College Football: BCS adds new poll to mix this fall

The formula for determining the Bowl Championship Series standings was tweaked again yesterday with the addition of a new college football poll that will replace the one conducted by The Associated Press.
The AP had asked after last season not to have its poll included in the formula to determine BCS bowl participants.
The Harris Interactive College Football Poll will rank the top 25 teams on a weekly basis during the season, but the first poll will not be released until Sept. 25, three weeks into the season. The panel will comprise former coaches, players and administrators and select members of the media. Eighty percent of the panel will be former coaches, players and administrators; 20 percent from the media.
Other than the new Harris poll, the elements of the formula remain the same. The Harris poll will count a third along with the USA Today Coaches' poll and an average of the six computer rankings provided by Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin and Peter Wolfe.
The 114 participants in the new poll were randomly drawn by Harris Interactive from among more than 300 nominations from Division I-A conferences and Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White. Each of the 11 Division I-A conferences will be represented by 10 voters. Notre Dame was able to nominate three voters. - College Football -
The voters are currently being filled by the conferences. BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg refused to divulge any of the names yesterday but said the voters' names will be released to the public before the start of the season.
"The voters will take the responsibility seriously," Weiberg said. "The people who give their time have the ability to watch games and study results and will cast their votes as best they can. I think it's a group that has knowledge of and an interest in college football."
The 114 voters is almost double the size of the USA Today poll. Renee Smith, a senior research scientist for Harris, said yesterday that the higher number of voters ensures a better statistical analysis. - College Football -
Weiberg said he tried to get Grant Teaff, the head of the American Football Coaches' Association, to increase the number of voters in the coaches' poll, but Teaff balked at that idea.
Harris Interactive will post the poll on its Web site each Sunday. Individual votes will be made public for the final poll only, although voters can divulge their votes if they wish.
The coaches' poll also will not reveal votes until the final poll.
The AP has made individual votes public for more than a decade because it believes it makes for a more credible poll. Weiberg was asked yesterday about the seeming lack of accountability in the process. - College Football -
"We talked a long time about the poll being made public," Weiberg said. "But we thought it would detract from the games themselves. We decided it was an inappropriate step to take."
Weiberg and Harris Interactive senior vice president John Kennedy said recruitment for the poll is going well, with more than 80 people having committed to be voters.
They did reveal, however, that about a third of the original pool contacted turned down the opportunity to vote for various reasons. - College Football -
A few major news organizations are not allowing their employees to take part in the new Harris poll. The New York Times and the Baltimore Sun are not allowing any of their employees to vote. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is considering allowing only its columnists to participate.
ESPN, which pulled it sponsorship from the coaches' poll after last season, is not allowing any of its employees to vote.
Post-Gazette columnist Bob Smizik has voted in the AP poll in recent years, but no one from this newspaper has been approached about voting in the new Harris poll. - College Football -
"I don't feel like it's our role to select a national champion," said Randy Harvey, sports editor at the Baltimore Sun. "It could lead potentially to great conflicts of interest. If we're in position to determine whether Maryland or Navy gets a bid to a BCS game or a better bowl, we're treading on perilous ground. If we vote for them, it looks like favoritism because they're a local school. If we vote against them, they're mad at us when we were just trying to be fair. I don't think it's a position we should be in." - College Football -
As is the case with other polls, the Harris voters will be evaluated after the season and could be subject to change. Each conference was solely responsible for deciding which voters were qualified to take part.
"We'll make adjustments as needed," Weiberg said. "We will be giving expectations to these voters."

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette