by M. C. Jennings | May 2, 2017 | Academics, COBA Events, COBA Faculty, Faith Infusion, School of Information Technology and Computing, Uncategorized
On March 27th, COBA hosted Visiting Committee and Dean’s Council members on campus. The Visiting Committee provided feedback on each academic program to help evaluate and improve the learning experience for each major. Thirty-three alumni with careers in various disciplines traveled across Texas and represented accounting firms, Fortune 500 companies, fast-growing startups, and nonprofit organizations.
Because of the diversity of industries and career experience among our alumni, COBA was able to obtain a wide range of insight. Tim Johnston, Assistant Dean, stated that “The visiting committee was pleased to hear that ACU has sustained our long-standing advantage of personal attention and instruction by professors who excel in their discipline and are committed Christians.”
The visiting committee reviewed business and technology degree plans, met with students, talked to faculty members, and offered their recommendations for improvement in all areas of the student experience. This helps keep COBA in-tune with the expectations that employers and companies have for our graduates, and helps us clarify our priorities and goals. The members are deeply committed to the mission of ACU, Business and Technology education and their advice will strengthens our strategic plan.
The visiting committee talked to students directly about their experiences in COBA. The most outstanding aspect of COBA, according to the students, was the personal attention received from prepared professors who care about their scholarship and students as individuals. Leah Montgomery, junior marketing major, had the opportunity to talk with committee members. Montgomery values “being included in the conversations about our classes and majors” and appreciates COBA’s measures to include and place weight upon student input.
The visiting committee also met with students to network at a root beer float mixer held in the COBA atrium. Students were able to meet with professionals in their field, ask questions about careers and opportunities, and solicit advice from our experienced alumni. Bethani Culpepper, sophomore management major, said that she “received valuable advice from accomplished and professional individuals who have been in her shoes” and that the networking event was her favorite part of the day.
COBA would like to thank the Dean’s Council and Visiting Committee for giving of their time and talents to help us continue to improve and provide distinctive offerings to current and future students.
by M. C. Jennings | Jan 11, 2017 | Academics, COBA Faculty, Research
by guest bloggers Dr. Ryan Jessup and Dr. Don Pope
Well, the dust has settled on another bowl season and it is time to evaluate the success (or, lack thereof) of the JP ranking system.
You might remember from last season that we concluded that a blind squirrel would be about as equally effective as our ranking system. Well, this season that blind squirrel (technically, he is blindfolded) made us look silly.
Figure 1. How well did we do? If last season we did about as well as a blind squirrel flipping a coin then this season that blind squirrel took our money.
You see, out of 42 bowl games we correctly predicted the winner approximately 54% of the time, and, in the 6 games in which we predicted a different winner compared to the college football playoff (CFP) selection committee, we were correct half the time and they were correct the other half. However, we correctly predicted against Vegas 48% of the time. So, this year the squirrel beat us.
What went wrong? This is always a useful question. One issue is that the Big 10 was a Big Letdown, finishing a miserable 3-7 in their bowl games, performing overwhelmingly worse than expected. Likewise, Clemson outperformed expectations as they upset both Ohio State and Alabama, two teams that both we – and Vegas – thought would win. Why these things occurred is rather difficult to determine: did the Big 10 perform well against non-conference games – which usually take place early in the season – and then fall off later on? It is hard to know for sure.
Regarding Vegas, last bowl season the Vegas favorite covered the line approximately 60% of the time. Interestingly, they only covered the line a mere 35% of the time this season meaning even they had a hard time predicting the outcomes. But in the end, you can’t fight city hall, and, really, you probably shouldn’t mess with Vegas either as the house is truly playing with a stacked deck.
One thing that does give us hope is that, even though hundreds of millions of dollars are on the line for the college football playoff and a prestigious 13 member selection committee generates the rankings, our simple ranking system fares about as well, getting the same number of correct predictions. So, maybe next year the CFP should drop their committee-based ranking system and just hire that squirrel.
by M. C. Jennings | Dec 16, 2016 | Academics, COBA Faculty, Current Students, Research, Uncategorized
by guest blogger, Dr. Ryan Jessup
Below is our final ranking dotplot for the season. Note how Alabama ends the season way beyond the other teams, teams 2-4 are grouped together, followed by another large break after the 11th team, LSU.
Although Navy’s loss to Army for the first time in more than a decade was a surprise, our rankings did not see them as a top 40 team anyway, so the surprise was rather mild.
The final network graph (below) demonstrates the inter- and intra-conference play (the lines connecting the dots) as well as the relative strengths of the teams within their conferences via the dot size.
