Bennett put Oregon #15

[stein000012]

What is Phil Bennett doing with his coaches poll ballot??

Sportsline.Com has an article that Bennett put 10-1 Oregon #15 on his final ballot. Dennis Dodd called it a disgrace to the poll..

What a joke...How are 14 teams better than Oregon... Give them a little respect for only losing to USC.

[Water Pony]

Here is what the Eugene, OR, paper had to say on the issue:

Coaches' take on UO football runs hot to cold
By Bob Clark
The Register-Guard
Published: Tuesday, December 6, 2005

So what do the nation's college coaches think of Oregon?

That the Ducks are anywhere from the nation's fourth-best team to No. 15 in the country, based on the release of votes in the USA Today poll of coaches.

Oregon came out fifth in the voting of the coaches, exactly where Oregon was in the final Bowl Championship Series rankings, which meant they were left out of the Fiesta Bowl because Ohio State was guaranteed a berth, as No. 4 and a league runner-up, as was Notre Dame, at No. 6 where an independent team automatically is put in a BCS game.

For the first time, the voting of coaches was released. UO coach Mike Bellotti had Oregon fourth on his final ballot, behind USC, Texas and Penn State, with the Buckeyes fifth and Notre Dame ninth. Jim Tressel of Ohio State balanced that by placing his team fourth with Notre Dame fifth and the Ducks ninth. Charlie Weis of Notre Dame put the Irish fourth, the Buckeyes fifth and the Ducks sixth on his ballot.

None of the voting coaches had Oregon higher than fourth, and three of those high placings were from teams the Ducks beat, Pat Hill of Fresno State, Jeff Tedford of California and Tyrone Willingham of Washington. Willingham had his former employer, Notre Dame, at ninth and he did play the Irish this season. Tedford put the Irish 10th while Stanford's Walt Harris, who played both, put the Irish fifth and Oregon sixth on his final ballot.

The other Pac-10 coach who voted was Washington State's Bill Doba, who had Oregon fifth and the Irish 12th. Another voting coach who played against the Ducks, Houston's Art Briles, put Oregon fifth.

Former Oregon coach Rich Brooks had Oregon sixth, with the current Kentucky coach moving fellow SEC member Auburn up to fourth ahead of the Buckeyes and Ducks. Brooks had the Irish ninth.

Bob Stoops, who will coach Oklahoma against Oregon in the Holiday Bowl, put the Ducks fifth with Notre Dame ninth.

So which coaches didn't like the Ducks? That list would be headed by SMU's Phil Bennett, who voted Oregon 15th. Bennett had Notre Dame at No. 4, and in front of the Ducks listed such teams as TCU at No. 12, Texas Tech at No. 13 and Boston College at No. 14.

Ohio coach Frank Solich listed Oregon 11th, Ohio State eighth and the Irish fourth. [deleted] Tomey, the former Arizona coach now at San Jose State, listed Oregon 10th on his ballot, as did Houston Nutt of Arkansas.

[RE Tycoon]

Like I said in the other thread about this subject, good job Phil (or SID), keep SMU's name out there. It's not the best pub, but any pub is good pub, right?

[SmooPower]

If he really wanted some publicity, he should have just voted SMU #1. Although they probably would take away his voting rights.

[Crong]

in phil's defense, some analyst over the weekend on tv thought the ducks were overrated too. i cannot remember who it was though.

from the sportsblog on dmn....

"Just got off the phone with SMU football coach Phil Bennett. He said he's taking some heat from the Oregon fans, who are upset that he voted the Ducks 15th in his final USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll. Fans have taken Bennett's e-mail address and signed him up for various subscription-based Web sites. Bennett's assistant, Sandra Gross, said she spent some time unsubscribing to the Web sites.

Bennett said he likes Oregon's team, but didn't think they were a top-10 team. The coach also received some harsh e-mails from Texas fans after he voted Southern California No. 1 and Texas No. 2."


Posted by Calvin Watkins at 11:03 AM

[NavyCrimson]

all the more reason to shelve the bcs-bs & have a play-off system

its becoming a bigger & bigger joke!!! LOL

[SMU Football Blog]

Waaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!! Poor Oregon doesn't get to play in a bowl to prove they are the 8th best team in the country. Waaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so sad that the PAC 10 only gets one team in a BCS bowl. Waaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Couldn't care less. No different than griping about how the 66th best college basketball team in the country got jobbed by the selection committee.

66 points separated Oregon and Ohio State in the Coaches' Poll. .570 separated Oregon and Ohio State in the final BCS rankings. As far as I can tell, if Bennett had ranked Oregon no. 1, the result would have been the same.

[Crong]

It's funny he is getting messages from texas fans. Mack even voted USC 1 and texas 2. Talk about hypocritical or ignorant or both.

