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BCS double is no trouble for Fiesta Arizona officials show new model works; can Sugar follow suit?
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Conference commissioners' big BCS gamble worked. They added a fifth game without adding a fifth bowl to the Bowl Championship Series, crossed their fingers and hoped it would go off without a hitch.
So far, so good.
The so-called "double-hosting model" proved to be no sweat for Fiesta Bowl officials long known for organizing excellent events. The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl was well run, and Boise State and Oklahoma staged one of the best bowls in years on New Year's night.
There have also been few problems reported in Scottsdale, Ariz., in the lead-up to Monday's Tostitos BCS national championship game.
All fans who hate the BCS should have prayed for chaos in the desert. If the Fiesta Bowl had bungled the two big games, conference commissioners would have been forced to go back to the drawing board. Who knows how they would have rearranged the BCS then.
Here's the reality the BCS organizers don't want to admit publicly. John Junker's Fiesta Bowl crew is perhaps the only outfit among the four BCS bowls that could have handled such a herculean task on the first attempt.
The real litmus test of whether the double-hosting model works will be next season when the scene shifts to New Orleans. Then it's on to Miami in 2009 and Pasadena, Calif., in 2010.
College football players, coaches and fans will descend upon the Big Easy next January, and few of them will want to talk about Katrina. They'll want to live it up at two of the biggest games in college football – the Allstate Sugar Bowl and Allstate BCS national championship game.
Here's something to think about: Outside of partying on Bourbon Street, what can 18- to 22-year-old players do in New Orleans?
At some bowls, players attend one event after another. At the Holiday Bowl, players tour an aircraft carrier. At the Rose, players go to Disneyland. Several bowls organize visits to the local hospital, and many stage elaborate dinners at the local steakhouse.
The Fiesta Bowl pulled back on some of the events this year. Junker's smart. The Fiesta Bowl and the national championship are games that sell themselves. OU and Boise State players really didn't do that much in Phoenix.
They did stay at some out-of-this-world resort hotels. The Sooners stayed at the Fairmont Princess Resort, just across the street from a Porsche dealership. Ohio State players are enjoying the same cozy confines.
Several OU staff members chose to eat at fast-food joints, because their per diem wouldn't cover the cost of eating at the hotel. Athletic director Joe Castiglione wasn't alone at the In-N-Out Burger joint.
"The practice facility was great," OU coach Bob Stoops said. "Our meeting rooms couldn't have been better. This is as good as it gets.
" How many five-star resort hotels can found in New Orleans?
Boise State was a BCS newcomer. To the Broncos, the Fiesta Bowl was like the Super Bowl. Anything's better than the Humanitarian Bowl, right?
OU officials knew what to expect, though. If they had left Arizona complaining that they got treated like stepchildren compared with Ohio State and Florida, the BCS would have had a major problem. Castiglione, however, said OU got the full-blown bowl experience.
A day after the Fiesta Bowl, new grass was lain over the old grass in preparation for BCS championship game.
You would have never known the Fiesta Bowl even existed the morning after Boise State's 43-42 overtime win. At the Camelback Inn, where the media stayed, all the Fiesta Bowl signs had been replaced by national championship game signs by dawn.
Will the Sugar Bowl provide that kind of hospitality to the teams, fans and media next year?
Hosting one BCS game takes tons of work and preparation. Doing two was unthinkable until this year. If the Sugar, Orange and Rose Bowls all manage both games with ease as the Fiesta did, the BCS will have no reason to expand in 2010.
By BRIAN DAVIS / The Dallas Morning News
Replacement bowl given to Houston
Thursday, June 29, 2006
The NCAA awarded a bowl to Houston for the 2006-07 season, replacing the financially troubled Houston Bowl. The bowl will have a new name and management under the sports marketing arm of the Houston Texans but will still feature teams from the Big 12, Conference USA, Big East and Mountain West.
The Big 12 spearheaded efforts to maintain a bowl in Houston, but certification was delayed after last year's participants, TCU and Iowa State, did not receive their full payouts. The new bowl will be required to have a line of credit to meet its obligations, and a Big 12 spokesman said it will work to pay off the debts of the Houston Bowl.
By KEITH WHITMIRE / The Dallas Morning News
Record number of bowls ahead this season
Thursday, April 27, 2006
A school with a .500 record is eligible to play in one of 32 games
The major college football bowl menu has been expanded for next season to a record 31 games, possibly 32.
The NCAA on Thursday announced the licensing of new games in Albuquerque, N.M., Birmingham, Ala., and Toronto.
It already was scheduled to add one bowl as part of the expanded
Bowl Championship Series format that features five games at four sites.
A decision on the return of the financially-strapped Houston Bowl was deferred until June, in part at the request of the Big 12.
The NCAA also reworded its legislation to make Division I-A football teams with 6-6 records bowl eligible. The bylaw previously required a winning regular-season record.
A year ago, the NCAA expanded the standard regular season to 12 games beginning in 2006. When 12 games were played in 2002 and 2003 because of a quirk in the calendar, three 6-6 teams played each year in the slate of 28 games.
In the first new BCS alignment, the championship game will be played in suburban Phoenix a week after the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, played Jan. 1. The new title game hasn't been named. …..
By JEFF MILLER / The Dallas Morning News
BCS may increase teams eligible for at-large bids
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Becoming eligible for the Bowl Championship Series might be easier this season.
With the BCS expanding to five games, college football officials will consider increasing the number of teams eligible for at-large bids. To do so, they'll have to lower the standards a bit. In the past a team needed nine wins and a top-12 ranking in the final BCS standings to be in the running for an at-large bid to the best paying bowl games.
"One thing we will discuss is whether or not the pool of eligible at-large teams should be increased, given the additional two slots with the fifth bowl," new BCS coordinator Mike Slive said. "I'm not saying we will or we won't. There will be discussion and I anticipate a decision will be made and recommended."
Slive, the Southeastern Conference commissioner, and the rest of the Division I-A conference commissioners that make up the BCS braintrust begin four days of meetings in Phoenix on Monday. For the first time in three years, they'll gather with no major changes needing to be made to the system used to crown a major college football champion.
