The Coaches Poll may have a different look to it this coming week, thanks to the efforts of Bob Stoops, head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. Stoops filled out his own ballot for the poll, which plays a key part in deciding BCS rankings.
"I didn't know this thing even existed," Stoops said following Monday morning workouts. Stoops had walked in on one of his assistant coaches just a few minutes prior, only to discover them placing Oklahoma in the No. 3 spot behind SEC teams Alabama and Florida.
"If I knew all along I could be voting us No. 1 and getting us to the BCS Championship game, there wouldn't be any of this media talk of where Oklahoma will be on Jan. 8," Stoops said. "It doesn't make any sense to allow me, the coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, to decide where we play in the postseason. But I guess I'll take full advantage of it."
It's a well-known fact that many head coaches choose to not fill out their own ballots on a weekly basis, but rather hand the duties to a willing assistant. Stoops said he would no longer do that, but would instead vote his own team at No. 1 every week to help them gain an edge in the rankings.
Stoops allowed Bleacher Report an inside look at his ballot. His Top 10 read as follows: 1. Oklahoma, 2. Texas Tech, 3. Oklahoma State, 4. Penn State, 5. Utah, 6. Boise State, 7. Ball State, 8. USC, 9. Ohio State, 10. Cincinnati.
"You might look at it and say 'hey, it looks a little biased,' but who cares? They give me this power, and I'm going to abuse it. Oklahoma will play in the National Championship game," Stoops said.
Stoops added that he used a key strategy in deciding his top 10, placing teams with no shot at making the big game ahead of Florida and Alabama in hopes that his team wouldn't have to face an actual defense this season.
Texas did not make Stoops' Top Ten, but Texas Tech, a team Oklahoma blasted just two weekends ago, came in second and Oklahoma State in third.
It's safe to say that no matter what happens in the Big 12 title game next weekend, Oklahoma will rake in at least one first-place vote.
13 comments Last one added 6 months ago — Leave a Comment
Dan B 7 months ago
lol..
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Jonathan Lintner 7 months ago
Thanks for the read, Dan.
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Cody Gilder 7 months ago
Hahahahahahaha that's great
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Don-N-ABQ 7 months ago
Where is TCU? Stoops might rank TCU #2 just because they also held the Sooners to the lowest point output this season (35), but OU still won?
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Scott Pusich 7 months ago
The best humor is based in part on reality. Some of the coaches' votes (as revealed in late-season ballots in past years) are simply ridiculous. It wouldn't surprise me to see blatant examples of coaches voting themselves (excuse me... their teams) much higher, and to vote rivals much lower, than common sense would indicate.
I suppose the reasoning for continuing to poll the coaches is that their votes are supposed to "average out" to something approaching impartiality. ;-)
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Jonathan Lintner 7 months ago
I didn't want this article to poke fun at Stoops, but rather at the coaches in general that hype up their teams. The SEC is very bad at this, and I always love to see the results when they come out of all the SEC schools in the top 25.
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Justin Potts 7 months ago
Haha, great article.
If what happened today doesn't prove there should be a playoff, it will never happen. It completely blows up the argument used by the pro-BCS folks: that a playoff would undermine the regular season. In this instance, the BCS itself undermined the regular season.
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Jonathan Lintner 7 months ago
The BCS is completely ruining the season. It's all we hear about, and I'm tired of it. Only one game a week really matters any more on a national scale, but a playoff would bring eight games a week to light.
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R C 7 months ago
Joke or not, fact is, in reality, Stoops has no vote this year...Matter of fact, he removed himself form this BS as did brother Mike Stoops at Arizona. Just sayin'
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Scott Pusich 7 months ago
Good point, R... I haven't looked at the list of which coaches are voting this year. Thanks for the heads-up on Stoops!
Here's the list, for those who want to know:
The USA TODAY Board of Coaches is made up of 61 head coaches at Division I-A institutions. All are members of the American Football Coaches Association. This season's board: Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech; Mike Bellotti, Oregon; Bret Bielema, Wisconsin; Bobby Bowden, Florida State; Tommy Bowden, Clemson; Art Briles, Baylor; Mack Brown, Texas; Neil Callaway, Alabama-Birmingham; Gene Chizik, Iowa State; Mario Cristobal, Florida International; Sylvester Croom, Mississippi State; Mark Dantonio, Michigan State; Butch Davis, North Carolina; Todd Dodge, North Texas; Randy Edsall, Connecticut; Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee; Jeff Genyk, Eastern Michigan; Turner Gill, Buffalo; Joe Glenn, Wyoming; Todd Graham, Tulsa; Jim Grobe, Wake Forest; Dan Hawkins, Colorado; Pat Hill, Fresno State; Butch Jones, Central Michigan; Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville; Mike Leach, Texas Tech; Jim Leavitt, South Florida; Rocky Long, New Mexico; Bill Lynch, Indiana; Doug Martin, Kent State; Urban Meyer, Florida; Les Miles, LSU; Shane Montgomery, Miami (Ohio); Hal Mumme, New Mexico State; Rick Neuheisel, UCLA; Tom O'Brien, North Carolina State; George O'Leary, Central Florida; Gary Patterson, TCU; Bo Pelini, Nebraska; Chris Petersen, Boise State; Gary Pinkel, Missouri; Mike Price, Texas-El Paso; Mark Richt, Georgia; Mike Riley, Oregon State; Rich Rodriguez, Michigan; Greg Schiano, Rutgers; Howard Schnellenberger, Florida Atlantic; Mark Snyder, Marshall; Frank Solich, Ohio; Steve Spurrier, South Carolina; Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee; Jeff Tedford, California; Joe Tiller, Purdue; Bob Toledo, Tulane; Dick Tomey, San Jose State; Jim Tressel, Ohio State; Tommy Tuberville, Auburn; Charlie Weis, Notre Dame; Kyle Whittingham, Utah; Tyrone Willingham, Washington; Ron Zook, Illinois.
from http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/usatpoll.htm?loc=interstitialskip
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Jonathan Lintner 7 months ago
I like that so many irrelevant coaches get votes--even ones from non-BCS conferences. It's time to change this stuff.
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Eddie Krekel 6 months ago
Too bad Stoops doesn't have a Coaches Ballot
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Jonathan Lintner 6 months ago
That's the point.
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