The World According to Oatney

AP poll is out of BCS equation

The Associated Press announced today that it was going to remove its famous (or infamous, depending on one's opinion) football poll from the Bowl Championship Series equation on the prerogative of the football writers themselves.

The AP claims that such use was never sanctioned and had reached the point where it threatened to undermine the independence and integrity of the poll. The Associated Press can certainly make that case, and they claim that the BCS has become so controversial that they don't wish to be included as a part of it, because as long as the system gives very good teams the short shrift, and there is any debate as to whether the BCS National Champion is the legitimate champion, the very reputation of the AP poll is at state.

The AP sent BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg a cease-and-desist letter, dated Dec. 21, stating that use of the poll is unlawful and harms the AP's reputation.

It could be argued that the BCS harms college football's reputation, perhaps this is why the AP's decision was such a laudable one. Of course, the withdrawal of the AP poll from BCS consideration is putting the BCS in danger itself, and creating the need for its championship formula to be tweaked yet again. Now BCS co-ordinator Kevin Weiberg and Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese have said the BCS would look into the possibility of using a selection committee to create the bowl matchups, much like the NCAA Division I basketball tournament. So soon all the polls may be taken out of the mix, and the system will be made ever less legitimate.

Nearly all reasonable NCAA football analysts and fans accept that no system for determining a Division I-A National Champion will be a perfect system. If a four-team playoff were to come into being, the number five team would complain about being left out. If an eight-team system were used, one has to believe that number nine may have some legitimate gripe. Same with a "sweet sixteen" sort of format and the team ranked 17th. Someone will always get the short end of the stick. However, under the present system, the best teams in the game are often excluded from the championship party. The AP writers have sent a signal that things weren't so bad before the BCS came along, or at least that things weren't much different than they are now. Perhaps the message here is that no system is better than a corrupt one.


ESPN Wire Services and the AP contributed some information to this post.

posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 10:36 PM