OSU and LSU: easy to spell but did they belong? Using the method of paired comparisons to evaluate the BCS rankings and the NCAA football championship game 2007–08

Abstract

This article employs the Bradley–Terry method of paired comparisons, previously used by Beard and Caudill (2007), to examine the 2007 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football season. We find that the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) did get it right: Ohio State University (OSU) number one and Louisiana State University (LSU) number two. Our method also indicates that LSU played a much more difficult schedule than OSU and that the Southeastern Conference (SEC) is the strongest conference in the US.

Acknowledgement

The author is grateful to Jesse Adams, Ping Liang and Thomas McAdams for helpful research assistance.

Notes

¹The Bradley–Terry procedure provides 100 estimated values of θ, one for each team, and their respective SEs. For brevity, these estimates and SEs are not presented but are available from the author upon request.