Two years ago the BCS simplified its standings formula, emphasizing the polls over the computers. Last season the formula stayed the same, but a new poll was created to replace The Associated Press Top 25. The Harris Interactive poll, voted on by former college football players, coaches and administrators, plus some media members, took the place of the AP poll.
The status quo will be in effect this season.
"We anticipate that the BCS standings will again be made up of the Harris poll, the coaches' poll and the computers," Slive said.
Last season, after two straight years filled with controversy, everything fell into place nicely for the BCS.
Southern California and Texas were the undisputed top two teams in the country, and both were undefeated when they played in the Rose Bowl for the national title. The Longhorns knocked off the defending champion Trojans in a game that will go down as one of the best in college football history.
The decision to add a fifth big-dollar game was made in 2004, with BCS officials feeling pressure to provide greater access to teams outside the six conferences with automatic bids.
The BCS championship game will now be played a week after the four other marquee games at the site of either the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta or Orange bowls. The Fiesta Bowl gets the first shot at double hosting. Fiesta Bowl officials will be part of the BCS meetings this week.
"So there are several format and administrative issues that are not necessarily newsworthy, but that will take some time and some thought and some consideration," Slive said.
Representatives from Fox, the new television home of the BCS, will also be on hand.
Fox takes over for ABC after signing a four-year deal worth $320 million for the broadcast rights to the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls from 2007-10 and the national title game from 2007-09.
The Rose Bowl, which negotiates its own TV deal, will still be on ABC.
Fox is in charge of naming the new championship game and finding a sponsor.
"It doesn't do me any good to speculate," Slive said when asked about possible sponsors.
The Sugar Bowl has a new sponsor this year – AllState Insurance replaces Nokia – and should be back in its old home.
The Sugar Bowl made a temporary move to Atlanta last season after being forced out of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. The Sugar Bowl is expected to return to the Superdome this season. "The Saints expect to play there so we think by the time the Sugar Bowl comes there won't be an issues,"Slive said. "We're really looking forward to getting back to New Orleans."
A P / Dallas Morning News
Friday, December 2, 2005
Just the other day, my watch stopped. It was perfect timing.
It reminded me of what we shouldn't forget about the BCS even as it is so close to providing a national championship college football game matching the only two undefeated teams left in the land. Like a broken timepiece that is right twice a day by mere happenstance, the BCS is right once in a while due to absolutely unadulterated sheer luck.
So should USC and Texas remain unscathed after today, do not be fooled. It will not be evidence that the BCS works.
It will be proof only that the BCS got lucky like that proverbial blind squirrel that happens every now and then to nudge into a nut.
I hate the BCS. I hate it because it does not work.
I hate it even more in the years like this one when it appears ready to provide its proponents with restful sleep. I take solace in the fact that these years are so rare.
This, after all, threatens to be just the third time during what is now an eight-year BCS error, uh, era, that two teams finished the season unbeaten.
In 2003, no team went undefeated. In three other seasons, only one team hit the bowl season with a spotless record.
That's the way I like my BCS, in total disarray. I long for finishes like last season's when three teams wound up undefeated and Auburn, despite having stayed perfect in the SEC, perennially the toughest football conference in the country, didn't win one of the two chairs left when the music stopped playing.
The ugly beauty of last season is enough to make me root for one of the potential apple cart turners today, from UCLA or Colorado, to leave the BCS naked once more so that all of its warts can be seen.
Go Bruins!
How lovely it would be today if USC's crosstown rival upset the defending national champions by, say, a last-second field goal, sending the Trojans into a free fall all the way to, oh, no less than No. 2 in the BCS rankings. Imagine the howling heard from Mount Nittany, in whose shadow Joe Paterno's No. 3 Penn State sits.
"I would be shocked if USC lost by any amount and was No. 2 in the polls," said BCSologist Jerry Palm. "Apparently, I'm the only one who would be.
"If USC and Texas both lose, Penn State is in [the Rose Bowl] for sure, and it depends on what the voters do as to whether or not USC slips in at No. 2."
Is that a foolproof system? No.
The BCS hasn't worked out going into today. USC and Texas are what has worked. The BCS will be nothing more than a beneficiary should they both win.
Many of us realize this truth. To be sure, on Friday afternoon the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, which is charged with, among other things, regulating America's sports industry, announced it will conduct a hearing on the BCS next week after this season's bowl matchups are determined. It refuses to let a USC-Texas Rose Bowl matchup be wool pulled over the eyes.
"College football is not just an exhilarating sport, but a billion-dollar business that Congress cannot ignore,' said committee Chairman Joe Barton, a Texas Republican of all things. "Too often college football ends in sniping and controversy, rather than winners and losers. The current system of determining who's No. 1 appears deeply flawed."
Hear, hear! What is on the verge of happening is coincidence, not clockwork.
The way the BCS usually works is being born out in the other bowls that carry its stamp.
Take, for example, the Fiesta Bowl. It reportedly is preparing to send an invitation to Notre Dame rather than the team it should, Oregon. Indeed, the Fighting Irish under their new coach Charlie Weis, who won a new 10-year contract after a 5-2 start, have lost twice, just like they did in their first year under their last coach, Tyrone Willingham, who got nothing more than a pat on the back after an 8-0 start his first year in South Bend, Ind.
But I digress. Anyway, Weis' Fighting Irish are ranked eighth in the BCS.
Oregon has lost once, falling hard to USC, and is ranked one rung ahead of Notre Dame in the BCS. But it appears headed to the Holiday Bowl.
That's how ridiculous the BCS is in a typical season. It winds up placing some team in the title game that is less deserving of the opportunity than some other team.
Fortunately for the BCS this season, things look to be turning out atypical.
By Kevin B. Blackstone / The Dallas Morning News
Friday, December 2, 2005
Buried within the legalese that makes up the Bowl Championship Series media guide are four – oh, what shall we call them? – loopholes that bowl executives can use to create better matchups.
