Thursday, September 3, 2009
Are the preseason polls a good indicator for the season?
Previous pre-season and final season rankings:
2008: Kansas — ranked 14th (AP), not ranked at finish (AP)
Missouri — ranked 6th (AP), finished 19th (AP)
2007: Kansas — not ranked at preseason (AP), finished 7th (AP)
Texas — ranked 4th (AP), finished 10th (AP
Oklahoma — ranked 8th (AP), finished 8th (AP)
2006: Texas — ranked 3rd (AP), finished 13th (AP)
Football fans have heard about it for weeks: Texas and Oklahoma vying for the number two spot, Oklahoma State ranked in the top ten and Kansas breaking into the top 25. The ranking and polling systems for college football generate heated discussions, but they will still determine who plays for the BCS Championship in January.
With the season starting this weekend, fans will get their first look at the teams from around the conference to see how they measure up to their preseason rankings. A debate has raged about how accurately the rankings reflect the level of talent of the teams, and whether or not the BCS rankings correctly place the two best teams in the championship game. Coach Mark Mangino said he has faith in the polls and the people who vote in them.
“The people that make those votes are students of the game,” Mangino said. “They study every game and they’re trusted with their votes.”
Mangino said he does not vote in polls because he feels it takes too much time. He said that the time he spends on voting could be spent on working with his team. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina coach, also thought it took too much time to vote when he handed off his all-SEC preseason ballot to his director of football operations. Spurrier’s ballot had Jevan Snead, Mississippi quarterback, as first team all-SEC instead of Tim Tebow, Florida quarterback. The omission of Tebow on Spurrier’s ballot caused an uproar among fans and media.
With voting “mistakes” like these, many fans want to look at an open record of the final ballots from coaches. Currently, coaches’ ballots are one third of the equation for figuring out the BCS rankings. When some coaches requested that anonymous voting be brought back in 2010, Sports Illustrated claimed it would take a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against each of the schools that had a coach voting.
Bob Stoops, Oklahoma coach, said that there’s always an agenda when coaches vote so some of the top votes should be tossed out. At the same time, Stoops said that coaches’ votes have to be part of the equation because they have the most invested in the bowl process because of their teams.
“I don’t believe you get a more honest vote by making it public,” Stoops said.
For some coaches, the whole system of ranking and polling is flawed. Mike Leach, Texas Tech coach, said the polling system doesn’t matter and he said he thinks the NCAA should move to a playoff system to determine the NCAA champion. While his comments on a playoff system have met backlash and gained him national attention, Leach said he would still want the bowl games in a playoff system.
“Until I get the memo saying the season’s been cancelled I don’t really care what the polls say,” Leach said.
— — Edited by Tim Burgess
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