Check here each week for the latest articles during football season.  Past weeks' football articles can be found using the "Week" menu on the bar above.  The awards are defined on the Awards page.

Pollspeak's Blog on SI.com  (posted 12/8/08)

Did the BCS do its job?  Are the computers being allowed to do theirs?  Or are they being treated like mere tools made to serve human needs like some kind of...robot?  Read all about it in this week's blog on SI.com.

Coaches' Poll Ballots Released  (posted 12/8/08)

The USA Today Coaches' Poll has made its ballots public for the first and only time during the 2008 season.  You may now use Pollstalker to analyze them.  Use the USA Today-Coaches' Poll '08 Report (found in the "Poll" drop down on the left side menu), or CLICK HERE. 

Harris Interactive Ballots Released  (posted 12/8/08)

The Harris Interactive College Football Poll has made its ballots public for the first and only time during the 2008 season.  You may now use Pollstalker to analyze them.  Use the Harris Interactive Poll '08 Report (found in the "Poll" drop down on the left side menu), or CLICK HERE.  There are only 113 voters, as Don Criqui did not turn in a ballot.

Look for the Coaches' Poll ballots in Pollstalker once they are released late on Monday. 

Pollspeak's Blog on SI.com        (posted 12/1/08)

The Big 12 really could learn a thing or two about tiebreakers from the SEC, and the SEC can learn a thing or two about beating ACC teams outside the state of Florida.  Read all about it in this week's blog on SI.com.

Pollspeak's Blog on SI.com (posted 11/24/08)

Can the ACC really be #1?  Oh yeah?  Well how would the ACC have done in WWII versus the Axis?  Plus the BCS now has even more responsibility.  It may be used to decide the Big 12 South champion.  Read all about it in this week's blog on SI.com.

Iowa's Eric Page Replaced by Mike Hlas in AP Poll Week 14 (posted 11/23/08)

Iowa AP football voter Eric Page of the Quad-City Times was replaced in week 14 with Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette.  We have requested information from the AP, and details will be reported in the FOOTBALL section when available.

Bad Voter of Week 13: NOBODY  (posted 11/19/08)

The editorial staff of Pollspeak has made a big decision -- we will no longer be naming Bad and Good Voters of the Week.  The goal of Pollspeak is to elucidate and educate not humiliate or alienate.  Problems in the polls can be pointed out and discussed without Pollspeak trying to pick one bad or good voter (for the week or the year).  According to feedback we've received, Pollspeak is read and appreciated by many voters and people who run the polls.  That is one of our main goals.  Our hope is to become even more of a resource for voters and pollsters in the future. 

We have plans for new tools next season.  For example, we're designing a tool that tracks head-to-head matchups of teams with similar records and can help voters make more informed ranking decisions.

We will still allow fans to vote on who they think are bad and good voters, and now the voting will stay open all week.  We hope our readers will take their opinions to our FORUMS, and go into detail about their choices.  We'll also continue to write our weekly blogs and will still point out examples of inconsistent or biased voting, but any voters named will be used as examples of a general issue and are not meant to be called out as the problem themselves.

With tools like POLLSTALKER, we provide fans, voters and pollsters with all the information they need to determine who they think is doing a  bad or good job voting. There really is less need for Pollspeak to "officially award" people.  Of course, we will still be covering any poll-related event that is newsworthy.  Pollspeak isn't going away, we're just evolving.

Pollspeak's Blog on SI.com (posted 11/17/08)

This week we discuss The Billingsley Report, Maurice Patton and once again Barrack Obama.  Obama may be the most college football friendly president since Gerald Ford.  Read it all in this week's blog on SI.com.

Bad Voter of Week 12 -- Jon Wilner   (posted 11/12/08)

Jon Wilner is once again the PEOPLE'S PICK, and we'll go along with them once again and keep it unanimous.  That makes three weeks in a row, but honestly we have no axe to grind with Wilner.  Pollspeak thinks he does a lot of things right, but also has a few rankings that are very hard to justify.  We've spent enough space on Wilner over the last two weeks so we'll keep this short and just list a few bullet points:

-  Inexplicably ranks Florida over Texas Tech.  Again, it may work out that way by the end of the season, but not this week.  News of Florida's loss to Mississippi must have found its way to San Jose by now.
-  Inexplicably ranks Texas over Texas Tech. 
-  Doesn't rank 9-1 BYU.  OK, not inexplicable because BYU hasn't beaten and FBS team with a winning record, but still very presumptive -- assuming a team WOULD lose and ranking them lower than teams that actually HAVE lost.

Good Voter of Week 12 -- Craig James   (posted 11/12/08)

Craig James was the PEOPLE'S PICK for Bad Voter of the Week (Week 10), but has finally won over the fans in Week 12.  We'll go along with the fans and make it a unanimous pick.  James has a couple of extreme picks: Boise State lowest at #14 and Ball State lowest at #25.  Fans of those schools are likely the source of his Bad votes, but he isn't alone in either pick.

