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Activity Number:
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280
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Type:
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Contributed
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Date/Time:
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Tuesday, August 8, 2006 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
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Sponsor:
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Section on Statistics in Sports
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| Abstract - #306142 |
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Title:
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Improved College Football Scheduling using a Pseudo-Swiss System
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Author(s):
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David Annis*+ and Samuel Wu
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Companies:
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Naval Postgraduate School and University of Florida
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Address:
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Operations Research Department, Monterey, CA, 93943,
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Keywords:
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football ; tournament design ; scheduling
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Abstract:
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Division I-A football remains the only intercollegiate sport which does not determine its champion using a postseason tournament. The large number of teams (119) combined with their short (11-12 games) and disparate schedules result in frequent controversy in choosing the participants in a championship game. We propose a variant of the current schedule which includes some aspects of a Swiss tournament yet preserves the spirit of conference play and traditional rivalries. While the intent of this scheduling revision is to mitigate potential controversies, it also provides additional transparency over the current system. Simulation studies are used to validate the design and to compare its actual (probability of correctly identifying the best team) and perceived (probability of controversy) performance relative to the current system. Preliminary results suggest an improvement.
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