I can understand a 10-point win in Norman not being enough to convince voters that Oklahoma was better than Missouri.
Memorial Stadium is a hostile environment. The Tigers were without Tony Temple. And Oklahoma later stumbled at Texas Tech.
Missouri was the No. 1 team in the nation heading into the Big 12 Championship Game, so clearly the majority of voters weren't convinced.
But Saturday's 21-point pummeling in San Antonio left no room for doubt.
The Sooners dominated the contest in every facet at a neutral site. The question wasn't whether OU was better than Missouri—it was whether they were better than Ohio State, LSU, Georgia, Hawaii, and Virginia Tech.
Yet when USA Today released the final ballots in its Coaches' Poll on Monday, several coaches still had Missouri ranked ahead of Oklahoma.
Of the 60 coaches who voted, Bobby Bowden had the Sooners the lowest—at No. 10.
A BCS conference champion...at No. 10?
Behind No. 6 Missouri. And behind No. 7 Kansas, who wasn't even invited to the conference championship game.
Like father, like son:
Tommy Bowden had Mizzou fifth, Kansas sixth, and Oklahoma seventh.
And that wasn't the end.
Oregon's Mike Bellotti had Missouri fifth, Kansas sixth, and Oklahoma eighth. What—that onside kick debacle last year in Eugene wasn't enough, Mike? Felt like someone had to keep Oklahoma out of the national title game again?
But what's former OU head coach Howard Schnellenberger's excuse?
He had Kansas No. 2—two spots ahead of the Missouri team that had beaten the Jayhawks in the regular season finale, and five ahead of the Big 12 Champions.
This isn't ignorance. This is tantamount to cheating.
Take their ballots away.
Now.
Bob Stoops isn't beyond reproach. He ranked his two-loss Sooners No. 1 and listed two-loss SEC Champion LSU at No. 6.
Clearly Stoops was dropping the Bayou Bengals as low as he could possibly justify, knowing that they were his main competition for the No. 2 spot.
But then again LSU didn't beat Oklahoma twice head-to-head this season. And, in fairness, Les Miles did virtually the same thing, voting LSU No. 1 and Oklahoma No. 5.
So while that five-spot discrepancy is unacceptable, you can at least attempt to defend it.
There's no defense for what the Bowdens, Bellotti, and Schnellenberger did.
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7 months ago
Lookit. If you'd just win more games.........
Geaux Ellessu!!!
See ya at the game
7 months ago
It makes absolutely no sense to have coaches voting in a major poll at all, especially when their voting has a direct impact on their teams' chances to play for a title.
Beyond the scouting tapes of their team and the teams they play, coaches rarely have a chance to watch football. Many readily admit they don't feel prepared to cast a ballot, because they just don't know.
When a coach's vote is taken into direct consideration for who plays in a championship, that is a screwed up system (which is only the beginning of the dysfunction of the BCS, as we all know). I don't like Stoops' vote, but I can hardly blame him. Aren't you supposed to do everything you can to get your team to the title? He has millions of dollars riding on it in bonuses and in future salary negotiations.
A coaches' poll, and the BCS are terrible ideas individually; certainly they should never be mixed.
7 months ago
Here's an idea: let's NOT let the people who have a personal stake in voting vote. Yes - I'm saying do away with the coaches poll. It's akin to betting on your own team. The temptation to manipulate the system for the sake of your own team is too great.
7 months ago
Nice article, Trey. I was minutes away from posting a very similar one, but you beat me to it. They don't call you a Senior Writer for nothing! For fun, here are some similar things that I found:
1. If the Sagarin poll had its way, the top matchup would be between Ohio State and Oklahoma. I could live with that. However, the third and fourth ranked teams in that poll? Kansas and Florida. Doubt you saw that one coming.
2. In addition to the coaches you mentioned, two different computer polls - the Anderson/Hester and Colley Matrix - have Missouri ranked ahead of Oklahoma.
3. Schnellenberger, whose FAU team played only two currently ranked teams all year, ranked the Florida Gators 21st. Three weeks ago the Gators beat his Owls by a score of 59 - 20. Imagine what the other 20 teams could do! Kansas and Missouri ahead of OU and Florida back at 21. Thinking out of the box or sour grapes? You decide.
4. Despite playing the NCAA's 117th toughest schedule in the FBS, Hal Mumme of New Mexico State has Hawaii ranked No. 1. I understand that there are people who feel that winning all of your games means you should be the national champ. I don't agree with these people, but I have come to terms with their existence. But there are some undefeated high school teams in Florida who aren't getting any love from the BCS committee, either.
Sitting back and looking at all of this - it just surprises me that anything logical ever comes out of the ridiculous BCS formula.
7 months ago
It's all gonna be biased.. even the writers polls.. some of them are east coast and some are west... some are so focused on the teams they have to cover, they don't have the time to watch all the other teams play...
that being said... the way Bowden and Bellotti had their polls, that IS ridiculous. I didnt know they released each individual coach's polls either.
Oh well, it's LSU vs Ohio State. Oklahoma shoulda beaten either Colorado or Texas Tech.. they have nobody to blame but themselves.
