"Dancing With the Stars" Power Rankings - Week 3

Here are my first ever Dancing With the Stars (DWS) power rankings.

Rank	Contestant	Rating	Status
1	Katherine & Mark	100.000	Alive
2	William & Cheryl	99.268	Alive
3	Maria & Derek	96.881	Alive
4	Jaleel & Kym	96.389	Alive
5	Donald & Peta	96.290	Alive
6	Sherri & Val	94.555	Alive
7	Roshon & Chelsie	94.097	Alive
8	Gladys & Tristan	93.686	Alive
9	Melissa & Maks	75.194	Alive
10	Gavin & Karina	75.168	Alive
11	Jack & Anna	67.762	Eliminated
12	Martina & Tony	61.023	Eliminated

American Idol Season 11 Rankings - Week 5





Week 5 of American Idol 2012 is now in the books. With DeAndre’s departure, which I accurately predicted a week ago, we are now down to 7 contestants. Colton Dixon was the big mover this week, up 3 spots to #3 in the overall rankings, following his unique version of Cindy Lauper’s “Time After Time”. Joshua Ledet takes over the top spot, which I think most of us saw coming. He is bar none the most consistent performer on this year’s show. Does anyone think he sounds a little bit like Seal, with a more soulful sound?

Skylar Laine’s performance was much better this week, but with only 7 contestants left in the competition, she ends up ranked at the bottom of those still alive. I tweaked the algorithm last week to make the more recent shows “count” more, meaning that performing better or worse later in the season has a more dramatic impact on a performer’s overall rating. So I’m actually surprised to see Skylar in that position this week. It may be that she is still being dragged down by last week’s performance.

I started making predictions about who will be eliminated two weeks ago and so far my record is 2-0. I accurately predicted the departure of both Heejun and DeAndre. We’ll see if I’m right this coming week. Based on my “Compughter” rankings below, I’m predicting Skylar Laine, Hollie Cavanagh, and Elise Testone to be next week’s bottom 3. Note that I actually have Elise ranked ahead of Phillip, but my gut tells me (based on all of Phillip’s screaming fans) that Phillip will outlast Elise. So I am NOT predicting Phillip to be in the bottom 3 next week.

Right now, the “Compughter” predicts Skylar will go home next week. But, despite my own algorithm, I’m going to predict that Elise will be packing it up.

What do YOU think?

Rank	Contestant	Rating	Status	Movement
1	Joshua Ledet	100.000	Alive	+1
2	Jessica Sanchez	98.397	Alive	-1
3	Colton Dixon	96.503	Alive	+3
4	Elise Testone	96.199	Alive	-1
5	Phillip Phillips	95.862	Alive	-1
6	Hollie Cavanagh	95.785	Alive	-1
7	Skylar Laine	93.949	Alive	+1
8	DeAndre Brackensick	78.857	Eliminated	-1
9	Erika Van Pelt	70.616	Eliminated
10	Heejun Han	70.600	Eliminated
11	Shannon Magrane	65.785	Eliminated
12	Jeremy Rosado	60.744	Eliminated
13	Jermaine Jones	60.000	Eliminated

 

American Idol Season 11 Contestant Rankings - Week 4

Welcome to the second installment of American Idol 2012 rankings, powered by CompughterRatings.com. The Week 4 shows have come and gone and we are now down to 8 contestants. As predicted last week, Heejun Han was sent packing tonight on the live show. This week’s contestant rankings are posted below.

Rank	Contestant	Rating	Status	Movement
1	Jessica Sanchez	100.000	Alive	+1
2	Joshua Ledet	99.989	Alive	+2
3	Elise Testone	96.171	Alive	+4
4	Phillip Phillips	96.168	Alive	+1
5	Hollie Cavanagh	94.362	Alive	-3
6	Colton Dixon	90.962	Alive
7	DeAndre Brackensick	90.915	Alive	+1
8	Skylar Laine	90.839	Alive	-5
9	Erika Van Pelt	87.727	Eliminated
10	Heejun Han	87.652	Eliminated
11	Shannon Magrane	72.824	Eliminated
12	Jeremy Rosado	62.004	Eliminated
13	Jermaine Jones	60.000	Eliminated

Elise Testone was the biggest upward mover, jumping 4 spots to #3 overall. Personally, I thought her rendition of Led Zepplin’s “Whole Lotta Love” was the most entertaining number of the show, so I’m glad to see Elise moving back up. Skylar Laine was our biggest mover overall, dropping 5 spots to #8. After seeing Miranda Lambert live in concert just a couple of months ago, I thought Skylar’s version of “Gunpowder and Lead” was decent, but it apparently didn’t impress the voters as she ended up in the bottom 3 this week.

