National sports media broadcaster ESPN aired its “College Football Mock BCS Countdown” program on Sunday evening, October 10, 2010. The mock BCS rankings, released a week ahead of the first official BCS poll due out Sunday, October 17, ranked Boise State University first in the poll with a composite score of .913.
Background of the ESPN Mock BCS Standings Computation
The mock poll was based on computations by ESPN “BCS guru” Brad Edwards. According to the program, Edwards utilized five of the six computer rankings used in the official BCS rankings, the USA Today coaches poll and the Harris Interactive poll to compute the projected standings for the top 10 college football teams in the nation at the end of week 7.
The official BCS standings use six computerized rankings, the coaches poll and Harris Interactive poll to compute the actual BCS poll with a formula that gives a one-third weighting to the computer rankings and a two-thirds weighting to the two polls used. While one of the six BCS computer rankings was unavailable to ESPN, Edwards felt confident that his rankings would track closely the official results had they been released this week.
Top Ten Teams in the Mock BCS Rankings
The complete top ten list according to Edwards was;
- Boise State
- Oregon
- TCU
- Oklahoma
- Ohio State
- LSU
- Nebraska
- Auburn
- Michigan State
- Alabama
Surprises in the Unofficial BCS Poll
ESPN hosts Rece Davis, Craig James, Robert Smith and Jesse Palmer expressed surprise that Boise State University came out on top of the mock standings and were equally surprised to see Ohio State University, consensus number one in both the Associated Press and USA Today polls, ranked fifth.
After discussing Edwards’ version, James, Smith and Palmer took turns picking their own version of the top ten. James tabbed the University of Oregon as the nation’s top team after week 7 while both Smith and Palmer selected Ohio State. All three however did include Boise State in the top four.
The consensus opinion among the broadcasters, including Brad Edwards was that it was highly unlikely that Boise State would be able to hold onto the early top ranking as the season progressed, citing the weakness of the Boise State football schedule and conference affiliation.
ESPN sports personality, Mark May, who appeared on video from off-site was the harshest critic of Boise State’s chances stating that it would be “ridiculous” and “unfair” if the Broncos were selected for the BCS Championship game even if they finished the season undefeated because of the weakness of the team’s schedule in comparison to that of the nation’s other top programs.
None of those who participated in the show felt that Boise State had any real chance at being ranked high enough to garner a place in college football’s championship game unless no other two major college teams managed to complete the season with unblemished records.
Despite the fact that TCU occupied the third spot in the mock poll, the team received little comment or notice. That suggested, at least, that the ESPN sports broadcasters consider the Horned Frogs’ chances of gaining a berth in the championship game no more likely than that of Boise State. TCU, also undefeated, was ranked fourth in the AP poll and fifth in the coaches poll at the end of week 7 of the 2010-2011 college football season.
Whether you believe Brad Edwards came up with a close approximation of what the real results would have been had the official BCS standings been released this week or if the program was merely fanciful supposition, the program did make one very real point. The glaring weakness of the Boise State football schedule continues to weigh heavily against any chance the team will be selected for the BCS Championship game at season's end. It is an issue that seemingly will just not go away.
Larry Darter - Larry Darter is a freelance writer and published author with three books to his credit. He is a graduate of the Univ. of Central ...
