College Football Polls

This is the time of year when almost every male college student starts watching the polls to see which bowl game their college football team is going to, and I am no exception.  But, seeing as my college is Kansas State, you can understand my frustration (I hope) with the BCS poll, which could cause an undefeated team playing in a game that is not for the national championship.

Now, I'll agree that strength of schedule hurt us in the beginning of the year, but those games have been contracted for at least 10 years, a time when we were 0-11 instead of 11-0.  But did we not soundly defeat Texas the third week, the same Texas that beat Nebraska and Texas A&M?  And while I might agree that the Pac-10 has a few good teams, they are hardly the toughest conference.  The Big 12 has at least 4 teams in the top 25 every week, sometimes even 6 or 7 teams.  We'll be sending more than half of the conference to bowl games this year.  But I guess perennial (and traditional) powerhouses like Nebraska, Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, and so forth just aren't as good as USC or Oregon.

In my opinion (yes, I'm bitching, but I can do that when I write the page) the AP writers are coastally biased.  They're looking for SEC/ACC vs. Pac-10 battle for champion.  What about last year?  Well, Nebraska and Michigan both showed dominance over these conferences, but God forbid just one of them be champion.  Still don't believe me?  Look at the BCS formulation.  For the computer rankings there's some stupid 50% deviation rule that keeps one poll from greatly affecting the average with the other two.  The only team affected by this, of course, is UCLA.  That's because the New York Times has kept them around 4 or 5, where the belong, while the (delusional) Seattle Times has had them ranked 1st almost all season.  Tell me this idea wasn't cooked up by the same people who tried getting UCLA into the Fiesta Bowl last year by pushing them up higher in the polls, while K-State would lose ground while winning.

Think I'm nuts?  Check it all out for yourself.
 AP Poll
 Coaches Poll
 Sagarin's Power Ratings
 New York Times
 Seattle Times

Just to prove I'm not insane or egotistical, check out this site.
 College Football Ranking Comparison
And if you're interested, this is my computation of the BCS poll since it's beginning.
 BCS Rankings

--12/5&6/98
DAMN!!!!!

--12/15/98
Okay, I suppose since K-State lost the Big 12 Championship that the rant really doesn't mean much anymore...but if Florida State beats Tennessee, I'll be prepared to go on and on if we get pissed on again.

--1/10/99
Well, the only thing I want to know is where the hell was our offensive line? Did they trade with the guys from KU or what? Oh well, someday, maybe we'll play like we're supposed to. And no, I'm not going to make any excuses about basketball...yet.