Coaches go Urban Meyer and crumble

As predicted in this space, the voting coaches caved and announced they would continue to make their final ballots public.

In a Friday USA Today story American Football Coaches Association executive director Grant Teaff is quoted as saying the coaches would relent. They were widely criticized in the spring when the AFCA announced it would begin hiding the coaches' final ballots beginning in 2010. BCS commissioners privately suggested that could be a dealbreaker in the coaches' poll's participation in the BCS.

The AFCA clearly caved when it became apparent that the one thing that legitimizes its poll, the BCS, would kick it out. Originally, Teaff said his organization was acting on a recommendation from the Gallup polling organization that keeping the ballots secret would produce a "truer" ballot. Huh?

The final ballots have been released for the last four seasons.

The Coaches' Poll has always been a joke. It usually isn't that important to them, or they don't have the time, or they see it as an assistant's job (see Stever Spurrier). They don't want to apologize to their buddy's/opponents for ranking them too low. And they don't want to explain or be embarrassed by the media who point out that USC had to lose another game to be ranked behind the Oregon team who beat them.

What do you hear from every coach about his opponent--"they are well coached, old blankety blank really gets his team ready" (translation: if we lose to these slugs I will coaching Prarie View A & M); "their QB is coming around after half a season of experience and is playing like a senior," (translation: "he's been sacked more times than Pamela Anderson and the senior I am talking about is Sonny Jurgenson"); "I have nothing but respect for where they've taken that program," (translation: "Thanks to the coach and AD they should help us be bowl eligible as long as we can schedule them.")

Thanks for trying to keep the coaches honest and upfront. You are dealing with Grant Teaff, the weasley snake-oil Baylor Baptist who wouldn't know 21st century truth unless it was carved on stone tablets and handed to him by Billy Graham.

Polls shouldn't be part of the formula

So what is the problem? College football polls could be/should be just guidelines -- opinions of the media (AP), fellow coaches, the folks at ESPN or CBS sports, Sagran -- interesting to read and spark trash talk. But instead they are statistics criteria for determining national championships -- something that belongs on the field.

When March Madness ends often it's agreed that the Final Four Champion isn't the best team in the country and the polls reflect this opinion. But that winner is the National Champ -- no one argues that (or should).

The answer is simple -- every fan knows it, the media has figured it out and the school stuffed shirts keep their collective craniums embedded in their rectums. You take the champs of the 11 major conferences and seed them all with 5 at-large choices, let them play four weeks through the holidays in meaningful bowl games (even double up the bowls with the current fluff picks like the four major bowls do on a rotating basis now, probably including first and second week losers) and determine a national championship on the field.

And the polls can remain spreading their opinions.

Dennis Dodd

Dodds and Ends