[Water Pony]

In defense of Phil, here is an assessment of coaching bias in the poll:

The real BCS controversy
Want evidence of bias? Just look at coaches' votes
Posted: Wednesday December 7, 2005 11:34AM; Updated: Wednesday December 7, 2005 2:10PM

Perhaps the Ibis filled out Larry Coker's ballot -- and put the 'Canes at No. 4.
Heinz Kluetmeier/SI


I have to thank USA Today for making my cross-country flight home from Los Angeles on Monday go by a lot faster than usual. No in-flight movie could possibly have provided as much amusement as the first-ever publication of the coaches' final Top 25 ballots.

Allow me to share a few of my favorite moments:

•Miami coach Larry Coker -- apparently every bit as delusional as the 'Canes' own fans -- voting his team No. 4.

•Ohio coach Frank Solich, who apparently got the score of Saturday's SEC title game backward (or was tipping the bottle again), placing LSU fifth and Georgia 15th.

•Oregon coach Mike Bellotti -- his team about to be squeezed out of the BCS by Notre Dame -- placing the Ducks fourth and the Irish ninth, while OSU's Jim Tressel, his own team battling Bellotti's for the Fiesta, had the Buckeyes fourth and Oregon ninth.

•Arkansas coach Houston Nutt ranking SEC rival Auburn third and Big East champion West Virginia ... nowhere.

•South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier burying Notre Dame at 14 and ranking his own team 21st -- higher than on any other ballot.

•A long list of coaches ranking their teams notably higher than they finished in the actual poll: Notre Dame's Charlie Weis (fourth), Auburn's Tommy Tuberville (fourth), Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez (16th), Clemson's Tommy Bowden (20th), Oklahoma's Bob Stoops (21st), South Carolina's Spurrier (21st) and Northwestern's Randy Walker (21st).

Ladies and gentlemen, as if you needed proof, the fortunes of the nation's college football teams -- not to mention tens of millions of dollars -- are being determined by the equivalent of a high school student-council election.

Every week, my inbox is clogged with people complaining about various media biases in the sport. While I would never suggest my profession is 100 percent ethically sound, I can't imagine too many writers have as obvious an agenda as a group of men who are employed by the subjects on which they're voting.

While my own "analysis" of the coaches' ballots was largely informal, a couple of guys with significantly more time on their hands, Jay Barry and Jeff Steck of the Notre Dame blog Blue-Gray Sky, actually ran the data to discern which biases could be detected. Among their findings:

•On average, coaches voted their own teams 1.7 spots higher than did the other 61 voters, and ranked other teams from their conference about one spot higher that they did teams from other conferences.

•Eight of the 13 coaches who voted Oregon seventh or lower came from the two conferences that had teams vying with the Ducks for a BCS at-large spot, SEC (Auburn) and Big Ten (Ohio State).

•Similarly, while half the poll's voters had Ohio State fourth, eight of 12 SEC and Pac-10 coaches had the Buckeyes lower, while the same percentage of that group had Notre Dame eighth or lower.

Meanwhile, in the Harris Poll, Notre Dame great Rocket Ismail made it clear which Fiesta Bowl matchup he wanted to see, ranking the Irish fourth, Ohio State fifth ... and Oregon 11th.

Let me make it clear that any college football poll is inherently subjective, that there's no such thing as a right or wrong ballot and that every voter is entitled to his opinion. But these kind of voting patterns aren't some sort of giant coincidence. The voters in the BCS' two polls exhibit blatant provincial favoritism. Perhaps Congress ought to hold some hearings on that.

[NavyCrimson]

The voters in the BCS' two polls exhibit blatant provincial favoritism. Perhaps Congress ought to hold some hearings on that.

uuhhh, i think they just did & concluded them in the same day -

the fat lady is now off the stage & left the building -

lights out folks!

[NavyCrimson]

The voters in the BCS' two polls exhibit blatant provincial favoritism. Perhaps Congress ought to hold some hearings on that.

uuhhh, i think they just did & concluded them in the same day -

the fat lady is now off the stage & left the building -

lights out folks!

[Col. Nathan R. Jessep]

Year in/year out, Pac-10 FB is usually the weakest "Major' conference.

All I have to say to Oregon is:

[1] Cmon on down here & we'll kick your [deleted];

[2] Ducks... the other dark meat.

[PhirePhilBennett]

Stoops voted himself #21

[Water Pony]

Year in/year out, Pac-10 FB is usually the weakest "Major' conference.

All I have to say to Oregon is:

[1] Cmon on down here & we'll kick your [deleted];

[2] Ducks... the other dark meat.

The Big Least Holds that Honor. Top to bottom, I'd rank the conferences:

- SEC
- Big Ten
- ACC
- Big XII
- PAC 10
- Big East, barely
- tie MWC and CUSA
- MAC
- SunBelt

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

If Bennett has a vote, shouldn't SMU be in the "others recieving votes" category?