Regardless, we're also going with James because he at least made the right calls on head-to-head match-ups, using the examples in our SI Blog this week, James has:

• Penn State ranked over Ohio State

• Texas Tech over Texas

• Texas over Oklahoma

• Oklahoma State over Missouri 

Pollspeak's Blog on SI.com  (posted 11/10/08)

What do Barack Obama, Fat Albert, The Colley Matrix, Alabama, Texas Tech and Texas all have in common?  That's right; they're all mentioned in the first three paragraphs in this week's blog on SI.com.

Bad Voter of Week 11 -- Jon Wilner   (posted 11/5/08)

This is Jon Wilner's second week in a row as Pollspeak's Pick, but his first unanimous pick for the season.  Texas Tech fans likely led the charge in voting against Wilner, but we can't blame them.

Wilner is the only voter to rank Texas over Texas Tech after the Red Raiders defeated the Longhorns just last week.  This is about as obvious a case of ignoring head-to-head results as we've seen. 

While he wasn't alone on the following choices, he also ranked Alabama, Penn State, and BYU lowest (or unranked in BYU's case).  On the opposite end of the spectrum, he ranked South Carolina, North Carolina and Texas highest, while giving Florida their only number #1 vote. 

While he does have a lot of extremes, he actually has most head-to-head matchups ordered as you would expect.  The Texas Tech vs. Texas one being the major exception.

We spent enough time on Wilner last week so we'll keep this brief and move on to a more positive topic.

Good Voter of Week 11 -- Kirk Herbstreit   (posted 11/5/08)

Kirk Herbstreit's week 11 ballot is surprisingly average for a fan favorite.  He has no extreme votes and only one near-extreme (TCU).  He did rank Texas lowest at #7, but 12 others agreed with him.  He has some head-to-head matchups out of order (for example, Michigan State #17 over California #20 over Maryland #23), but Maryland has been a very hard team to predict and has some terrible losses, and Michigan State has the most wins of the trio (for now).  We're not sure why the fans picked Herbstreit this week; regardless, it's an overall good ballot, so we'll go along with the readers and make it unanimous.

Pollspeak's Blog on SI.com  (posted 11/3/08)

There are signs that the polls are going to Hell in a hand basket.  We saw the signs that opened up our eyes, and now you can too.  Also, tips on understanding Sagarin, and why did the Coaches drop Texas like they're hot?  Read about it in this week's blog on SI.com.

How To Save The BCS (posted 10/30/08)

Learn about four flaws in the current system that must be corrected if the BCS is to survive.  Pollspeak's most intriguing special feature yet includes never before released information about how the BCS works.  Click the link above to read it or check out the new "Features" menu at the top of every page in the Football section.

POLLSPEAK'S PICK: Bad Voter of Week 10 -- Jon Wilner   (posted 10/29/08)

Last week Pollspeak sided with the voters and resisted a strong urge to vote Jon Wilner Bad Voter of Week 9.  It was just too hard to resist two weeks in a row.  This is his first time Pollspeak has picked Wilner this season, although he was a regular contributor last season and our inaugural Worst Voter of the Year for 2007.  In 2008, Wilner's week 10 ballot has several issues that bear discussion:

Wilner was an obvious candidate since Pollstalker even singled him out as the week's most extreme voter with eight extreme votes and four near-extremes.  However, extreme doesn't have to mean bad.

On the other hand, he is one of two people who voted USC over Penn State (Kevin Pearson is the other).  This is really hard to justify, but he tries.  In his blog, Wilner points to USC's strength of schedule, which is much stronger according to Sagarin's ratings.  However, he fails to mention that even Sagarin ranks Penn State over USC.  Penn State is ranked higher in both the standard ratings (#2 vs. #3) and ELO_CHESS (#3 vs. #9), which is what the BCS uses.  The reason Sagarin ranks Penn State higher is because it also takes into account number of losses and to whom a team loses.  Unfortunately, Wilner has his own formula, which is likely less scientific and less proven.

Wilner also mentions USC and Penn State's common opponents:  Ohio State and Oregon State.  For some reason he points out that USC beat the Buckeyes more convincingly, but he completely neglects the value of USC's loss to Oregon State.  What is so frustrating about reading Wilner's blog (much like his ballot) is that he seems to spend a lot of time thinking about his rankings only to come up with contradictory results while leaving out important facts.

The next issue with Wilner's ballot is ranking Texas Tech lowest in the country at #12.  This is an improvement over last week's lowest ranking of #16.  You would think after beating Kansas, a team he ranked #21 last week, the undefeated Red Raiders may have at least earned enough respect to jump teams like Boise State (who has a lower strength of schedule) or two-loss Ohio State, which he currently ranks highest at #9.  Texas Tech might deserve to drop out of the top 10, if they lose this week to Texas.  However, he could wait to see if it happens first.  Even if Texas Tech does lose, some voters may still rank them higher than 12.  In fact, if Texas Tech loses, we think there is a chance Wilner will actually rank them higher next week since their strength of schedule will improve.