Skip the first three and go straight to No. 4:
"An alternative pairing would have greater appeal to college football fans."
This is why Tostitos Fiesta Bowl president John Junker should grab Notre Dame with the first overall pick of BCS teams available.
Even with two losses, the Fighting Irish have more appeal than any one-loss team out there. And let's face it – having Notre Dame in the BCS is what's good for college football.
That's why, assuming everyone follows the script today, Oregon (10-1) will be the team on the outside of the BCS party looking in when the pairings are announced at 4 p.m. Sunday.
"I know who has the picks," Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said on a conference call Thursday. "I just don't know who's picking us."
According to the BCS selection process, the bowl that loses its anchor team to the national championship game gets to make the first selection. The Rose Bowl is anchored to the Pacific-10 conference. The Fiesta Bowl is anchored to the Big 12.
If Southern California and Texas both play in the Rose, as expected, the Fiesta gets to make the first selection of teams available.
There are good teams out there. But no team can deliver the fans, the excitement and the TV ratings that Notre Dame does.
Now, it's worth mentioning that not everybody is keen on having the Irish in the BCS discussion.
Notre Dame lost to 5-6 Michigan State in overtime, 44-41, back in September.
The Irish also lost a thriller to the top-ranked Trojans, 34-31, on Oct. 15. (That result should have asterisk beside it, because Reggie Bush knowingly violated the rules by shoving Matt Leinart into the end zone.
He wasn't caught by the officials, but we'll see that play ad nauseam come Heisman week.)
It should be noted that Weis' club has not piled up a bunch of victories against college football's elite.
Notre Dame has defeated only three teams with winning records – Michigan (7-4), BYU (6-5) and Navy (6-4).
Meanwhile, Oregon's only loss was against USC, a 45-13 whacking on Sept. 24. Oregon also beat Houston, Montana and Fresno State in nonconference play. That's good enough to get the Ducks into the top 10 of the BCS, but not good enough to trump the Irish's allure.
Sorry, Oregon. Don't be upset about falling to the Holiday Bowl for a date with Oklahoma, your most likely opponent. Pouting didn't help California last year against Texas Tech.
Astute minds remember that there are two at-large BCS selections. Why can't Notre Dame and Oregon both go to BCS games? Ohio State is sitting there at No. 6 in the BCS standings with a 9-2 record.
The Ducks, even with all their Nike money and horrible yellow jerseys, are just not a major college football power. Given the choice between Ohio State or Oregon, bowl executives are going to grab the Buckeyes every time.
Junker may be pulling for No. 2 Texas harder than any Orangeblood today against Colorado. A Buffaloes win means that Gary Barnett's team must play in the Fiesta Bowl, and that would allow Notre Dame to slip to either the Sugar or Orange Bowl.
Notre Dame's in the BCS, no doubt about it. As Weis said, it's only a question of where. It's good for the BCS and good for college football.
So pull out Rudy and polish up those gold helmets. The Fighting Irish are BCS bound come January.
Rules were created so Notre Dame could play in a BCS bowl. However, the Irish have played in only one of the four major bowls since the BCS started in 1998.
Year Record Bowl (Result)
1998 9-3 Gator (Lost to Georgia Tech, 35-28)
1999 5-7 None
2000 9-3 Fiesta (Lost to Oregon State, 41-9)
2001 5-6 None
2002 10-3 Gator (Lost to N.C. State, 28-6)
2003 5-7 None
2004 6-6 Insight (Lost to Oregon State, 38-21)
2005 9-2 TBA
By BRIAN DAVIS / The Dallas Morning News
Numbers crunch :
Some years, we complain a little. Ohio State and Miami were the only two unbeaten teams left in 2002. They met in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and staged a classic. Other years, we gripe a lot. How Nebraska got into the 2001 title game without winning the Big 12 North still seems mind-boggling.
This year, the BCS is facing serious questions about its legitimacy – and the season hasn't even started yet.
BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg seemed convinced that devising a new poll to replace The Associated Press Top 25 was better than blowing the whole thing up and starting over. So now, college football fans can look forward to the Harris Interactive poll, which is made up of 114 former college players, coaches, administrators and media.
The concept behind this new poll seems like a good idea on paper. Ex-college football types who still have an active interest in the game can study up each week and devise a legitimate top 25. After all, BCS officials figure, who knows college football better than those who played the game, right?
"Well, it remains to be seen how it all works out," said Weiberg, who is also the Big 12 commissioner. "But it worked out in a sense that we're able to move forward with the standings in a status-quo way, and I think that's probably a good thing at this point.
"The system has been controversial enough without a lot of additional dramatic changes."
This new poll still will count one-third of the BCS formula, just like the AP poll did. The new poll has transparency; voters must reveal their final ballots Dec. 5. And it will start Sept. 25, long after dozens of games have been played and we have a real idea of who's good and who's not.
But skepticism about the 114-member voting panel cranked up hours after it was released. Some voters seemed too old, others have sketchy ties to college football and others are still playing football.
"To tell the truth, I did not know a couple of them were still alive," former Texas coach John Mackovic wrote in a guest column for The Desert Sun of Palm Springs, Calif. And he's voting in the poll.
Harris poll organizers expect 100 percent participation every week. Harris spokeswoman Nancy Wong could not say if the poll would be delayed if stragglers fail to submit ballots.
"We're confident that we're going to get 114 rankings every Sunday night," Wong said. "We understand that unforeseen circumstances can occur. But in every case, we're prepared to address those."
American Football Coaches Association president Grant Teaff oversees the USA Today coaches' poll, which also counts one-third of the BCS formula. (An average of four computer rankings make up the final one-third.)
Teaff's poll was criticized last year because coaches would not reveal their ballots. That's changed this year, though. Coaches must reveal their final regular-season ballots.
Having run the BCS gantlet himself, Teaff said college football fans should give the Harris poll a chance.
"The proof may be clearly in the pudding," said Teaff, who labeled the panel eclectic. "It may be fraught with problems and criticism, but I think everybody has consciously given it their best effort, and we'll have to see how it plays out."
