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BCS officials like direction

Harris Interactive's poll would fill void in 'human' element

B.G. Brooks, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 22, 2005 at midnight

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ENGLEWOOD - Unless the pool of prospective new voters unexpectedly runs dry, the Bowl Championship Series has settled on the alternative poll it will use to help crown college football's 2005 national champ.

BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg said Tuesday the Collegiate Commissioners Association "generally is comfortable with what is being done" by Harris Interactive - the polling organization commissioned last month to study the feasibility of creating a new Top 25 to replace The Associated Press poll in the contentious BCS formula.

The 11-member CCA, plus Notre Dame, is conducting its summer meetings here this week.

Weiberg said The Harris BCS Poll - not yet the official name - likely will include just over 100 voters selected from among former college players, coaches, administrators and members of the media.

Harris sent out letters last week to prospective voters to gauge their interest in participating, and once that recruitment process is complete Weiberg said the BCS would officially announce the latest tweak to a system that has drawn fire almost since its inception.

"We just need a little more time to let Harris do its work," said Weiberg, commissioner of the Big 12 Conference. "Right now we are on a course to go forward; there's enough of a consensus among our group. . . . This is the path we're on."

In a release last week, the BCS said an announcement could be made in mid-July. Weiberg said Tuesday it could be finalized "soon," but added, "I'm not going to stand here today and say we're going to eliminate all the controversy going forward."

In December, AP announced it was withdrawing its poll from the BCS process. The reason: Many AP voters expressed discomfort at being "news makers" in what almost annually has evolved into a controversial process.

AP's exit left the BCS ranking system with the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll as the only "human" element used in the process that determines which two teams compete for the BCS national championship.

Earlier this month, ESPN backed out of the coaches' poll, which also has come under criticism because of the participants' decision to reveal their votes. However, some of that criticism was alleviated last month with the American Football Coaches Association's announcement that coaches would reveal their voting for the critical final BCS tabulation.

Likewise, Weiberg said only the final Harris poll would be revealed, adding that voters could make their weekly voting public if desired. Also, there could be poll taken following the BCS championship game, as the AP does now.

Weiberg and two fellow conference commissioners - the Mountain West's Craig Thompson and Karl Benson of the Western Athletic Conference - cited the Harris organization's longstanding polling credibility as positives in the altered BCS formula.

"I like the objectivity involved. . . . For the most part, you're talking about people who don't have a horse in the race," said Thompson, noting that Harris has a "stand-alone reputation" in the polling business.

With the change, "There might be reason to be a little apprehensive (but) Harris has credibility," added Benson, who claimed he "never doubted" the fairness of past BCS systems.

With the alternative poll, the BCS selection process will retain its two "human" elements and six computers. Each "human" poll accounted for one-third of a team's BCS ranking, with the machines offering the final third.

Weiberg expects a similar weight once the Harris poll is part of the formula. Before last season, the BCS announced that the AP and USA Today/ESPN polls would be given more weight than in seasons past, an alteration that amplified the significance of AP's eventual withdrawal from the process.

The AP Top 25 included 65 media voters, while 63 coaches voted in the USA Today/ESPN poll. Harris Interactive, which is based in Rochester, N.Y., and conducts The Harris Poll, reportedly issued 111 inquiries to former players, coaches, administrators and media to explore interest in the latest BCS endeavor.

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