As we mentioned in our SI.com Blog, Wilner was the only voter to rank Navy (5-3) this week. Interestingly, he left Duke and Pittsburgh unranked. No shock over Duke … nobody ranked the Blue Devils. But the Panthers (5-2) have a better record than the Midshipmen and trounced them in Annapolis. However, if you're going to rank Navy, you might as well rank Duke, too. The Blue Devils have the same number of losses (3) and also beat Navy. Duke would surely love some publicity after last week's victory over one-time SEC Cinderella, Vanderbilt. In fact, that win certainly contributed to both Sagarin and Anderson/Hester ranking the SEC the fourth strongest conference this week.  (Note:  Wilner ranked Vanderbilt over Texas Tech last week as well.)

Jon Wilner was also the only person this week not to rank BYU and one of two voters not to rank Minnesota.  However, on the positive side, he is one of the few voters to actually rank Maryland over California AND California over Michigan State, which is how those head-to-head matchups played out.  Most voters don't have Cal on the radar yet because they've played fewer games and only have five wins, but that should change if the Golden Bears keep winning.

PEOPLE'S PICK: Bad Voter of Week 10 -- Craig James (posted 10/29/08)

Good Voter of Week 10 -- Ferd Lewis   (posted 10/29/08)

A mere 55 net Good votes was enough for Ferd Lewis to be the people's choice this week.  (Jon Wilner received the most Good votes, 345, likely from USC, Ohio State and Navy fans, but received nearly as many bad votes.)  Pollspeak has no major issues with Lewis' week 10 ballot so we'll make it unanimous.

Lewis' ballot is a good choice because it is opposite Wilner's in several ways:

- Penn State over USC

- Texas Tech in a reasonable spot (#6)

- Doesn't have Navy in place of BYU or Minnesota

Yet, he still has Maryland, Cal and Michigan State in the order of head-to-head matchups, and as a bonus also ranks Pittsburgh (winner of the Pitt, USF, Kansas head-to-heads).

He does have Oklahoma State lowest (#11), but not enough Cowboy fans disagreed with his choice to matter.  Boise State likely gave him his Good votes since he was one of two people to rank them highest at #9.  Luckily for Lewis, Utah fans already made their point last week.

Pollspeak's Blog on SI.com  (posted 10/27/08)

Is there still consensus?  Is the BCS watered down? Are people watching the games?  What does Barbara Billingsley have to do with football?  Those questions answered and more in this week's blog on SI.com.

Pollspeak's Blog on SI.com   (posted 10/20/08)

A momentous event occurred this week in the BCS standings -- something rare and beautiful.  Read about this special, unique occurrence plus a bunch of the same old garbage in this week's blog on SI.com.

Pollspeak's Blog on SI.com (posted 10/13/08)

This week's article covers Texas getting respect, Oklahoma State getting no respect, Florida getting more respect and, of course, respecting a head-to-head win.  Respect it HERE.

Pollspeak's Second Blog on SI.com (posted 10/6/08)

Amazingly, Sports Illustrated hasn't kicked us to the curb.  This week's entry covers the problem of ranking Pittsburgh, USF and Kansas.  Also, are computer polls biased towards schools with good computer science programs?  Check it out HERE.

Pollspeak's First Blog on SI.com (posted 9/29/08)

Pollspeak's first poll-related blog for SI.com was just published.  If you're interested in the polls, be sure to check it out.  If enough people view it, hopefully there will be more blogs to come.  Check it out HERE.

First Harris Interactive Poll Released  (posted 9/28/08)

You can find the results for the first 2008 Harris Interactive College Football Poll in Pollstalker HERE.  Also of interest, here is a list of HICFP voter changes made from 2007 to 2008 and here is a shorter version listing only the 20 changes made.

Where Did The Preseason Articles Go?  (posted 9/10/08)

Pollspeak was fairly prolific this preseason.  As always you can use the "Week" menu at the top of the page and choose " '08 Pre-Season" to see everything we published.  However, here are some direct links to the preseason articles:

• Non-BCS Teams Suffer From Preseason Bias (posted 8/30/08)
• Special(ly Long) Report:  Ranking The Polls (posted 8/28/08)
• First Harris Interactive Poll - Sept. 28th  (posted 8/26/08)
• AP Poll:  Does It Need More Voters?  (posted 8/24/08)
• Big 10 Has The Edge In Coaches' Poll (posted 8/22/08)
• Interview with Taylor Zarzour (posted 8/19/08)
• Pre-Season AP Poll Released (posted 8/16/08)
• AP Poll News (posted 8/7/08)
• Pre-Season Coaches' Poll Released (posted 8/1/08)

Pollspeak Reports to the AP, USA Today, Harris Interactive and BCS Released (posted 1/22/08)