The BCS, as we covered this morning, has some flaws. Of course, as Dan Shanoff pointed out in the Bandwagoneer earlier today, it doesn’t really do much good to complain about it. It’s a computer system. It has no feelings, no emotions and certainly no prejudices. It just sucks. Fair enough.
But what about the part of the “system” that has nothing to do with a computer? Say, for instance, the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, the final results of which are conveniently released to the public. You know, just so we can see how unbiased these coaches are.
We are, of course, not accusing any coaches of purposely violating some unspoken code of honor that says they should actually rank teams in a realistic order. We just find some of the trends and particular picks interesting.
For instance, the Illinois Fighting Illini aren’t ranked higher than 12th in any coach’s poll. Oh wait. Bret Beilema (Wisconsin head coach ranked them #9 overall), Lloyd Carr (Michigan #10), Mark Dantonio (Michigan St #9), Joe Tiller (Purdue #11) and Ron Zook (Illinois #9) all ranked them higher. We’re sure it’s just because they actually saw first hand the strength of the Illini, and not that they would share in any additional BCS revenue. Surely.
Of course, we can hardly blame the Illini, what with Tommy Bowden doing all he could to submarine their bowl chances, ranking Juice Williams and Co. a paltry 18th. Meanwhile, he vaulted the Clemson Tigers 11th, ahead of Hawaii, Florida, Illinois and Boston College. Didn’t BC beat Clemson like two weeks ago? And where does Tommy Bowden coach again?
But really, lil’ Bobby’s poll wasn’t half as bad as Bob Stoops’(see above). He ranked Oklahoma first overall, which is okay. We guess. It’s your team, you won the Big 12, yada-yada. But he has Missouri at third. Overall. In the nation. That’s the same two loss team that you just walloped, yet only dropped them two spots in the rankings. Probably not for the sole purpose of boosting your own strength of schedule either. That wouldn’t make any sense. Kind of like ranking SEC Champion and obvious top three team LSU at sixth. Or having Georgia ranked at eighth. And we’re not even touching on the fact that he has Texas ranked 13th. Higher than Mack Brown had them. Come the eff on.
That’s why the system sucks, folks. It’s one thing to hand millions of dollars and the seasons of hundreds of college athletes over to a computer. Fine, whatever. But why do we leave the college football season in the hands of these coaches who have proven time and time again that they a) don’t care at the beginning of the season (see Spurrier always giving Duke a vote and name value generally carrying the day) and b) care a little too much for that final poll.
Some other things we noticed about the rankings:
Believable
Frank Beamer(Va.Tech)- LSU #1 – Gotta respect that from Ass-Face Frank. LSU was one of the teams (VaTech couldn’t jump OSU) between the Hokies and the title. But he knows they got paddled in the Bayou.
Jim Grobe (WFU) – UConn #25 – Grobe’s poll is legit enough to warrant him tossing some respect to his upcoming bowl opponent.
Unbelievable
Bobby Bowden (FSU) – West Virginia #5/Oklahoma #12 – We realize you stopped paying attention a few weeks ago, B, but at least have an intern fill it out.
Howard Schellenberger (FAU) – Southern California #12 – This might be fine. If Schelly didn’t have Boise St. at 10, Missouri at 4 and West Virginia at 9.
Houston Nutt (Ark.) – Florida #5 – They have three losses, whackjob.
Tyrone Willingham (Wash.) – Boston College NR – “B-C” dude. Not “N-D”. Wrong initials.
Dennis Franchione (Tex. A&M) – Hawaii #22 – Holy crap. They’re undefeated. And didn’t you get fired?
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“And we’re not even touching on the fact that he [Bob Stoops]has Texas ranked 11th. Higher than Mack Brown had them. Come the eff on.”
???
It looks like he has W.V. ranked 11th with Texas 13th.
Great stuff guys
great post, been looking for an analysis like this on how each coach voted.
I think you read part of that wrong. Frank Beamer ranked VT #2, the highest that anyone (sans the computers) ranked them… but he ranked LSU #1, at least how I read the graphics, so he still gets some credit for not sandbagging his top competitor for the championship game.
It’s BS that they willingly accept such biased ballots. If the ballot doesn’t add up, they should hand it back and say “nice try…do it again”
I’ll take the Bucks in the Championship game though!
I see very few problems with Bob’s ballot. Nothing is too crazy. Who’s to say LSU is deserving of a top two ranking? They are four play away from being 6-6. Missouri would be undefeated if it weren’t for Oklahoma. The worst rankings are Texas and Georgia. And neither really had much of a shot at the big prize. I think Bobby Bowden having OU at 12th is deserving of losing your vote. But LSU at 6th isn’t a reach. They have looked mediocre at times this year and they have a horrible coach.
What about the four coaches (Bowden Jr. and Sr, Schellenberger and Belotti) putting Oklahoma BEHIND Missouri in the rankings? Bobby Bowden has Missouri #6 and OU #10. We beat them TWICE!!!
We know that Stoops really made a bad choice putting LSU behind VTech (for the same reasoning). But the overall point is valid – these coaches’ votes are ridiculous.
Okay, coaches tried to help their own cause. I’m shocked. Honestly, what bothers me more is that the AP and Coaches polls have the exact same top eight. (Even though it didn’t help my Dawgs), I’ve got respect for, oh say, FIU coach Mario Cristobal for going: 1 LSU, 2 Oklahoma, 3 Mizzu, 4 Kansas, 5 Georgia, 6 OSU, 7 WVU, 8 USC, not because he’s right, (because who the hell is “right” this year), but because that’s how he saw it, and if he thinks OSU didn’t have a quality win, because maybe he actually WATCHED the Michigan game, then he puts them at 6 and risks being chastized by the press and the 46 of 60 coaches who didn’t differ from popular opinion.
Um, Beamer was one of 11 to vote LSU #1 dude.
i think you mean bobby bowden, not tommy
You’re dumb. As if Illionois is some big time program, whining about some other coach voting them too low. Look what happened. You got proved wrong you moron.