Numbers that appear inside parentheses in the table below have different meanings depending upon the column. For the Spread column, it implies that the betting line stated that the game was rated even (i.e., it was a "pick -em" game), or there was no line given because of an injury to a key player. In the Cover column, it means that the game was a "push" - the predicted point spread equaled the actual spread in the game. In the two sets of columns labeled DISC and Sim., this implies that DISC rated the teams the same, or that Sim. predicted a tie for that number of games. (In 1984 and 1991, the actual games scores ended up in a tie, so those were counted as a win for DISC and similarly for the tie game in 1991 for Sim.) The rightmost five columns below are how well each system would have performed against the betting line, if its prediction was different from the official published point spread; the columns to the left of those considered every bowl game that year. (The ED and OAF "against the spread columns" included a couple of clerical errors that were discovered after the article was printed, and so they performed slightly better than reported there, though they were not the two best performing systems described in the article.)
Overall Performance Against the Spread
Year | Spread | Cover | ED | POW | DISC | Sim. | OAF | ED | POW | DISC | Sim. | OAF |
2003 | 19-9 | 15-13 | 19-9 | 18-10 | 17-7(4) | 18-8(2) | 18-10 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 6-2(4) | 7-5(2) | 3-2 |
2002 | 15-13 | 13-15 | 13-15 | 14-14 | 12-11(5) | 12-13(3) | 18-10 | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0-0(5) | 2-4(3) | 5-2 |
2001 | 14-8(3) | 9-13 | 18-7 | 16-9 | 13-8(4) | 10-12(3) | 13-12 | 5-3 | 3-3 | 2-4(4) | 1-7(3) | 4-4 |
2000 | 9-15(1) | 7-17 | 14-11 | 13-12 | 12-9(4) | 14-10(1) | 12-13 | 5-0 | 4-0 | 3-0(4) | 8-3(1) | 4-1 |
1999 | 10-12(1) | 6-16 | 13-10 | 15-8 | 12-8(3) | 12-10(1) | 13-10 | 4-2 | 5-1 | 3-0(3) | 5-3(1) | 3-1 |
1998 | 12-10 | 9-12(1) | 11-11 | 11-11 | 10-9(3) | 11-9(2) | 10-12 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 1-1(3) | 6-5(2) | 2-2 |
1997 | 19-1 | 15-5 | 14-6 | 18-2 | 15-3(2) | 8-11(1) | 18-2 | 1-4 | 0-1 | 0-2(2) | 0-10(1) | 1-2 |
1996 | 13-4(1) | 9-8 | 12-6 | 11-7 | 10-5(3) | 10-7(1) | 9-9 | 3-2 | 1-3 | 1-2(3) | 3-4(1) | 4-6 |
1995 | 10-7(1) | 9-8 | 12-6 | 12-6 | 11-5(2) | 11-6(1) | 10-8 | 4-2 | 3-1 | 1-0(2) | 5-5(1) | 5-3 |
1994 | 12-6(1) | 11-6(1) | 14-5 | 12-7 | 11-6(2) | 6-12(1) | 12-7 | 3-1 | 2-3 | 1-3(2) | 1-6(1) | 1-2 |
1993 | 15-4 | 10-9 | 12-7 | 13-6 | 13-4(2) | 12-6(1) | 12-7 | 3-2 | 3-1 | 0-1(2) | 0-3(1) | 4-3 |
1992 | 9-8(1) | 7-10 | 9-9 | 12-6 | 11-6(1) | 10-8 | 5-13 | 1-2 | 4-1 | 2-0(1) | 8-4 | 2-5 |
1991 | 8-7-1(2) | 7-9 | 9-8 | 9-8 | 9-6(4) | 8-9(1) | 12-5 | 2-2 | 3-3 | 2-0(4) | 2-4(2) | 4-2 |
1990 | 10-7-1(1) | 7-11 | 11-7 | 10-8 | 10-7(1) | 13-5 | 10-8 | 2-0 | 4-0 | 2-0(1) | 8-0 | 1-1 |
1989 | 13-5 | 11-7 | 11-7 | 13-5 | 9-5(4) | 9-8(1) | 10-8 | 1-3 | 2-2 | 1-2(4) | 3-6(1) | 2-5 |
1988 | 12-4(1) | 8-7(1) | 9-8 | 11-6 | 7-5(5) | 8-6(3) | 11-6 | 0-4 | 0-2 | 0-1(5) | 2-3(3) | 3-4 |
1987 | 9-8-1 | 3-15 | 9-8 | 12-5 | 7-6(4) | 6-9(2) | 10-7 | 4-0 | 3-0 | 2-1(4) | 5-2(2) | 5-1 |
1986 | 13-5 | 9-6(3) | 12-6 | 13-5 | 13-3(2) | 12-4(2) | 11-7 | 2-3 | 2-2 | 1-0(2) | 2-2(2) | 3-4 |
1985 | 9-6-1(2) | 7-9 | 10-7 | 8-9 | 10-5(2) | 9-8 | 8-9 | 6-1 | 4-2 | 3-1(2) | 7-5 | 3-4 |
1984 | 9-8-1 | 7-10(1) | 15-2 | 13-4 | 10-6(2) | 10-7 | 9-8 | 6-0 | 4-0 | 2-1(3) | 6-3 | 3-1 |
1983 | 10-6 | 8-8 | 11-5 | 13-3 | 7-5(4) | 9-7 | 7-9 | 2-1 | 3-0 | 1-0(4) | 3-2 | 1-4 |
Wins | 250 | 187 | 258 | 267 | 229 | 218 | 238 | 58 | 51 | 34 | 84 | 63 |
Losses | 153 | 214 | 160 | 151 | 129 | 175 | 180 | 38 | 29 | 21 | 86 | 59 |
Ties | 5(15) | 7 | --- | --- | 63 | 26 | --- | --- | --- | 64 | 27 | --- |
Pct. | 62.03 | 46.63 | 61.72 | 63.88 | 63.97 | 55.47 | 56.94 | 60.42 | 63.41 | 61.18 | 49.41 | 52.64 |
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