Code Orange

Final

And it’s over.  Appalachian State becomes the first team to ever win 3 straight I-AA/FCS titles in a row, defeating Delaware 49-21.

3:16 4th Quarter

Delaware runs the kickoff back for a touchdown, but it’s a little too little too late as it’s 49-21.

3:29 4th Quarter

Elder has a 53 yard rush for a touchdown, and ASU is piling it on now to make it 49-14.

3:45 4th Quarter

As Delaware goes through it’s death throws, they turn the ball over on downs one final time, and ASU should be able to pretty much run out the clock.

6:02 4th Quarter

Once again, Appalachian State is able to grind a drive down the field, burning clock, and putting another touchdown up on the board to go with it with a 6 yard run by Richardson as the Mountaineers go up 42-14.

11:03 4th Quarter

Delaware passes down to inside the Appalachian State 10 but once again can’t do anything with it as Delaware eventually turns it over on downs. This is now at least 17 points that Delaware has given up either in the red zone or in missed field goals.

14:08 4th Quarter

Delaware holds ASU and they have to punt.

End 3rd Quarter

ASU will have a 3rd and 1 on their own 31 when the 4th quarter comes around as the Mountaineers are only 15 minutes away from 3-peating with a 35-14 lead.

0:54 3rd Quarter

Delaware is able to execute a long, methodical drive down the field to get on the board for the first time in the 2nd half to narrow the lead down to 35-14. However, they have less than 16 minutes to make up 21 points, and they still have to stop the Mountaineer offense.

4:56 3rd Quarter

Just a reminder. Record for points scored by a single team in a I-AA title is 59. Biggest margin of victory is 40 points, which was done by Delaware in 2003.

4:56 3rd Quarter

The Mountaineers pass and run down the field, picking up several 3rd downs as well as a 4th down along the way to a touchdown on a 8 yard pass to Richardson. ASU now goes up 35-7 on a drive that took over 6 minutes (a very unusual thing for the Mountaineers).

11:34 3rd Quarter

After getting one first down, Appalachian State holds Delaware and the Blue Hens have to punt again.

13:29 3rd Quarter

ASU starts the 2nd half with a three-and-out after briefly considering going for it on 4th down near midfield.

Halftime

Well, Delaware showed that they can hang in there with tough teams by defeating Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois both on the road. However, one has to wonder whether playing two tough road games in a row, with some rough weather in between finally took it’s toll on this Delaware team.

There is also the matter that, even though ASU has 2 losses, they occurred when Edwards was either out or in his first game back from injury. If Edwards was healthy all year, ASU may be undefeated at this point. Also, ASU really turned it on in the playoffs, especially last week.

Delaware is still in the game, only down 21, but they have to stop ASU’s offense, which they haven’t been able to do very well so far. First, ASU ran all over them, and once Delaware stopped them a couple times by putting more people in the box, the Mountaineers went to the air and hurt Delaware that way. Meanwhile, ASU is playing a sort of bend-but-don’t-break defense by giving Delaware yards, but keeping them off the scoreboard.

ASU has had a tendency to let down in the 2nd half of games, but one can’t believe that that will happen in the national championship game. Delaware is probably going to have to figure out how to come back on their own.

Halftime

Here are some halftime stats:

Appalachian State has 295 yards.  Edwards is 4 for 6 passing for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns.  He also has 11 rushes for 67 yards.  Moore still has 2 rushes for 55 yards and a touchdown.  Richardson has 10 rushes for 47 yards.  They’ve run 31 total plays and have earned 13 first downs.

Delaware has 252 total yards.  Flacco is 13 for 23 passing for 189 yards and a touchdown.  Cuff has 13 rushes for 54 yards and Michaud has 2 rushes for 20 yards.  Delaware has run 42 plays with 13 first downs.

As much as the announcers in the game have said that Delaware is getting hammered with penalties (and that there were a lot in the game overall), Delaware has 4 penalties for 50 yards while ASU also has 4 penalties for 31 yards.

On a side note, I noticed that Yahoo! Sports is really the only sports site giving this game any play.  Not even the ESPN College Football section has this game as it’s leading story.  Only Yahoo! Sports College Football section seems to be paying attention. Rather sad.  I do have to give props to SI, though.  Even though their front story isn’t about the title game, they do ask whether ASU’s Edwards could be a Heisman trophy contender next year.

