[NU Sports] too bad for Uncle Floyd (or not) (fwd)

[Michael Vance]

Mike Nolan wrote:
>> But again, some good comments all around and I think
>> Michael made an excellent point about Michigan being
>> "out of sight, out of mind" by finishing so early.
>>     
>
> If, in another universe, three BCS conference teams had finished with 
> undefeated seasons, would OSU have been left on the sidelines because
> they finished in mid-November while the other two teams played one or two
> games after Thanksgiving, possibly including conference championship games?
>   

I couldn't see #1 dropping two spots to get shut out, but I could easily 
see #1 dropping to #2 if the late game(s) by the previous #2 were 
particularly impressive.  But if the situation were similar enough to 
this year such that OSU was a near-unanimous #1, despite the presence of 
two other major unbeatens, then no, I couldn't even see them dropping to 
#2, much less all the way to #3.

I'll go back to my defense of USC leapfrogging Michigan after 
Thanksgiving week because you can't do a final comparison between two 
teams until they've finished their regular seasons and played the same 
number of games.  And I think that the pollsters didn't talk about 
Florida and their schedule that week because no one really expected it 
to be an issue; USC was supposed to be a lock to beat UCLA.

I don't have a problem with someone rethinking the difficulty of 
Florida's schedule and the quality of their wins.  I have a big problem 
with voters who simply didn't want to see a rematch and those who tried 
to sabotage the process one way or the other by voting Michigan or 
Florida as low as fifth.  There were also some who cited the 13th game, 
something that Michigan is powerless to do anything about and that even 
the conference can't fix without getting a twelfth member.  The thing 
is, it's hard to get people to separate the two, especially when they 
have personal biases.

Ron Zook and Steve Spurrier both voted Florida #2 (surprise, surprise.)  
Zook was the only Big Ten coach to do so.  Part of his rationale?  "For 
me, it was the fact that they played a 13th game."  News flash, Ron.  If 
you accomplish what you expect to in Champaign, that could be you in 
four years getting screwed by some idiot because your conference doesn't 
have twelve members.  Better book that extra game in Honolulu now.

For complete Harris Poll results, including individual voter's ballots, 
see http://www.pollg.com/g/w27236/w27236gateway.htm.  Take a special 
look at the ballots of Larry Keech (Boise State #2, Michigan #3, Florida 
#5), Robert Lawless (UM #2, UF #5), Ray Melick (UF #2, UM #4), Gene 
Ponti (UF #2, LSU #3, UM #4), Paul Zeise (Louisville #2, UF #3, UM #4).  
Those formerly affiliated with NU (Rick Taylor and John Pont) both went 
for Florida over UM.

-Michael