| Name | Good Votes | Bad Votes | Net Bad Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barker Davis | 155 | 877 | 722 |
It seems that Barker Davis doesn't want to be photographed. Maybe it is because he works (just) south of the Mason-Dixon line and doesn't want to be recognized by angry SEC fans. He alone ranked Florida (#9) and LSU (#14) lowest and also voted Alabama (#3) and Georgia (#12) lowest. Every extreme low on his ballot is an SEC team. Many voters (and media types) seem to have a strong pro-SEC bias so this is definitely an odd situation. In fact, it may not be so much an anti-SEC bias as it is just a lack of pro-SEC bias. We'll continue to monitor.
Pollspeak will go along with the fans on this week's choice for Bad Voter, but we really don't think Barker's ballot is all that bad. We thought very hard about going with Jon Wilner, who was only one of two voters to rank USC over Penn State. We can't understand why he would make that decision THIS week, especially when they have a common opponent in Oregon State, and that matchup certainly points in Penn State's favor. NEXT week may be a different story after Penn State plays Ohio State (another common opponent). He was also the only voter to rank two-loss Vanderbilt over undefeated Texas Tech. It wasn't easy to pass on Wilner.
However, Davis does still rank USF above Pittsburgh, a team the Panthers beat, and we don't have to name the Worst Voter...so we'll stick with the People's Pick and keep the decision unanimous.
Note: Like last week, Craig James actually received the most Bad votes with over 1000, but also received 644 offsetting Good votes. It looks like Georgia Tech fans saved him this week.
UPDATED: 10/23/08 -- It turns out SEC fans were not the only ones upset with Barker Davis. Pollspeak just received an e-mail from a Utah fan from www.utefans.net who organized a campaign against Davis. The interesting thing is that Davis didn't vote Utah lowest. What upset Utah fans most is that he ranked Boise State over Utah by the widest margin in the country (3). Not only did they vote Davis for Bad Voter, but they voted Craig James for Good Voter so that James wouldn't get the most net Bad votes. That is certainly one way for fans to make a statement without resorting to nasty letters. The reason was completely unexpected, but you can read about it in his own words IN OUR FORUM. Of course, this is also the reason why Pollspeak's staff has the option of making its own pick when warranted.
| Name | Good Votes | Bad Votes | Net Good Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Fowler | 758 | 47 | 711 |
Matt McCoy was a fan favorite in week 2, but this is his first pick by Pollspeak since week 14 of 2007.
In addition to ranking all of the same-record, head-to-head matchups properly:
- Pittsburgh (#17) over USF (#18)
- USF (#18) over Kansas (#19)
- Virginia Tech (#25) over North Carolina (Unranked)
- Georgia Tech(#21) over Boston College (#22)
- Boston College (#22) over Virginia Tech (#25)
- Etc.
We also like McCoy's top five teams, which are the five undefeated teams with reasonable schedules. Texas Tech is on the reasonable schedule bubble, and Utah actually has a tougher schedule according to Sagarin, but overall this is a very solid ballot. At this point in the season we agree that these teams deserve to be ranked higher than the one-loss teams. That could change next week, but we like it when voters wait until next week to make that call instead of pre-judging results on the field.
A momentous event occurred this week in the BCS standings -- something rare and beautiful. Read about this special, unique occurrence plus a bunch of the same old garbage in this week's blog on SI.com.
Today's blog answers some burning questions:
WHO NEEDS THE BCS?
The big poll news this week is the BCS standings were released, but the even bigger news is this is the first week we don't need the BCS to tell us who should play for the national championship. For the first time in BCS history, we have a consensus No. 1 (Texas) and No. 2 (Alabama). Every BCS component and even the AP poll agree on the top two teams. This could last as long as both teams keep winning. Judging by recent history, that might only be a week.
DID THEY SEE THE GAME?
While the overall rankings are in agreement, that doesn't mean the people who vote in the polls are. Once again, we present our list of people who have forgotten or ignored what happened on the field:
Myron Patton, Jason Franchuk and Marcus Fuller rank Virginia Tech over Boston College even though the Eagles have a better record and just beat the Hokies. I can't think of a good reason for someone to vote that way unless they're following PETA's agenda and striking a blow for turkeys against the pilgrims' hometown.
Likewise, Craig James, Kirk Herbstreit, Maurice Patton, Glenn Guilbeau and Jason Franchuck rank Kansas over USF even though the Bulls have a better record and beat Kansas. Interestingly, the only BCS component that agrees is The Billingsley Report, which is also the only computer that starts the season with the rankings from last season. Billingsley's preseason ballot has Kansas ranked No. 2 and USF No. 33, which is a significant gap. It could be suffering from preseason bias along with some of the AP voters.
A majority of AP voters still rank USF over Pittsburgh even though they both have one loss and the Panthers beat the Bulls at home. Again, only the human polls and Billingsley agree, and every other computer poll has Pittsburgh ranked better.
Finally, in the "we forgot about that" group we have Georgia Tech going to Chestnut Hill and beating Boston College in the second game of the year. The Yellow Jackets also have one more win than the Eagles and yet 17 voters still voted BC over GT.
JAMES MADISON?
Sagarin's ELO_CHESS rankings, which are used in the BCS, have James Madison at No. 39 over the likes of Kentucky, California, Nebraska and Notre Dame. Ironically, at 6 -1 the Dukes only loss came to Duke, who is also ranked lower than James Madison. Unfortunately for the Dukes, the BCS doesn't accept FCS schools, and they can never realize their BCS dreams.
HOW DID THEY GET IN?
While there were no surprises at the top of the BCS standings, there were a few at the bottom. Some teams were probably surprised to make it in the top 25 including: No. 25 Florida State, No. 23 Kansas and No. 21 BYU. To get BCS points from the computers you have to be in their top 25, and these teams are not computer favorites. FSU and BYU are only ranked by two computers and Kansas by one. Luckily for Kansas, the Billingsley Report's high No. 15 ranking kept it in the BCS standings. Billingsley ranked BYU at No. 16 and the Colley Matrix helped with a No. 24. Meanwhile, FSU just squeaked in with a No. 23 ranking from Colley and a No. 25 ranking from Anderson and Hester.
For more poll analysis, go to pollspeak.com.
The first BCS Standings of 2008 have been released. #1 is no surprise, but there are a few surprises towards the bottom. You can now see the Official BCS standings in Pollstalker as part of the BCS + AP Compiled report HERE. Along with the BCS Standings, the first Wolfe computer rankings have also been released.
