Pollspeak: Why one voter ranked BYU ahead of Florida

2009-09-12T20:39:48-04:00

2009-09-11T11:36:28-04:00

2009-09-12T20:39:48-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/203/875/thumb/byasu.jpg 5 AZ

James_AZ

Mesa 204175

10 test comment 6842841

2009-09-12T20:39:27-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/203/875/thumb/byasu.jpg 5 AZ

James_AZ

Mesa 204175

9 test comment 6842754

2009-09-12T19:58:26-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/203/875/thumb/byasu.jpg 5 AZ

James_AZ

Mesa 204175

8 No poll means much until the third or fourth week of the season. It's just a beauty contest until the teams actually play football. 6842399

2009-09-12T09:08:44-04:00

715

serotonin

No City 37039

7 This is what happens when pseudo-intelligent people decide to be different... purely for the sake of being different. Anyway, I guess it gets him attention, though, which in turn pulls in more visitors to his website. 6836828

2009-09-12T05:48:15-04:00

hammerdude

Maitland 862091

6 The guy is a moron. He says that he pretends that he's never heard of the teams and evaluates their performances only. Then, he says he kept Florida at #4 b/c "they're Florida, and their good." Can you say...contradictory. He basically admitted that he can't pretend he's never heard of Florida...BECAUSE THEY'RE FLORIDA! By his own contradictory logic, Florida should either be ranked #1 (for being Florida) or not at all (for beating Charleston Southern). Which is it, moron? 6836628

2009-09-11T13:22:04-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/334/200/thumb/PSUinSpring.bmp 12691 MO

PSUinSnow

Saint Charles 334580

1 While I admire his Maverick-i-ness... the logic he used doesn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense. [i] Then I tried to think about each team as if I didn't even know the name of the school, much less the reputation. I just considered what happened. "Who won? Who did they beat? How good was the team they beat? And here I did consider preseason ranking, because it's a way to judge the quality of a win, and that's important. So what were the three biggest wins of the weekend? Alabama's neutral site win over No. 7 Virginia Tech, BYU's neutral site win over No. 3 Oklahoma and Oklahoma State's home win over No. 13 Georgia. [/i] It seems a bit misguided to NOT consider the pre-season ranking when looking at teams that WON games (like Florida, Texas, and USC). And at the same time, looking at the preseason ranking to consider the quality of teams that LOST games (like Oklahoma, Georgia, and Virginia Tech). I just can't reconcile that logic. 6828693

2009-09-12T01:52:11-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/186/128/thumb/AG329.jpg 81 NY

misdreavus79

Bronx 186428

While I admire his Maverick-i-ness... the logic he used doesn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense. Then I tried to think about each team as if I didn't even know the name of the school, much less the reputation. I just considered what happened."Who won? Who did they beat? How good was the team they beat? And here I did consider preseason ranking, because it's a way to judge the quality of a win, and that's important.So what were the three biggest wins of the weekend? Alabama's neutral site win over No. 7 Virginia Tech, BYU's neutral site win over No. 3 Oklahoma and Oklahoma State's home win over No. 13 Georgia. It seems a bit misguided to NOT consider the pre-season ranking when looking at teams that WON games (like Florida, Texas, and USC). And at the same time, looking at the preseason ranking to consider the quality of teams that LOST games (like Oklahoma, Georgia, and Virginia Tech).I just can't reconcile that logic.

5 Actually, that makes perfect sense. He looks at the pre-season rankings before the games, not after. This is how he is able to validate the BYU win, because they beat a good team. On the other hand, Florida beat nobody, so they shouldn't be rewarded for their performance by staying as the #1 team. It was harder for BYU to beat Oklahoma than it was for Florida to beat Charleston Southern. Otherwise, CS would be ranked. 6836491

2009-09-11T17:11:23-04:00

GATOR1

Miami 761369

4 he writes from cleveland enough said, i would be bitter as well if i lived and worked in the armpit of america............... 6833983

2009-09-11T15:57:04-04:00

buggdoc

Durham 829837

3 Well done, Mr. Lesmerises. Obviously, BYU is not the best team in the nation, but until it is actually proven on the field otherwise, keep up the good work. 6832341

2009-09-11T15:20:56-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/114/076/thumb/051204anchorman.jpg 22 UT

phatty

SLC 114375

2 i know right, he ignores preseason when it comes to cream puffs getting blown out, but uses preseason rankings on the upsets... weird... 6831370

2009-09-11T13:22:04-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/334/200/thumb/PSUinSpring.bmp 12691 MO

