Thursday, October 8, 2009

Are computers smarter than human pollsters?

computer polls have south florida #1, LSU #2, then south carolina, kentucky, ohio state as the top 5. the biggest jump is OU at #11, the computers go strictly off resumes of the teams, and ou has really played nobody, they beat a texas team by 7 (that lost badly to kansas st.) then an overrated missouri team by 10 and lost to a barely .500 colorado. what are the coaches and the press seeing that the computers arent? are the computers less impressed by a team beating utah st and north texas.



Are computers smarter than human pollsters?computer



Yes, the computers are smarter, although I am not sure they are allowed to factor in the margin of victory. Ohio State has played nobody and proved nothing. The Michigan team they play is probably no better than footnotes in LSU's schedule such as Auburn, Arkansas, and Alabama. South Florida has big wins against more credible opponents than Ohio State. I think what the computers see, that people dont, is that LSU, South Carolina, and Kentucky have only lost to eachother in a little circle. Other than that, the three are undefeated and have taken out Florida, VT, Georgia, and Louisville, in addition to eachother. So, the computers would perhaps make the conclusion that these three teams are all competitive with eachother, but better than many teams. I think they do, as I think the computers rate these teams 2,3,4. Also, the computers see LSU has beat better other teams outside this group so it figures LSU is the best in the group. Also, a human could note LSU lost its loss on the road by the least amount, and Kentucky won its win within the group by the least, so they would rank LSU the best and Kentucky the worst within the group. Remember, you could put the 72 dolphins and 85 bears in your local high school division and if they played eachother, one would have a loss. If they played they might both have a loss. That would not mean they are worse than undefeated teams in the division who played neither.

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