Joke’s on the BCS – Its new poll has some belly laughs

It took one week for college football’ s newest rating system, the Harris Interactive Poll, to lose any credibility it might have had.

At first glance, the poll seemed reasonable. The top 25 made sense, with USC No. 1, followed by Texas and Virginia Tech. But looking a little further, to the teams that received votes to the poll, things start to fall apart.

First comes Arizona, a 1-2 team that will fight it out with Washington and Stanford to stay out of the Pac-10 basement, getting 10 votes. Then comes Bowling Green, another 1-2 team, with five votes.

And then there’s the biggest laugher: Winless Idaho getting five votes. One of the 114 voters picked Idaho as the No. 25 team in the nation (accounting for the five total votes). Yes, the Vandals, who were dominated by Washington 34-6. That would make Idaho the 44th-best team in the country.

If you’ re still one of those who believe that the Bowl Championship Series makes sense, then that has to make you question your stance. The BCS commissioned Harris Interactive to put together a poll when the Associated Press pulled its poll out of the BCS system, which combines polls and computer rankings to determine the nation’ s best teams. The new poll is comprised of former players, coaches, administrators and media, and individual votes won’t be made public until the final poll in December.

The belief is that whoever voted for Idaho did so to make a statement: That the current system of deciding a national champion is flawed at best. Why else would anyone vote for the Vandals? That point, of course, is an obvious one.

Leaving the final results of a season up to anyone other than those who play on the field doesn’ t work. It just leaves too many questions. The closest any poll can come to legitimacy is the coaches poll, but even that leaves too great a chance for bias to come into play. Any other poll, yes, even those voted on by the media, are not reliable. No one can pay attention enough to make completely accurate votes.

I think USC is the best team in the country. But Texas could be, Virginia Tech could be, maybe Florida, maybe Georgia, maybe Cal. Who knows? Why should it be left to people who don’ t play the game to decide who the best is?

It shouldn’t, and many, many people understand that. The problem is, the people who make those decisions don’t. They point to many reasons to keep the bowl system in place rather than go to a playoff. The season would be too long and would hurt athletes academically (never mind that the bowl season generally comes during winter break). The bowl games hold too much history (forget that you can keep the names of the bowls as part of the playoff and rotate which one is the national title game, as is already done). Deserving teams could be left out of the playoffs (as though that doesn’ t happen in bowl games).

A college football playoff would be a huge money-maker. Television ratings would be outrageous, every game would sell out and, most importantly, championsips would be decided on the field by the players, not by people who watch a few games a week and track down some stats. Polls are nice, they can be fun, but they should not, in the end, be meaningful.

Of course, all of this makes too much sense for the NCAA buy into.

One thing that doesn’ t make sense is critics of the University of Iowa football team calling for the Hawkeyes to do away with the color pink in the visiting locker rooms at Kinnick Stadium. Former coach Hayden Fry, a psychology major, started the tradition decades ago, believing that the color had a calming, passive effect on people and could give his team an edge. Now people have decided that the color is demeaning to women and perpetuates stereotypes linked to the color. Can’t a color just be a color? Fry had very specific reasons for doing what he did, and the school is sticking to the tradition. Can’t that be enough? I’ m all for challenging things that are wrong, but can we have some perspective please? What’ s next, banning pink from crayon boxes? Teams do many things to gain an edge, and that does extend to locker rooms, whether the amenities are not as nice, the room is cramped, whatever. It’ s part of the game.

OK, now that the rants are out of the way, there was a good story in college football this week, when Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis fulfilled a dying wish to a 10-year-old Irish fan. The boy, Montana Mazurkiewicz, was allowed to call Notre Dame’ s first play in its game against Washington Saturday. Mazurkiewicz called for a pass to the right, and even though the Irish got the ball at their own 1-yard line, Brady Quinn passed to the right and, thankfully coming against the UW, went for a 13-yard gain. Unfortunately, Mazurkiewicz died the day before the game of brain cancer. Weis later returned to Mazurkiewicz’ s home to give his family a ball signed by the team.

I wrote a few weeks ago that the healing power of sports can be overrated, and I still believe that. But there are times, like this one, when it can have a big affect on people, and it will be hard to think anything negatively about Weis and Notre Dame for awhile.

Washington vs. UCLA

Kickoff: 7:15 p.m., Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif.

TV: Fox Sports Northwest.

Radio: KJR radio (950 AM).

