Alabama proved that it is the best team in the nation by destroying Notre Dame in the national championship on Monday, but not everyone is prepared to admit that the Fighting Irish are no longer the No. 1 team in the country. Of course, by “not everyone” we mean that not all of the BCS computers were convinced by Alabama’s performance. How shocking.
As Eye on College Football pointed out, the Colley Matrix poll ranked Notre Dame first and Alabama second in its final rankings of the season. Yes, that includes the Crimson Tide’s 42-14 shellacking of Notre Dame.
How did this happen? For starters, the Colley Matrix Method does not take margin of victory into consideration. It adjusts for strength of schedule and “deservedness” to play in the national championship, while ignoring injuries and other factors. That helps explain why it would rank the Irish ahead of Alabama, but it provides further evidence for why the computer system is a joke.
This happens every year. One of the greatest example of BCS computer failure was when Oregon received low rankings from the computers a few years back despite destroying every team that came into its path. Most people agree that Alabama is the best team in the country, while others will tell you that there are a couple of teams that could have beaten them in the national championship game. However, we don’t need a computer to tell us that Alabama is a better team than Notre Dame. The Colley Matrix poll serves as another reminder that the playoff system can’t get here quickly enough.