Lastly, below are our predicted winners and win margins for 40 of the 41 bowl games. All of these bowls are assumed to be at neutral sites, so, for example, the Hawaii Bowl win margin does not adjust for Hawaii’s homefield advantage (a 5.25 point adjustment). After the two national semi-finals have been played we will return to predict by how much Alabama will win.
| Date |
Team One |
Team Two |
Bowl Game |
JP Favorite |
Win Margin |
| 2016-12-17 |
UTSA |
New Mexico |
GILDAN NEW MEXICO BOWL |
New Mexico |
0.75 |
| 2016-12-17 |
San Diego State |
Houston |
LAS VEGAS BOWL PRESENTED BY GEICO |
Houston |
18.75 |
| 2016-12-17 |
Toledo |
Appalachian State |
RAYCOM MEDIA CAMELLIA BOWL |
Toledo |
2.25 |
| 2016-12-17 |
Arkansas State |
UCF |
AUTONATION CURE BOWL |
UCF |
0.75 |
| 2016-12-18 |
Louisiana Lafayette |
Southern Miss |
R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL |
Southern Miss |
2.25 |
| 2016-12-19 |
Tulsa |
Central Michigan |
MIAMI BEACH BOWL |
Tulsa |
11.75 |
| 2016-12-21 |
Western Kentucky |
Memphis |
BOCA RATON BOWL |
Western Kentucky |
7.75 |
| 2016-12-22 |
Wyoming |
BYU |
SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION POINSETTIA BOWL |
BYU |
7.75 |
| 2016-12-23 |
Colorado State |
Idaho |
FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL |
Colorado State |
18.75 |
| 2016-12-23 |
Old Dominion |
Eastern Michigan |
POPEYES BAHAMAS BOWL |
Eastern Michigan |
3.75 |
| 2016-12-23 |
Navy |
Louisiana Tech |
LOCKHEED MARTIN ARMED FORCES BOWL |
Navy |
8.25 |
| 2016-12-24 |
Troy |
Ohio |
DOLLAR GENERAL BOWL |
Troy |
0.75 |
| 2016-12-25 |
Middle Tennessee |
Hawaii |
HAWAII BOWL |
Middle Tennessee |
8.25 |
| 2016-12-26 |
Mississippi State |
Miami (OH) |
ST. PETERSBURG BOWL |
Mississippi State |
15.75 |
| 2016-12-26 |
Boston College |
Maryland |
QUICK LANE BOWL |
Maryland |
3.75 |
| 2016-12-26 |
Vanderbilt |
NC State |
CAMPING WORLD INDEPENDENCE BOWL |
Vanderbilt |
7.75 |
| 2016-12-27 |
North Texas |
Army |
ZAXBY’S HEART OF DALLAS BOWL |
Army |
10 |
| 2016-12-27 |
Wake Forest |
Temple |
MILITARY BOWL PRESENTED BY NORTHROP GRUMMAN |
Temple |
23.75 |
| 2016-12-28 |
Washington State |
Minnesota |
NATIONAL FUNDING HOLIDAY BOWL |
Washington State |
5.75 |
| 2016-12-28 |
Baylor |
Boise State |
MOTEL 6 CACTUS BOWL |
Boise State |
18.75 |
| 2016-12-28 |
Northwestern |
Pittsburgh |
NEW ERA PINSTRIPE BOWL |
Northwestern |
3.75 |
| 2016-12-28 |
Miami |
West Virginia |
RUSSELL ATHLETIC BOWL |
Miami |
18.75 |
| 2016-12-29 |
Utah |
Indiana |
FOSTER FARMS BOWL |
Utah |
10 |
| 2016-12-29 |
Kansas State |
Texas A&M |
ADVOCARE V100 TEXAS BOWL |
Texas A&M |
18.75 |
| 2016-12-29 |
South Carolina |
South Florida |
BIRMINGHAM BOWL |
South Florida |
14.75 |
| 2016-12-29 |
Virginia Tech |
Arkansas |
BELK BOWL |
Virginia Tech |
18.75 |
| 2016-12-30 |
Colorado |
Oklahoma State |
VALERO ALAMO BOWL |
Colorado |
27.25 |
| 2016-12-30 |
TCU |
Georgia |
AUTOZONE LIBERTY BOWL |
Georgia |
8.25 |
| 2016-12-30 |
North Carolina |
Stanford |
HYUNDAI SUN BOWL |
Stanford |
8.25 |
| 2016-12-30 |
Tennessee |
Nebraska |
FRANKLIN AMERICAN MORTGAGE MUSIC CITY BOWL |
Tennessee |
3.75 |
| 2016-12-30 |
Air Force |
South Alabama |
NOVA HOME LOANS ARIZONA BOWL |
Air Force |
11.75 |
| 2016-12-31 |
Florida State |
Michigan |
CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL |
Michigan |
34.25 |
| 2016-12-31 |
Louisville |
LSU |
BUFFALO WILD WINGS CITRUS BOWL |
LSU |
11.75 |
| 2016-12-31 |
Kentucky |
Georgia Tech |
TAXSLAYER BOWL |
Georgia Tech |
1.75 |
| 2016-12-31 |
Alabama |
Washington |
CHICK-FIL-A PEACH BOWL – CFP SEMIFINAL |
Alabama |
39.25 |
| 2017-01-01 |
Clemson |
Ohio State |
PLAYSTATION FIESTA BOWL – CFP SEMIFINAL |
Ohio State |
23.75 |
| 2017-01-02 |
Iowa |
Florida |
OUTBACK BOWL |
Iowa |
1.75 |
| 2017-01-02 |
Wisconsin |
Western Michigan |
GOODYEAR COTTON BOWL CLASSIC |
Wisconsin |
20.75 |
| 2017-01-02 |
Penn State |
USC |
ROSE BOWL GAME PRES. BY NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL |
Penn State |
0.75 |
| 2017-01-03 |
Oklahoma |
Auburn |
ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL |
Auburn |
11.75 |
| 2017-01-10 |
TBD |
TBD |
CFP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME |
