So, first things first, I needed some data. I spent a chunk of time digging around online for historical game data for both Army and Lehigh. Stuff like scores, maybe some stats if I could find 'em easily. I wasn't trying to build a super complex model, just wanted something to play with.
Once I had the data – and it was messy, let me tell ya – I started cleaning it up. I basically just dumped everything into a spreadsheet. This meant fixing typos, making sure dates were consistent, and generally making the data usable. It was tedious, but necessary.
Next, the fun part (sort of): trying to figure out what to do with the data. I'm no data scientist, so I just thought, "Hey, let's see how they've performed against each other in the past." I calculated some basic averages – points scored, points allowed, that kinda thing. I also looked at their recent performance, like the last few games, to see if there were any obvious trends.
I started messing around with different ways to weight the data. Maybe recent games mattered more? Maybe head-to-head matchups were super important? I just fiddled with it, plugging in different numbers and seeing how the "prediction" changed. It was pretty arbitrary, honestly.
Then, the big moment: "predicting" the game. Based on my super-scientific (read: not very scientific) calculations, I came up with a score. I won't tell you what it was because, spoiler alert, I didn't bet any money on it! This was just for fun.
Finally, I just sat back and watched the game. It was interesting to see how my "prediction" stacked up against reality. Did I get it right? Nope. Not even close. But that's okay! It was a good learning experience.
Here's the gist of what I learned:
- Data collection is a pain.
- Cleaning data is even more of a pain.
- Predicting sports outcomes is hard. Like, really hard.
- I need to learn more about statistics.
Would I do it again? Probably. It was a fun way to kill some time and learn a little something along the way. Plus, who knows, maybe next time I'll actually get it right!
Disclaimer: This is not financial advice. Don't bet your life savings on my predictions (or anyone else's, for that matter). This is just for entertainment purposes only.
