|
A voter's perspective: Why BYU isn't in the Top 25 — yet |
|
|
|
|
JaredCowley | Sunday, October 22, 2006, 10:36 pm
|
Jason Franchuk
DAILY HERALD
As I wrote about last week, it’s not the easiest thing being an Associated Press voter. Sometimes we’re asked to rank teams we have limited information about.
That seems to be the problem with BYU, from a national perspective. The 5-2 Cougars have won four games in a row, but the last two have come at home against teams (San Diego State, UNLV) that are a combined 2-11. That’s not going to earn a lot of praise.
It was after the 30-point win against SDSU on Oct. 7 that I became the only vote (one point, 25th place) for BYU. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t some professional concern in being the lone vote for the local team I cover. Was I missing something, and giving the local boys too much credit?
I took the Cougars out of my next week’s poll, in part because Boston College — a team that defeated them in double-overtime in September — had an impressive win against Virginia Tech that warranted its return. BYU hasn’t been put back in by me since.
Go ahead and yell, Cougar fans, I probably deserve it.
Take it from one voter: it possibly will take two more weeks for the Cougars to get in. A win against Air Force this Saturday won’t get nearly as much credit, considering the Falcons just lost at SDSU.
Voting, in part, is getting to see highlights or complete games. It’s also about having decent results against whatever the majority of voters deem to be good competition.
BYU’s currently bogus television deal with The Mtn., the official network of the Mountain West Conference, isn’t helping its cause in getting the word out.
By the way, I wouldn’t consider ranking Tulsa ahead of the Cougars these days, although some others have this week.
The toughest two teams for me to add have been Rutgers and Wake Forest, who I have seen very little footage of. But I give some benefit of the doubt to my fellow voters, who seem to be impressed. I try to not show bias. My hated rival Missouri (I went to Kansas) has weekly gotten my vote. Though I have to take a long shower after I send in the ballot Saturday night.
Jason Franchuk can be reached at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
