The AFCA commissioned the Gallup Corporation to analyze their poll. The main question they were asking is: “Is this the correct thing to do?” All aspects of the poll were under review: secret ballots, voting for 25 teams, secret identity, allowing coaches to vote for their own team, whether to do a pre-season poll and more. The only thing not open for discussion is that coaches are required to vote the winner of the BCS Championship Game #1. “Required” being a loose term, since coaches have gone against this requirement with no penalty. While the results aren’t public yet, the AFCA is meeting with USA Today and BCS members to discuss the issues, we expect the results to be public by the end of May.
We here at the BCS Fan Poll think more transparency is a good thing. AFCA executive director Grant Teaff said “The perception is that there’s a huge bias, and we’ve never really found that.” Really? Voting Duke #25 because they were your past employer, despite the team not having won a game in over 2 seasons in a pre-season poll isn’t bias? Coaches they vote their conference teams up higher isn’t bias? How can we eliminate these biases with more secrecy? All polls should be public at all times. Coaches that complain they can’t vote they way they want because their poll is public, and they feel obligated to vote a certain way, are wrong on both accounts: They are fueled by the bias the public expects them to have (and they give in to), and their “desired” poll is probably wrong because of their own personal bias. We have proven that an open system eliminates the bias and produces a more trustworthy poll. Isn’t that what the AFCA really wants: The fans to trust their poll is accurate?
AFCA president Dick Tomey, the coach at San Jose State, said he was pleased with the survey results. We can only wait until the results are made public before too much criticism, but I expect fans to be less than pleased with the results.
