FanNation - The Republic of Sport

By Hugh Falk, Pollspeak.com

GAME OF THE WEEK
Pollspeak's game to watch this week is Virginia Tech at North Carolina. This should really be an exciting matchup between two ranked teams. No, they're not playing this week. They already played on September 20th, and Virginia Tech already won. However, that doesn't mean it can't be Pollspeak's Game of the Week, which is when we watch how many AP voters rank North Carolina higher. The answer is 11, but our highlights feature two voters in particular: Tom Murphy, who has North Carolina No. 20 but Virginia Tech unranked, and Eric Page, who has the largest margin between the two with the Tar Heels at No. 17 and the Hokies at No. 24. So congratulations to our Game of the Week co-MVPs.

FLORIDA WINS MORE THAN A GAME
Florida has finally gained some respect from the computers this week. Last week, the computers were not kind, ranking the Gators between 16 and 46. They're not a consistent top 25 yet, but they picked up significant ground and are now ranging from 8 to 26. It was like Florida downloaded its lack of computer respect to LSU, a team that four of the five computers now rank between 32 and 38. For example, the Tigers dropped a full 22 spots in both Anderson/Hester and the Colley Matrix, and now LSU has the largest range of rankings for a top 10 team.

TEXAS – CLOSER TO CONSENSUS
Unlike human voters, the computers weren't sold on Oklahoma as No. 1 last week. However, most of the polls (human and computer) can agree on Texas as No. 1 this week. Sagarin (ELO_CHESS) is the only one to keep the Alabama No. 1; while everyone else agrees that the Crimson Tide is No. 2. This kind of agreement has been the exception more than the rule, and it is a good sign that humans and computers may be able to live in peace in the future after all.

COWBOYS NOT GETTING RESPECT
After a humbling loss to unranked Oregon State, USC is still sitting pretty in the human polls – Coaches (No. 4), Harris Interactive (5) and AP (6). USC is a great team and deserves to be highly ranked, but should they be ranked over Oklahoma State? The Cowboys just beat the No. 2 - 3 team in the country and are still undefeated. What more could they do to jump over USC at this point in the season? The problem could be the preseason rankings. USC was ranked between No. 1 and No. 3 in those polls while Oklahoma State was unranked. Harris Interactive doesn't have a preseason poll, but voters can be swayed by their peers and the media. The result is Oklahoma State getting manhandled in the human polls, particularly the ones in the BCS formula (Harris and Coaches) where they still sit at No. 10. Using the AP Poll as an example, you can see that more than half of the voters rank USC over OSU. Pollsters should really be on the lookout for voting reputation significantly over performance. You can see another form of this in the Billingsley Report, which initially ranks teams this season based on how they finished last season.

Even more mind-boggling is how eight voters could rank Missouri over Oklahoma State this week. Even the computers didn't do this. Maybe the game ended too late for these voters to see the finish.

For more poll analysis, go to pollspeak.com.