College Football Polls (Again)

8-10-99
Well, here we are facing a new year of college football. Oh boy. Of course I'm excited...they renovated our stadium, and for the first time in 6 years I'm not in marching band so I actually get to watch the game in something other than a hot wool uniform. But that is not the point of this page, now is it? No, it's not. This is where I rant on and on about how the polls are biased, K-State is getting screwed, and so on and so forth. But it's still August, and only a couple of preseason polls are out so far. And if you ask me, the preseason polls are ridiculous anyway. Example? you say. Well, USA Today/ESPN has Florida State at #1...but they do that almost every preseason. And while it's nice to see 5 Big 12 teams in the top 25, where is KSU? 19th, behind 3 teams they beat last year (Nebraska 6th, Texas 16th, and Colorado 17th) and one they should have beaten (Texas A&M 8th). Okay, so how did a team that won 11 games last season go from top 5 to top 20?

"You lost your last 2 games." -- fair enough

"No more Michael Bishop." -- Last I checked, one man did not make a team.

"Nebraska has tradition and a lot of players that missed last year back" -- True, but that would be both a plus and a minus I should think.

"Texas was good last year, and Colorado is coming back." -- I don't think Major Applewhite can run that team quite as well without Ricky Williams, and as for Colorado, we'll just have to wait and see.

"K-State will be playing in Lincoln and College Station." -- A. We've done it before, and B. it will just be a true test of the staying power of the Wildcats. Don't forget that Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri all have to come to Manhattan.

"KSU couldn't beat Texas A&M last year, what makes you think they can this year?" -- Easy...no pressure. I think a little crow was good for Bishop last year.

Okay, enough analyzing for me...I don't think sports journalism was ever going to be in my future anyway. So with that, I'll leave the links to all the BCS factors (they added 5 more computer rankings) so we can watch how now the fate of college football falls into the the hands of 10 people/groups instead of just 5 like last year. Actually, this could be good. It means that even if the Seattle Times ranks UCLA first all season, it won't have as much effect on the overall scores. No, I'm not bitter about that at all. Until next time, enjoy the start of school and happy football season!

8-24-99
Since my last posting above, I have found out that I am a year ahead of myself in the conference schedule. Which means that we won't be playing Texas A&M this year, unless it's in the championship. However, I do have a copy of our schedule for all to enjoy.

Sep. 11 Temple (6:10pm)
Sep. 18 Texas El-Paso (6:10pm)
Sep. 25 @Iowa State (TBA)
Oct. 2 @Texas (TBA)
Oct. 9 Kansas (1:10pm)
Oct. 16 Utah State (1:10pm)
Oct. 23 @Oklahome State (TBA)
Oct. 30 Baylor (1:10pm)
Nov. 6 Colorado (1:10pm)
Nov. 13 @Nebraska (TBA)
Nov. 20 Missouri (1:10pm)

Of course, all times are subject to change at the whim of TV programming.

10-13-99
Well, we're 5 weeks into the season, and K-State is in the Top 10 in both polls...not too shabby! Again, I will try to get some time into updating the links and keeping the BCS postings up. And as for last weekend, I just have one thing to say: "Rock, squawk, chickenhawk, F*** KU!" (The polite version!)

11-5-99
Well, we're in the "let's see if they're for real now" stretch of the schedule. We're 8-0, we play Colorado at home tomorrow, and then go to Lincoln next week. If we pull that out, then we'll be in the Big 12 Championship again...which most likely would be against Texas. And everyone is saying it won't be as easy the second time around. We'll see. First we have to win at Nebraska anyway. And as for the polls? Of course we're still getting screwed, but that's nothing new. 6th in both AP and Coaches poll, and dropped from 5th to 6th in BCS after trouncing Baylor. What about our cream puff non-conference schedule, you say? Of our 5 home games, we've won all of them by more than 40 points, save one. And who was the worthy foe? Not Kansas, or Baylor, but UTEP...one of our "cream puff" non-conference games. If you ask me, Texas-El Paso (and Utah State, for that matter) could beat KU or Baylor on any given day, except the day KU almost held Nebraska. None the less, if Florida State and Penn State win out, we're pretty much out of the championship picture. Not that I'd be horribly upset...I wouldn't mind returning to Phoenix either. And I hear Pasedena is nice this time of year...(and I'll get on those poll links soon, I promise)

11-7-99
All I have to say is thank you Minnesota. And to Virginia Tech, be careful, or you could end up in the Alamo Bowl.... And in Big 12 news, I guess Kansas proved they're not the worst team in the conference anymore. Now if Iowa State plays Baylor, all will be settled.

The Polls
Associated Press Top 25 (from Yahoo!)
USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Top 25

The Computer Rankings (they're all working now!)
The New York Times
Jeff Sagarin
The Seattle Times
Richard Billingsley (you'll have to click on the week you want)
Dunkel Index
Kenneth Massey
David Rothman
Matthews/Scripps-Howard

Some other friendly college football sites
ABC Sports College Football
Yahoo! College Football
Ken Massey's Polls Comparison (it compares ALL the published college football polls, including BCS)
My tirade from last season - The evolution of my BCS (and Pac-10) abhorrance

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