Cal Bears ranked #24 in BCS? They can thank USC and Oregon for that

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So Cal (5-2, 2-2 Pac-10) is ranked #24 in the BCS standings after their thrilling defeat of the Washington State Cougars (1-6, 0-5 Pac-10) on Saturday 49-17. The week before, they went down to Pasadena and defeated the UCLA Bruins (3-4, 0-4 Pac-10) 45-26.

Those aren't quality wins. A look back to the rest of their wins on the season doesn't fair much better.

Wins against 2-6 Maryland, Div IAA Eastern Washington, and 4-4 Minnesota don't necessarily give the Golden Bears any extra added prestige either. So why would they be ranked in the top 25?

Computers.

I've been in the tech industry, and there's a saying that gets bandied about at times when it comes to computers - they don't make mistakes, people do. In this case, it's the criteria input by people that causes the BCS computers to fail.

Talking with a prominent AP reporter, he reminded me that the computers do not take margin of victory, or loss, into consideration. This is done due to teams running up the score in the past, and so it's a just reason to throw the margins out, but when you're trying to determine who the best teams are, then you are not using all of the data.

Nobody was more shocked than I was when Cal laid an egg against the Ducks up in Autzen Stadium, and even though I was less shocked about their dismantling at the hands of USC, I still believe that the Golden Bears are a good team. They just haven't proven in my mind that they are the 24th best in the nation...yet.

Let's see how they do against Arizona State (4-3, 2-2 Pac-10) on the road. The Sun Devils have at least won in the Pac-10, whereas neither UCLA or WSU have.

For more on Cal's ranking, you can see their press release by clicking here.

Best and Ross honored by the CFPA

Jahvid Best and Jeremy Ross were honored by the College Football Performance Awards this week for their efforts against Washington State on Saturday. For Best, this was the fifth time this season that he'd been honored for the award, while Ross received his first of his college career.

For more information on the award, click here.

Sunday night quick notes:

I wasn't able to attend practice on Sunday due to my commitment to covering the Raiders' debacle. Thanks to Ted Lee from Bear Insider, I have a few tidbits to share about the interview with Coach Tedford.

Tosh Lupoi was the impetus for the Bears' defense trying out the 4-3 scheme. Apparently, Lupoi had been lobbying for the switch and finally convinced Bob Gregory to give it a go.
Derrick Hill is day-to-day with a sprained shoulder.
Nyan Boateng is not 100%, but he's still part of the rotation at receiver.
Vince D'Amato is cleared to play, and will now compete with Tavecchio to get his job back.
Trying to prevent any more letdowns, Tedford said that they talked about 'attitude'. Trying to keep the team even-keeled is a big goal for a coach who's team hasn't had much in the way of a close contest.

Rank	Team	Harris Poll		USA TODAY		Computer rank		BCS average

1	Florida	1	0.9788	1	0.9892	2	0.95	0.9726

2	Alabama	2	0.9465	2	0.9485	3	0.94	0.945

3	Texas	3	0.9458	3	0.9424	5	0.79	0.8927

4	Iowa	8	0.7384	8	0.7363	1	1	0.8249

5	USC	4	0.8198	4	0.8434	9	0.72	0.7944

6	TCU	7	0.7501	6	0.7668	4	0.85	0.789

7	Boise State	5	0.8046	5	0.781	8	0.74	0.7752

8	Cincinnati	6	0.7873	7	0.7634	6	0.77	0.7735

9	LSU	9	0.7058	9	0.7031	10	0.7	0.703

10	Oregon	11	0.5979	12	0.5688	6	0.77	0.6456

11	Georgia Tech	12	0.5819	11	0.5864	11	0.6	0.5895

12	Penn State	10	0.6014	10	0.6339	13	0.52	0.5851

13	Virginia Tech	14	0.4779	14	0.4685	12	0.53	0.4921

14	Oklahoma State	13	0.5388	13	0.5593	17	0.25	0.4494

15	Pittsburgh	17	0.337	17	0.3675	16	0.32	0.3415

16	Utah	19	0.2952	19	0.2732	15	0.38	0.3161

17	Ohio State	15	0.3982	15	0.3858	23	0.16	0.3147

18	Houston	16	0.3766	16	0.3688	22	0.18	0.3085

19	Miami, Fla.	18	0.3037	18	0.2936	24	0.15	0.2491

20	Arizona	25	0.0814	24	0.101	14	0.49	0.2241

21	West Virginia	20	0.2202	20	0.2475	25	0.12	0.1959

22	South Carolina	21	0.1681	21	0.1892	20	0.21	0.1891

23	Notre Dame	24	0.0835	25	0.0556	19	0.22	0.1197

24	California	28	0.023	29	0.0217	18	0.23	0.0916

25	Mississippi	23	0.1211	22	0.1512	28	0	0.0907

Explanation

To derive a team’s poll percentages in the Harris Interactive and USA TODAY polls, each team’s point total is divided by a maximum 2850 possible points in the Harris Interactive Poll and 1575 possible points in the USA TODAY Poll.

Teams are assigned an inverse point total (25 for #1, 24 for #2, etc.) for each of their respective computer poll rankings to determine the overall computer component. The highest and lowest ranking for each team is dropped, and the sum total of the remaining four rankings is divided by 100 (the maximum possible points). This figure produces a Computer Rankings Percentage. The six computer ranking providers are Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin and Peter Wolfe. Each computer ranking accounts for schedule strength within its formula.

The BCS Average is calculated by averaging the percent totals of the Harris Interactive and USA TODAY Polls, and Computer rankings. The highest BCS Average receives the #1 ranking, the second highest receives #2, and so forth.

Note: Teams on NCAA probation (i.e. not eligible for postseason competition) are not listed in the BCS Standings.