THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2009
SPORTS
5B
BIG 12 FOOTBALL
Coaches disagree on BCS
BY HALLIE MANN
Football fans have heard about it for weeks. Texas and Oklahoma vying for the number two spot, Oklahoma State ranked in the top ten and Kansas breaking into the top 25. The ranking and polling systems for college football generate heated discussions, but they will still determine who plays for the BCS Championship in January.
With the season starting this weekend, fans will get their first look at the teams from around the conference to see how they measure up to their preseason rankings. A debate has raged about how accurately the rankings reflect the level of talent of the teams, and whether or not the BCS rankings correctly place the two best teams in the championship game. Coach Mark Mangino said he has faith in the polls and the people who vote in them.
"The people that make those votes are students of the game," Mangino said. "They study every game and they're trusted with their votes."
Mangino said he does not vote in polls because he feels it takes too much time. He said that the time he spends on voting could be spent on working with his team.
Steve Spurrier, South Carolina coach, also thought it took too much time to vote when he handed off his all-SEC preseason ballot to his director of football operations. Spurrier's ballot had Jevan Snead, Mississippi quarterback, as first team all-SEC instead of Tim
Tebow, Florida quarterback. The omission of Tebow on Spurrier's ballot caused an uproar among fans and media.
With voting "mistakes" like these, many fans want to look at an open record of the final ballots from coaches. Currently, coaches' ballouts are one third of the equation for figuring out the BCS rankings. When some coaches requested that anonymous voting be brought back in 2010, Sports Illustrated claimed it would take a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against each of the schools that had a coach voting.
Bob Stoops, Oklahoma coach, said that there's always an agenda when coaches vote so some of the top votes should be tossed out. At the same time, Stoops said that coaches' votes have to be part of the equation because they have the most invested in the bowl process because of their teams.
For some coaches, the whole system of ranking and polling is flawed. Mike Leach, Texas Tech coach, said the polling system doesn't matter and he said he thinks the NCAA should move to a playoff system to determine the NCAA champion. While his comments on a playoff system have met backlash and gained him national attention, Leach said he would still want the bowl games in a playoff system.
"I don't believe you get a more honest vote by making it public," Stoops said.
"Until I get the memo saying the season's been cancelled I don't really care what the polls say" Leach said.
2009 AP RANKED BIG 12 TEAMS
2 Texas Longhorns
3 Oklahoma Sooners
9 Oklahoma State Cowboys
24 Nebraska Cornhuskers
25 Kansas Jayhawks
NFL
NFL Pinkie to keep Bulger out of Governer's Cup game
ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Rams plan to sit quarterback Marc Bulger in the preseason finale to lessen the chance of him aggrivating a broken right pinkie.
Bulger got his arm warmed up
for the second straight day Monday, throwing 25-30 passes with the pinkie and right ring finger taped together for stability.
That's more throws than on Sunday, and the plan calls for even more on Tuesday in a gradual buildup.
But he's yet to take a snap from center since being injured
Aug. 17, routine for a healthy quarterback but potentially jarring for one with Bulger's injury. So backup Kyle Boller will get his third consecutive start on Thursday night against the Kansas City Chiefs in the annual Governor's Cup game in St. Louis.
Associated Press
MLB
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Associate Press
Kansas City Royals left fielder David DeJesus makes a diving catch on a fly ball by Oakland Athletics' Ryan Sweeney during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday.
Athletics knock around Bannister
ASSOCIATED PRESS
OAKLAND, Calif. — Landon Powell hit his first career grand slam to help the Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals 10-4 Wednesday.
Ryan Sweeney had two hits and drove in two runs, while Trevor Cahill won back-to-back starts for the first time in more than two months.
Powell homered off Royals reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta as part of Oakland's five-run second inning after Kansas City starter Brian Bannister left the game with shoulder fatigue.
Mike Jacobs homered for the Royals, who lost two of three against Oakland without manager
Trey Hillman. Hillman left the team on Monday to be with his family following the death of his father-in-law.
Cahill (8-12) gave up three runs and six hits in five innings. The As right-hander had not won consecutive starts since mid-June and is only 3-7 in his last 13 starts.
He ran into trouble only once, in the third when Jacobs homered and David Dejesus and Alberto Callaspo added RBIs. Following Jacobs' solo home run, Cahill retired seven of the next nine to end his afternoon.
Brad Kilby gave up one hit in two innings during his major league debut while Jerry Blevins and former Oakland starter Dana
Eveland pitched the final two innings to complete the nine-hitter for Oakland.
Bannister gave up three runs in the first innning then left after getting Cliff Pennington to pop out to second base leading off the second. Interim manager John Gibbons and assistant trainer Frank Kyte met with Bannister on the mound briefly before Gibbons signalled to the bullpen for Yabuta, ending the day for Bannister (7-12) after only 32 pitches.
After Bannister left, the As batted around against Yabuta to break the game open. Rajai Davis' sacrifice飞 drove in Eric Patterson, then Powell followed with his first career grand slam three batters later to make it 8-0.