Monday-morning quarterbacking the polls

We finally get to see who voted for whom in the polls that determine the BCS rankings.

I'm not going to slander/libel/whatever Larry Keech, but this man (apparently a former staff writer for the Greensboro, N.C., News & Record) needs to give up his Harris vote.

Here's his ballot. How is he wrong? Let me count the ways...
No. 1: Utah (here's the man who's been consternating me for weeks!)
No. 2: Boise State (better than Florida, huh?)
No. 5: Florida (see above)
No. 10: Ball State (the MAC runner-up, which lost to Buffalo?)
No. 18: Rice (really? above both teams who played in the C-USA championship?)
No. 20: Georgia Tech (ACC, represented at last!)
No. 23: Western Michigan (man with a thing for the MAC)
No. 24: East Carolina (uuuhhhh....)
No. 25: Tulsa (uuummmmm....)

Not the first time Keech has caused a stir -- see 2006. And there's already an "Official take away Larry Keech's vote" thread on Rivals.

In 2006, he explained himself this way:

"I try to minimize the subjectivity as much as possible therefore I went with teams that lost zero games at the top and then those that lost one game. And then I rank those that lost one higher if they lost to a team that was ranked higher at the time."

Which is absolutely, completely ridiculous. And stupid, lazy and dropping the ball.

Over at USA Today, we see what the coaches made of this season. (Great Flash graphic, by the way.) A little wackiness,, but the coaches seem to for the most part take their job seriously.

Highlights:
Rick Neuheisel doesn't think much of Oklahoma (No. 4)
Howard Schnellenberger says Utah (No. 7) is ranked above USC (No. 8)
Gary Pinkel isn't excited by BCS busters (Utah, Boise State and TCU at 15-16-17)
Mike Leach loves him some Texas Tech (No. 2) but not so much Texas (No. 5). Not a surprise.

Just a thought: Harris makes my head spin

Sifting through this weekend's polls, I'm left choking on one little detail.

No, not the Big 12 mess. I have a beef with the Harris Interactive Poll. More specifically, with one Harris Interactive voter. The one who, it seems, week in and week out has insisted that Utah is the No. 1 team in the country.

Utah better than Alabama. Than Oklahoma. Texas. Florida. Sure, the Utes are undefeated, but what kind of homer (there's obvious bias there, no?) could say that they are the top team in the country?

This is an outrage, people. I demand a recount, and I demand that Harris release the ballots so we can expose this voter for the fool he or she is. And I'm not the only one. Let's dump this joke of a poll.

Scoping out the BCS

Two weeks till the first actual BCS rankings.

Top from each major conference:
ACC -- Virginia Tech (No. 18 in all)
Big East -- South Florida (No. 19 twice, plus No. 20)
Big 10 -- Penn State (still No. 6 in all)
Big 12 -- Oklahoma (still No. 1 in all)
Pac 10 -- USC (No. 8 twice, plus No. 9)
SEC -- LSU (No. 2, 3 and 4)

As you can see, just one change with the conference leaders, LSU barely edging out Alabama. (The Tide is still ahead in the AP poll, coming in at No. 2. I give LSU the edge because they're ahead in both the USA Today and Harris polls.)

With Oklahoma and LSU in an if-it-were-today BCS championship, Mizzou and Alabama are almost certain to get in. (Weird provision here, but right now they're Nos. 3 and 4.)

Non-majors: The Mountain West's BYU continues to break the Top 12, taking another automatic bid. Boise State (WAC) is still potentially in the running, with two No. 15 and a No. 16 ranking.

Speaking of rank, you gotta love how the ACC and the Big East are stinking up the place. The Hokies and the Bulls could end up forcing this year's BCS selection team have to dig deep in the polls.

At-large: Texas, Texas Tech, Georgia, Ohio State and Florida are all still in the running. Much to change after this weekend's Red River matchup, the LSU-Florida game and Oklahoma State-Missouri.

Going over the selection rules again, I think I misread the at-large eligibility provisions last week. (This phrase escaped me: No more than two teams from a conference may be selected, regardless of whether they are automatic qualifiers or at-large selections). So I suppose that would allow Ohio State to get another BCS bid. Ugh.

One side note: I hereby promise to refrain from bashing Mizzou. The Tigers are pretty damn good. I reserve the right to resume knocking them if and when they begin to lose.

If they were played today:
(Automatic bids are not labeled; guessed placements are marked as such.)
BCS Championship: Oklahoma-LSU. Tough one to call, but I still give the Sooners an edge.
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech-South Florida (guess). Worst of the BCS automatic bids. Hokies win.
Sugar Bowl: Ohio State (guess)-Alabama (guess). Yet again, Ohio State loses a BCS game.
Fiesta Bowl: Missouri (guess)-BYU (guess). Lots of points.
Rose Bowl: USC-Penn State. Still not a chance for the Lions.

Scoping out the BCS

We still have a few weeks before the first BCS rankings come out (Oct. 19 is the first day), but let's take an initial look. Using the USA Today, AP and Harris Interactive polls, here's what we've got.

Top from each major conference:
ACC -- Virginia Tech (No. 20, 22, 24)
Big East -- South Florida (No. 10 twice, plus No. 12)
Big 10 -- Penn State (No. 6 in all)
Big 12 -- Oklahoma (No. 1 in all)
Pac 10 -- USC (No. 9 in all)
SEC -- Alabama (No. 2 twice, plus No. 3)

So Oklahoma and Alabama would be in the BCS Championship. Which means the big conferences have these entries: Virginia Tech, South Florida, Penn State, Oklahoma, USC and Alabama, plus Missouri (replaces Oklahoma in Fiesta Bowl) and LSU (replaces Alabama in the Sugar Bowl).

Other automatic qualifiers start to use the less-known rules. BYU becomes automatic (Mountain West champion, in the Top 12 at No. 7/8/9). Boise State (No. 17 and No. 18 twice) would be on the line as the WAC leader -- if it can break the Top 16 and Virginia Tech remains ranked lower. But no more than one non-major schools can get an automatic berth.

So now we've got nine automatic. And Texas battles it out with Texas Tech, Georgia, Ohio State and Florida for the remaining at-large berth.

If they were played today (brain dead version):
(Automatic bids are not labeled; guesses are marked as such.)
BCS Championship: Oklahoma-Alabama. Pretty good game, but a little too much crimson.
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech-Boise State (guess). Broncos beat Hokies.
Sugar Bowl: Missouri (guess)-LSU (guess). Missouri overmatched against essentially a home team.
Fiesta Bowl: Texas (guess)-South Florida (guess). Texas destroys a weak Big East champ.
Rose Bowl: USC-Penn State. USC once again thumps the Big 10.

This all changes, of course, as conference play begins and Missou starts losing, Oklahoma and Texas duke it out, Alabama and LSU each lose a game and BYU tries to hang on. And there's no telling what the computers will come up with.

If they were played today (UPDATED/CORRECTED version):
(Automatic bids are not labeled; guesses are marked as such.)
BCS Championship: Oklahoma-Alabama. Pretty good game, but a little too much crimson.
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech-South Florida (guess). Tough to call, but I'd say the Hokies man up and take it.
Sugar Bowl: Missouri (guess)-LSU (guess). Missouri overmatched against essentially a home team.
Fiesta Bowl: Texas (guess)-BYU (guess). Lots of offense.
Rose Bowl: USC-Penn State. USC once again thumps the Big 10.