Mathematics student Jason Crea will discuss “The Math Behind the Bowl Championship Series” on Wednesday, Oct. 9, at 4:10 p.m. in Morton 122 as part of the Undergraduate Mathematics Seminar series.
“The Bowl Championship Series (BCS), for college football, has been one of the most controversial topics in modern sports,” Crea says. “Many fans do not want just two teams to have the chance to win the Division I FBS Championship, and they believe it is not good for the sport.
“In the end, voting polls and computer polls make the decision: the two teams that will play for the crystal ball. How they get to those results is also highly controversial, especially the computer polls. Much of the information about the six computer polls is not available to the public or even the mathematics community. However, one of the methods is very available; and it was created by Wesley Colley.
“I will be delving into his ranking method, which applies concepts and theories from different areas such as probability, linear algebra, and discrete mathematics. Before the reign of the BCS is over, you can decide for yourself if the BCS was beneficial to college football or not,” Crea adds.
For more information, contact Dr. Todd Young, 740-593-1277.
Comments