Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Headed to Rice for C-USA Title Game
12/1/2013 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 1, 2013
IRVING, Texas - West Division champion Rice will host East Division champion Marshall in the 2013 Conference USA Football Championship Game on Saturday, December 7. The Owls (7-1 in C-USA play, 9-3 overall) did not face the Thundering Herd (7-1 in C-USA play, 9-3 overall) during the regular season, so the host site for the game was determined by the BCS rankings. The 2013 C-USA Championship Game will be televised live on ESPN 2, beginning at Noon EST/11 a.m. CST. Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen and Maria Taylor will be on the call.
While the BCS standings technically only rank 1 - 25, as that is all that is required for the BCS, the formula (which equally weights the Coaches poll, Harris poll, and computer polls for a BCS average) can be extended to determine the relative positions of teams.
When extended, while Marshall did receive votes in each of the two human polls, the value of those votes was not significant enough to offset the relative strength of Rice in the computer polls.
The final analysis, which has been confirmed by Bill Hancock, BCS Executive Director, is set forth below.
TEAM | HARRIS | USA TODAY | COMPUTER AVG | BCS AVG |
RICE | 0 | 0 | 0.628 | 0.2093 |
MARSHALL | 0.0038 | 0.0084 | 0.55 | 0.1874 |
COMPUTER RANKINGS (Based on 125 teams, highest & lowest dropped) | Total | % of 500 pts | ||||
RICE | 49 | 43 | 54 | 44 | ||
points based on 125 | 77 | 83 | 72 | 82 | 314 | 0.628 |
MARSHALL | 63 | 56 | 56 | 54 | ||
points based on 125 | 63 | 70 | 70 | 72 | 275 | 0.55 |
Comprehensive list of computer rankings (highest and lowest dropped in BCS process):
Ranking Rice Marshall
Anderson & Hester 49 63
Billingsley 42 41
Colley Matrix 43 56
Massey 59 66
Sagarin 54 56
Wolfe 44 54
Please note that rankings like Jerry Palm's, do not factor any computer poll values for teams not receiving votes and therefore are not reliable for this purpose. The Conference has been in contact with Jerry who fully agrees with this analysis.
"I worked with C-USA today on an extended BCS formula for breaking the tie between Marshall and Rice for home field advantage in the conference championship game," said Palm. "It doesn't match the formula I use for my ratings on CBSSports.com, which serve a different purpose, but I believe it was absolutely appropriate and fair."
Both schools will be making their first appearance in the C-USA Football Championship Game.
"We're certainly disappointed that we will not be able to host Saturday's championship in front of our wonderful fans," said Marshall AD Mike Hamrick. "With that said, we are extremely excited for the opportunity to compete for a league title and look forward to a great game with Rice University."
Marshall leads the all-time series, 3-1, including a wild 54-51 victory in their last meeting, Sept. 22, 2012 at Rice Stadium. The Thundering Herd has won both meetings in Huntington, W. Va., while the teams are 1-1 in Houston.
The Thundering Herd will be playing for its first conference championship since winning their sixth straight Mid-American conference title in 2002. The Owls won a share of the Southwest Conference championship in 1994 and their last outright conference title was the 1957 SWC championship.
Tickets for the C-USA Football Championship game will be go on sale Sunday night at 11 p.m. ET and will be available in person at Tudor Fieldhouse, by phone at 713-522-OWLS or online at www.RiceOwls.com. For more information, please visit the football championship page on www.ConferenceUSA.com.
