Brent Moore: The man behind the numbers

Make no mistake, Brent Moore is a numbers guy.

He was a mathematics major, with a minor in statistics and economics, at Iowa State University. He now works in computer support at ISU.

His hobby -- and his greatest claim to fame -- is numerically driven as well.

He's Brent Moore, as in BC Moore, who compiles a weekly list of football rankings for Iowa high schools. They can be found at http://ia.bcmoorerankings.com/

The project began in 2001, a year after his high school alma mater -- the Manning Bulldogs -- lost to Hubbard-Radcliffe in the Class A state championship game.

"Manning was unbeaten going into the game, and Hubbard-Radcliffe had two losses," recalled Moore, a 38-year-old Ames resident. "I wanted to determine if the loss was an upset, or if the team with two losses was really pretty good."

So he developed a statistical model to rank teams. The main objective, Moore said, is to create a method of predicting playoff games, and he said the model is 78-percent accurate in postseason play.

Moore's rankings and predictions are prominent on the message boards at iowapreps.com.

"I definitely keep an eye on (the rankings)," said IowaPreps editor Luke Feddersen. "It's an interesting, different way to look at things, with statistical evaluation."

Wins and losses certainly weigh into the equation. So do scores and strength of  schedule.

In Class 4A, for instance, the computer has Southeast Polk (6-1) as the No. 1 team this week , ahead of unbeatens West Des Moines Valley and Linn-Mar. A two-loss West Des Moines Dowling club is sixth, ahead of undefeated Cedar Falls.

Moore's other No. 1 teams this week are Clear Lake (3A), West Marshall (2A), Panorama (1A), LeMars Gehlen (A), Fremont-Mills (eight-man). All of those are undefeated.

The project is not a money-maker for Moore -- "I get a little for a Google ad on the site, but that's all," he said -- but he'll continue to do it as long as he enjoys it.

He also compiles high school rankings for boys' and girls' basketball and wrestling, as well as college football, and is working on a database to keep track of each school's football results from years past.

Moore is a numbers guy, but it wouldn't be accurate to call him a sports geek. He played football for three years at Manning High before a kidney injury ended his career. He competed in basketball for three years and track for four -- he was a state runner-up in the 800 meters in 1991.

The time demand isn't as prohibitive as you would think -- maybe an hour or two a week once the season starts. Good thing, because Moore has a wife, Donna, and six children.

His wife's thoughts about the ratings website?

"She said there are too many numbers and not enough pictures," he said.