Stars to watch: Washington – Quarterback Isaiah Stanback ranks 23rd in the nation in total offense, averaging 279.8 yards a game. Stanback is completing 57.8 percent of his passes for 1,041 yards but has just four touchdowns. Running back Louis Rankin has gone over 100 yards twice. Receiver Craig Chambers leads the Pac-10 in averaging 25.6 yards a catch. Linebacker Joe Lobendahn is tied for fourth in the league with 36 tackles and safeties Dashon Goldson and C.J. Wallace are tied for sixth with 34. Defensive tackle Manase Hopoi has 31/2 sacks and 51/2 tackles for loss. Linebacker Scott White has three sacks. Punter Sean Douglas is 10th in the country in average (45.1). Kicker Evan Knudson is 5-for-6 on field goals and 10-for-10 on extra points.

UCLA – Quarterback Drew Olson ranks sixth in the nation in pass efficiency, has completed 71.8 percent of his passes and hasn’t thrown an interception. Running back Maurice Drew is third in the nation in punt returns (30.2), returning two for touchdowns. He ranks 17th in all-purpose yards (154.0), averages 7.5 yards a carry and has four touchdowns. Tight end Marcedes Lewis may be the nation’s best, and is averaging 15.6 yards a catch. Receiver Chris Markey averages 28.2 yards on kick returns. Linebacker Spencer Havner has 23 tackles, four for loss, and linebacker Justin London has 22. Kicker Justin Medlock is 19-for-19 on extra points.

Breaking down the game: Drew ran for over 300 yards and scored five touchdowns against Washington last season, and will be given every chance to match those numbers this year. The Bruins average 49 points a game and have yet to turn the ball over. Olson has been supremely accurate and loves going to Lewis, a big matchup problem. The Husky front seven is going to have to come up huge. The Bruins defense is keyed by their linebackers but Washington may be able to run the ball, which would help open things up for Stanback. The difference could be UCLA’s return game, with Drew and Markey.

Bottom line: Washington faces a daunting task for its first road game, and stopping the run has not been something the Huskies have done well. UW must avoid giving up big plays and has to run the ball better than it did last week. Controlling the clock will be a big factor if Washington is to contend.

Pick: UCLA 32-18.

Washington State vs. Oregon St.

Kickoff: 1 p.m., Reser Stadium.

TV: none.

Radio: KRKO radio (1380 AM).

Stars to watch: Washington State – Running back Jerome Harrison leads the Pac-10 and is fourth in the nation in rushing, averaging 133 yards a game. Quarterback Alex Brink ranks 11th nationally in pass efficiency, completing 63 percent of his passes with nine touchdowns. Receiver Jason Hill averages 110.3 yards a game and has six touchdowns. Linebacker Will Derting leads the team with 19 tackles. Adam Braidwood has 31/2 sacks and two forced fumbles. Return man Michael Bumpus averages 18 yards on punt returns. Kicker Loren Langley is 5-for-5 on field goals and 15-for-15 on extra points.

Oregon State – Quarterback Matt Moore is 17th in the country in total offense (297.5), completes 61 percent of his passes for 1,274 yards but has five interceptions. Receiver Mike Hass leads the nation in receiving yards per-game (167.5) and is second in receptions per-game (10.0). Linebacker Trent Bray leads the league with 41 tackles and Keith Ellison is second with 37. Sir Henry Anderson has five tackles for loss. Punter Sam Paulescu is 15th nationally with a 44.6 average. Kicker Alexis Serna is 8-for-10 on field goals and 14-for-14 on extra points. Return man Lamar Herron averages 28.8 yards on kick returns and also has two interceptions.

Breaking down the game: The Cougars will get their first test of the season after three easy wins, and had a bye last week, giving them more time to prepare for Hass. Because OSU is last in the Pac-10 in rushing offense, expect it to come down to WSU’s secondary against Hass. The Beavers are also allowing a conference-worst 36.5 points a game, so Washington State’s balanced attack should be able to put up points.

Bottom line: If Washington State can contain Hass, it will win the game. The Cougars should be able to score enough to make a game of it, and if it can handle being on the road, it could come up with a big win. Pick: Oregon State, 28-27.

Other Pac-10 Games

USC at Arizona State: This should be the most entertaining game of the weekend, and Trojans’ defense will get big challenge against Sam Keller and ASU’ s offense. Pick: USC 32-26.

Oregon at Stanford: Both teams are coming off of disappointing losses, and Cardinal will be tested by Ducks offense, and will be up to it to gain upset. Pick: Stanford 26-24.

Arizona at California: Golden Bears could be looking ahead to game at UCLA, but it won’ t matter as Wildcats don’ t have talent to compete. Pick: California 34-15.

Mike Allende is The Herald’s college football writer.