PSUinSnow

Saint Charles 334580

<div class="photo_container image_right"><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/si/2008/writers/stewart_mandel/12/08/bowl.rankings/Tim-Tebow-SI.jpg" alt="Tim Tebow" width="298" height="331" /> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">No. 4 Florida? Tebow is not amused. :: David Bergman/SI </div> </div> From SI.com's Andy Staples: Every week, Hugh Falk of Pollspeak.com will do From Scrimmage the honor of analyzing the college football polls. Today, he'll examine the ballot of an AP poll voter whose picks, on the surface, seem odd, but a deeper look provides a plausible explanation. (Hint: It's not me.) If you aren't tired of poll talk, check back later today to read why I ranked Alabama ahead of USC. By Hugh Falk, <a href="http://www.pollspeak.com" target="_blank">Pollspeak.com</a> We've been getting some feedback about Pollstalker's most extreme voter this week:  Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.  He has, by far, the <a href="http://pollspeak.com/pollstalker/pollstalker.php?s=9&p=18&t1=0&t2=0&v=20&w=2&r=V" target="_blank">most polarizing ballot we've ever seen</a>, getting 361 "Good" votes and 432 "Bad" votes as of this writing.  When voting closes, he will likely have the most votes in both categories. He is undoubtedly the most "extreme voter" with 16 extreme votes and five near-extremes.   That actually makes him our most extreme voter...ever.  So we wanted to take this opportunity to give him an honorable mention for this accomplishment since he likely won't finish as either Good Voter or Bad Voter of the Week.  (Since we use NET Good votes and Bad votes.) We also wanted to take this opportunity to reiterate a point we've made several times in the past.  "Extreme" does not equal "Bad".  They aren't the same thing.  Extreme votes are just a tool (one tool of several) for identifying voters who are biased or not paying attention.  Extreme votes can also be a sign of somebody who has put a lot of thought into their votes, but who also has different information or perspective.  That is definitely the case with Lesmerises. You can read Lesmerises' perspective in his own words <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/buckeyeblog/index.ssf/2009/09/why_i_ranked_alabama_byu_and_o.html">HERE</a>.  However, to paraphrase, he is trying to adhere to the AP's primary guideline:  "Base your vote on performance, not reputation or preseason speculation."  So he didn't even look at his preseason ballot and ranked the teams based mainly on how they performed in week one.   So the teams with the most impressive wins (Alabama, BYU and Oklahoma State) get his top three spots, which definitely puts him in the minority. But should it?  This is exactly what the AP asks from its voters, and Lesmerises' article proves he put a lot of thought into his choices.  This was not a case of throwing darts or done to spite the BCS as some fans have suggested.  At the end of his explanation, he makes it clear that his ballot next week might look completely different, which is again an AP guideline:  "Don't hesitate to make significant changes in your ballot from week to week."  So we have high hopes for his week three ballot as well. Doug Lesmerises may not be a folk hero, but we feel he still deserves some recognition for his ability to look at college football teams objectively and report the facts as he sees them.  We're not saying his ballot is perfect, or that you can't argue his choices individually.  Just don't look at all of the red and yellow in his ballot and automatically think he is a bad voter.  Instead do some digging.  For example, look for voters who ranked Oklahoma over BYU after the Cougars defeated the Sooners on a neutral field.  (This is another tool for spotting "Bad" voters.)  This week Pollspeak will sing the praises of Doug Lesmerises as a voting hero for trying to do the right thing and seeing it through to a level we haven't witnessed before.

The SI Staff

New York City 21244 77161 <div class="photo_container image_right"><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/si/2008/writers/stewart_mandel/12/08/bowl.rankings/Tim-Tebow-SI.jpg" alt="Tim Tebow" width="298" height="331" /> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">No. 4 Florida? Tebow is not amused. :: David Bergman/SI </div> </div> From SI.com's Andy Staples: Every week, Hugh Falk of Pollspeak.com will do From Scrimmage the honor of analyzing the college football polls. Today, he'll examine the ballot of an AP poll voter whose picks, on the surface, seem odd, but a deeper look provides a plausible explanation. (Hint: It's not me.) If you aren't tired of poll talk, check back later today to read why I ranked Alabama ahead of USC. By Hugh Falk, <a href="http://www.pollspeak.com" target="_blank">Pollspeak.com</a> We've been getting some feedback about Pollstalker's most extreme voter this week:  Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.  He has, by far, the <a href="http://pollspeak.com/pollstalker/pollstalker.php?s=9&p=18&t1=0&t2=0&v=20&w=2&r=V" target="_blank">most polarizing ballot we've ever seen</a>, getting 361 "Good" votes and 432 "Bad" votes as of this writing.  When voting closes, he will likely have the most votes in both categories.