THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 15,2007
3B
COMMENTARY
Dissenting polls add to BCS scrutiny
BY SHAWN SHROYER
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMIST
SHROYER@KANSAN.COM
Oklahoma at No. 5? What?
Kentucky at No. 7? Huh? Arizona State
at No. 8? You're going to have to repeat
that. Kansas at No. 13? Wow.
Yep, you guessed it. The first Bowl Championship Series ratings came out yesterday and, as usual, the computers spat out some curious numbers. And considering how this season has gone, debates about the BCS will only become more heated as January nears.
After seven weeks, three different teams have appeared atop the Associated Press Top 25.
Only 14 of the AP's preseason Top 25 teams remain ranked. Teams like Louisville, UCLA, Rutgers, Florida State, Nebraska, Arkansas, TCU and Texas A&M have free fallen into the absfer faster as a Kyle Tucker punt. In their places are teams like Boston College, South Florida, South Carolina, Missouri, Arizona State, Cincinnati, Kentucky, and your Kansas Jayhawks. The BCS is left to sort out this mess.
But contrary to what FOX Sports would have you believe, the BCS isn't the be-all and end-all when it comes to choosing the best team in the land. Fortunately for the teams that will inevitably feel slighted by the BCS, there are other polling organizations in college football's underground that recognize their own National Champions.
Two years ago, Texas defeated USC 41-38 in the Rose Bowl, supposedly staking claim to the 2005 National Championship. Well, as Lee Corso says, not so fast.
Upstart polling agency Harris Interactive went against the grain, recognizing USC as the best team in the country. Whereas some organizations use computers to rank teams, Harris uses a panel of former players, coaches and administrators, as well as current and former media members to rank the Top 25 teams in the nation. But Harris, which is now part of the BCS equation, wasn't the first organization to defy the BCS.
Despite a 21-14 victory against Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, LSU wasn't a unanimous choice as the 2003 National Champion. Instead, the AP, New York Times, Eck, and Matthews polling agencies picked USC, while Clyde Berryman and his "Quality Point Rating System" picked Oklahoma. Jeff Saginin's College Football Rankings have become one of the more well-known novelty ratings. He was the first to resist the BCS takeover.
In 1998, the first year of the BCS, he was the only polling agent to pick Ohio State as the 1998 National Champion, despite Tennessee's 23-16 victory against Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl. Four years later, Sagarin was involved in the next BCS deviation, as one of three organizations that picked USC, even though Ohio State beat Miami 31-24 in the Fiesta Bowl. But head-scratching National Championship splits have been around
as long as college football itself.
Think the 1997 National Championship was between Nebraska and Michigan? Wrong. Nebraska was clearly the No. 1 team in the country, trouncing a Peyton Manning-led Tennessee team in the Orange Bowl, whereas all Michigan did was beat Ryan Leaf's Washington State team by five in the Rose Bowl. Still, six organizations picked Michigan over Nebraska and, get this, the National Championship Foundation actually picked both Nebraska and Michigan. The NCF, bless its heart, is now defunct.
In 1996, the Alderson organization picked Florida State despite Floridas dominance. The Dunkel Index picked Florida State in 1994 even though Nebraska was the best team in the country and all sympathy votes were supposed to go to Penn State.
In 1993, Auburn, Florida State, Nebraska and Notre Dame were all recognized by at least one polling organization (yes, the NCF picked all four of them). Since 1921, there have been eight seasons in which five schools were recognized by at least one organization as National Champions.
So, what does this mean for Kansas?
Well, even if the Jayhawks run the table in the Big 12 and win the Big 12 Championship, nearly a dozen teams will need to lose (some more than once) to make room for Mark Mangino & Co. in the BCS Championship Game.
But with polling organizations like Dunkel, Sagarin and Berryman, Kansas could still earn a less prestigious share of the National Championship. This week, Sagarin not only ranks Kansas at No. 4, it predicts the Jayhawks to finish in that spot - ahead of teams like West Virginia, LSU, South Florida and Florida - in spite of (or perhaps because of) a schedule rank of 126.
Let the debates begin.