ESPN drops out of coaches' poll
Thanks to some prodding by BCS officials, Division I-A coaches who vote every week will release their final regular-season ballots. The goal is to give the coaches' poll more transparency – and, in turn, more credibility. That still wasn't good enough for ESPN, which ended its eight-year partnership with USA Today in sponsoring the weekly coaches' poll. ESPN asked that each coach release every ballot all season long, something the American Football Coaches Association wasn't willing to do.
Harris Interactive poll
Total voters :
114
First poll released : Sept. 25
USA Today coaches' poll
Total voters :
62
First poll released : Aug. 5
Average of four computer rankings
Rankings used include Jeff Sagarin, Anderson and Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey and Dr. Peter Wolfe. The highest and lowest scores are disregarded.
Every year, nuances in the BCS rulebook trip up college football fans. Here's a list of things to remember as the season winds toward Dec. 4, the day the final BCS standings are released.
1. All Division I-A teams are eligible for BCS games as long as they have won nine regular-season games. Victories over Division I-AA teams can be counted toward that total. Also, the team must be in the top 12 of the BCS standings. Example: If SMU wins nine games this season and finishes 12th or higher in the BCS standings, the Mustangs would be BCS-eligible.
2. No more than two teams from any conference can play in BCS bowls. Example: Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M cannot all play in the four BCS bowls. Only the top two teams from that conference would be likely to go.
3. Any team from a smaller conference – such as Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, WAC or Sun Belt – that finishes sixth or higher shall automatically qualify for a BCS game. Example: Utah, members of the Mountain West, finished sixth in the final BCS standings last season. The Utes automatically qualified for a BCS bowl, and Tostitos Fiesta Bowl officials chose them to play against Pittsburgh, the Big East champion.
4. If a team from an automatic-qualifying conference (Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Southeastern, Pac-10 and ACC) is ranked third or fourth and is not the conference champion, that team will automatically fill one at-large spot and play in a BCS bowl. Example: Texas finished fourth last season in the BCS standings. But Oklahoma won the Big 12 title. Still, the Longhorns earned an automatic bid to a BCS bowl, in this case the Rose.
5. If two teams from an automatic-qualifying conference finish third and fourth and neither is a conference champion, then only the third-place team gets an automatic qualification. BCS rules state that both teams cannot qualify for this provision. Example: USC and Oklahoma both win their conferences and finish 1-2. Then, California and Texas finish 3-4. Cal would automatically qualify to fill an at-large spot, and UT would be left out.
6. If there are any at-large spots remaining after all previous rules are used, then BCS bowl officials can select any team from among the pool of teams ranked 12th or higher.
IN THE CROWD
Kevin Weiberg, BCS coordinator
The Big 12 commissioner is the public face of the BCS. He's the one who speaks to the media about BCS issues, formula changes and the outcome of the final standings.
Steve Hatchell, National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame president BCS officials pay Hatchell's organization $200,000 to calculate the weekly BCS standings and release them to the public.
Grant Teaff, Executive director of the American Football Coaches Association
The legendary Baylor coach now presides over the AFCA and represents the coaches' interests in BCS meetings.
Tom Hansen, Pac-10 commissioner Hansen was the BCS' most vocal critic among conference commissioners last season when Cal was shut out of the Rose Bowl.
Joe Castiglione, Oklahoma athletic director Castiglione represented the Big 12 during BCS meetings since Weiberg theoretically represents all conferences in BCS matters.
Rick Baker, SBC Cotton Bowl president Baker's management could put the bowl in a good position to join the BCS if the system ever expands.
John Dorger, Rose Bowl executive director Paul Hoolahan, Nokia Sugar Bowl executive director John Junker, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl president Keith Tribble, FedEx Orange Bowl chief executive officer
1998: Tennessee
Formula Componets
Average of the media and coaches' polls
Average of three computer rankings
Strength of schedule rating
Schedule rank, a formula that calculated
win-loss records of a team's opponents and win-loss of a team's opponents'
opponents.
One-point deduction for loss
End result: Tennessee capped its best season in history by beat- ing Florida State, 23-16, in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
Crying foul : Kansas State was BCS-bound until it lost to Texas A&M in the Big 12 championship. The Wildcats fell all the way to the Alamo Bowl.
1999: Florida State
Formula Componets
Average of the media and coaches' polls
Eight computer poll rankings. Lowest
ranking is discarded, and remaining seven rankings are used to calculate average.
Strength
of schedule rating
Schedule rank
One-point deduction for loss
End result: Both human polls and seven of the eight computer rankings have two undefeated teams, Florida State and Virginia Tech, slotted 1-2. Those teams meet in the Nokia Sugar Bowl, and the Seminoles defeat the Michael Vick-led Hokies, 46-29.
2000: Oklahoma
Formula Componets
Average of the media and coaches' polls
Average of seven of eight computer rankings, same as in 1999
Strength of schedule rating
Schedule rank
One-point deduction for loss
End result: Oklahoma and Florida State met in the FedEx Orange Bowl, and the Sooners captured the national championship with a 13-2 victory.
Crying foul: Miami was second in the media and coaches' polls, so many concluded the Hurricanes should have been in the Orange Bowl. But Miami was ranked lower by several computer rankings.
2001: Miami
Formula Componets
Average of the media and coaches' polls
Average of six computer rankings.
Eight are actually used, but highest, lowest totals are disregarded.
Schedule rank
One-point deduction for loss
Quality-win component. Bonus points are awarded for wins over opponents ranked in the BCS top 15.
End result: One season after getting shunned by the BCS, Miami humiliated Nebraska, 37-14, in the Rose Bowl.
Crying foul The computers helped Nebraska reach the title game even though the Huskers failed to win the Big 12 North. Oregon and Colorado believed they had a claim to play Miami.
2002: Ohio State
Formula Componets
Average of the media and coaches' polls
Average of six computer rankings
Seven are actually used, but the lowest
total is disregarded
Schedule rank
One-point deduction for loss
Quality-win component. This season, victories
over opponents ranked in the BCS top 10 are only awarded bonus points.
