[Billfred]

For my money, the most objective measurement of a regional's perceived difficulty is the Blue Banner Quotient, the distribution of blue FRC banners* across the teams registered for it. For a more focused view of recent performance, the Sextuple Achievement Uniform Counting Era limits the view of BBQ to that of the 3v3 era--2005 and later, which is also the longest most students graduating in 2008 could have been on an FRC team.

For example, the 29 teams currently registered for Palmetto have earned a combined 30 banners in their history, and 20 since 2005. Do the division, and that yields a BBQ of 1.03 and a SAUCE of 0.69. At the 54-team Florida Regional, with 41 recent banners and 66 overall, a BBQ of 1.22 and SAUCE of 0.76 indicate that Florida will most likely be a tougher regional than Palmetto. (Historically, this has been the case.)

Obviously, a higher BBQ is indicative of more storied teams in attendance, but the SAUCE measurement will generally be a better measurement of the competitiveness of the teams recently. It's not a perfect measurement--for one, it weighs regional and Championship awards equally--but I think you'll find yourself in the ballpark.

Now, the hard part: computing BBQ and/or SAUCE for the regionals. (My head's had enough just computing Palmetto and Florida.) Anyone have a way of figuring it out quickly?

*For the uninitiated, blue banners are awarded for Regional Champion, Regional Chairman's Award, Division Champion, Championship Chairman's Award, and Championship Winner.