—Edited by Luke Morris
》 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Upsets mark second straight weekend Oklahoma beats Missouri, wins battle between Big 12's highest-ranked teams
BY CASE KEEFER
ckeefer@kansan.com
This weekend LSU and California, the nation's No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams, lost. Six teams ranked within the top five have lost in the past three weeks.
NO. 6 OKLAHOMA 41,
NO. 11 MISSOURI 31
Oklahoma junior linebacker Curtis Lofton gathered 18 tackles and a 12-yard touchdown off of a fumble recovery.
NO.23 TEXAS 56,
IOWA STATE 3
Texas' Colt McCoy torched the Cyclone secondary for 298 yards and four touchdowns on 23-for-29 passing.
KANSAS STATE 40
COLORADO 20
Colorado committed four turnovers and let Kansas State running back James Johnson run 20 times for 160 yards and two touchdowns.
This was Nebraska's worst home loss in 49 years. Cowboy senior running back Dantrell Savage attacked the Nebraska front seven for a career-high 212 yards, with an average of 8.5 yards per carry.
OKLAHOMA STATE 45, NEBRASKA 14
yards.
OREGON STATE 31,
NO.2 CALIFORNIA 28
Freshman quarterback Kevin Riley failed to run out of bounds to stop the clock on the last play, squandering a potential game-tying field goal.
NO. 3 OHIO STATE 48,
KENT STATE 3
Buckeye sophomore wide receiver Brian Hartline caught a 14-yard touchdown pass and also returned a punt 90 yards for a touchdown.
NO.4 BOSTON COLLEGE 27, NOTRE DAME 14
Notre Dame had 14 unanswered points to cut the lead to six, but Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan connected with running back Andre Callender for a touchdown on the next possession.
The Bulls made a statement to those who were critical of their high national ranking.
NO. 5 SOUTH FLORIDA 64,
CENTRAL FLORIDA 12
Led by Chris Smelley's three touchdown passes, the Gamecocks jumped out to an early 21-point lead at halftime.
NO. 7 SOUTH CAROLINA 21, NORTH CAROLINA 15
NO.9 OREGON 53,
WASHINGTON STATE 7
Oregon threw for 338 yards and rushed for 213 in the blowout victory.
NO.10 USC 20,
ARIZONA 13
Trojan backup quarterback Mark Sanchez threw for only 130 yards and two interceptions as his team narrowly dodged its second straight upset.
NO.12 VIRGINIA TECH 43,
DUKE 14
Hokie junior quarterback Sean Glennon came off the bench to replace injured Tyrod Taylor and threw for a season-high 253 yards and two touchdowns.
LOUISVILLE 28,
NO.15 CINCINNATI 24
Louisville's wide receiver Harry Douglas showed his team is still worth watching with seven catches for 118 yards.
Spartan junior cornerback Chris Owens picked off two passes and recorded 15 tackles but it wasn't enough to avoid an overtime loss to undefeated Hawaii.
NO.16 HAWAII 42,
SAN JOSE STATE 35
IOWA 10, NO.18 ILLINOIS 6
The Hawkeyes beat their first ranked opponent in two years.
PENN STATE 38,
NO.19 WISCONSIN 7
WAKE FOREST 24,
NO.21 FLORIDA STATE 21
The Nittany Lions attacked the deficient Badger rushing defense for 221 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
Demon Deacon quarterback Riley Skinner led Wake Forest on two consecutive scoring drives in the fourth quarter to upset the Seminoles for the second straight year.
NO.22 AUBURN9
ARKANSAS 6
Tiger freshman kicker Wes Byrum made his second game-winning field goal in three weeks.
NO.24 GEORGIA 20,
VANDERBILT 17
Kicker Brandon Coutu booted a 37-yard, game-winning field goal.
NO.25 TENNESSEE 33,
MISSISSIPPI STATE 21
Volunteer junior receiver Lucas Taylor caught 11 passes for 186 yards, the most yards by a Tennessee receiver in five years.
TEXAS TECH 35,
TEXAS A & M 7
Edited by Chris Beattie
Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell, the nation's leading passer, threw for 425 yards and three touchdowns.
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NO.17 KENTUCKY 43,
NO.1 LSU 37
Kentucky won in triple overtime behind senior quarterback Andre Woodson's 250 passing
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