This voting is highly subjective. "Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State, which I think is a very bad loss," said Wine, who said he attends every Iowa game he can. Oklahoma State finished third in the Harris and BCS standings, just missing a chance to play LSU for the national title. Houston finished 17th in the overall Harris voting, having not beaten any teams that were in the top 25 all season.
One unlikely star has emerged from the latest BCS disaster: Harris Poll voter George Wine, who ranked the Big 12 champion Oklahoma St. Cowboys No. 6, behind the Conference USA runner-up Houston Cougars. Wine, an 80-year-old former Iowa Hawkeyes sports information director, tells TampaBay.com's Greg Auman "the BCS is just a mess," "college football is crying for a playoff system," and "voting is subjective and often arbitrary." Outstanding!
For the third time in four seasons, Boise State has finished in the Top 10 of college football’s final regular-season BCS rankings, used to select teams for the sport’s premier bowl games, while getting left out of the five games intended for the nation’s best 10 teams. Jeff Sagarin, whose computer ranking is one of six incorporated into the BCS standings, is unhappy with the outcome.
Bill Hancock, executive director of the BCS, says the system has opened up new opportunities for schools like Boise State outside the big conferences, which have made BCS bowls seven times in the last eight years. Sagarin, who also rates teams in many other sports for USA Today, retains his love for the sport. It could reach favorite status if it adopted a 16-team playoff. “That’s a slightly better flavor, especially if teams are chosen on merit,” Sagarin says.Harris Poll College Football
He and proprietors of the other five BCS computer rankings this week fielded my questions on the BCS and this year’s controversial close finish between Alabama and Oklahoma State. Meanwhile, Sagarin and Richard Billingsley have trouble narrowing down their favorite teams. Billingsley guesses he has 20 to 30 favorite teams, including the teams from Oklahoma, where he lives.
Colley considers soft wins, and Alabama’s schedule had many easy games.
Even with the all-SEC title-game matchup, Anderson says he’s heard this year mostly from “SEC fans who think our rankings have Oklahoma State and/or the Big 12 ranked too highly.” “Every time that a team has clearly belonged in the BCS national championship game, it has played in that game,” Anderson says. “How often does college basketball match up two of the three best teams in the title game, including the No. 1 team? Massey and Colley, though, would support a four-team playoff.
There is also a dispute about whether the computer rankings should incorporate margin of victory. Anderson argues that human voters are better equipped to judge scores, and distinguish between a 24-14 game where the losing team scores two touchdowns in garbage time and a 24-14 team where the losing team trailed by three late but threw an interception returned for a touchdown while attempting to mount a game-winning drive. The current BCS ranking is based on giving each poll (the coaches’ poll and the Harris Poll) one-third of the overall rating, with the computer rankings making up the other third. “In my heart of hearts, I think computers are better than human voters at rating teams,” Sagarin says.
Mayes -- a former Notre Dame player -- and Wagner -- former University of Hawaii coach -- each had the same top six -- 1) LSU, 2) Alabama, 3) Stanford, 4) Boise State, 5) Oregon and 6) Oklahoma State.
Wine's ballot was even more dumbfounding.
Add those 26 points on to Oklahoma State's Harris Poll and add that to the BCS and you have .9423 -- which would have put Oklahoma State second.
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