Evening star., 1934-11-29
NUMBERS EXPERT
DOPES ITO TEAMS
Does Not Claim His Choice
for Ranking" Eleven Is
National Champ.
BY the Associated Press.

~ upremacy-certain to be a
lively topic for hot stove
leagues from the Atlantic to the Pa
ciflc this Winter-soon will be left to
the numbers" to decide.
And by numbers" is meant the
Dickinson rating system as worked
out by Prof. Frank Dickinson of the
University of Illinois. where he is
yes, professor of economics.
1t began 10 years ago in a class
room when the professor, attempting
to add Zest to a dull course in eco
nomics, substituted foot ball teams
for prices in explaining the i'm
portance of index numbers in deter
mining the value of money.
No sooner had he mentioned the
words foot ball than particularly
student who had slept"
most of his lectures perked
up in his seat and displayed a new
interest in economics.
No Tricks, Professor.
THE professor then explained the
system was one he had de-
veloped for his own pleasure
and let it go at that But, it was not
to be- The sleepy student, a scribe On
the student newspaper, fingered after
class for a more detailed explanation
and the next morning a detailed ac-
count of the system appeared III the
paper.
Metropolitan newspapers picked up
the story and it was not many days
before the Dickinson system had a
national following. Since then it has
been used annually to determine the
winner of the Jack Rissman Trophy,
won permanently by Notre Dame for
first place rating three times within
a decade, and the Rockne Memorial
Trophy, on which Michigan already
has two legs on the same basis.
In picking his teams DR.. Dickinson
proceeds in systematic manner and
is emphatic in declaring the team he
names is not necessarily national
champion.
Honor to Whom ~
MY RATING merely means that
lNl the team select has over
come stronger opposition than
any other team in the Nation-the
strength of the opposition being meas
ured by my method Of rating, which
gives more credit for beating strong
teams" he says.
Throughout the foot ball season,
with the aid of Mrs. Dickinson. he
keeps the record of 110 collegiate
teams. placing them into first and
second divisions after their final
games. Into the first division go
teams winning more than half their
games, and the others make up the
second division. Post-season games
are not counted.
Figure This Out.
TOR each victory of a first division
7 team over another first division
team the winner gets 80 points
and the loser Is points.
For each tie between two f1rSt div1-
sion teams each team gets 22.5 points.
For each victory of first division
team over a second division team the
first division winner gets 20 points
and the second division losers 10
points.
For each tie between two second
division teams each gets Is points.
For each tie between a first division
team and a second division team the
first division team gets Is points and
the second division team gets 20
points.
Then. after each team has been
given its quota Of points, its final
score" is tabulated by taking an
average on the number of games
played.
Since Prof. Dickinson began claSSi-
flying foot ball teams under his "in-
dex" system 10 years ago the follow
ing elevens have been given first rat
ing:
1924-Notre Dame.
1925-Dartmouth.
1926-Stanford.
1927-IllinoS.
1928-Southern California.
1929-Notre Dame.
1930-Notre Dame.
1931-Southern California.
1932-Michigan