Halftime

Delaware is able to quickly get down the field and gets within field goal range. However, Delaware attempts to go for the touchdown instead of kicking a field goal and fails, and ASU goes into halftime leading 28-7.

0:44 2nd Quarter

Dexter Jackson scores on a 60 yard touchdown reception (see! I said ASU should start passing) and ASU goes back up by 3 touchdowns, 28-7.

1:10 2nd Quarter

Delaware has another touchdown called back, this time on an offensive pass interference call. However, they get it back this time, again on an official review, but Delaware is finally on the board, but is still down 21-7.

2:56 2nd Quarter

Delaware gets a short field after kick-catching interference is called on ASU on the punt.

3:27 2nd Quarter

Perhaps it’s time that ASU start airing it out a little (Edwards only had 4 passes so far). The Mountaineers try 3 straight runs and goes 3-and-out once again.

5:05 2nd Quarter

Delaware trades ASU’s 3-and-out with one of their own.

6:50 2nd Quarter

ASU is finally held to a 4th down and has to punt to Delaware.

8:50 2nd Quarter

On to Delaware’s 4th drive. Delaware is able to pick up a first down, but is then forced to punt after that, and ASU gets the ball back. Appalachian State has scored a touchdown on all 3 of their drives so far tonight.

10:22 2nd Quarter

Here are some stats for you.

Appalachian State has 212 total yards. Edwards only has 3 official passes so far in the game. He has completed 2 of them for 60 yards. Meanwhile, Edwards has 8 rushes for 58 yards, Moore has 2 rushes for 55 yards, and Richardson has 8 rushes for 45 yards.

Delaware has 147 yards. Flacco is 6 for 11 passing for 81 yards. Cuff has 10 rushes for 46 yards while Michaud has 2 rushes for 20 yards.

10:22 2nd Quarter

A pair of long Edwards runs puts Appalachian State back in the red zone on their 3rd drive of the game. Richardson ends up fumbling the ball into the endzone, where it is recovered by Appalachian State for a touchdown and the Mountaineers go up 21-0.

End 1st Quarter

Appalachian State takes over and will face a 2nd and 1 on their own 29 yard line when the 2nd quarter begins.

0:13 1st Quarter

Delaware quickly moves down the field on their 3rd drive of the game, but the drive stalls at around the 15 yard line. Delaware attempts a 35 yard field goal attempt, and once again Delaware gets into the red zone and comes away with nothing. It’s still 14-0 ASU.

4:14 First Quarter

I know that it is very, very premature to be handing ASU a 3rd title, much less talk about a blowout, but just for reference, the most points scored by a team in a I-AA title game was 59 by Georgia Southern against Youngstown State in the 1999 title game. The biggest blowout was a 40-0 shutout by Delaware against Colgate in 2003.

4:14 First Quarter

A 46 yard rush by Moore puts Appalachian State up 14-0, and this game starts much like the semi-final game against Richmond did.

4:45 First Quarter

A 7 yard rush by Richardson, a 4 yard rush by Edwards, a 17 yard Richardson rush, and a 15 yard face mask on Delaware quickly moves ASU from the shadow of their own endzone out to near midfield.

5:40 First Quarter

Just as a comment - I know Delaware gets ASU pinned back, but that last series had to be crushing to Delaware. They had a touchdown on the board, had it taken off, and then couldn’t get any points as a result.

5:40 First Quarter

Cuff gets a 4 yard rush down to the half yard line after a called touchdown was reversed on replay. However, that made it third down, and Appalachian State stuffed a run up the middle by Cuff to make it 4th down. Delaware decides to go for a fake field goal and doesn’t convert, so Appalachian State takes over on their own one yard.

10:47 First Quarter

Applachian State gets the ball and drives down the field, capping the drive with a 19 yard touchdown pass to Richardson, and ASU gets on the board first in the national championship, going up 7-0. This is after Delaware went 3-and-out on their first drive.

Pre-Game

It’s that time. Appalachian State is looking to become the first team to ever win 3 straight I-AA/FCS National titles and to become the first team in any division to win three in a row since Mount Union did it in Division III between 2000 and 2002.

