This year's USC media guide will now include a claim of a share of the national title in 1939. Some publication by the name of Dickerson/Dickinson (not sure) had them listed #1. They went undefeated that year with 2 ties. They finished #3 in the AP. Texas A&M is commonly considered the national champ and went 11-0 and finished #1 in the AP. Beano Cook said it was disgraceful and cheap on USC's part to claim such a thing. Go Beano.....ya old fart! Do we need yet ANOTHER reason to hate USC?
So let me get this straight.... USC thinks that the computer polls--which are nothing more than automated calculations of mathematical point system, much like the Dickinson System is--are wrong and that they should have been in the National Championship in spite of what the computers said. However, they want to claim a national championship based on what ONE, I repeat ONE, mathematical point system said??
I thought it would be interesting to see if I could find the actual formula used by Frank Dickinson, but couldn't get any specifics. There was a blurb about his system dividing teams into two groups--over .500 win percentage and under .500 win percentage. Really clears things up, doesn't it? :dis: Anyways, I got as far as searching the archives at the Univ. of Illinois (where he taught) and paperwork on file from 1941 forward was removed and never returned in 1992. Hmm...anyone know where Sandy Berger was 12 years ago? :shock:
