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.
by M. C. Jennings | Nov 18, 2016 | Academics, COBA Events, COBA Faculty, COBA Staff, College Decisions, Current Students, Distinguished Speakers Series, Faith Infusion, MAcc, MBA, School of Information Technology and Computing, Uncategorized
Dr. Brad Crisp officially began his tenure as the Dean of the College of Business Administration in June and has been building an agenda since for his new role. One of the items on that agenda has been to reach out to and connect with alumni from the College of Business and the School of Information Technology and Computing, giving alumni and friends an opportunity to meet or reacquaint themselves with Dr. Crisp as well as learning more about the state of our college and what our plans are for the future. Thus, the idea for the “Meet the Dean Tour” was born and implemented in partnership with the Alumni Relations Office.
Dr. Brad Crisp, Dean of the College of Business Administration
The tour began in Abilene with 56 alumni and friends and at each stop, Dr. Crisp illustrated ACU’s long standing success in business education and our recent path of progress with our School of IT and Computing. Along with our first event in Abilene, alumni and friends gathered in Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and Silicon Valley at networking breakfasts and lunches. Alumni who graduated within the past 10 years were invited to join Dr. Crisp for a “Beat the Dean” event at Top Golf in several of these cities, as they attempted to best the new Dean. It was a fun time of networking and Dr. Crisp was able to withstand the challenge brought by our young alums.
Young Alums in Dallas
Dr. Crisp aims to win
COBA Beat the Dean at Top Golf in Dallas
Not only were we able to reconnect with alumni, but we also met with parents of current students as well as prospective students and their families as they sought to learn more about the College and our programs and opportunities. Recent graduates were hard at work at these events, helping us connect students to internships and job opportunities in their organization. Alumni who have risen to leadership roles in their companies expressed their desire to create and sustain pipelines of ACU talent to their organizations. Many of our alums shared stories of the encouragement and strengthening they received both professionally and personally while attending ACU. They were encouraged by Dr. Crisp’s consistent reference to our heritage of business excellence, rooted in our personal commitment to living out the mission of Christ and bringing this mission to the workplace.
Meet the Dean lunch stop in Austin
Today, Dr. Crisp leads a College offering 5 business degrees and 4 technology degrees at our Abilene campus, the Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy which is leading the nation in student engagement for entrepreneurship programs, and the new Lytle Center for Leadership and Faith Development which is continuing our Distinguished Speaker Series and Leadership Summit course. The reach of ACU’s mission to educate Christian servants and leaders has expanded with the on-line MBA program, offered through the ACU Dallas campus in addition to our residential Master of Accountancy program and additional on-line graduate programs are in the discussion phase. The College of Business enjoyed an enrollment of exactly 1,000 total students this fall and is positioned for additional growth. Our Master of Accountancy and Computer Science programs supply a steady stream of employers coming to campus to interview for talent as the changing landscape of business is driven by technology and entrepreneurship, demanding ethical leaders in this rapidly transforming environment.
Young alums at Beat the Dean in San Antonio
The opportunity to begin Dr. Crisp’s tenure by connecting with alumni was emphasized by an intentional effort to listen to and involve alumni and friends in our efforts to develop the next generation of business and technology servant leaders. All in attendance were encouraged to give us feedback via an on-line survey. If you were unable to attend one of the stops but would like to give feedback as we continue to shape the direction and future of ACU’s College of Business and School of Information Technology and Computing, please fill out the survey by clicking on this link.
Your support of our work to educate business and technology professionals for Christian service and leadership throughout the world is a great encouragement to us and we cannot achieve our goals without support from alumni and friends. Thank you!
by M. C. Jennings | Nov 17, 2016 | Academics, Accounting, Careers In..., COBA Events, COBA Faculty, COBA Staff, College Decisions, Current Students, Faith Infusion, Special Speakers, Uncategorized
The Lytle Center for Faith and Leadership Development hosted Brett Biggs, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on October 25th, as the speaker at COBA’s annual Distinguished Speaker Series luncheon.
Brett Biggs, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Biggs is responsible for accounting and control, corporate strategy and development, business planning and analysis, internal auditing, treasury, tax, global shared services and several other key areas of the company. Before being appointed to his current role, Biggs was executive vice president and chief financial officer for Walmart International, where he was responsible for all global finance activities, including accounting and controls, business planning and analysis, financial services, and support for real estate, M&A and Strategy. Prior to that, Brett served as executive vice president and chief financial officer for Walmart U.S., where he was responsible for U.S. finance functions including strategy, merchandising, logistics, financial services, real estate, operations, and financial planning and analysis.
Biggs began his visit to ACU with a Q&A meeting with approximately 30 COBA students. The students had unfettered access to ask Biggs questions about his career path, how Walmart works and his best advice on how to jump start their own careers. After the private gathering with students, he then addressed the luncheon crowd of about 200 guests, talking to them about Walmart’s corporate philosophy as well as his own beliefs on what it means to be a Christian leader in the workplace.
Mr. Biggs meeting with COBA students
Biggs stated that the “Joy of working at Walmart is that it is a company that stands for things: take care of your people, do your best, and take care of the people that come through your door.” Biggs also said that he believes, “The world needs places that stand for something. I love ACU’s mission. If you can combine your passion and your vocation with your mission, that’s where it’s at. Sometimes being a person of faith is tough. You have to stand your ground when others around you aren’t. Rosa Parks said it well when she said, ‘Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.’ Matt 5:14 says, ‘You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.’ I know that’s what this university is about and I appreciate that.”
Biggs also gave a personal anecdote when he told a story about meeting Sam Walton, who he described as a once in a lifetime kind of man and the greatest entrepreneur of all time. Biggs said that he met Walton on a field trip in college. Biggs happened to be carrying around a very big notebook while studying for the CPA exam. Sam Walton asked what the book was for and Biggs explained to him that he was intensely studying for the exam. Walton then told him that, “If you study hard and work hard you never know what you’ll be able to achieve.” Biggs said that today, his office is next door to Sam Walton’s former office.
Biggs encouraged students to find a company that fits your values, to be intentional about your faith and to stay grounded and focused on your faith. He also exhorted the audience to know who you are before you are faced with big decisions. He stated, “You have to know what you would do and make a choice ahead of time. You have to really know who you are. Students, take advantage of your time here and form that person now. Take advantage of all the spiritual opportunities you have here.”
Mr. Biggs meeting with COBA Faculty
Biggs wrapped his trip to ACU up with a private meeting with some of COBA’s faculty, where they discussed current markets and opportunities for students. COBA would like to thank Brett Biggs for so graciously giving of his time and energy to our students, faculty, staff and community.
For pictures from the event, please click on this link for COBA’s FaceBook page.