End result: In perhaps the best BCS championship game yet, Ohio State knocks off Miami, 31-24, in double overtime. Both teams were previously undefeated.
2003: LSU
Average of the media and coaches' polls
Average of six computer rankings. Seven are used, but lowest is thrown
out.
Schedule rank
One-point deduction for loss
Quality-win component, same as 2002
End result: Kansas State shocks Oklahoma in Big 12 championship game, but Sooners advance to Nokia Sugar Bowl because of large margin in standings. LSU defeats OU in BCS championship game.
Crying foul: USC believes it should play LSU in the Sugar Bowl after winning the Pac-10. Media vote USC No. 1 in the final AP poll, creating a split national championship.
2004: Southern Cal
Formula Componets
Associated Press Top 25
ESPN/USA Today coaches' polls
Average of four computer rankings. Six are actually used, but the lowest and highest are disregarded.
End result: In the first year of streamlined BCS standings, USC and Oklahoma finish 1-2 and meet in the FedEx Orange Bowl.
Crying foul: Auburn finishes
the regular season undefeated, and coach Tommy Tuberville complains
that the Tigers should be in the Orange Bowl. Also, Texas slips into the
Rose Bowl after California has a lackluster performance in its
regular-season finale.
By BRIAN DAVIS / The Dallas Morning News
August 25, 2005
Harris Interactive Poll officials spent Thursday scrambling to find new voters for their new college football poll after four potential voters were nixed for various corporate or personal reasons.
And by the end of the day, the number had grown to five.
ESPN announced Wednesday that former coaches Lou Holtz and Gerry DiNardo and former Pittsburgh quarterback John Congemi would not be allowed to participate in the new poll that will count one-third of the Bowl Championship Series formula. All have various roles with the network.
Network spokesman Josh Krulewitz said Thursday that Sam Smith, who works Sun Belt games on ESPN's regional network, was also asked not to participate.
ESPN ended its sponsorship of the coaches poll after last season, citing journalistic reasons. That's the main reason the network is not allowing its announcers to participate now, Krulewitz said.
College GameDay hosts Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit still will vote in The Associated Press Top 25 poll. The AP poll, however, is no longer in the BCS formula.
Jason Rash called BCS officials and asked to withdraw from the Harris poll, spokesman Bob Burda confirmed. As it turned out, Rash did not meet the requirements that a voter be a former player, coach, administrator or a member of the media. Rash's connection is that he is the son-in-law of Troy coach Larry Blakeney.
Nancy Wong, a Harris spokeswoman, said the poll still will have 114 voters. But they will have to solicit names from at least one conference, which she declined to identify, to maintain balance.
It's unclear if the five new voters will address other concerns that have been raised since the initial list was announced Monday.
There are no women on the panel, and the poll has received some criticism for not having enough minority representation. Wong said women were on the initial list of 300 submitted by BCS officials. She could not speak about the number of minority candidates. But all voters were selected at random, Wong said.
Burda said BCS officials were aware of the concerns raised about two other voters. Cleveland radio talk-show host Kenny Roda has pictures of Playboy models on his Web site under the link "hotties." Memphis radio personality George Lapides promotes a gambling Web site on his Web page.
Burda said the BCS has asked the conferences that nominated Roda (Mid-American) and Lapides (Conference USA) to decide whether they should be voters.
By BRIAN DAVIS / The Dallas Morning News
Quick take: Poll a safe play
August 23, 2005
There is safety in numbers, and that's why I think the Harris Interactive poll can be an adequate replacement for The Associated Press poll in this year's BCS.
The names of the 114 voters were released Monday. Many of them are recognizable to people who followed pro football as many as 30 to 40 years ago – E.J. Holub, Pat Richter, Jim Ray Smith, Ed Podolak. Then there are some coaches long removed from the college scene – Eddie Crowder, Earle Bruce, Bill Battle.
Are these gentlemen really going to watch college football 10 to 12 hours on Saturdays to get as accurate a picture as possible of the national scene? Who knows?
And if broadcaster Terry Bradshaw is doing that, he's obviously skipping production meetings and not preparing the way a seven-figure talent should for Fox NFL Sunday.
I wonder, too, if Rocket Ismail's life is so mundane that he will find himself plopped on a couch to watch Oregon State play Cal at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night.
But with so many voters from across the country, the risk of a few participants skewing the rankings is minimized. There are more voters in this poll than there are in the USA Today coaches' poll and in the AP poll.
So that's a good thing. Now get your Tivo ready, Rocket.
By Tim Cowlinshaw/ The Dallas Morning News
August 23, 2005
Panel made up of 114 former players, coaches and administrators
Bowl Championship Series officials believe that creating a new poll made up of former college players, coaches and administrators would be the best way to replace the Associated Press poll.
Fred Jacoby, the 77-year-old former Southwest Conference commissioner, has another view.
"I kidded them a month ago about us being the Has-Beens and Over-The-Hill gang," Jacoby said Monday.
Everyone from 80-year-old retirees to 43-year-old real estate agents will now help determine who plays for college football's national championship.
Even glib NFL announcer Terry Bradshaw is part of the 114-member voting panel that comprises the Harris Interactive poll, which will count one-third of the BCS formula.
Jacoby's still working these days. He's the commissioner of the Lone Star (Division II) and American Southwest (Division III) conferences based in Richardson. But there are plenty of other voters who no longer are actively involved with college sports.
Considering how controversial the BCS has become, it's a wonder they would want to get involved at all.
"Probably stupidity," former Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes said. "I guess your ego gets you a little bit. But I do think it's important, and it's not going to be simple. You've just got to do what your convictions tell you to do and go on down the road."
The first Harris poll will be Sept. 25. Voters are expected to release only their final ballot Dec. 5.
Just don't expect Dykes to sit at home every Saturday watching football from noon to midnight. The 67-year-old said he wants to get out and attend games at Texas, Texas A&M and Tech.
"And I've got a friend who just took a job at McMurry," Dykes said. "We're going to go see him."
Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky nominated former SMU quarterback Lance McIlhenny. The 43-year-old Dallas resident said he watches the highlight shows, same as many fans. But McIlhenny admitted that he knows little about teams such as Virginia Tech or Illinois.
McIlhenny has other concerns, too.
"Any given weekend, if I'm fly fishing, how am I going to make sure that by 1 o'clock on Sunday that this Harris group will have my input?" McIlhenny said. "I guess there will be mess-ups, delays and people who aren't prompt. So that will be an interesting piece of all this."
The 114 voters, who can submit ballots by e-mail, phone or fax, are supposed to represent a statistical cross section of all 11 Division I-A conferences.
Essentially, each conference is represented by 10 people – eight former coaches, players or administrators and two media representatives. Three more voters represent Notre Dame, and the final voter represents all other independents.
BCS spokesman Bob Burda said he would not identify which voters represent which league. But it's rather easy to identify who could represent the Big 12.
Former Texas Tech linebacker E.J. Holub is a voter, as is former Oklahoma defensive lineman Lee Roy Selmon. Jim Ray Smith was an All-American tackle at Baylor from 1952 to 1954. Bob Frederick (Kansas) and Max Urick (Kansas State) are retired athletic directors.
Age apparently was no factor in selecting a voting panel. Former Iowa AD Bump Elliott is 80.
Other names on the list are intriguing for other reasons. How will John Mackovic vote for Texas, the school that fired him after the 1997 season? Chuck Neinas runs his own consulting firm that helps hire college coaches all over the country, so how will he vote?
Others are just flat out odd. Bradshaw, the former Louisiana Tech quarterback, spends his Saturdays getting ready for CBS's NFL Sunday pregame show. Brentson Buckner is still playing with the NFL's Carolina Panthers.
Boomer Esiason, Anthony Munoz and Steve Largent are well known for their NFL exploits. Yet, they haven't been associated with college football in years.
"When you really think about it, I'm just one part of 114. Then, that's part of one-third," Jacoby said. "I guess it was somewhat of an honor to even be asked."
The 114 former players, coaches and administrators, and media members who will vote in the Harris Interactive College Football Poll (with affiliation if available):
Bobby Aillet, Louisiana Tech player
Gene Bartow, UAB athletic director
Bill
Battle, Tennessee coach
Dick Bestwick, Virginia coach
Joe Biddle, media
Blaine Bishop, Ball State player
Kim Bokamper, San Jose State player
Terry Bradshaw, Louisiana Tech player
Wilt Browning, media
Earle Bruce, Ohio State coach
Brentson Buckner, Clemson player
Bob Casciola, former president of the National
Football Foundation College Hall of Fame
Charlie Cavagnaro, UNLV, Memphis athletic
director
John Congemi, Pittsburgh player
Jake Crouthamel, Syracuse athletic director
Eddie Crowder, Colorado coach and
athletic director
Peter Dalis, UCLA athletic director
Charles Davis, media
Pete Dawkins, Army player
Gerry DiNardo, Indiana coach
Boots Donnelly, Middle Tennessee athletic director
Bill Dooley, North Carolina,
Virginia Tech coach
Kevin Duhe, Louisiana-Monroe player
Spike Dykes, Texas Tech coach
Bump Elliott, Michigan, Iowa coach
Bert Emanuel, Rice player
Boomer Esiason, Maryland player
Don Fambrough, Kansas coach
Foge Fazio, Pittsburgh coach
Bob Frederick, Kansas, Utah athletic director
Andy Geiger, Ohio State athletic
director
David Glazier, current senior V.P. Detroit Lions
Jim Grabowski, Illinois player
Mike Grace, media
Bob Grim, Oregon State player
Pat Haden, USC player
Dick Harmon, media
Bob Hammel, media
Tommy Hicks, media
Clarkston Hines, Duke player
Lou Holtz, South Carolina, Notre Dame coach
E.J. Holub, Texas Tech player
David Housel, Auburn athletic director
Rocket Ismail, Notre Dame player
Fred Jacoby, former Southwest Conference commissioner
Charley Johnson, New
Mexico State player
Blair Kerkhoff, media
Mike Kern, media
Roy Kramer, SEC commissioner
Larry Lacewell, Arkansas State coach and athletic
director
Dave Lapham, Syracuse player
George Lapides, media
Steve Largent, Tulsa player
Robert Lawless, Tulsa and Kansas president
Jack Lengyel, Navy, Missouri, Fresno
State athletic director
Jim Lessig, MAC commissioner
Ferd Lewis, media
Ted Lewis, media
Mike Lucas, media
Mike Lude, Washington, Auburn athletic director
Tom Luicci, media
John Mackovic, Arizona coach
Don Maynard, UT-El Paso player
Don McCauley, North Carolina player
Joe McConnell, media
Mike McGee, South Carolina athletic director
Lance McIlhenny, SMU player
Ray Melick, media
Ted Miller, media
Darrell Moody, N.C. State player
Jim Morse, Notre Dame player
Craig Morton, California player
Jack Moss, media
Anthony Munoz, USC player
Chuck Neinas, former Big 8 commissioner
Tim Neverett, media
Dave Newhouse, media
George, Perles, Michigan St. coach
Ed Podolak, Iowa player
John Pont, Indiana, Purdue coach
Steve Preece, Oregon State player
Jason Rash
Homer Rice, Georgia Tech athletic director
Pat Richter, Wisconsin athletic director
Paul Roach, Wyoming coach
Kenny Roda, media
Lou St. Amant
Harvey Schiller, SEC commissioner
Dr. Terry Schmidt, Ball State player
Dick Schultz, Virginia athletic director;
executive director of NCAA
Lee Roy Selmon, Oklahoma player
Dick Sheridan, Furman, N.C. State coach
Ken Shipp
Irwin Smallwood, media
Jim Ray Smith, Baylor player
Larry Smith, Missouri coach
Sam Smith, media
Gary Spani, Kansas State coach
Ron Stephenson, former player
Nelson Stokley, La.-Lafayette, coach and AD
Jim Sweeney, Fresno State coach
Rick Taylor, Northwestern, Cincinnati athletic
director
Whit Taylor, Vanderbilt player
Jack Thompson, Washintgon St. player
John Toner, Connecticut athletic director
Steve Townsend, LSU sports information
director
Glenn Tuckett, BYU athletic director
Max Urick, Iowa State, Kansas State athletic
director
Roger Valdiserri, Notre Dame sports information director
Bob Wagner, Hawaii
coach
Frank Weedon, N.C. State sports information director
Frank Windegger, TCU player,
coach and athletic director
Bill Yeoman, Houston coach
Hugh Yoshida, Hawaii athletic director
By BRIAN DAVIS / The Dallas Morning News
Angry Auburn coach can't bite bullet anymore
Tuberville bashes BCS because 13-0 Auburn didn't get a shot at title
July 29, 2005
HOOVER, Ala. – Six months after it was unbeaten and underappreciated, Auburn represents the flaws in the Bowl Championship Series. The Tigers proved a team could be 12-0 and play in a power conference and not get a chance to play for the national championship.
