Fricke: a MAJOR flaw exposed in BCS voting?

[Fricke-on-Fox]

A major flaw in BCS exposed?

There are LOTS of flaws in the BCS - heck the BCS itself is a MASSIVE FLAW, but that's another commentary.

Stay with me on this, because it's a little confusing - I will try to make it simple as I can.

There are 3 elements of choosing the BCS rankings. Each count 1/3rd of the total. The Harris poll, the computer polls and the Coaches poll.

Here's the issue this season.

Let's just say that there is a 3-way tie in the Big-12 south. Then the highest rated BCS team goes to the title game. If that happens Texas Tech will be the odd team out - they will end up below both Oklahoma and Texas. In that 3-way tie you cannot say head-to-head is the deciding factor between the Sooners and Longhorns for the simple reason that it will be a... 3-way tie.

So the question becomes. Which team goes to face Missouri as the Big-12 South "Champ".

The teams that lose out (for our sake we will say - just for an example - that Texas gets the nod in the title game and OU and Tech are left out) would have a truly tough time convincing the BCS to place them at #2 and in the national title game - even as 11-1 teams - should Texas then lose to Mizzou in the Big-12 title game and take itself out of the national title game.

Here's the point. It is critical for any of those 3 in any 3-way tie to end up as the highest rated BCS team to get that spot in the Big-12 championship. Whichever does, if they beat Mizzou, would be guaranteed a spot in the national title game.

And here is your flaw.

Mack Brown is voting in the coaches poll. His vote counts.

Mike Leach is voting in the coaches poll. His vote counts.

Bob Stoops is NOT voting in the coaches poll.

Should the voting come down to a hair-splitting between the Sooners and Longhorns, Brown would certainly put his team ahead of OU (after all the Horns beat the Sooners)

What about Leach? He would have to put Oklahoma ahead of Texas. He beat the Horns and lost to OU in that scenario.

So they cancel each other out and all is well, right? Well... maybe, maybe not. Leach could put OU #2 and drop Texas to.. 6 or 7 - well behind his club.. hey the Raiders beat the Horns.

The good news is that the coaches have a check on them - they must have their final BCS regular season votes published - for all of us to see who they voted for - and we will know what they did.

The poll itself is fairly balanced. 37 BCS coaches vote, 24 from non-bcs leagues.

7 SEC coaches vote.
7 Big-10
7 Big-12
6 ACC
5 Pac-10
4 Big East
1 Independent

As for the current contenders for the national title game. Stoops does not vote, neither does Nick Saban from Alabama. The rest do.

Should the battle for the national title game spot (or spots plural) come down to a point or two either way.... it will be very interesting to see what the individual coaches do in their polls.

We need total transparency in all the final votes in all the polls. I have called for the individual coaches polls to be released on a weekly basis, so far we get the final ones - which is better than nothing.

In addition - and this happens every year - we will have coaches voting who are.. no longer coaching! Phillip Fulmer, Tommy Bowden, et al.

This year, more than ever maybe because of the potential number of teams involved, the voting will be critical.

Poll monitors are needed nationwide.

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Here is the full list of the 61 coaches who vote this year

The USA TODAY Board of Coaches

This season's board:

Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech
Mike Bellotti, Oregon
Bret Bielema, Wisconsin
Bobby Bowden, Florida State
Tommy Bowden, Clemson
Art Briles, Baylor
Mack Brown, Texas
Neil Callaway, Alabama-Birmingham
Gene Chizik, Iowa State
Mario Cristobal, Florida International
Sylvester Croom, Mississippi State
Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
Butch Davis, North Carolina
Todd Dodge, North Texas
Randy Edsall, Connecticut
Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee
Jeff Genyk, Eastern Michigan
Turner Gill, Buffalo
Joe Glenn, Wyoming
Todd Graham, Tulsa
Jim Grobe, Wake Forest
Dan Hawkins, Colorado
Pat Hill, Fresno State
Butch Jones, Central Michigan
Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville
Mike Leach, Texas Tech
Jim Leavitt, South Florida
Rocky Long, New Mexico
Bill Lynch, Indiana
Doug Martin, Kent State
Urban Meyer, Florida
Les Miles, LSU
Shane Montgomery, Miami (Ohio)
Hal Mumme, New Mexico State
Rick Neuheisel, UCLA
Tom O'Brien, North Carolina State
George O'Leary, Central Florida
Gary Patterson, TCU
Bo Pelini, Nebraska
Chris Petersen, Boise State
Gary Pinkel, Missouri
Mike Price, Texas-El Paso
Mark Richt, Georgia
Mike Riley, Oregon State
Rich Rodriguez, Michigan
Greg Schiano, Rutgers
Howard Schnellenberger, Florida Atlantic
Mark Snyder, Marshall
Frank Solich, Ohio
Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee
Jeff Tedford, California
Joe Tiller, Purdue
Bob Toledo, Tulane
Dick Tomey, San Jose State
Jim Tressel, Ohio State
Tommy Tuberville, Auburn
Charlie Weis, Notre Dame
Kyle Whittingham, Utah
Tyrone Willingham, Washington
Ron Zook, Illinois

[Asics]

I don't believe any of your Big 12 scenario is checked back by the final ballot being public. Mainly because the final ballot would come after the CCG week.

[Fricke-on-Fox]

Originally Posted by Asics

I don't believe any of your Big 12 scenario is checked back by the final ballot being public. Mainly because the final ballot would come after the CCG week.

you might actually be correct. i stand corrected asics... good call.

so, even more reason to be transparent.