For those who don't understand the BCS rankings in college football -- and there are many who don't, a fact that itself is indicative of how convoluted the BCS is -- there are three components that make up the rankings: a poll of college football coaches, a poll based on a combination of computer models and the Harris Poll. The first two have their flaws, particularly the computer polls, but let's focus on the Harris Poll.
Here's how Harris Interactive describes the poll:
The 2010 Harris Interactive College Football Poll is comprised of 114 panelists and includes former coaches, players, administrators and current and former media. Panelists are randomly drawn by Harris Interactive from among more than 300 nominations supplied by the 11 Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) conferences and independent institutions. The panel meets Harris Interactive criteria for sample design and is a statistically reliable representation of all 11 conferences and independent institutions.
And here's how the authors of Death to the BCS describe the Harris Poll:
While the media, coaches, and even coaches' secretaries aren't particularly adept at ranking teams, college football is the undeniable focus of their lives. Not so with the Harris Poll voters, who aren't chosen by Harris Interactive or from some huge pool of applicants. Conferences nominate and sponsor voters, whose history of back-scratching is evident. While many Harris Poll voters are former players or administrators, they have families and businesses and other interests. Understandably, they follow the game only so much. That their previous involvement in football gives them sufficient expertise is like arguing that a long-retired Honda mechanic could service a 2010 BMW.
The Harris Poll was launched in 2005 after the Associated Press demanded that its poll not be used to determine a national champion. The AP realized that it was being associated with a broken system and wanted no part of it.
Before his death last summer in a bicycling accident, my father was a Harris Poll voter. He was a former athletic director at the University of Kansas who once served as chair of the NCAA Division I men's basketball committee. He had decades of experience working in the business of college athletics and college football. And he favored a college football playoff.
Since I was hired at Sports Fans Coalition, I have heard many words of encouragement from several of my father's colleagues. One of them is a former college athletics administrator who is well respected and is also one of the 114 Harris Poll voters. He shared his thoughts on the BCS with me and now I share them with you:
I believe a playoff is best "for the good of the game." That is, if it is important to determine who is number one, then access should not be restricted. We just kind of go along with what we did last year with a tweak here and a tweak there. Actually, the NCAA is the natural point agency to control and manage post season football at the D-l level. Never understood their reluctance to do this.
It seems the status quo [BCS bowl system] advocates are primarily TV executives and bowl administrators. They are smart business men and women who have a very definitive bottom line... make money. It appears they have managed to convince key conference commissioners and athletic directors and through them, college presidents, that the current system is in their best interests. College presidents and athletic directors are good people but they come from a background of teaching, education and the world of academia... as they should. However, the missions of each group are at opposite ends of the spectrum. The mission of TV, bowl executives and conference commissioners is a bottom line of money and control. While the mission of those from the institutions is one of teaching, research and outreach. One group operates on generated revenue while the other attempts to operate on allocated revenue. One group has the money and the control and the other isn't sure about what to do about it.
Unfortunately, along the way the important values of education have been compromised and the gap between athletics and academics continues to widen. I don't see this changing as long as postseason football and all of the money connected to it is in the control of a status quo mentality. And it is my opinion the current mentality is not in the best interests of "the good of the game.
I believe my father would agree with his former colleague. I sure do.
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Brian Frederick is the Executive Director of Sports Fans Coalition. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication and lives in Washington, D.C. Email him at brian@sportsfans.org.