Thumbnail sketches of the five new computer services providing ratings for the Bowl Championship Series.

The Billingsley Report
Richard Billingsley has produced his report for more than 30 years. His system of analysis has successfully determined every national champion since 1969. His formula is is a mathematically based power rating written into six different phases. His description: "where power meets logic."

The Dunkel Index
The Dunkel Index has an almost 70-year history in college football. It was started by Dick Dunkel, one of the pioneers in the field of applying statistical analysis to sports. It posted an 86.9 percent accuracy record for the 1997-98 bowl season. It places a particular emphasis on analyzing strength of schedules. It is now sponsored by the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

The Massey Ratings
The creator of this formula is Kenneth Massey, a 24-year old Virginia Tech grad student who has been doing ratings for his own enjoyment since 1995. The goal of his formula is to achieve a reasonable balance between rewarding teams for wins, convincing wins, and playing a tough schedule.

David Rothman's FACT Index
This formula was authored by David Rothman, an aerospace and defense systems technician. He developed FACT, an acronym for Foundation for the Analysis of Competition and Tournaments, in 1968.

The Scripps Howard/Matthews Grid Ratings
Herman Matthews, a college math professor, created this index for analyzing college sports in 1966. The original formula was published in a Middlesboro, Ky. newspaper. He also used the formula to rate Kentucky high schools in other papers, including The Lexington Herald.