2023 FanLax Forum Poll

[FanLax Computer]

The FanLax Forum Poll is great. But humans are human. Humans have inconsistencies including favoritism based on previous seasons, recency bias, etc. All my poll does is erase these inconsistencies. With that said, this is the Forum Poll... minus inconsistencies:

1 Tufts
2 Christopher Newport
3 Salisbury
4 Middlebury
5 RIT
6 Gettysburg
7 Amherst
8 Lynchburg
9 St. Lawrence
10 Union
11 Washington and Lee
12 Bowdoin
13 Wesleyan
14 Swarthmore
15 Ithaca
16 Dickinson
17 Stevens
18 Denison
19 York
20 Cabrini
21 Williams
22 Muhlenberg
23 Clarkson
24 Kenyon
25 Wooster

[Laxattackjack]

What is this a ranking for? Is this another uniform ranking? Or college party ranking?

[FanLax Computer]

What is this a ranking for? Is this another uniform ranking? Or college party ranking?

My rankings are the FanLax Computer Ranking which is based on each team's 3 Best Wins, 3 Worst Losses.

[smoova]

What is this a ranking for? Is this another uniform ranking? Or college party ranking?

My rankings are the FanLax Computer Ranking which is based on each team's 3 Best Wins, 3 Worst Losses.

So the computer ignores recent, head-to-head results?

[Hacker]

Sorry I meant to put Tufts 1move down accordingly

[FanLax Computer]

So the computer ignores recent, head-to-head results?

No. I don't ignore recent games. I just don't value them over games that happened earlier in the season. For me, Ws are Ws, Ls are Ls whether they happen in February or May.

[FanLax Computer]

Sorry I meant to put Tufts 1move down accordingly

Doesn't change 1-19. Does change 20-25 and more. 20-25+ was:

20 Denison
21 Wooster
22 Ithaca
23 Hampden-Sydney
24 Babson
25 Muhlenberg
Kenyon
Clarkson
Geneseo
Roanoke
Stevenson
Pfeiffer
RPI
Hamilton

Now it is:

20 Ithaca
21 Wooster
22 Denison
23 Kenyon
24 Babson
25 Hampden-Sydney
Muhlenberg
Clarkson
Geneseo
Roanoke
Stevenson
Pfeiffer
RPI
Hamilton

[smoova]

So the computer ignores recent, head-to-head results?

No. I don't ignore recent games. I just don't value them over games that happened earlier in the season. For me, Ws are Ws, Ls are Ls whether they happen in February or May.

Makes sense. Yet ... Wesleyan boat-races Amherst, the next computer poll ranks Amherst 6 spots higher, but it's the humans who "have inconsistencies" ...

Of course, I am just kidding around and don't have any rooting interest for either Wes or Amherst, but the "3 best/3 worst" system appears to have some limitations of its own.

[Unknown Participant]

It is interesting to see where folks have Wesleyan and Amherst in this week's polls. Suggests that mid-week games may be discounted/overlooked by many pollsters.

I absolutely took Amherst Wes midweek into account. I had Amherst at 2 last week (having seen them play Tufts basically even in person) and dropped them a few spots due to the Wes loss. I would have jumped Wes quite a bit, but the Amherst win was offset by the Midd loss. I also think Wes is a match up problem for Amherst's style of play. I still think Amherst is really good and I anticipate a Tufts Amherst Nescac final, but that assumes Wes and Amherst are on opposite sides of the bracket.

[Laxattackjack]

So the computer ignores recent, head-to-head results?

No. I don't ignore recent games. I just don't value them over games that happened earlier in the season. For me, Ws are Ws, Ls are Ls whether they happen in February or May.

Makes sense. Yet ... Wesleyan boat-races Amherst, the next computer poll ranks Amherst 6 spots higher, but it's the humans who "have inconsistencies" ...

Of course, I am just kidding around and don't have any rooting interest for either Wes or Amherst, but the "3 best/3 worst" system appears to have some limitations of its own.

And this weekend, Salisbury crushed CNU, but CNU still higher.
York crushes Denison, but Denison higher.

I still think this is a poll on favorite uniforms

[DeepPocket]

No no no, you’ve got to take their 3 best wins, 3 worst losses, and times the goal diff by their number of GROY nominees.

[smoova]

It is interesting to see where folks have Wesleyan and Amherst in this week's polls. Suggests that mid-week games may be discounted/overlooked by many pollsters.

I absolutely took Amherst Wes midweek into account. I had Amherst at 2 last week (having seen them play Tufts basically even in person) and dropped them a few spots due to the Wes loss. I would have jumped Wes quite a bit, but the Amherst win was offset by the Midd loss. I also think Wes is a match up problem for Amherst's style of play. I still think Amherst is really good and I anticipate a Tufts Amherst Nescac final, but that assumes Wes and Amherst are on opposite sides of the bracket.

Fair points - it's very helpful to understand how other voters approach their polls, so I appreciate the insight. I think the Tufts game/loss of Gonzalez has the Mammoths scuffling a little right now - I just finished watching the Amherst/Colby game that was much more even than I was expecting.

I don't see Tufts stumbling at any point through Bates/Wes/Hammy/Bowdoin so the NESCAC seeding may hinge on the Amherst/Midd game.

[FanLax Computer]

Yet ... Wesleyan boat-races Amherst, the next computer poll ranks Amherst 6 spots higher, but it's the humans who "have inconsistencies" ... but the "3 best/3 worst" system appears to have some limitations of its own.

Last week, in the FanLax Computer Rankings, Amherst was #7. This week, Amherst is... #7. You might ask, Why didn't they drop some spots (which I'd be happy to answer)... but where are you seeing they went up 6 spots?

[smoova]

Yet ... Wesleyan boat-races Amherst, the next computer poll ranks Amherst 6 spots higher, but it's the humans who "have inconsistencies" ... but the "3 best/3 worst" system appears to have some limitations of its own.

Last week, in the FanLax Computer Rankings, Amherst was #7. This week, Amherst is... #7. You might ask, Why didn't they drop some spots (which I'd be happy to answer)... but where are you seeing they went up 6 spots?

Amherst is 6 spots higher than Wesleyan in the FL computer poll.

[FanLax Computer]

Yet ... Wesleyan boat-races Amherst, the next computer poll ranks Amherst 6 spots higher, but it's the humans who "have inconsistencies" ... but the "3 best/3 worst" system appears to have some limitations of its own.

Last week, in the FanLax Computer Rankings, Amherst was #7. This week, Amherst is... #7. You might ask, Why didn't they drop some spots (which I'd be happy to answer)... but where are you seeing they went up 6 spots?

Amherst is 6 spots higher than Wesleyan in the FL computer poll.

That's much easier to answer. Amherst has a better resume than Amherst. Better wins, better losses.

[DeepPocket]

…Amherst has a better resume than Amherst. Better wins, better losses.

GROY comment right here.

[smoova]

Yet ... Wesleyan boat-races Amherst, the next computer poll ranks Amherst 6 spots higher, but it's the humans who "have inconsistencies" ... but the "3 best/3 worst" system appears to have some limitations of its own.

Last week, in the FanLax Computer Rankings, Amherst was #7. This week, Amherst is... #7. You might ask, Why didn't they drop some spots (which I'd be happy to answer)... but where are you seeing they went up 6 spots?

Amherst is 6 spots higher than Wesleyan in the FL computer poll.

That's much easier to answer. Amherst has a better resume than Amherst. Better wins, better losses.

Interesting. I don't think it is reasonable to favor "resume" strength over recent head-to-head results (especially when both teams are inside the top 20), but it's not my computer.

[FanLax Computer]

Interesting. I don't think it is reasonable to favor "resume" strength over recent head-to-head results (especially when both teams are inside the top 20), but it's not my computer.

I don't know. Considering Ws and Ls from previous seasons the same as Ws and Ls from the previous weekend is unreasonable. Treating Ws and Ls from 6 weeks ago the same as the past weekend, i dunno. That makes sense. Also, seems unfair to give a heavier weight to more recent games for teams outside of power conferences who are forced to play their tougher games earlier in the season.

[laxdad1434]

So the computer ignores recent, head-to-head results?

No. I don't ignore recent games. I just don't value them over games that happened earlier in the season. For me, Ws are Ws, Ls are Ls whether they happen in February or May.

Makes sense. Yet ... Wesleyan boat-races Amherst, the next computer poll ranks Amherst 6 spots higher, but it's the humans who "have inconsistencies" ...

Of course, I am just kidding around and don't have any rooting interest for either Wes or Amherst, but the "3 best/3 worst" system appears to have some limitations of its own.

And this weekend, Salisbury crushed CNU, but CNU still higher.
York crushes Denison, but Denison higher.

I still think this is a poll on favorite uniforms

Helmets...definitely the helmets.

[smoova]

Interesting. I don't think it is reasonable to favor "resume" strength over recent head-to-head results (especially when both teams are inside the top 20), but it's not my computer.

I don't know. Considering Ws and Ls from previous seasons the same as Ws and Ls from the previous weekend is unreasonable. Treating Ws and Ls from 6 weeks ago the same as the past weekend, i dunno. That makes sense. Also, seems unfair to give a heavier weight to more recent games for teams outside of power conferences who are forced to play their tougher games earlier in the season.

I understand your process. I just think the inability to recognize/weight recent head-to-head results is a limitation that (occasionally) causes mis-rankings.