College Football: AP Voters Not Watching Pac-12 Football Thus No More West Coast Bias?

Somewhere during the 2011 season, traditional sports logic and college football reasoning has been lost between the Associated Press Top 25 and the USA Today’s Coaches’ Poll.

The final 2011 regular season college football polls released Sunday shows that the “experts” fans look to for football guidance might be drawing names out of a hat to pick their college football Top 25.

Week 15, the final week of the regular season in college football, should have been the easiest week of the season for voters to fill out their Top 25 polls. Only 22 college football games were played during the final weekend meaning of the 120 FBS teams 44 were in action. 11 games featured ranked teams. 5 of the 11 games featured ranked teams playing against each other.

16 teams that played were ranked in the week 14 AP Top 25 Poll. Of the 16 ranked teams that played five lost. Per the rankings, three of the five ranked teams that lost were “upset” by lower ranked teams. No ranked team that lost was defeated by an unranked team.

Traditionally this would mean that three ranked teams would drop in the polls and the three previously lower ranked teams would move up in the polls. Teams on a bye would have the opportunity to be jumped in the polls by teams playing one extra conference championship game, especially schools on a bye not playing in the conference championship game, right? Guess again college football fans.

In week 14 Stanford was No. 4, Oregon was No. 8, and USC was No. 9 in the AP. The AP was so impressed with Stanford and USC’s bye that in the final polls they kept Stanford at No. 4, jumped USC to No. 5, and placed Oregon at No. 6.

Voters rendered Oregon’s Pac-12 championship game win over UCLA useless.

Voters may have forgotten that Oregon beat Stanford November 12, just four weeks ago, 53-30 at Stanford Stadium. The following week USC went on the road and upset the Ducks at Autzen Stadium 38-35.

One can see an argument being made for USC being a Top 10 team. They have quality wins over Oregon and - Notre Dame? USC’s two losses have been to unranked 6-6 Arizona State 43-22 and to No. 4 Stanford 56-48. USC’s last regular season game was a victory over UCLA 50-0.

Are the AP voters are telling America that they are more impressed with USC’s 50-point win over UCLA than Oregon’s 49-31 win over UCLA in the Pac-12 championship game? Yes, they are. They are also telling college football fans that two teams in the Pac-12 are better than the team representing the conference in the Rose Bowl.

According to the AP, Stanford with a quality win over USC, Oregon with a quality win over Stanford, and USC with a quality win over Oregon is enough to rank the teams 4-6 in the final regular season poll. None of the teams have quality non-conference victories to help support their positions.

Oregon played four ranked teams during the season and finished with a 2-2 record against those teams. One of the ranked teams the Ducks beat was Arizona State. ASU finished the season unranked with a 6-6 record. Another way to look at it is Oregon went 1-2 against quality opponents during the 2011 season.

Stanford also played four ranked teams during the season. Two of those teams, 7-5 University of Washington and 8-4 Notre Dame are not ranked in the final AP Poll. Stanford went 1-1 against quality opponents during the 2011 season; beat USC, lost to Oregon.

Again, USC played two ranked teams and finished with a 1-1 record; lost to Stanford, beat Oregon.

Don’t look for wisdom with The USA Today Coaches’ Poll because that poll is no better than the AP. Due to the fact that USC cannot participate in post season games because of NCAA sanctions, the Coaches Poll has completely left USC off the ballot.

USC is deserving of place among the top 25 teams in the nation. Where they deserve to be ranked can be debated. But leaving them off the ballot is another way of saying this team does not exists.

Yet when USC beat then No. 4 Oregon on November 19, the coaches dropped Oregon to No. 9 the following week. Strange how Oregon can drop in their poll to a team that does not officially exist to them?

Luckily the AP Poll does not count towards the BCS Rankings. Although one does have to fool themselves to think that the Harris Interactive Poll is not influenced by the AP Poll in some way.

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott has to be happy that three of his teams occupy spots within the final regular season AP Top 10. Scott and Duck’s head coach Chip Kelly have to be angry that voters have made a joke out of the Pac-12 inaugural championship game by jumping USC ahead of Oregon.  

Through it all fans have to realize that the so-called college football “experts” do not know as much about college football as we have traditionally given them credit for. 

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HogManInLA’s College Football Top 25: Week 15

1. LSU 13-0
2. Alabama 11-1
3. Oklahoma State 11-1
4. Arkansas 10-2
5. Wisconsin 11-2
6. Oregon 11-2
7. South Carolina 10-2
8. Stanford 11-1
9. USC 10-2
10. Georgia 10-3
11. Michigan State 10-3
12. Boise State 11-1
13. Virginia Tech 11-2
14. Kansas State 10-2
15. Clemson 10-3
16. Michigan 10-2
17. Oklahoma 9-3
18. Baylor 9-3
19. Southern Mississippi 11-2
20. TCU 10-2
21. Arkansas State 10-2
22. Houston 12-1
23. Nebraska 9-3
24. Penn State 9-3
25. West Virginia 8-3

All the hype on Sunday will be about Oklahoma State. Will they or won’t they… that is will they move to No. 2 in the BCS Rankings or will they remain at No. 3?

