College Football Poll, Ranking Stupidity

Ranking Stupidity
by Michael Louis
09/26/05 1:35 pm edt

At first glance, the initial Harris Interactive College Football Poll seems no different from the Coaches and AP Polls. But if you take a closer look, it raises some quick questions about the integrity of a few voters and the credibility of the poll itself.

Apparently, one of their pollsters thinks it is funny to rank a winless Idaho (0-4) in 21st. That's right. Idaho received 5 points which undoubtedly means one moron ranked them 21st. If you don't know how polls work, each voter ranks their own top 25. When all of the voters' ballots are compiled, teams receive 25 points for every 1st-place vote, 24 for 2nd place, etc.

That's not the only glaring idiot factor in the Harris Poll. A 2-2 Illinois team received 13 points and a 1-2 Arizona team garnered 10 points. I doubt one person ranked the Illini 13th or that one voter placed Arizona in 16th. More likely, a few different voters ranked those teams in the low 20's which means more than a couple idiots exist on Harris' roster of voters.

Anyone putting those teams on their ballot needs to be replaced immediately!

In all, eight teams received votes in the Harris Poll that didn't get a single mention in the Coaches or AP polls. Seven of those eight teams are ranked 52nd or worse by the computer. Only one of them, Washington State, makes sense. The Cougars are 34th in the Harris Poll, 26th in the computer rankings.