If Nate Silver is as good at predicting the Super Bowl as he is with presidential elections, then Seahawks fans are going to like his latest picks.
Silver, a statistician and sabermetrician famous for correctly predicting the winner of all 50 states in the 2012 presidential election, went on ESPN this morning and unveiled his data-backed choices.
Based on Seattle’s late-season surge and some football-specific data-crunching, Silver said he thinks Seattle, who plays at Atlanta Sunday at 10 a.m., will face New England in the Feb. 3 Super Bowl.
“Seattle came on strongly,” he said on the show. “I’m not sure other coaches can readjust to that.”
Silver said Seattle doesn’t have as much talent as Denver or New England, the two teams he predicts will play in the AFC Championship. He also thinks the Patriots will beat Seattle for the title.
“It’s hard to go against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick,” he said.
Seahawks fans are hoping history repeats itself — Seattle beat New England earlier this season, 24-23.
Silver is not perfect. He thought Notre Dame would cover the spread in Monday’s BCS Championship game, but the Irish was steamrolled 42-14.
In the early 2000’s, Silver developed the Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm (PECOTA), a system to predict Major League Baseball player performance. He now runs the Five Thirty Eight blog — “Nate Silver’s Political Calculus” — on the New York Times.
In other Seahawks-related news, the team announced Wednesday a partnership with SportsStream, a second-screen experience for watching sports. The service provides real-time stats, social media streams, chats and access to relevant content all in an easy-to-navigate page. SportsStream, also available for iOS devices, will debut this Sunday for the playoff game against Atlanta.
And finally, a little Thursday afternoon laugh. Atlanta rapper Big Boi also went on ESPN yesterday for a little different purpose than Silver. He said he was an ambassador for the Falcons and advised Atlanta players to avoid the strip clubs this weekend so to not be distracted. Instead, he suggested that one of Atlanta’s famous strip clubs should have a “Seahawks Night,” specifically for Seattle players the night before the game. Genius.
Previously on GeekWire: Report: NBA returning to Seattle with help from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