For this coming week, I expect to see Skylar Laine and DeAndre Brackensick in the bottom 3. According to my rankings, Colton Dixon would also be in the bottom 3, but if he delivers another knock-out performance this week then I just don’t see that happening. He’s awesome, but he’s also up against some really stiff competition.

So my prediction this week is a tough one. I like Skylar better than DeAndre personally, but my “Compughter” algorithm has Skylar ranked slightly lower. I’m going to have to go with my gut on this one and predict that DeAndre goes home next week.

If you like these rankings, please share. If you don’t, jump on my Facebook page and let me hear about it.  But beware: Critics are welcome, but name callers get banned.  No exceptions.  Just ask David Archuleta's brother!

Happy Friday, everyone!

American Idol Season 11 Contestant Rankings - Week 3



With football season light years away and NCAA Basketball already down to the Final Four, I got a little bored and decided that it’s time to apply some math to something a bit different. Something non-sports related. I’ve always loved music and singing, although I’m not much of a singer myself. So I figured, “Why not give American Idol a try?” No, I’m not talking about trying out for the show. I’m too old for that. But I am going to take a stab at ranking the American Idol contestants this year. I’ve been messing around with an algorithm for a few weeks and when it rightly predicted two of the first three to be sent home, I thought I might as well share it with the general public. So here goes. I’m only going to post these rankings in my blog each week, not on the website. So keep checking back each week!

Below are the Season 11 American Idol Contestant Rankings for Week 3. As of right now, it looks like Hollie and Jessica are the most probable pair to compete against each other in this year's finale. I'm predicting the "Bottom 3" this week to be Elise, DeAndre, and Heejun. Most likely to exit the program during Week 4 is Heejun.

Don’t forget to hit me up on Facebook and leave some comments if you’ve got something to say!


Rank	Contestant	Rating	Status
1	Hollie Cavanagh	100.000	Alive
2	Jessica Sanchez	99.989	Alive
3	Skylar Laine	96.171	Alive
4	Joshua Ledet	96.168	Alive
5	Phillip Phillips	94.362	Alive
6	Colton Dixon	90.962	Alive
7	Elise Testone	90.915	Alive
8	DeAndre Brackensick	90.839	Alive
9	Erika Van Pelt	87.727	Eliminated
10	Heejun Han	87.652	Alive
11	Shannon Magrane	72.824	Eliminated
12	Jeremy Rosado	62.004	Eliminated
13	Jermaine Jones	60.000	Eliminated

Interview on TribLIVE SportsTalk Radio

Below I've posted the recorded audio from my interview on Michael Grau's show on TribLIVE SportsTalk Radio Pittsburgh (recorded 12/9/2011):

CompughterRatings.com Named Most Accurate Preseason College Football Publication

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CompughterRatings.com was named the #1 most accurate preseason college football publication for the second time in three years. Stassen.com, a renowned online publication specializing in the measurement of preseason publications since 1993, awarded top place honors to CompughterRatings.com ahead of GamePlan, Phil Steele, Lindy's, Athlon Sports, USA Today, ESPN, and several other well known publications.

CompughterRatings.com is also the reigning 3-year accuracy winner, followed by Game Plan, USA Today, Phil Steele, Athlon Sports, and Lindy’s: Preseason Prediction Accuracy (2009-2011) - Stassen.com.

Steve Pugh with Virginia Tech Head Coach Frank Beamer

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West Virginia Up Against Big 12 Competition

I've been impressed with West Virginia football for a long time.  I think there have been years that the Mountaineers would have performed quite well in the Big 12.  But this year is not one of them.  The competition in the Big 12 is absolutely fierce in 2011-2012.  All of the computer ratings systems favor the Big 12 as the #1 conference this year.  Now granted, each college football season is vastly different.  But this is how my algorithms predict that WVU would perform against the Big 12 right now, if we assume all games were played on neutral turf:

Conference Simulation: West Virginia vs Big 12

Anyone agree?  Disagree?  Post your comments