The last time a team won a share of the Division I national championship was when Minnesota won the Associated Press/United Press poll championship (the only championship at the time) 3 in a row between 1934 and 1936 - the first three years of it’s existence. No team has won 3 straight championships in Division I via the same method (i.e. via the I-AA playoffs or 3 times in a row in the same poll) ever.

Appalachian State already defeated Richmond last night 55-35 to advance to the I-AA/FCS Championship Game in Chattanooga next week.  They’ll play the winner of Delaware vs. Southern Illinois, who kickoff at 4pm.

One half of each of the Division II and Division III title games were decided earlier today as, in the first Division II semifinal, Valdosta State defeated California (PA) 28-24.  Meanwhile, two-time defending Mt. Union rolled to yet another Division III title game by destroying Bethel (MN)  62-14.

The 2nd Division III semifinal, Mary Hardin-Baylor vs. Wisconsin-Whitewater, is currently in progress as the other Division II semifinal will be played at 8pm tonight as two-time defending champion Grand Valley State takes on Northwest Missouri State, the team they have defeated to earn each of their last two championships.

We have an interesting situation where the Division I-AA, Division II, and Division III championships may all feature two-time defending champions going for a third in a row.

Division I-AA has never had a 3-time champion.

Division II has had a back-to-back-to-back championship run once: North Alabama did it between  1993 and 1995.

Division III has also has had a back-to-back-to-back championship run three times before: Augustana (Ill) won 4 straight titles between 1983 and 1986, while this same Mt. Union team did it between 1996 and 1998 and again between 2000 and 2002.  Mt. Union has played in 9 of the last 11 Division III championships, winning 8 of them.  If Wisconsin-Whitewater wins their semifinal, it would be the 3rd straight year that they would face Mt. Union in the championship game.

Final

And it’s over as Appalachian State becomes the 4th school to go to a 3rd straight national championship and tries to become the first I-AA/FCS school to win 3 in a row as they defeat Richmond 55-35.

5:27 4th Quarter

A 13 yard touchdown to Cardwell pretty much puts this game out of reach as Appalachian State goes up 55-35. Armanti Edwards also passes 300 yards and breaks a record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback in any I-AA/FCS game ever.
8:04 4th Quarter

Cory Lynch comes up with the interception. That’s a critical turnover that Richmond couldn’t commit as they try to come back in this game.

10:11 4th Quarter

A 29 yard touchdown pass to Cardwell puts Appalachian State up by 2 touchdowns once again, 49-35, and Richmond once again is in trouble as they have to come from behind again, but this time with only about 10 minutes left.

14:06 4th Quarter

Richmond once again forced into a 3-and-out and Appalachian State’s offense once again takes over.

0:30 3rd Quarter

Richmond finally makes a defensive stop that they need, forcing Appalachian State to punt after holding them to a 3rd and 14.

3:01 3rd Quarter

Appalachian State gets a defense stop that they need as Richmond goes three-and-out.

4:41 3rd Quarter

Richardson gets a 3 yard touchdown run on a drive where Armanti Edwards goes over 100 yard passing on the game, as Appalachian State retakes a 42-35 lead on Richmond.

9:02 3rd Quarter

Eric Ward has a 5 yard touchdown run and Richmond is able to close the entire 14 point Mountaineer lead without Appalachian State even being able to run a play in the 2nd half. It’s now tied at 35.

11:48 3rd Quarter

Hillary fumbles the ball on the kickoff return, and Richmond picks up their first turnover of the game as they’re in great position to tie the game.

11:57 3rd Quarter

Joe Stewart catches a 17 yard touchdown pass as Richmond scores on their opening drive of the 2nd half to narrow the score to 35-28.

Halftime

Appalachian State still has to watch out in this game as they’ve allowed Richmond to score 21 points and are only ahead by 2 scores. If Richmond can find out how to stop their offense, the Mountaineers will have to be on high alert on defense.

However, Richmond’s main problem is stopping Appalachian State on offense as, other than the drive that finished the half, the Mountaineers have scored touchdowns on 5 of their 7 drives. It doesn’t matter how much Richmond might be able to get their offense going, if they can’t stop Armanti Edwards, then they’re never going to be able to close the gap.

