(This is a guest series by MotSaG reader Jason Nafziger. He’ll be taking a weekly look at the college football polls and pointing out the absurd, the laughable and the head scratchers. Please note that Jason is not talking about the BlogPoll. Or my ballot to the BlogPoll.)
Yeah, that happened. The season has officially begun as the preseason #1 has been taken out, execution-style, by an afterthought of a team coached by a former legend who by all accounts would rather be golfing. Also officially beginning this week is the Harris Interactive Poll, the other poll that actually means something in the BCS formula and the one that insists its better to wait and see teams in action before judging where they stand. A noble and logical approach, to be sure, and one that certainly results in at least a couple major differences from the weekly preseason adjustment method the Coaches’ Poll uses, right?
Well…
Here is what waiting six weeks to make an “informed†decision gets you: Four variations between the two polls, each of which is merely a one-spot swap of two teams (Nebraska and TCU share the #4 and #5 slots, etc.) Hoo boy! Good thing you spent all that time collecting and poring over data, eh? I bet those coaches feel like a bunch of mountain rubes now!
1. Ohio State
2. Oregon
3. Boise State
Both polls agree on the top three and if they all win out, only Boise is in real danger of getting jumped, should Nebraska or Oklahoma also go unbeaten. Things are shaping up for another messy situation for the BCS, which probably means the exact opposite will happen. A rematch of last year’s Rose Bowl would make an interesting title game and I know you’re all starving for another helping of Boise/TCU.
4. Nebraska
5. TCU
6. Oklahoma
Two mid-majors ranked before a single SEC team? Goodbye, Tebow, indeed.
7. Auburn
8. Alabama
9. LSU
Oh good, there they are! I was getting worried! Do you ever get the feeling that the voters use SEC teams like masonry mortar?
10. Utah
For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 30% Mid-Major, 30% SEC, 20% Big 12, 20% Teams That Will Play For The Title and not a single ACC or Big East team in the Top 10 (Florida State wanders in at #17, West Virginia at #25).
Next Week: Actual BCS Standings! There is some concern over certain prognosticators’ claims that our Buckeyes would be around #5 in the BCS right now. I don’t buy it, and I’m pretty confident that if Ohio State pulls out the win this weekend, they will be the BCS #1 come Monday.
Doesn’t it always? We’ve been saying for years “this is the year the BCS falls apart! There’s going to be 5 undefeated teams!”
Then 2007 happens and well let’s not talk about that.
I think by now we need to all accept that nothing that happens on the field is going to kill the BCS. And why should it? The BCS is barely concerned with what happens on the field anyway.