Football Polls Show That Coaches Can Be Morons

It’s time coaches got out of the business of ranking football teams. We offer last week’s poll as our latest piece of evidence.

At No. 6, the coaches had once-beaten Nebraska. At No. 7, the coaches had unbeaten Arizona State.

Under some circumstances, we could understand how a once-beaten team could be ranked ahead of an unbeaten one. Stronger schedule, margin of victory, and a lot of other elements could come into play.

But none of that is true since Arizona State played the Huskers.

Beat them.

Beat them badly.

We’ll even consider the fluke theory: that Arizona State was an inferior team which played over its head.

We subscribe to that theory when a low-ranked or unranked team plays a Top 10 team. That’s why we always wait two weeks before moving a lower-ranked team up in the polls, just to check if it falls back to its normal level in its next game.

None of that applies to Arizona State. Not only did the Sun Devils beat Nebraska when the Huskers were ranked No. 1, but they also have beaten Washington and Oregon, two of the Pacific-10’s better teams this year.

But the coaches felt differently. Obviously, enough coaches think Arizona State is not as good as Nebraska, despite ASU’s 19-0 win over the Huskers.

And these guys have a say in who will be No. 1?

Please.

If this were just an isolated incident, we could almost understand it. But it happens far too often. It would be interesting to see Rice coach Ken Hatfield’s ballot each week.

Hatfield was upset when his team lost to Ohio State earlier this season, 70-7. Hatfield thought coach John Cooper was running up the score.

Fine. But then Hatfield said he “would never, ever vote for Ohio State again.” Does that mean that the Buckeyes, who arguably are the best team in the country right now, aren’t one of Hatfield’s Top 25 teams?

The Associated Press writers and broadcasters poll has many flaws, and some voters have agendas of their own which can affect the balloting. But every AP voter is accountable.

You can find out who voted and how they voted each week.

The coaches hide behind a screen of anonymity. No one knows who voted or how they voted unless they choose to reveal that themselves.

Let’s hope that when the Super Alliance comes together in two years, the poll system will become as extinct as the poll tax.

Let’s have a committee of athletic directors, coaches and conference commissioners sit down one weekend and seed the eight teams involved in the Super Alliance.

If you still want polls, fine. But let’s make them as meaningful as the basketball polls, which don’t mean diddly once March arrives.