Halftime

Appalachian State just takes a knee to take the game to halftime, leading 35-21.

0:21 2nd Quarter

Eric Ward runs for a 32 yard touchdown run as Richmond once again closes the gap to two touchdowns as it’s now 35-21.

3:22 2nd Quarter

Richmond stops Appalachian State on 4th down this time and takes over on their own 45 yard line

5:58 2nd Quarter

Richmond drives a ways down the field, but is forced into a 4th down, and Richmond fails to convert, giving the ball back to the Mountaineers on the 28 yard line.

10:36 2nd Quarter

Armanti Edwards gets his 4th rushing touchdown of the game on a 3 yard rush, as Appalachian State goes up 35-14. They may break a record for most points scored in a playoff game at this rate.

13:42 2nd Quarter

Kevin Grayson gets his 2nd touchdown on a 26 yard pass as Richmond tries to climb back into the game, narrowing Appalachian State’s lead to 28-14.

14:41 2nd Quarter

Armanti Edwards gets his third touchdown run, and his 4th overall touchdown of the night as he gets a 36 yard touchdown run as Appalachian State now goes ahead of Richmond 28-7.

End of 1st Quarter

Armanti Edwards rushes for 9 yards to go over 100 yard rushing, and it’ll be 2nd and 1 on the 48 yard line to start the 2nd quarter.

0:10 First Quarter

We have our first turnover as Richmond fumbles the ball after a 23 yard reception, and Appalachian State gets the ball back on their own 39 yard line

0:29 First Quarter

Armanti Edwards helps Appalachian State rush down the field as they score another touchdown on a 9 yard touchdown run by Edwards to put Appalachian State back up 21-7.

3:35 First Quarter

A 29 yard touchdown pass to Kevin Grayson puts Richmond on the board, and it’s now 14-7.

6:29 First Quarter

Appalachian State picks up a key 3rd and 7 on their way down the field as they score score a touchdown on a 7-yard Armanti Edwards run to make the game 14-0.

8:31 First Quarter

Richmond goes 3-and-out after gaining only 8 yards.

9:33 First Quarter

Dexter Jackson catches and runs for a 52-yard touchdown pass and Appalachian State goes up on Richmond 7-0.

10:30 First Quarter

Each team has had the ball and punted. ASU got it first and went 24 yards in 4 plays before giving it up, while Richmond also had it for 4 plays, going 23 yards.

Pregame

The first I-AA/FCS semifinal is about to come up. Can Appalachian State become the 4th school to make it to three straight national titles? It’s been done by 3 schools - Eastern Kentucky, Georgia Southern, and Youngstown State - 4 times.

The I-AA semifinals are set to get underway, starting with Richmond at Appalachian State tonight, and Delaware at Southern Illinois tomorrow afternoon.  The winners will play each other in Chattanooga December 14th.

As most people know, Appalachian State is going for their third consecutive national championship.  No other I-AA/FCS team has won three championships, but three straight championship game appearances is not unprecedented.  Attending at least 3 straight championships has occurred 4 times in the past: Eastern Kentucky went to four straight championships between 1979 and 1982, winning the first and last.  Georgia Southern went to 3 straight title games between 1988 and 1990, as well as in 1998 and 2000, winning the last two titles in both streaks.  Meanwhile, Youngstown state also played in 4 title games between 1991 and 1994, winning all but the 2nd.  Youngstown State is still the only school to have even won 3 titles in 4 years.

The 2005 and 2006 titles are the only national championship appearances for Appalachian State.  Their opponent, Richmond, has never played in a national championship game (in face, they have never played in a semi-final game either, until tonight).  Delaware has played in two championships: the 1982 championship, where they lost to Eastern Kentucky, and in 2003, when they defeated Colgate 40-0.  As an interesting note, Appalachian State has already defeated James Madison, who was the last time who won the championship before them.  Delaware was the team who won the championship before JMU.  Southern Illinois played in one title game, in 1983, defeating Western Carolina 43-7.

So three of the four teams in the semifinals have won national championships, though Southern Illinois last did it 14 years ago.  There may be a few players left on the Delaware team who got rings however, but they would have been redshirting that year.