The promise of more BCS transparency won't fix an imperfect system, coach Tommy Tuberville said Thursday at the Southeastern Conference preseason media gathering.
"Nothing has been done to solve the problem," Tuberville said. "We have used a Band-Aid. You can have all the voting polls you want. Popular vote is not the way you have a national champion. You need to play it on the field. ... It is the system we have, it's the only one we have, but we can do a lot better."
Tuberville took the high road last season and didn't openly campaign to poll voters. He said a move to a playoff system must be generated by fans and the media.
That won't heal old wounds.
"If you sit in our football team's seat, it will make you pretty mad and make you disgusted with how it all went on," Tuberville said. "Nobody is at fault other than the group of people that have the opportunity to change the rules."
Auburn lost four first-round NFL draft picks, including two running backs (Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams) who were taken in the top five. Although Tuberville said this season's team has even more talent, the Tigers aren't generating much buzz after finishing 13-0 with a Sugar Bowl win.
"We'll be the underdog," said 6-9, 337-pound offensive tackle Marcus McNeill. "Everybody likes the underdog. Nobody wants to shoot the underdog. It's like, 'Come on, Old Yeller.' "
But Old Yeller got shot, someone noted. "We're not going to use that in our analogy," McNeill said.
President and CEO: Coach Sylvester Croom has a new role planned for running back Jerious Norwood – besides being Mississippi State's best player.
Croom would like Norwood to turn salesman after seeing him rush for 1,050 yards and seven touchdowns last season.
"Right now, you are the president of Jerious Norwood Incorporated," Croom said, recalling his advice. "Take every advantage of the media attention."
Georgia's test: Georgia's attempt for a soft opener backfired.
The Bulldogs, who lost All-America defensive end David Pollack and star quarterback David Greene, get Boise State in their first game. Boise State has won 22 of its last 23 games.
"When we brought them on the schedule, most of our fans were like, 'Who is Boise State? Are they a Division I team?' " Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "But I think it is going to force our players to be even more excited about the first game and force them to be even more prepared. There will be no chance of any complacency."
By CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News
July 12, 2005
The BCS, created to crown a college football champion, has in turn created its own poll to replace The Associated Press poll in its rankings formula.
A hand-picked group of 114 former players, coaches, administrators and media will now constitute the Harris Interactive College Football Poll, conducted by the famed Harris polling service.
The Associated Press pulled out of the BCS formula after last season when Southern California, Oklahoma, Auburn and Utah finished the regular season undefeated.
The new poll will count one-third in the formula and will be weighted equally with the USA Today coaches' poll and the average of six computer rankings.
However, the new Harris Interactive poll won't be as transparent as the AP poll, whose members release their ballots each week. Only the final ballots at the end of the regular season will be revealed.
This matches the coaches' poll, which will reveal its final regular-season ballots for the first time this season.
"We felt it was important to have consistency in the two human polls," BCS coordinator and Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said. "To make them public throughout the season would mean each week would focus on who voted for whom and would detract from the games themselves."
Also, in keeping with the desire of the BCS to eliminate preseason polls, the Harris poll will not be conducted until Sept. 25, several weeks into the season. The first BCS rankings will be revealed Oct. 17.
One of the criticisms of last year's process was that Auburn had no chance to catch USC and Oklahoma because it started much lower in the preseason polls. USC and Oklahoma played for the BCS national title in FedEx Orange Bowl. Auburn played in the Nokia Sugar Bowl.
The coaches will still have a preseason poll that continues throughout the season.
"I think the coaches association felt very strongly that their poll, which they've had for years and years and always had a preseason component, was one that served as a significant promotion for college football leading into the season," Weiberg said.
Exactly who will be voting in the new Harris poll won't be revealed until the final voting panel is set.
More than 300 potential voters, nominated by the different conference offices, have been contacted. Harris Interactive officials said more than 80 have responded positively and are confident the goal of 114 will be reached.
The 114-member voting group is nearly double the 61 voting members of the coaches' poll and the 65 in the AP poll.
The voters will represent the 11 Division I-A conferences and will be proportional to the conferences that qualify automatically for BCS bowls, such as the Big 12, and those that don't. Media members will account for 20 percent of the group.
"Each conference has equal representation," Harris senior research scientist and director Renee Smith said. "We didn't want to make any assumptions about conference strength, because that's what we're trying to measure."
The BCS was designed to bring consensus to the various polls and rankings systems that often disagreed on a national champion. By creating another, wholly separate poll, the BCS has added yet another voice to the ongoing argument.
"I have complete faith in Kevin Weiberg and all of the other decision-makers who have researched the system," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said in a statement. "I still believe what we have now is better than what existed prior to the BCS."
What's new: The Harris Interactive College Football Poll will replace The Associated Press poll in the BCS formula that determines who plays in the national championship game.
What's old: The formula will stay the same with the USA Today coaches' poll, the Harris Interactive poll and the average of six computer rankings each counting one-third.