Oklahoma State did impress Saturday night in their home win over Oklahoma, but one has to remember that Alabama lost to the No. 1 team in the nation in their lone defeat not to an unranked team; one could argue that Bama won every facet of the game except the score board against LSU. All Oklahoma State did was beat a two-loss team Saturday.

Houston lost out on an undefeated season and a BCS at-large bid Saturday when they lost to Southern Mississippi in the Conference USA Title Game. 

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HogManInLA’s College Football Top 25: Week 12

1. LSU 10-0
2. Oklahoma State 10-0
3. Arkansas 9-1
4. Alabama 9-1
5. Oregon 9-1
6. Oklahoma 8-1
7. Georgia 8-2
8. Houston 10-0
9. Virginia Tech 9-1
10. Clemson 9-1
11. Michigan State 8-2
12. Wisconsin 8-2
13. South Carolina 8-2
14. Stanford 9-1
15. Nebraska 8-2
16. Kansas State 8-2
17. TCU 8-2
18. Boise State 8-1
19. USC 8-2
20. Michigan 8-2
21. Southern Mississippi 9-1
22. Penn State 8-2
23. Florida State 7-3
24. Arkansas State 8-2
25. Tulsa 7-3

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HogManInLA Heisman Trophy Contenders: Week 11

The college football landscape continues to change week in and week out and the Heisman Trophy race along with it. Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore and Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck will more than likely make the trip to New York but neither has been overly impressive against lesser competition within their conference.

In week 11 Moore threw for five touchdowns against 2-6 UNLV but only completed 18 passes out of 31 attempts for a 58 percent completion percentage.

Andrew Luck threw for 207 yards against 2-7 Oregon State. He did throw three touchdowns to one interception.

The following contenders continue to get it done week after week.

Brandon Weeden vs. Kansas State Wildcats

36 of 46, 502 yards passing, 4 touchdowns, 2 interceptions

Case Keenum vs. UAB Blazers

39 of 44, 407 yards passing, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions

2 rushes, 2 yards, 2 touchdowns

Justin Blackmon vs. Kansas State Wildcats

13 receptions, 205 yards receiving, 15.8 yards per catch average, 2 touchdowns

1 rushing attempt, 0 yards

Trent Richardson vs. LSU Tigers

23 rushes, 89 yards, 0 touchdowns

5 receptions, 80 yards, 0 touchdowns

Losing effort.

Collin Klein vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys

22 of 38, 231 yards passing, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, sacked twice

29 rushing attempts, 144 rushing yards, 3 touchdowns

Losing effort.

Robert Griffin III vs. Missouri Tigers

27 of 41, 406 yards passing, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, sacked twice

18 rushing attempts, 64 yards, 1 touchdown

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HogManInLA’s College Football Top 25: Week 11

1. LSU 9-0
2. Oklahoma State 9-0
3. Arkansas 8-1
4. Alabama 8-1
5. Stanford 9-0
6. Oregon 8-1
7. Boise State 8-0
8. Oklahoma 8-1
9. Georgia 7-2
10. Houston 9-0
11. Virginia Tech 8-1
12. Clemson 8-1
13. Penn State 8-1
14. Michigan State 7-2
15. Wisconsin 7-2
16. South Carolina 7-2
17. USC 7-2
18. Southern Mississippi 8-1
19. Kansas State 7-2
20. Nebraska 7-2
21. TCU 7-2
22. Florida State 6-3
23. Texas 6-2
24. Michigan 7-2
25. Arkansas State 7-2

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HogManInLA’s College Football Top 25: Week 10

1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Oklahoma State
4. Stanford
5. Oregon
6. Arkansas
7. Boise State
8. Nebraska
9. Oklahoma
10. South Carolina
11. Houston
12. Georgia
13. Virginia Tech
14. Clemson
15. Kansas State
16. Michigan State
17. Michigan
18. Arizona State
19. West Virginia
20. Penn State
21. USC
22. Wisconsin
23. TCU
24. Southern Mississippi
25. Cincinnati

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HogManInLA’s College Football Top 25: Week 9

1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Oklahoma State
4. Clemson
5. Boise State
6. Stanford
7. Arkansas
8. Oregon
9. Kansas State
10. Michigan State
11. Wisconsin
12. Texas A&M
13. Nebraska
14. Oklahoma
15. Virginia Tech
16. South Carolina
17. Houston
18. Georgia
19. USC
20. Michigan
21. Texas Tech
22. Arizona State
23. Southern Mississippi
24. TCU
25. Cincinnati

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HogManInLA’s College Football Top 25: Week 6