There is also the possibility that we will have our first intra-conference national title since 1988 when Furman defeated Georgia Southern - both of the Southern Conference.  It can happen this year if Delaware and Richmond play each other in the title game.  That could end up being a wild game since in their regular season meeting, it took 5 overtimes for Richmond to finally defeat Delaware 62-56.

Things fell out pretty much as expected:

National Championship: Ohio State vs. LSU
Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. Hawaii
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. Kansas
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs. West Virginia
Rose Bowl: Illinois vs. Southern Cal

I guess I’m a little surprised that the Orange went with Kansas instead of West Virginia, but perhaps the Fiesta didn’t want an all-Big 12 matchup.

I think this season has shown more than any other that a playoff is needed. Sports Illustrated Online had a headline up earlier today which read “Give LSU a shot.” Well what happens if LSU takes that shot and misses? Well, sorry Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, and Georgia, LSU is the only team who is able to take that shot. Even if you ended up being the better team, tough. And of course, if LSU wins the championship, those teams won’t get their own shot at LSU.

The BCS doesn’t help itself by posting news stories which are written by people who sound like whiny children trying to defend something which they know is broken:

Now that the most compelling, entertaining and dramatic college football season in recent memory is drawing to a close, sportswriters and broadcasters are doing what they always do at this time of the year.

They’re crafting lies to convince you that major-college football is in disarray and in dire need of a playoff system to save itself.

Of course, it is ironic that this article was written before this weekend, and uses the basis that Missouri and West Virginia appeared to be a clear #1 and #2 to “prove” that the BCS works:

Right now the system has settled on MU and West Virginia. Those names are allegedly not big enough for some writers and broadcasters.

Oops. And of course, there is the usual “with a playoff, no one would care about the regular season!”:

Critics of college football won’t do that. The current, no-playoff system gives us great September and October story lines.

Of course, the problem with this is three-fold. The first is that in every sport with a playoff (i.e. every sport other than Division I-A college football), people still enjoy the regular season. Why? Because it still matters. You’re still playing to see who gets in the playoffs.

The argument for maximizing the meaning of the regular season, which is used to justify selecting two and only two teams to play for a championship, could just as easily be used to justify a system where no championship game is played at all. Heck, that’s the way to maximize the meaning of the season, isn’t it? Don’t even have a post season. Ohio State wins the title. Tough luck, LSU.

The second problem is that, ironically, in college football more than just about any other sport, the regular season gives you the least clear, most muddied picture of the landscape possible. In the NFL, for example, any given team plays 37.5% of the teams in the league. Not perfect, but at least it’s a third. Yet the NFL still puts 37.5% of the league into the playoffs, largely because, even with playing over a third of the league, you can’t necessarily declare the team with the best record champion, because they haven’t necessarily played everyone.

In college football it’s even worse. Any given team plays, at most, 10.8% of the teams, and that’s if you play a 12 game schedule, and a conference championship game, against 13 different I-A teams. No re-matches (as Missouri/Oklahoma and Virginia Tech/Boston College were) and no I-AA games (Appalachian State vs. Michigan anyone?). Most teams will play only 10% of I-A teams, and a good portion will play even a lower percentage than that.

Yet, we’re willing to select two - and only two - teams to play the championship. Teams who have played a combined 20% of Division I-A college football teams…maybe. In other words, 80% of all the teams in football have no direct say in who the national champion will be. So what’s this about the regular season being meaningful? In the current system, it is anything but meaningful. All 6 BCS Conference champions could go undefeated, and you’d still only have 2 teams who have played only 20% of all teams playing for the title. How is that even remotely fair or meaningful?

What if Division I-AA has this system? You’d probably have seen Northern Iowa vs. Montana in the championship game. It’s now the semifinals and both of those teams have been eliminated, and a third previously undefeated team, McNeese State, has lost as well. Tell Delaware, Southern Illinois, Appalachian State, and Richmond that they can’t have a chance at the national title because a team in another conference who they never even got a chance to play went undefeated against the few teams in the division that they actually play.

Third, having a playoff would eliminate the need for poll “corrections” like the ones we saw today - where all three polls felt compelled to “correct’ their rankings to make sure LSU got into the title.

