Week 8 WORST Voter -- Craig James, ABC  (posted 10/17/07)

Craig James is a well known commentator for ESPN/ABC and previously CBS.  He is generally very knowledgeable about pro and college football, having played his college ball at SMU and in the NFL for the Patriots.  However, his week 8 AP Poll Ballot makes him this week's dubious winner for the second week running.  Some highlights from his ballot:

1)  Pollspeak and its voters aren't always going to agree on who is the week's worst, but in this case we do.  James received over 700 votes mostly, it seems, from people baffled that he would rank Kentucky #24 after they defeated consensus #1 LSU.  Most voters have Kentucky in the top 10.  James ranked Kentucky by far the lowest of any voter.  There is usually a cattle prod that separates the Worst Voter from the pack, and Jame's Kentucky ranking is this week's shocker. Similar to how James surprised us last week by leaving Virginia Tech completely off the ballot.

2)  Boston College ranked #10 and Arizona State ranked #13.  This is the lowest ranking for BC by any voter.  True, BC hasn't played a tough schedule, but neither has Ohio State (James' #1).  When looking at these two team without bias, they should be ranked closer together...either high or low, but they are in similar circumstances.  James also has the widest margin between Ohio State and BC.  The same argument could be made for Arizona State (James' #13), which has had arguably the toughest schedule of the three.  James is not alone with his ranking of the Sun Devils, but Pollspeak doesn't see enough difference between these three teams to rank them so widely apart.

3)  Note how he ranks head to head match ups of teams with similar records: Texas over Kansas State, Florida over Auburn (by a wide margin), Oregon over California.   In each case the winner of the match up is ranked lower.  This is not uncommon among voters, though.  See the Good Voter of the Week section below for more details about this.

4)  Hawaii is unranked.  This is almost nit-picking by comparison.  Seven other voters agree with James, and the Warriors have needed 2 overtime wins against unranked teams.  However, the omission was worth mentioning (at least by Hawaii fans).

5)  Equally nit-picky:  He is only one of six voters to rank Rutgers.  However, he is the only one to rank them over Kentucky.

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 8 DIS-honorable Mention -- Tommy Trujillo, The New Mexican  (posted 10/17/07)

1)  On his week 8 ballot, Trujillo ranks Connecticut #19.  Trujillo is alone on ranking UConn, let alone giving them a lofty #19.  Yes, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if one were to rank UConn, you would also expect him to rank the one-loss team that just beat them (Virginia).  He didn't.

2)  He ranks Boston College #1 while ranking Arizona State #12.  Two issues here:  Trujillo is the only person to rank BC #1.  Although this isn't the consensus, that alone doesn't merit a concern.  Which of the two teams is better is debatable, but as stated in Craig James issue #3 above, both of these teams are in similar circumstances.  Ranking them this far apart shows significant bias.

3)  Like James, Trujillo consistently ranks the loser of head-to-head match ups (with similar records) over the winner.  Texas over Kansas State (unranked), Florida over Auburn, Oregon over California.

4) More importantly, he picked the bad combination of:  South Carolina (5) - LSU (9) - Kentucky (16).  See the Good Voter of the Week section below for further explanation.  In short, the winner of the head-to-head match up is more likely to be behind the person they beat with this type of ranking, and the three teams aren't even ranked close to each other.  Kentucky's #16 ranking also happens to be their worst rank aside from Craig James rank of #24.  Only one other voter ranked them #16.

5) A nit-pick worth mentioning: Tujillo ranked Cincinnati #13.  We have no issue with ranking the Bearcats, but #13 is the highest of any voter.  

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 10/17/07)

Rich Kaipust, Omaha World-Herald -- ranks West Virginia #2 while he ranks the South Florida team that beat them #5.  Also ahead of South Florida is Virginia Tech at #3.  He alone gave the Hokies their highest ranking.

Mike DeArmond, Kansas City Star -- is the only voter to rank FSU...and at #20, instead of ranking similar teams that beat the Noles such as Wake Forest and Clemson.

Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury News -- kept LSU #1 even after the loss.  He was alone in this choice.  South Carolina is his #2, which is their highest rank (one other voter agreed).

Austin Ward, Casper (WY) Star-Tribune -- is the lone voter with Oklahoma at #1.  LSU is his #2 and he is the only voter to rank BYU (#24).

Adam Van Brimmer, Savannah GA Morning News -- gets the Underdog Award.   He is the only voter to rank Troy (#25) and Air Force (#22).  He also gives Boise State their highest ranking (#19) and Hawaii their highest ranking (#9, one other voter agreed).  He and one other voter also ranked Virginia #18 (only one voter ranked them higher at #17).

Neal McCready, Mobile Press-Register -- is the lone voter to rank Arizona State #1.  Pollspeak is not implying this is a bad choice. Just pointing it out as unique.

Mike Prater, Idaho Statesman & Myron Patton, KOKH-TV Oklahoma City -- are the only two to give South Florida its lowest ranking (#7).

There are other items that could be pointed out, but these are the highlights.  We'll let you discuss the rest on our FORUMS.

GOOD Voter of Week 8 -- Chip Cosby, Lexington Herald and Joe Hawk, Las Vegas Review-Journal  (posted 10/17/07)

Typically we only pick one Good Voter of the Week.  However, we picked two this week to illustrate a point.  Joseph Hawk’s and Chip Cosby's week 8 ballots are exercises in poll voter Rule #1.  In reality, there are no official rules for voters, but if there were, Rule #1 might state:  If two teams have a similar record, and they have played each other, rank the winner of the head-to-head match up higher.  After all, this is usually the first tie breaker for conference rankings.  While this rule might not always make sense (like all rules, there are exceptions), and in some multi-team cases may be impossible, it is a good rule of thumb.  Cosby and Hawk seem to follow it best this week.  Note the following series:

Hawk:

• Kansas State = #18, Texas = #20
• Auburn = #15, Florida = #16,
• California = #12, Oregon = #14
• Kentucky = #4, LSU = #5, South Carolina = #6

Cosby:

• Kansas State = #23, Texas = #25
• Auburn = #14, Florida = #15
• California = #10, Oregon = #11
• South Carolina = #5, Kentucky = #6, LSU = #7

There are other match ups (also ranked properly), but these are the highlights.  Note that in every case of a simple head-to-head match up, they ranked the winner higher.  If you check other ballots, you will find this to be the exception more than the rule.  The only place Cosby and Hawk differ is with South Carolina, Kentucky and LSU because each team has one round-robin win.  This is where voters have to use their best judgment.  Typically there are three configurations that make sense in this situation and three that don't:
 
Makes Sense:  (only 1 team is out of order based on 3-way, head-to-head)
 
1) Kentucky, LSU, South Carolina
2) LSU, South Carolina, Kentucky
3) South Carolina, Kentucky, LSU
 
Doesn't Make Sense: (2 teams are out of order based on 3-way, head-to-head)
 
1) LSU, Kentucky, South Carolina
2) South Carolina, LSU Kentucky
3) Kentucky, South Carolina, LSU
 
More impressively, Cosby and Hawk also enforced Sub-Rule #1a, which states:  When each team has a similar record and a round robin win over each other, rank all teams relatively near each other.  To their credit, both voters did this.

Again, Pollspeak isn't saying that following Rule #1 mindlessly makes a ballot perfect.  There are plenty of other considerations.  (i.e. Some fans won't like Cosby ranking Oklahoma #3.)  However, we feel that both ballots are very solid overall, and we respect their consistent use of Rule #1. 

Discuss Good Voters of the Week on our FORUMS.