He won't admit it, but based on his TV appearance the other night during the Va. Tech-Syracuse game Saturday night, Massey falls on the nerd side of the fence. A doctoral student in mathematics. Came up with his system as a hobby. A good computer rating is sufficiently interwoven that you couldn't possibly do it by hand. You need a computer to solve these ratings.
Every team is treated the same.
The computer has access to all the scores and can look at them all at once. Humans look at teams that get publicity. The New York Times ' computer ratings takes into account who won, by what margin and against what quality of opposition. Marjorie Connelly oversees the poll, but she is admittedly not a college football fan and does not care who is No. 1, No. 2 or No. 114. Connelly is a staff editor, working primarily with public opinion polls and surveys.