TBD |
|
by M. C. Jennings | Dec 7, 2016 | Academics, COBA Faculty, Current Students, Research, Uncategorized
by guest blogger, Dr. Ryan Jessup
The bowls are all set as 14 weeks of the NCAA football season have passed with only one game remaining: Army vs. Navy, to be held this upcoming Saturday.
Our model ends with the same team on top that we had all season, Alabama, who ESPN and 538 acknowledge as the best college football team of all time. Ohio State and Michigan remain 2nd and 3rd, respectively, but, thanks in part to Wisconsin’s loss and Washington’s crushing of Colorado, the Huskies move into our 4th spot. Clemson is our 8th ranked team, behind Wisconsin, Penn State, and USC, respectively. No. 12 Western Michigan is our highest ranked team from the Group of 5 conferences and Oklahoma is our highest ranked Big 12 team, at #18. As Don Pope pointed out last week, the Big 12 looks more like a Group of 5 conference than a Power 5 conference this year.
Next week, after the Army-Navy game, we will give our projections for all 40+ bowl games. My grad school alma mater, Indiana, will play in the Foster Farms Bowl. That’s how you know you’ve hit the big time, why mess around with crummy bowls like the Rose or Sugar when you can throw a pigskin sponsored by a chicken.
by M. C. Jennings | Nov 28, 2016 | Academics, COBA Faculty, COBA Staff, Current Students, Research, Uncategorized
by guest blogger, Dr. Don Pope
Well, sports fans, it was another exciting weekend of college football. Several traditional big rivalry match-ups were played, the most notable being Michigan versus “The Ohio State University”. The two schools up in Okie-land delayed their annual “Bedlam” rivalry game until this coming weekend so they could focus on the turkey and dressing last week.
The first of the following figures shows our adjusted rankings after week 13.
Note that, as before, Alabama stands out way above the rest, followed by Ohio State and Michigan after their close game, then another Big 10 team, Wisconsin, and the remainder of the top 50 teams.
The second of the figures is a network representation of college football this season, with the dots representing the teams in the various conferences, or independents. The lines represent games played, both within conference and between conferences. The size of the dots reflects their rankings in our system. The large red dot in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) is Alabama, and 3 the large red dots in the Big 10 are Ohio State, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The sad tale of these figures is the demise of the Big 12. They seem to have forgotten that, after your team scores, you are supposed to put 11 other guys out on the field whose objective is to stop the other team from scoring. Our rankings place many schools from many conferences above any school in the Big 12. Thus, we do not predict the Big 12 teams this year to perform very well in bowl games, assuming that they get invited to any bowl game more significant than the Captain Crunch Breakfast Cereal Bowl.
Stay tuned for next week!
by M. C. Jennings | Nov 22, 2016 | Academics, COBA Faculty, Current Students, Research
by guest blogger, Noah Bastable
The most notable game this week happened on Thursday when the Houston Cougars beat Louisville in a tumbling loss for the Cardinals as they fell down from #5 to #14, even though both teams have a 9-2 record. This is, in part, how the Jessup-Pope College Football Rankings (much like life) works. If you notice the bottom 6 teams on the chart, their PageRank scores do not differ as much as the top 4 teams. Even the difference between Alabama and Ohio State is huge. This just goes to show it’s easy to get to the top, but it is hard to stay on top (even though Alabama may say otherwise).
The University of Houston Cougars were previously ranked #46 and are now ranked #17 on the Jessup Pope College Football Ranking system.
We hope that everybody has a great week off of school and work and enjoys their Thanksgiving meals, perhaps while watching the 9-1 Cowboys face the Redskins on Thanksgiving day.
