Remember that next week is the submission date for our bracket seeding contest. You can still submit ballots that contribute to your participation quota after next week, but I obviously encourage more participation as opposed to less.
Remember that next week is the submission date for our bracket seeding contest. You can still submit ballots that contribute to your participation quota after next week, but I obviously encourage more participation as opposed to less.
I’m new to this community. What is this thread? Do people submit their own votes for a straw poll here?
As far as I can tell, it seems like most commenters have their own computer ranking systems that they’re explaining as they submit.
It’s all pretty interesting, but pretty intimidating for someone new to this place.
Pretty much! It doesn’t have to be a computer poll, it can be just your opinion, or a hybrid.
I do a computer poll, because a) I don’t watch enough games to make an informed ranking and b) it’s a fun exercise in coding and tuning the algorithm(s) for me.
You also don’t need to share your ballot in the comments, but I also enjoy sharing and explaining what my algorithm is doing and if/where I disagree with it.
If you use an API to get stats for your algorithm would you be willing to say which ones? Making my own sounds like a fun casual project.
I use https://collegefootballdata.com/ which has an API, though I don’t actually use it (yet). I just navigate to “Data” > “Games and Results” and export the 2024 FBS games to a csv file and use that.
[email protected] took the words right out of my mouth. I agree that it can be pretty intimidating at first. Either to put together a computer poll (which I still haven’t done as I haven’t found one that represents my big orange bias well enough) or to put together a human poll. I would say if you’re interested in the former most of the commenters around here are huge nerds (no offense y’all) and would likely be willing to show you a thing or two. Putting together a human poll is probably easier, but at least for me starting out I was certainly worried and sometimes blocked by my own perceived “correctness”. Remember though, there are no right or wrong answers.
Part of the reason we have this open poll is to get as many ballots as possible, and smooth out any noise from strange rankings. We also have a lot of fun with those strange rankings, at least once a season we get a ballot with someones favorite team taking the top spot with no justification other than “Go <team>” and it always brings a smile to my face at least. Again some advice if you’re interested in starting your own human poll, a good place to start is by “correcting” the AP poll so that you think it’s good. After a few weeks of this you start to get a hang for your own ranking system and again, there are no right or wrong answers. As an added bonus we’re doing a cfb bracket prediction contest next week that you still have time to become eligible for! More information in the pinned post here.