Week 11 WORST Voter --Scott Wolf was our DIS-honorable mention from Week 9. It took two weeks of hard work, but he finally made it to the top of the list. Here are the highlights from his week 11 ballot, which has more scarlet than a Nebraska - Rutgers game:
1) Uniquely Wolf: He gives Texas their highest ranking at #7 and Kansas its lowest at #9. Aside from the fact that Wolf is the extreme in both cases, the placement in regards to each other is strange. Forget that Texas has two losses to Kansas' zero losses for a moment. These teams have had three common opponents: Baylor, Nebraska and Kansas State. Texas lost to K-State. Kansas won. Texas beat Baylor 31 - 10. Kansas beat them 58 - 10. Texas beat Nebraska 28 - 25. Kansas beat them 76 - 39. Pollspeak is unsure how Wolf could think Texas should be ranked higher than Kansas at this point in the season.
2) Wolf also gave Kentucky its highest ranking at #14, Florida its highest ranking at #11, and Oklahoma its highest ranking at #2. Pollspeak is not saying that these teams are unworthy of the rankings; however, it isn't a good sign when your champion has a pattern of multiple extreme picks.
3) Aside from Kansas, he also gives Oregon its lowest ranking at #5, Connecticut its second lowest at #25 (only our DIS-Honorable mention is lower), and is only one of six voters to leave Clemson off the ballot completely. Also noteworthy, he is only one of three to not rank Clemson, but who does rank Florida State (a team with a worse record that Clemson beat).
There are other items that could be pointed out, but these are the highlights. We'll let you discuss the rest on our FORUMS.
Week 11 DIS-honorable Mention --It was a close call between Morrison and Wolf this week. In the end, Morrison took second place. Highlights from his week 11 Ballot include:
1) Morrison does not rank Connecticut. He is the only voter to not rank the Huskies. UConn is a team that really polarizes the nation, with a highest ranking of #8 vs. Morrison's snub. This is similar to Virginia Tech with the same spread (#8 - unranked). However, the worst is Hawaii (#6 - unranked). Details about these appear in the Quick Hits section below.
2) Like Wolf, Morrison is one of only three voters to rank Florida State, but not to rank Wake Forest or Clemson (teams with the same/better record and a victory over FSU).
3) Morrison is the only voter to rank South Carolina at all -- and at #20. This is over Arkansas, who has a better record and just beat the Gamecocks.
4) He also gives Tennessee its highest ranking at #12, which is higher than the three teams with the same record that beat the Volunteers: Alabama, Florida and California. You could certainly make a case for one or two of these being lower, but dropping all three seems drastic.
There are other items that could be pointed out, but these are the highlights. We'll let you discuss the rest on our FORUMS.
Computer Round-Up (posted 11/7/07)Computer Round-Up is a quick look at the computer polls; particularly where they disagree with the human polls or with each other.
1) The computers like Arizona State a bit more than the voters do. The Sun Devils are #9 in all three human polls. They are #4 in Anderson Hester, #6 in Sagarin and #5 in all other computer polls. The difference is most likely due to ASU's very recent loss (last week) to Oregon. Voters tend to put more weight on recent losses compared to computers.
2) The Hawaii watch remains the same. Only one computer thinks Hawaii is a top 25 team. Wolfe still rates them best at #15. The next best rankings are Anderson Hester and Billingsley at #33. Colley has them unranked, and Massey has them at #54. While Hawaii is still solid in the Harris Interactive Poll (#10) and Coaches' (#12), the Warriors seem to have hit a peak in the AP (#14). In the AP Poll, they had been steadily gaining votes each week. Week 11 shows their first drop in votes, with 63 votes this week compared to 64 last week. Their overall ranking in the AP Poll dropped from #12 last week to #14 this week.
3) Aside from Hawaii, Texas has some of the most diverse rankings. The human polls rank the Longhorns: Harris = #12, Coaches' = #14, AP = #15. However, the computers range from #16 (Wolfe) to #24 (Massey).
4) The computers generally like Penn State and Florida State. The Nittany Lions only make one appearance in the three human polls (#25 in the Coaches'). Yet they are ranked higher in every computer poll. The highest is Billingsley (#18) and the lowest is Sagarin (#24). The Noles don't crack the top 25 in any of the human polls, but again they do in all computer polls. Wolf and Massey rank the Noles #19, and Colley is lowest at #24.
5) Sagarin now ranks Kansas as the #2 team (highest). However, not all computers agree, with Billingsley rating them #7 (lowest) and the rest falling in-between.
There are other items that could be pointed out, but these are the highlights. We'll let you discuss the rest on our FORUMS.
Quick Hits From Around the Country (posted 11/8/07)Steve Batterson, Quad City Times -- shows a Big 10 bias, ranking Penn State highest (#19) and Purdue highest (#23). Batterson also ranked Illinois (#25) and Michigan (#10), which are well in the upper percentile of all voters. Throw in Ohio State at #1, of course. None of these is a concern on their own, but all together, there is obvious favoritism played to the Big 10.
Adam Van Brimmer, Savannah Morning News -- displays the typical number of extreme votes that keeps him on our watch list every week since he was named Worst Voter of Week 9: Hawaii (#6) is highest, West Virginia (#9) is lowest, Missouri (#10) is lowest, Boise State (#11) is highest, BYU (#17) is highest, and Michigan (#22) is lowest. Georgia (#14), Virginia Tech (#18) and USF (#24) are also on the cusp of the extremes. If this trend continues, Brimmer might be making another run for the top of the page.
Neal McCready, Mobile Press-Register -- votes Illinois highest at #21, is one of five voters to vote LSU #1, and is the only voter to leave Virginia Tech off his ballot. This is a significant difference of opinion since the Hokies highest ranking is #8 and average about #12.
Last week's Worst Voter, John Wilner, San Jose Mercury News -- is staying on the Pollspeak radar by giving Ohio State its lowest ranking of #4, Georgia its highest ranking of #7, West Virginia its lowest ranking of #9 (with Brimmer), Florida its highest ranking of #11, and Cincinnati its highest ranking of #19. Wilner and Craig James are also the only two voters to leave Hawaii off their ballots. Let's also mention Wilner as one of the five to vote LSU #1 for good measure.
Ray Ratto, San Francisco Chronicle -- is this week's lone believer in Troy (#25).
GOOD Voter of Week 11 --1) Steve Conroy's Week 11 ballot is very clean according to Pollstalker. The closest thing he has to a red flag is ranking Florida as low as #21 or Virginia Tech as low as #16, but he wasn't the most extreme in either case.
2) Conroy also does a nice job of ranking the winners of head-to-head match-ups over the losers (when records are similar):
He is consistent with how he ranks these as well as other obvious match-ups. Conroy's ballot demonstrates more forethought than simply sliding teams up and down a certain number of spots. He has taken the time to re-rank teams based on their overall records and on-the-field performances.
Discuss Good Voters of the Week on our FORUMS.
