived from the quality scores that each of its opponents and games give to it.

Here is my top ten. If you drag your mouse over a team you will see a popup containing their best and worst games based on the quality that they inherit from those games.

For all the rankings, read on.

I finally rolled MT-Dispatch 2.00. I’ve been using it for a while on my two sites, but haven’t released it until now. This version includes several new features including a new directory layout, better responsiveness, auto recycling, and synchronization to MTOS 4.21.

Documentation

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