Who's in? Voters in the new Harris Interactive poll will not be revealed until the final group is selected. It will be made up of former coaches, players, administrators and media.
The details: Like the coaches' poll, the final ballots of the Harris Interactive poll will be revealed at the end of the regular season. Unlike the AP poll, weekly regular-season ballots will not be revealed, although individual voters have the option to release their votes.
Also, the first Harris Interactive poll will not be released until Sept. 25, after several weeks of the season. Both the AP and the coaches release weekly polls starting with a preseason Top 25.
By KEITH WHITMIRE / The Dallas Morning News
Harris survey ought to help get selection process right
July 11, 2005
Another college football poll, shrouded in secrecy, is headed your way this fall. And, to be truthful, that's a good thing.
The folks whose miserable lot in life it is to run the Bowl Championship Series announced that the Harris Interactive Poll would join the USA Today coaches poll in this year's BCS equation with the computer rankings again comprising the third component.
The BCS people, headed by Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg, were forced to find a new poll to replace the Associated Press poll after the writers decided they needed to get out of the business of determining which schools get to cash seven-figure paychecks at the end of the season.
There are some little things you can quibble with as to the validity of any poll, and that's the case again here. In a national teleconference, someone raised a pretty good question as to why there are 114 voters (almost matching the 119 Division I-A schools) and yet Notre Dame had three nominees.
If I tried to repeat the answer supplied by Renee Smith, a Ph.D. who is a senior research scientist for Harris, you would go blind in about three paragraphs.
But by and large, a poll made up of 80 percent former college players, coaches and administrators and 20 percent current media members is going to get it right. In fact, that's what the polls did last year, even if nobody wanted to believe it.
Now when three teams from powerful conferences finish undefeated, you're always going to have an issue. That's going to be the year – and it happens about one out of 20 – in which those who scream for a playoff are probably right.
That's the only time they are right, though. And it wasn't really Auburn's failure to squeeze into the national title game that caused all the ruckus and necessitated the BCS changes.
That came about because Texas passed California in the final poll at the end of the regular season to leap its way into the Rose Bowl. The Golden Bears, Rose-less for more than 40 years, were sent to the Holiday Bowl, where they stunk up the joint against Texas Tech.
But voters, and I mean both writers and coaches, had every right to make that assessment after Cal barely beat Southern Miss in its final game of the season.
So I think this new poll will do about as good a job as the AP poll did, and it's also fitting and proper that the individual votes won't be released until the end of the year.
There's no reason to have weekly second-guessing of all these voters, same with the coaches. If that's going to be the case, everyone just has to try to vote the same way everyone else does rather than producing an honest assessment of teams' strengths and weaknesses.
As long as the majority of the people think an eight-team or 16-team playoff would cure all of Division I-A's ills (it wouldn't), the BCS will always be the butt of jokes.
They could do a lot to correct that just by making certain that teams that lose conference championships are ineligible for the BCS title game. That would have kept out Nebraska when the Cornhuskers didn't deserve to go to the Rose Bowl. That would have kept out Oklahoma when the Sooners didn't deserve to go to the Sugar Bowl.
One of the main reasons I remain against a Division I-A playoff is that winning conference titles should stand for something. That should be a team's goal at the start of the season. The other stuff is out of their control.
It would be nice if we could have one sport where we didn't choose one winner and 118 losers at the end of a season.
The BCS would get it right almost every time if it would just mandate that only conference winners, or perhaps an undefeated Notre Dame team, could play in the championship game.
The new Harris Poll won't be without controversy, but with a large sample of voters, the impact of regional bias should be eliminated. And each team will have played at least two games by the time the Harris group releases its first poll on Sept. 25 – another good idea.
The folks who run the BCS have a lot of good ideas. Because of one flaw in the system and the incorrect sentiment that a playoff is both workable and fair and wouldn't detract from the regular season, the BCS will never get any credit.
Tim Cowlishaw is a sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News.
ESPN pulls out of coaches' poll, BCS formula
Network doesn't want its name on rankings unless all ballots public
June 8, 2005
ESPN withdrew from the college football coaches' poll Tuesday, the second major news organization to say it didn't want to be a part of the Bowl Championship Series' weekly rankings.
The cable sports network said it no longer wanted its name attached to the rankings unless all ballots were made public, not just the final ones. USA Today will continue running the poll, which helps determine who plays for the national championship.
In December, The Associated Press told the BCS to stop using its media poll in its weekly formula.
"Coaches have the perfect right to conduct their voting the way they see fit," said Vince Doria, ESPN's vice president and director of news. "We just feel, in our best interests here, we couldn't reconcile having our name on the poll and being able to cover any controversy that might arise."
Unlike the AP voters, the coaches' ballots have always been secret. ESPN asked this year that they be public, but the coaches agreed only for the final regular-season poll. Doria said ESPN wanted it for the entire year.
"We just felt that to be as ethical as we possibly could in this situation, that's what we needed to do," Doria said. "This wasn't a case of us questioning the ethics of the coaches or the validity of the voting. These things tend to create controversy. When there is some vetting to be done, it needs to be done thoroughly and we didn't feel it could be done."
Doria said ESPN notified USA Today and the coaches' association of its decision, but not the BCS.
"There will still be a coaches' poll, and it will be used by the BCS, but we don't have a comment on ESPN's decision," said Bob Burda, spokesman for BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg.
The AP poll and the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll had been the major components of the BCS rankings.
However, the AP said such use was never sanctioned and had reached the point where it threatened to undermine the independence and integrity of its poll. ESPN had sponsored the coaches' poll with USA Today since 1997.
Doria said the network became uncomfortable last season, when California lost a shot at a major bowl after dropping in the final coaches' poll, causing a public outcry and debate among fans.
Associated Press
2007
BCS Final Ranking
BCS National Championship Game
BCS-Bowl Championship Series
BCS Formula
Change - July 11, 2005 - Official Announdement - pdf
Harris Interactive poll - August 22, 2005 - Official Announdement - pdf
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