The national championship of U.S. college football is decided at the end of the season in a climactic game that is supposed to match the top two NCAA Division I (FBS) teams. Year after year, controversy has dogged the selection of those two teams.
Mathematically and computationally inclined football fans have proposed a variety of alternative ranking schemes. One interesting contender is a scheme developed by Thomas Callaghan, now a graduate student at Stanford University, Peter J. Mucha of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Mason A. Porter of the University of Oxford.
In 2005 Mason Porter looked at some interesting issues relating to US politics. Further information can be found in articles in Science Now and New Scientist.