Carl Dubois: Final AP poll makes the best case for LSU By CARL DUBOIS [email protected] Advocate sportswriter Spend enough time looking at it and a clear picture emerges, as when you stare at an Escher print. The black geese fade into the background; the white geese are suddenly vivid, flying in the opposite direction. You've seen similar computer-generated 3-D art, yes? Stare through it and you finally see the spaceship, which at first glance was lost in the swirl. Or a portrait with elves and reindeer, sleighs and toys, snowmen and Christmas pines. At first you can't see the forest for the trees. Then the sum of the overall image overpowers the clutter of its individual parts, and you see a giant Santa. Look awhile at The Associated Press college football final poll for 2003, and it makes the most compelling argument yet for who's No. 1. A solid case for LSU. No need to consult BCS computers. No need to calculate schedule strength. No need to compare quality victories and losses. The final AP poll does it simply. It points to LSU as the national champion. The explanation atop the AP poll reads, "The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football final poll." The text explains that a team receives 25 points for a first-place vote, 24 points for a second-place vote, and so on through the one point for a 25th-place vote. The University of Southern California defeated two teams in the AP Top 25: No. 6 Michigan and No. 9 Washington State. Using the AP's point system, Michigan merits 20 points, Washington State 17. The AP, in essence, awarded 37 quality-win points to USC. LSU has four victories over teams in the AP Top 25. The Tigers beat No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 7 Georgia (twice) and No. 13 Ole Miss. Using the AP's point system, Oklahoma merits 23 points, Georgia 38 (19 times 2) and Ole Miss 13. The AP, you can see, awarded 74 quality-win points to LSU. Those numbers are the AP's point values for a single vote. To be fair, let's measure the teams by the total points from the AP's 65 voting members. Michigan and Washington State, the AP's ranked teams that lost to USC, netted a combined 2,341 poll points. Oklahoma, Georgia (twice) and Ole Miss, the ranked teams that lost to LSU, netted 4,831 poll points. Even if you count Georgia only once, you still have a landslide for LSU. So much for quality victories. What about losses? LSU's only loss was to Florida, ranked No. 24 in the final AP poll. Two points for Florida. USC's only loss was to unranked Cal. No points. Cal isn't even on the list of the other 10 teams that received votes in the poll. Auburn, which lost to both LSU and USC, is fifth on that list. Arkansas, which lost to LSU, is second. Oregon State, which lost to USC, is sixth. Last on that list is UConn, whose two poll points are two more than Cal received. Using the AP poll as a measure, LSU has more quality wins and didn't lose to an unranked team. USC has fewer quality wins and lost to an unranked team. Did voters even consider their own completed ballots, and the glaring inconsistencies they revealed, before phoning them in to the AP? No, the votes reflect a well-known flaw: The poll is about where teams started the season in the rankings -- and how early they suffered their only loss. The poll comes with explanation of only the point system, not the logic. We are left to assume that some or all of the following is also why USC is No. 1. USC is just better (because we say so). USC's weakest opponents are better than LSU's weakest opponents (is that how we decide championship caliber these days?). Losing on the road to an unranked team (Cal) by three points in three overtimes is better than losing at home to a ranked team (Florida) by 12 points. The Pac-10 Conference is better than the Southeastern Conference (doh!). AP voters dislike the BCS and want a playoff (now we're getting somewhere). The final poll of 2003 is an editorial making that last point (with mixed signals). Forget that NFL scouts will tell you LSU and Oklahoma are better than USC. Forget that LSU played in two championship games and won both, that Oklahoma played in two and lost both and USC played in none. Forget that LSU (13-1) had the best record in the country among teams in BCS conferences and had to put itself on the line one more time than USC (12-1) -- and in a championship game, no less, against a top-10 team. Just look at the final AP poll for the 2003 season. The longer you look at it, the more it makes the case for LSU. The final poll each season has staying power. Every voter will use the final AP poll for 2003 as a starting point for filling out a preseason ballot for 2004. Ten years from now, from top to bottom, the final AP poll for the 2003 season will speak even louder about which teams are on it, which teams are not, what it says, and what it doesn't say. Discard your BCS rankings and save the final AP Top 25. It's the best argument yet for an LSU undisputed national championship. http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/010804/spo_dubois001.shtml
I don't know if anyone who has posted here has noticed, but this thread was started on January 8th, not today... It was just bumped back up for some reason.
How very perceptive of you....I did not notice that....:thumb: I was wondering why an Advocate writer was writing about last years BCS standings recently....
