Observations and Punditry
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Woody's Ramblings
Saturday, January 7, 2006
By Woody Peele |
'Holtz/Peele Poll' on the
money again
Ranking system proposed long
ago by esteemed coach correctly tabs Texas No. 1, USC No. 2
©2006 Bonesville.net
Some years ago, I heard Lou Holtz, then
the head coach at Arkansas, complain because his team wasn’t voted No. 1
after going unbeaten.
Holtz, the father of present East Carolina
coach Skip Holtz, suggested a simple mathematical poll, awarding a team
three points for each of its wins, two points whenever a team it had
beaten won a game and one point each time there was a similar victory on
the third level of competition.
Under this straightforward formula, the
team with the most points would be the National Champion. This was, of
course, well before the Bowl Championship Series was established,
resulting in some years as a popularity contest when there were more
than two worthy teams.
At the time, I was a member of the
Associated Press voting panel, and I decided to use a similar system to
put together my weekly ballot. So I approached a friend who was a
computer whiz to put such a program together for me.
It took several years to finally perfect.
We had to account for the then-possible ties and games against
non-Division I-A teams, but we finally got it like we wanted it.
The whole basis is who you beat, who they
beat and who their victims beat, i.e., strength of schedule. And you
have to enter the season assuming that all Division I-A teams are on an
equal footing.
For instance, a team beating a 6-5 team
would get a good deal more points than it would beating a 1-10 team.
Ever since then, I’ve been running this
poll. Only a couple of times has my No. 1 team differed from the
“National Champion.”
One such year was when Clemson took the
national title. But the Tigers that year had played a non-Division I-A
team and that penalized them some points, just enough to relegate them
to second place in the final standings.
This year, sure enough, Texas finished at
the top of my poll, while Southern Cal took second place. The 13-0
Longhorns, the nation’s only unbeaten team, finished the year with 5,704
points, well ahead of the Trojans, second with 4,344. Virginia Tech took
third with 4,232, followed by Penn State with 4,200. Fifth was LSU with
3,824.
My second 10 were Boston College, Ohio
State, Texas Christian, Georgia and Oklahoma.
Among ECU opponents, West Virginia took
12th place while Tulsa ended up best among Conference USA teams at 21st.
East Carolina, which finished the season
with a 5-6 mark, ended up in 82nd place.
Others of interest, from the Atlantic
Coast Conference and C-USA, among a few others, include Clemson in 27th,
Georgia Tech in 28th, N.C. State in 32nd, Louisville is 35th, UCF in
36th, Memphis in 37th, Virginia in 38th, Florida State and North
Carolina tied for 39th, Southern Miss in 48th, Southern Methodist in
49th, Texas-El Paso tied for 54th, Houston in 66th, UAB tied for 67th,
Wake Forest in 71st, Maryland tied for 87th, Marshall in 91st, Tulane in
106th, and Duke in 116th.
Two Division I-A teams which failed to
post a victory this year, Temple and New Mexico State, tied for 118th
place.
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Texas (5,704)
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Southern Cal (4,344)
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Virginia Tech (4,323)
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Penn
State (4,200)
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LSU
(3,824)
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Boston College (3,648)
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Ohio
State (3,592)
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TCU
(3,576)
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Georgia (3,560)
-
Oklahoma (3,448)
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UCLA
(3,240)
-
West
Virginia (3,192)
-
Alabama (3,136)
-
Miami (3,136)
-
Oregon (3,000)
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Florida (2,976)
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Wisconsin (2,968)
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Texas Tech (2,936)
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Auburn (2,784)
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Michigan (2,744)
-
Tulsa (2,632)
-
Nebraska (2,592)
-
Missouri (2,520)
-
Notre Dame (2,416)
--------------------------------
-
Tie:
Kansas (2,360)
-
Tie:
Northwestern (2,360)
--------------------------------
-
Clemson (2,352)
-
Georgia Tech (2,296)
-
Colorado (2,288)
-
Minnesota (2,264)
-
South Carolina (2,256)
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N.C.
State (2,240)
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Iowa
State (2,200)
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Iowa
(2,120)
-
Louisville (2,088)
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Central Florida (2,040)
-
Memphis (2,024)
-
Virginia (2,000)
--------------------------------
-
Tie:
Florida State (1,952)
-
Tie:
North Carolina (1,952)
--------------------------------
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Tennessee (1,896)
-
Nevada (1,888)
-
Arizona State (1,880)
-
Central Michigan (1,848)
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Northern Illinois (1,840)
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Toledo (1,808)
-
Boise State (1,736)
-
Southern Miss (1,720)
-
SMU
(1,696)
-
Colorado State (1,656)
--------------------------------
-
Tie:
Utah (1,648)
-
Tie;
Fresno State (1,648)
-
Tie:
Akron (1,648)
--------------------------------
-
Tie:
Kansas State (1,608)
-
Tie:
UTEP (1,608)
--------------------------------
-
South Florida (1,600)
-
California (1,576)
--------------------------------
-
Tie:
Baylor (1,488)
-
Tie:
Stanford (1,488)
--------------------------------
-
Tie:
New Mexico (1,440)
-
Tie:
Texas A&M (1,440)
--------------------------------
-
Oregon State (1,432)
-
San
Diego State (1,376)
-
Brigham Young (1,336)
-
Ball
State (1,296)
-
Houston (1,264)
--------------------------------
-
Tie:
Navy (1,248)
-
Tie:
UAB (1,248)
--------------------------------
-
Purdue (1,224)
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Washington (1,200)
-
Wake
Forest (1,192)
--------------------------------
-
Tie:
Louisiana-Lafayette (1,184)
-
Tie:
Rutgers (1,184)
--------------------------------
-
Arkansas State (1,176)
-
Western Michigan (1,160)
-
Louisiana Tech (1,144)
-
Michigan State (1,136)
-
Vanderbilt (1,128)
--------------------------------
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Tie:
Oklahoma State (1,080)
-
Tie:
Miami, Ohio (1,080)
--------------------------------
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Army
(1,072)
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East
Carolina (1,000)
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Pittsburgh (992)
-
Louisiana-Monroe (984)
-
Arizona (976)
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Washington State (928)
--------------------------------
-
Tie:
Maryland (920)
-
Tie:
Bowling Green (920)
-
Tie:
Middle Tennessee (920)
-
Tie:
Air Force (920)
--------------------------------
-
Marshall (872)
-
Indiana (824)
-
Connecticut (816)
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Florida International (792)
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Eastern Michigan (744)
-
Wyoming (736)
--------------------------------
-
Tie:
Mississippi (720)
-
Tie:
Ohio (720)
--------------------------------
-
Tie:
Hawaii (680)
-
Tie:
State (680)
--------------------------------
-
Arkansas (648)
--------------------------------
-
Tie:
Cincinnati
-
Tie:
Illinois (512)
--------------------------------
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Kentucky (496)
-
North Texas (480)
-
Tulane (416)
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Florida Atlantic (400)
-
Mississippi State (360)
-
Nevada-Las Vegas (352)
-
Utah
State (352)
-
San
Jose State (248)
-
Kent
State (224)
--------------------------------
-
Tie:
Idaho (120)
-
Tie:
Rice (120)
--------------------------------
-
Buffalo (88)
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Duke
(72)
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Syracuse (56)
--------------------------------
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Tie:
Temple (0)
-
Tie:
New Mexico State (0)
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02/23/2007 02:44:17 PM
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