Why AP Stands for "All Politics"
by Bruce McKinley, 12/9/96

Will, I came across this list of the AP College Football Poll voters:

EAST (9)
Mark Blaudschun, Boston Globe
Ron Christ, Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot News
Beano Cook, ESPN
Rick Kozlowski, Journal of Martinsburg (W.Va.)
Josh Lewin, WBAL Radio, Baltimore
Ivan Maisel, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
Lenn Robbins, The Record, Hackensack, N.J.
Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post
Dick Weiss, Daily News, New York

MIDWEST (17)
Andy Bagnato, Chicago Tribune
Harold Bechard, Salina (Kan.) Journal
Bill Benner, Indianapolis Star
Jim Cnockaert, Ann Arbor (Mich.) News
Bob Dutton, Kansas City Star
Jack Ebling, Lansing (Mich.) State Journal
Charley Hallman, St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press
Michael Hunt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Marc Katz, Dayton (Ohio) Daily News
Mike Koolbeck, Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette
Tom Kubat, Lafayette (Ind.) Journal and Courier
Jack Moss, Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gazette
Bill Needle, WKNR-AM, University Heights, Ohio
Roland Queen, Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal
Mark Tupper, Decatur (Ill.) Herald & Review
Gordon Winters, Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star
Dave Woolford, Toledo (Ohio) Blade

SOUTH (18)
John Adams, Knoxville (Tenn.), News-Sentinel
Parrish Alford, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
Bob Alvarez, WDSU-TV, New Orleans
Robbie Andreau, The Gainesville (Fla.) Sun
Tony Barnhart, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Joe Biddle, Nashville (Tenn.) Banner
Wilt Browning, Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times
John Cameron, The Mobile (Ala.) Press-Register
Tony Debo, WTVD-TV, Durham, N.C.
Doug Doughty, Roanoke (Va.) Times
Pat Forde, Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal
Scooter Hobbs, Lake Charles (La.) American Press
Mike Knobler, The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Miss.
Bob Lang, Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier
Gary Long, The Miami Herald
Tom Murphy, Monroe (La.) News Star
Stan Olson, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer
Doug Segrest, Birmingham (Ala.) News

SOUTHWEST (8)
Bob Barry Sr., KFOR-TV, Norman, Okla
Kirk Bohls, Austin (Texas) Amemican Statesman
Jimmy Burch, Fort Worth (Texas) Star Telegram
Stephen Caldwell, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bart Hubbuch, Dallas Morning News
Dave Sittler, The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City
Bob West, Port Arthur (Texas) News
Jerry Wizig, Houston Chronicle

WEST (15)
Mark Anderson, Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal
Joe Baird, The Salt Lake (Utah) Tribune
Andy Boogaard, The Fresno (Calif.) Bee
B.G. Brooks, Rocky Mountain News, Denver
Bob Condotta, News Tribune of Tacoma (Wash.)
Jeff Faraudo, Alameda (Calif.) Newspaper Group
Mike Garcia, The Albuquerque Tribune
Ken Goe, The Oregonian
Steve Guiremand, Long Beach (Calif.) Star Telegram
Bob Hammond, Laramie (Wyo.) Boomerang
Bob Hudson, The Daily Herald, Provo, Utah
Ferd Lewis, Honolulu Advertiser
Jack Magruder, Arizona Daily Star.
Lisa Nehus-Saxon, Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise
Ralph Routon, Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph

Here's my analysis of the voter breakdown (literally AND figuratively).

Discard the WORTHLESS

  • First, the following schools are not qualified to be represented by the poll (or considered for a bowl). They have never had, and will never have, a reasonable football program. In short, they stink so bad a goat wouldn't sniff them.
  • Everyone in the Big West (Nevada, Utah St., Idaho, North Texas, New Mexico St. & Boise St.)
  • Everyone in the MAC (Ball St., Miami (OH), Ohio U., Toledo, Ctl Mich, Bowling Green, Eastern Mich, Western Mich, Akron & Kent St.)
  • The lower half of the WAC (Hawaii, UNLV, UTEP, San Jose St., Fresno St., Tulsa, New Mexico, TCU)
  • The lower half of independents (Northern Illinois, Arkansas St., NE Lousiana, UAB, Louisiana Tech & Central Florida)
  • You could make a case against the dregs of each conference, but I guarantee Temple, Duke and Oregon St. would beat almost everyone on the above list. These teams are WORTHLESS, and should be DISCARDED.

Regional "BREAKDOWN"

The elimination of these schools brings the total real I-A schools to 81 from 111. They are organized regionally as (don't get too picky on me because there are some cross-over conferences like the Big 12 and WAC).

                                                Teams Voters 
                                                ----- ------
    West(18):  Pac10(10),WAC leftovers(8)         22%    22%
Soutwest(12):  Big 12(12)                         15%    12%
 Midwest(14):  Big 10(10), half ConfUSA (3), ND   17%    25%
   South(26):  SEC(12), ACC(9),                   32%    27%
               half ConfUSA(3), EastCar, SWLA   
    East(11):  Big East(8), Penn St., Army, Navy  14%    13%

The HALLOWED HALLS of the BIG-10 (or is that eleven?)

First, Penn St. is an eastern team, not midwestern. Nittany Lion fans, as well as Hokies, know that they've been screwed by the AP before. Here's why. Eastern and Southeastern schools are FAR underrepresented by the voters (46% of real teams and only 40% of voters). Now, the hallowed Big-10 and Notre Dame are WAY overrepresented (17% of real teams vs 25% of voters). PSU will no longer have to feel the effects of the ignorant shrug of Midwestern sportwriter hacks since they are now in the hallowed Big-10 (which makes eleven according to my count -- do they have a different math in the Midwest also?). Finally, you will note that confirmed Notre Dame lovers Beano Cooke and Ivan Maisel are counted against the East voters percentage. What can I say about Beano, other than that he's the idiot who predicted Ron Powlus would be a 4-time Heisman winner?

If it were done properly, they would be counted as Midwest writers, showing the true bias of the AP poll:

           Teams  Voters
           -----  ------
Midwest      17%     28%
East         14%     10%

Closing note:  Ohio has 4 (count that, FOUR!) voters.  Why?

WACky Western Know-nothings

Before proper elimination of the worthless, 40% of the teams are out West, and they are represented by 34% (23 of 67) of the voters. However, this includes the sad-sack WAC, not to mention the unmentionable, horrendous Big West. Here is a list of writers associated with worthless schools/regions.

Fort Worth Star Telegram        (TCU/SMU/UTEP)
Dallas Morning News                 " "
Port Arthur (Texas) News        (Rice)
Houston Chronicle               (Rice)
Reno Gazette-Journal            (UNLV/Nevada)
The Salt Lake Tribune           (BYU/Utah/UtahSt.)
The Fresno Bee                  (FresnoSt./SJSt.)
Alameda Newspaper Group               " "
The Albuquerque Tribune         (UNM/NMSt.)
Laramie Boomerang               (Wyoming)
The Daily Herald, Provo, Utah   (Assorted crappy Utah teams
                                 see above)
Honolulu Advertiser             (Hawaii)
Colorado Springs Gazette Tele.  (ColSt./AFA)

That's enough to wipe out every intelligent vote an eastern writer might cast, plus 50%!!! I would wager VERY few, if not none, of these Western-based writers have even seen a Virginia Tech (ECU, S. Miss, plug in your team here) game over the last 2 years (except maybe the Sugar Bowl). This is why you always see USC, UCLA and BYU overrated by the AP -- the western writers have no one else to vote for. The guys in Big West territory vote for the WAC because they see those teams crush their even more pitiful Big West counterparts. Ditto for PAC-10 vs. WAX. And Hawaii? This guy probably hasn't seen a real football game played in the last 5 years. It's ridiculous.

Who will vote for the Hokies?

The only voter in Virginia is the Wahoo(ugh)-covering Doug Doughty. He only just last week figured out how good Virginia Tech is when they crushed the Flying Scissors. He covers a team which gets far too much coverage from VT's "hometown" newspaper, the Roanoke Times. You think any of the writers in ACC country will vote for the Hokies? Not any more than their elitist administrations would invite us to join their conference. They are sick of having our school with its great fan support and physical football team run roughshod over their prissy little football teams and ruining their wine and cheese parties.

So there you have it -- the Hokies cannot possibly win out against so much institutional bias in the AP poll. And don't even get me started with an analysis of each writer's alma mater.

          

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