7 months ago
Just to clarify... I could care less whether OU is in the national championship. My purpose in writing was not to say they should have gotten in. I agree with what Jux just said. Their two losses cost them the opportunity to play in New Orleans. The only intent of this article was to identify the fraudulent human ballots.
7 months ago
I'd love to defend Bellotti here but that lineup makes no sense. Maybe he couldn't see the ballot because he was still crying over what happened in the Civil War game against OS (like all the Ducks fans).
7 months ago
Colt Brennan - 131 touchdown passes, 20 NCAA records, only undefeated team in America. Who else can say that? How can he not win the Heisman?
7 months ago
played against the same people he played against in high school. That's why. How many would he have thrown in the SEC? (It is harded to complete passes with your ass on the ground)
Geaux Ellessu
7 months ago
Those votes are the sole reasons why the Coaches Poll needs to be abondoned.
Looking at the computers, I can see why the CPU's put Missouri ahead of Oklahoma. Missouri not only played Oklahoma twice, but they also played Kansas and Illinois.
Oklahoma's non-conference schedule included 5-7 Miami, 2-10 Utah State, and 2-10 North Texas to go along with Conference USA runner up Tulsa. Also, besides Missouri, Oklahoma had bad luck facing Iowa State and Colorado from the Big 12 North. The losses to Texas Tech, and especially Colorado were much worse than Missouri's were.
Missouri's non-division Big 12 games included Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, a step up from Iowa State and Colorado. Missouri beat Kansas on the road and Illinois on the road. Neither of Missouri's losses to Oklahoma came at home. Oklahoma's best road win was at Tulsa. (Oklahoma only went 2-2 on the road).
With that evidence, I can see why some computers would put Missouri ahead of Oklahoma. That's why I think the polls should be used as common sense checks against the computers. Despite the resumes of the two schools, the Sooners beat Missouri...twice. That should be a HUGE factor in ranking the two teams.
But I don't think the idiotic coaches are looking at the two teams that in-depth when making their votes. They probably just voted simply on impulse, or in Les Miles and Bob Stoops' case, favoritism.
Why do coaches even get votes? Aren't they too busy coaching to figure those things out?
7 months ago
have you thought of putting all this crap in a letter and mailing it to your congressman? (or congresswoman?) If you really think it is that important-I'm sure they'd be struck by the whole injustice.
geaux tigers
7 months ago
I'm not too sure of this, but does anyone actually know if the coaches sit down for an hour and rank ther top 25 teams? I know I wouldnt. I'd rather be meeting with players, looking at recruiting tapes, or scouting my upcoming opponents. If I were a coach, I would shove this duty off to some GA or assistant coach with orders to make my team look as good as humanly possible.
I would really like to know about this...but until then, does anyone think that coaches may not actually vote in the COACHES Poll themselves? I'd be curious to find out...
-R.H.
7 months ago
id say the rankings arent to judge necessarily which teams are best or which team would win a head-to-head, but which teams had better seasons.
Mizzou lost twice to a very good team.
OU lost twice to average teams.
6 months ago
Colt Brennan - 131 touchdown passes, 23 NCAA records, only undefeated team in America. Who else can say that? How did he not win the Heisman?
Disappointing. All those voters didn't watch any of Colt's games before voting. Well, when he murders Georgia, I hope they change their system... voters must watch at least the last 2 games for each of the candidate. Their vote has no credibility when they just look at stats and read news articles.
Vote fair people.
6 months ago
colt's a system qb, a scrub if you will. tebow all the way with the duel threat.
6 months ago
In business, when you have a personal stake in a decision, they call it a "conflict of interest" and your are prohibited from participating in that decision.
The BCS is big money = big business.
The school, the conference, and often even the coach themselves get a monetary bonus when their team gets a BCS bowl berth.
Coaches voting for their own financial interest should not be allowed.
The Coaches poll should be scrapped.
6 months ago
I agree with a lot of the "conflict of interest" arguments... but I'd like to put out a devil's advocate one as well.
I strongly believe that Mizzou got the biggest slight of them all from the Bowl Selection Committee. They only lost to one team all year, and sometimes even good teams struggle with certain matchups. Furthermore, I strongly believe that no team should be punished quite so much for playing in an extra game that they eventually lose. The fact is, they made it to that game while everybody else is sipping brews and watching them. So if you agree with that, then its easy to see that some could believe that likewise, a win in that situation should not make as big of a positive difference either. To go from the No. 1 spot to completely out of the BCS bowls IS ridiculous in my opinion, and it would not have happened to a team in a larger market. Perhaps a coach like Bellotti can sympathize with them since he's been shafted by the BCS before himself.
The schedule, who they lost to, and both losses only coming in triple overtime are the biggest reasons for LSU trumping Oklahoma. Ohio State is different though. I don't think they deserve to be in the championship game this year, but because wins and losses are almost the only thing that matter in BCS conferences, we are light years away from a system that will show that Ohio State actually played nobody great this year, and still managed to lose a game. Personally I think it should be OU vs. LSU.
6 months ago
Stoops doesn't have much to complain about when some coaches put Missouri above Oklahoma.
Stoops voted Virginia Tech ahead of LSU.
So, head-to-head match ups don't seem to matter much to him.
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