What? Are you telling me that LSU really WASN’T the #7 team going into this past weekend? If not, why did you rank them there? If you never intended to put Georgia into the title game, why did you put them in a position where, if the impossible happened like it did on Saturday, they would be in line to play for the championship? If LSU was better than Georgia because they merely played in the conference title, why was LSU ranked below Georgia to start with? Or Why was Oklahoma ranked below them? Or Virginia Tech?

This is a matter of consistency for the polls, and to have the first 13 polls of the season be based on the previous poll with rewards and punishments for winning and losing, and then using the final poll as a do-over is dangerously close to scandalous in my opinion.

Do you really think that a 7-point win over a 4-loss Tennessee team who lead most of the game justifies jumping LSU 5 spots up? At least Oklahoma could theoretically argue for such a move since they convincingly defeated the #1 ranked team in the nation.

Meanwhile, Virginia Tech, who hasn’t lost to an unranked team all year and who avenged one of their losses convincingly Saturday, goes nowhere in the polls. How does this make sense other than people “deciding” that LSU was going to be #2 and that they were just going to “make it happen,” no matter how little sense it made given the current rankings.

Week after week, year after year, we hear people complaining how people vote in the polls, saying that you should vote for who you think the best team is, and not necessarily punish a team who loses but who clearly seems like the better team. Week after week, year after year, the voters ignore their own complaining and vote as they always have. That is until voting as they always have suddenly becomes inconvenient when they have a certain matchup for the championship in mind.

It would kind of like being an umpire in a baseball game who is calling balls and strikes a certain way and has called them in a consistent manner through a game. Then suddenly in the 9th inning they decide they want one of the two teams to win, but that team is trailing.  As a result they decide to change how they’re calling balls and strikes to try to ensure the team they want to win will win.

Sorry, if this is how you’ve been doing your rankings all season, it is disingenuous to suddenly decide to do a “do-over” because you put yourself into a position which would end with an undesirable result if you did your rankings like you always do.  Unfortunately there is little that anyone can do about it.

It’s the first actual BCS Human poll, and it’s looking good for LSU.  Here is the Coaches poll top 10:

1. Ohio State (46) 1,469
2. LSU (11) 1,418
3. Oklahoma (2) 1,331
4. Georgia 1,277
5. Virginia Tech 1,242
6. Southern California 1,227
7. Missouri 1,104
8. Kansas 1,099
9. West Virginia 1,010
10. Hawaii (1) 994

Once again, it’s the points that matter, not the rank, so here are the scores that will go into the BCS:

LSU:  0.945
Oklahoma: 0.887
Georgia: 0.851
Virginia Tech: 0.828
Southern Cal: 0.818

Given Oklahoma’s computer disadvantage, this will put LSU in the title game. Unless the Harris poll rebels against what the AP and Coaches poll is doing - and I doubt they will - I see no way for Georgia to make up this distance in the computer rankings.  LSU will play Ohio State for the national title.

As a result, I predict the BCS as thus:

1. Ohio State
2. LSU
3. Georgia
4. Virginia Tech
5. Oklahoma
If you’re curios, here are the changes from last week:

LSU: +5 ranks, +284 points (average +4.7 spots per ballot)
Oklahoma: +5 ranks, +205 points (average +3.4 spots per ballot)
Georgia: No rank change, +45 points, (average +0.8 spots per ballot)
Virginia Tech: No rank change, +81 points, (average +1.4 spots per ballot)
Southern Cal: +4 ranks, +154 points (average +2.6 spots per ballot)

This clearly shows a concerted effort to put Oklahoma and especially LSU into the title game. It’s interesting that LSU got a bigger per-ballot increase (4.7 spots) for defeating a 4-loss now-18th ranked Tennessee than Oklahoma got (3.4 spots) for defeating the then-#1, now-#7 ranked team Missouri.

I also think there are four damning portions to this poll:

1) Clearly there was an effort to make LSU the #2 team.  This can be seen from the fact that LSU is actually closer to #1 Ohio State than they are #3 Oklahoma.  People intentionaly put as much distance between LSU and Georgia to make computers a non-factor (knowing that Oklahoma would need to be a very strong #2 to get in despite their computer rankings)

2) Virginia Tech defeated Boston College, yet got leapfrogged by both LSU and Oklahoma, who both rose 5 spots.  Virginia Tech defeated a better team than Tennessee (and by a larger margin), yet hardly moved at all.  They only gained 1.4 spots per ballot even though 2 teams ahead of them lost.  It’s clear that, for the first and only time this year, people were voting based on who they wanted in the title game rather than how they usually vote.

