First BCS Standings Released   (posted 10/19/08)

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.    

Voting Advice from Chris Fowler   (posted 10/17/08)

At the end of Thursday night's Florida State vs. North Carolina State game Chris Fowler and Craig James (both AP Voters) discussed briefly if FSU should be ranked with a record of 5 - 1.  James seemed to think the Seminoles should be ranked, but Fowler countered that they "hadn't beaten an FBS team with a winning record." This is the same point that Pollspeak made about Molly Yanity's #9 ranking of Kansas this week (see below).  The Jayhawk's also haven't beaten an FBS team with a winning record.  In fact, both teams have played and beaten Colorado:  FSU won 39 - 21 and Kansas won 30 - 14.  So you would think that Florida State and Kansas would be similarly ranked.  Both now have records of 5 - 1 (but Kansas still has to play this week).

Checking Fowler's ballot for week 8, he has Kansas ranked #20 and FSU ranked #24.  This makes sense, and you would think that he would rank FSU similarly next week as well.  Kansas plays Oklahoma this week, so we are not saying FSU and Kansas should be ranked the same next week no matter how that game turns out.  In fact, our point isn't that FSU should be ranked at all.  Looking at who a team has beaten is a good idea when ranking teams.  Our point is that if you're going to use that criteria to make your decisions, use it for every team.  Note:  Molly Yanity ranks Kansas #9, but has FSU unranked.

Bad Voter of Week 8 -- Molly Yanity   (posted 10/15/08)

Molly Yanity has been on the radar for a while, but she finally grabbed the attention of the public this week by voting Oklahoma State lowest (#15) after their victory over then #3 Missouri.  Not only are the Cowboys undefeated, but  (adding insult to injury) she ranked Missouri (#7) over Oklahoma State by the largest margin in the country.  This is why she also gets Pollspeak's Pick as Bad Voter, which makes her a unanimous choice for week 8.

Additionally, Yanity voted Penn State lowest at #5, which drew some attention from the fans, but one reason she has been on Pollspeak's radar for several weeks is her insistence on ranking Kansas highest (or near highest) every week since her first ballot of the regular season.  Even now she ranked Kansas 8 spots over USF, a team with the same record who beat the Jayhawks.  Kansas may turn out to be a great team, but in the meantime they still haven't beaten an FBS team with a current winning record.  Until that happens it looks like Yanity is simply voting on perception over performance.  Kansas plays Oklahoma next week, and if the Jayhawks win, her ranking would be justified (next week).  However, voting in the AP is not about telling the future; it is about reporting performance on the field.  (See the first AP Guideline.)  There are plenty of games left to play, and if Kansas wins next week, she can justifiably place Kansas where her crystal ball told her they belong in week 2.

Note:  Craig James actually received the most Bad votes with 632, but also received 209 offsetting Good votes. 

PEOPLE'S PICK: Good Voter of Week 8 -- Tom Hart   (posted 10/15/08)

POLLSPEAK'S PICK: Good Voter of Week 8 -- Anthony Gimino   (posted 10/15/08)

Pollspeak picks Anthony Gimino as our Good Voter of Week 8 for having no obvious biases and for ranking:

- Wake Forest (#22) over FSU (Unranked)
- Pittsburgh (#19) over USF (#20)
- USF (#20) over Kansas (#21)
- Virginia Tech (#16) over North Carolina (#17)
- Oklahoma State (#4) in a reasonable spot for an undefeated team who just beat last week's #3 team, and certainly for ranking them higher than the team they just beat, Missouri (#14).

So it can be done, and it can be done well.  Thank you for the demonstration, Mr. Gimino.

Clerical Error with Jim Lamar's Ballot  (posted 10/14/08)

AP voter Jim Lamar tells Pollspeak that the wrong ballot was posted by the AP in week 7.  It was a "clerical error" according to the AP and was corrected two days after release.  The AP also assured us that it was just a display error on their site and did not affect the actual poll results.  As of 10/14/08, Pollstalker has been updated to reflect the proper ballot.

The issue was brought to our attention when we received criticism from Florida Gator fans who noticed that Lamar actually dropped Florida in his ballot after the win over LSU.  They accused Lamar of "FSU bias" since he is a writer for the Tallahassee Democrat.  Lamar does have the Gators lowest in the country at #13 in week 8, however, this was three spots better than his "real" week 7 ballot.  He also chose not to rank FSU either week; so if he is biased towards FSU, he's not doing a thorough job.  Still, Pollspeak will continue to monitor the situation.  Please continue to send us feedback; you may help us catch bias or other errors.

Pollspeak's Blog on SI.com (posted 10/13/08)

This week's article covers Texas getting respect, Oklahoma State getting no respect, Florida getting more respect and, of course, respecting a head-to-head win.  Respect it HERE.