1. LSU                         5-0
2. Alabama                   5-0
3. Oklahoma                 4-0
4. Wisconsin                 5-0
5. Boise State               4-0
6. Oklahoma State        4-0
7. Clemson                   5-0
8. Stanford                   4-0
9. Oregon                     3-1
10. Arkansas                  4-1
11. Michigan                  5-0
12. Texas                       4-0
13. Georgia Tech            5-0
14. Florida                     4-1
15. Nebraska                 4-1
16. West Virginia           4-1
17. South Carolina         4-1
18. Illinois                      5-0
19. Auburn                    4-1
20. Virginia Tech           4-1
21. Arizona State          4-1
22. Texas A&M            2-2
23. USC                       4-1
24. Florida State           2-2
25. Texas Tech             4-0

Dropped out of HogManInLA’s Top 25:

South Florida, TCU, Baylor

New to HogManInLA’s Top 25:

Texas Tech, USC, Arizona State

Other’s receiving interest:

Michigan State, Washington, Houston

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The Los Angeles Dodgers Sign First Round Draft Pick

Stanford University pitcher Chris Reed (a graduate of Cleveland High School in Reseda) signed with the Dodgers on Friday. Reed, a junior left-handed pitcher, was the 16^th overall pick in the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft and the only first round selection for the Dodgers.

Reed was an honorable mention All-PAC 10 pitcher with a record of 6-2 with 9 saves in 29 games as a reliever for the Cardinal with one start. He tallied a 2.56 ERA with 52 strikeouts. As a team, the Stanford pitching staff finished the 2011 season ranked 47^th in NCAA Baseball with a 3.45 ERA.

Stanford had five players drafted in the 2011 draft. Of the five Stanford players drafted only one player, junior left-handed pitcher Brett Mooneyham a 38^th round selection and 1,147^th overall player selected by the Washington Nationals, remains unsigned.

Reed was the 19^th player out of 50 first round selections to sign a Major League Baseball deal.

The Dodgers have successfully signed 4 of their top 5 2011 draft picks to date. Right-handed pitcher Ryan O’Sullivan of Oklahoma City, a fourth round selection, remains unsigned. 

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The 2010-2011 Director’s Cup Trophy has been Awarded

All 13 spring NCAA sporting events have finished and Stanford has won their 17^th straight Director’s Cup. For those of you unfamiliar with the Director’s Cup, this honor was first awarded for the 1993-1994 season to the university that placed highest in all 20 predetermined sporting categories for their school. Colleges that participate in the Director’s Cup include all Division 1, Division 2, Division 3, and NAIA universities that officially compete in national collegian sporting events.  

Division 1 schools are evaluated on 20 sports, 10 men and 10 women’s sports.

Division 2 schools are evaluated on 14 sports, 7 men and 7 women’s sports.

Division 3 schools are evaluated on 18 sports, 9 men and 9 women’s sports.

NAIA schools are evaluated on 12 sports, 6 men and 6 women’s sports.

Each school is awarded points for the final ranking of their individual teams. The team sporting events vary from school to school as not all universities participate in the same divisions and/or sporting events.

Stanford finished the Director’s Cup with 1,550.25 points beating second place Ohio State (1,277.05 pts) by 273.20 points. The Atlantic Coast Conference had three teams in the top 10; Duke, North Carolina, and Florida State. Texas A&M had a strong finish in the Director’s Cup with wins in Men and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field and a showing in the final 8 of the College World Series. Both the PAC-10 and Southeastern Conference tied with six total teams in the top 25. The Big East did not place a team in the top 25. Notre Dame was the only Independent team to rank.

Director’s Cup Top 25 Conference Totals

Southeastern Conference – 6

PAC-10 – 6

ACC – 5

Big 10 – 4

Big 12 – 3

Independent – 1

The Top 25 Universities:

1. Stanford – PAC-10
2. Ohio State – Big Ten
3. California – PAC-10
4. Florida – SEC
5. Duke – ACC
6. North Carolina – ACC
7. Virginia – ACC
8. Texas A&M – Big 12
9. Florida State – ACC
10. Oklahoma – Big 12
11. UCLA – PAC-10
12. Texas – Big 12
13. Penn State – Big Ten
14. Southern California – PAC-10
15. Michigan – Big Ten
16. Arizona – PAC-10
17. Maryland – ACC
18. Notre Dame – Independent
19. LSU– SEC
20. Georgia– SEC
21. Washington– PAC-10
22. Tennessee – SEC
23. Illinois – Big Ten
24. Arkansas – SEC
25. Alabama– SEC

The final 13 NCAA Championships ended as followed:

Baseball – South Carolina

Softball – Arizona State

Women’s Golf – UCLA

Men’s Golf – Augusta State

Women’s Lacrosse – Northwestern

Men’s Lacrosse – Virginia

Women’s Rowing – Brown

Women’s Tennis – Florida

Men’s Tennis – Southern California

Women’s Outdoor Track and Field – Texas A&M

Men’s Outdoor Track and Field – Texas A&M

Men’s Volleyball – Ohio State

Women’s Water Polo – Stanford

Division 2 Winner – Grand Valley State (MI)

Division 3 Winner – Williams (MA)

NAIA Winner – Azusa Pacific (CA)

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