“This is our year,” says every football fan as they walk into their favorite bar or restaurant sporting a luck hat or jersey.
Dare I say it: it’s football season.
Fans of all teams have been carefully monitoring the draft, free agency and preseason to see which new players they will be cheering for on Sundays. With the new additions to their teams, all fans hope that when the last game of the season is played on Super Bowl Sunday, their team will be the one hoisting up the Lombardi trophy.
With the results of the preseason games, fans have a general idea about how good each team will be, yet there are undoubtedly some fans whose lofty expectations for their hometown teams have little chance of being met.
Those hometown allegiances must end when it comes to predicting the results of NFL games if one wishes to best the predictions of an un-biased Mathematical method.
This NFL season, I will be collecting and comparing the weekly predictions of faculty and staff members to the predictions of the Oracle method, which was created by Trinity professors E. Cabral Balreira and Brian K. Miceli.
The Oracle Method allows Balreira and Miceli to predict the likelihood of one team beating another based on each team’s prior results.
The results of the Oracle method speak for themselves, for they have proven to be a more accurate prediction method than other widely used ranking methods such as ESPN’s Power Rankings, PageRank and Keener.Balreira and Miceli have already published the Oracle’s predictions on their website for each team’s expected win total for the season, the likelihood of them making the playoffs, and the likelihood of them winning their division, conference and the Super Bowl.
Trinity’s NFL Expert Pickers:
To compete against Balreira and Miceli’s Oracle method, I have selected Trinity University president Danny Anderson, associate vice president and dean of students David Tuttle, professor of business administration and director of the office of experiential learning Jacob Tingle and professor of physics and astronomy Jennifer Steele, all of whom have agreed to submit their weekly NFL predictions to the Trinitonian to see how their predictions compare to the predictions from the Oracle method.
These predictions will be tracked and published in the Trinitonian on a weekly basis throughout the season. If you are a diehard football fan or just want to play along, fill out the “˜your picks’ section and email them to [email protected] no later than midnight Saturday for your chance to be featured in the Trinitonian and win a prize.
The individual that gets the most picks correct by the end of the season will be interviewed for a profile piece along with winning a bigger prize that will be disclosed in the next issue of the Trinitonian.
Good luck to all the competitors out there, and may the best picker win!
Danny Anderson
What is your first NFL memory?
I grew up in Texas when everyone watched the Cowboys. I remember in church on Sunday night the adult men standing in the back with little earphones trying to hear the end of the game.
Who is your favorite team?
I used to be a regionalist in terms of identifying with teams around me. So when I lived in Kansas, I would really watch the Chiefs. And so I’ve got to make some difficult choices now that I’m in Texas.
Who do you think will win the Superbowl?
The Patriots
What is the one food that you can’t live without on gameday?
Cheetos
Do you think you will beat the Oracle method?
Can I beat it? No! (laughs)
David Tuttle
What is your first NFL memory?
I can never remember not being a Packer fan. I had a little Packer uniform when I was a kid just to play in the neighborhood. I pick the Ice Bowl of 1967, between the Packers and the Cowboys, because it’s something most people will understand. I mean, it was cold in Milwaukee, it was cold in Green Bay, and I got to have a little shot glass of beer so I could be like my dad.
Who is your favorite team?
Green Bay Packers
Who do you think will win the Superbowl?
Seattle Seahawks
What is the one food that you can’t live without on gameday?
Chips, salsa and cereal
Do you think you will beat the Oracle method?
Oh yeah!
Jacob Tingle
What is your first NFL memory?
My first NFL memory was watching Earl Campbell gain more than 130 yards in his rookie debut. The Oilers lost, but we could tell something was different. Having grown up in Austin and seeing Earl play for UT in 1977, the year he won the Heisman, we were thrilled that he was in Houston.
Who is your favorite team?
Houston Oilers
Who do you think will win the Superbowl?
New England Patriots
What is the one food that you can’t live without on gameday?
Homemade queso and Uncle Julio’s tortilla chips
Do you think you will beat the Oracle method?
No doubt!
Jennifer Steele
What is your first NFL memory?
When I was little, we lived in Cleveland and the Browns became my dad’s team for a while. My dad’s opinion of Bernie Kosar seemed to change every second of every game. I remember in the “˜80s they had many spectacular fourth-quarter comebacks, which made football seem very exciting.
Who is your favorite team?
Houston Texans! At some point they will become more just the JJ Watt show…
Who do you think will win the Superbowl?
Too early to tell at this point, but I would like the Colts to win.
What is the one food that you can’t live without on gameday?
My mom’s seven layer dip
Do you think you will beat the Oracle method?
Honestly? No. I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords.
