Rutger - BCS Discussion

Here is an interesting discussion from Pro-football-reference concerning the controversy which will ensure if Rutgers finishes out the season undefeated, but does is not selected to play in the championship game.

If Rutgers is undefeated and does not play in the title game, will that be because of Big East bias, or will it be because of preseason poll bias?

Every reputable ranking system I’ve seen (here are a few: I, II, III) say that the Big East is stronger than the Big XII and the ACC. So the question is, if Missouri or Texas A&M or Wake Forest had gone undefeated this year, would they be getting the same treatment Rutgers is now getting? If yes, then it’s preseason bias (and/or reputation bias). If no, then it’s Big East bias.

I don’t have any evidence to back this up, but I happen to think that it’s yes. The problem isn’t that people are undervaluing the Big East. It’s that people, even at the end of the season, haven’t phased their preseason expectations out of their internal ranking algorithms.