If people think that polls should always show show they think should be in the title game - then they should vote that way.  LSU would have been in the top 2 all year, despite losing twice then.  If they think you should punish people for losing, and rewarding people for winning - and being consistent in those punishments and rewards - then do it every week, not just all the weeks except the final week.

3) To ensure Kansas couldn’t make it (and possibly screwing the Jayhawks out of a BCS bid), they were dropped 3 spots despite 2 teams ahead of them losing.  USC, Oklahoma, and LSU all jumpted ahead, and Virginia Tech, whom Kansas was tied with before, moved ahead, while Missouri remained ahead of Kansas despite losing.

This also goes towards the “vote the same way every week in the poll” point above.

4) There might also be an effort to squeeze Hawaii out of the BCS.  Hawaii was 12th last week in the BCS - right on the minimum rank in the BCS to get an auto-bid.  Arizona State, the 13th ranked team, actually jumped Florida in the Coaches poll to gain a position and 144 points.  Hawaii, meanwhile, only gained 38 points.

Boston College, the only team directly above Hawaii to lose, only dropped two positions and lost 244 points.  That should drop Boston College under Hawaii, leaving them 12th even if Arizona jumps over them, but it will be close.  Illinois, another team under Hawaii, also jumped up a rank and gained 100 points in the polls - though that was mostly at BC’s expense.

The AP Poll has been released, and here are the rankings:

1. Ohio State (50) 1,578
2. LSU (11) 1,519
3. Oklahoma (1) 1,423
4. Georgia (1) 1,421
5. Virginia Tech (1) 1,380
6. USC 1,346
7. Missouri 1,195
8. Kansas 1,164
9. Florida 1,071
10. Hawaii (1) 1,050

For the 2nd time this season, 6 teams get #1 votes in the AP poll (the last time it occurred before this season was 1990), and yes, someone accepted my challenge to vote Hawaii #1 (though I’m doubting my challenge influenced that decision…).

Now, this is the AP poll, so it isn’t in the BCS, but it could give us an idea of how at least the Harris poll might vote (since it seems to vote similarly to the AP Poll). Remember, the actual rank of teams doesn’t matter in the BCS, it’s the number of points that matter. So let’s see the scores all of the BCS #2 hopefuls would get if the AP poll were in the BCS:

LSU: 0.9348
Oklahoma: 0.8757
Georgia: 0.8745
Virginia Tech: 0.8492
Southern Cal: 0.8283

If these teams keep the same computer rankings from last week (I know that won’t happen, but it could simulate if the margin between them in the computers stay constant), the rankings would shake out thus:

LSU: 0.8865
Georgia: 0.8597
Virginia Tech: 0.8361
Oklahoma: 0.7671
Southern Cal: 0.7655

Since Oklahoma and Southern Cal both had double-digit computer rankings coming into the week, I would find it difficult for either of them to slip into the #2 spot. They’d have to be clear #2 in the polls and that isn’t happening. The question will become how much LSU can gain in the computers, and how many people will move them to 2nd in the polls.

Given the man juice being created over LSU last night on the TV, I find it no surprise that LSU is #2 in the AP poll. The question is where will they be in the Harris and Coaches? They jumped from 5th to 2nd in the AP, only jumping over Georgia. They’re 7th in the Coaches poll, however. (they’re also 5th in the Harris).

The other implication of all this is that Kansas may not get an automatic bid into the BCS, giving the Fiesta Bowl the option to choose Arizona State if they wish.

And just for kicks, here is the average rank of the top 6 teams on ballots:

Ohio State: 1.7 (the average rank of those who didn’t rank OSU 1st was around 4th)
LSU: 2.6 (average rank of those who didn’t rank LSU 1st was around 3rd)
Oklahoma: 4.1
Georgia: 4.1
Virginia Tech: 4.8
Southern Cal: 5.3

Interpret that as you may.

Is someone reading my blog?