A Closer Look at the Coaches Poll - Pac-10 votes

Source: USA Today

Aside from USC, the Pac-10 wasn't too impressive during the regular season. One week early in the season saw four Pac-10 teams fall to Mountain West teams, and despite USC's impressive defense, it's obvious that poll voters discounted their Pac-10 success because of lighter competition. No. 13 Oregon and No. 25 Oregon State (the only team to beat USC) were the other teams making the final Top 25.

Coaches voting from the Pac-10: Mike Bellotti, Oregon; Rick Neuheisel, UCLA; Mike Riley, Oregon State; Jeff Tedford, Cal; Ty Willingham, Washington (lame duck as of midseason)

First-place votes: Florida 3, Oklahoma 1, Texas 1
Oklahoma vs. Texas: Bellotti and Neuheisel had Texas ranked above Oklahoma. Neuheisel was the only coach in the nation to rank Oklahoma outside the Top 3. (Bad feelings from his CU days perhaps?)
Outliers: USC was ranked No. 3 by nine coaches nationally -- four of them coming from the Pac-10 (Bellotti had the Trojans 4th). ... Neuheisel ranked the Oregon State Beavers 17th -- the other Pac-10 voters had OSU 24th. ... Willingham had Missouri ranked 11th in the nation -- no other coach in the country had the Tigers higher than 16th. ... Riley was the only coach in the country that did not rank Georgia at all, but he had Ball State 15th in the nation.

Top 25 according to the Pac-10 voters
(green = higher than national ranking; red = lower than national ranking)
1. Florida, 123
2. Oklahoma, 118
3. Texas, 115
4. USC, 114
5. Alabama, 105
6. Penn State, 100
7. Utah, 92
8. Texas Tech, 91
9. Boise State, 85
10. Ohio State, 81
11. TCU, 69
12. Oregon, 68
13. Cincinnati, 64
14. Georgia Tech, 56
15. Oklahoma State, 55
16. BYU, 50
17. Michigan State, 39
18. Georgia, 36
19t. Northwestern, 28
19t. Missouri, 28
21. Virginia Tech, 24
22. Pitt, 23
23. Ball State, 22
24. Oregon State, 16
25. Boston College, 8 (not ranked in national Top 25)

Other Votes: Cal 6, Florida State 4, Iowa 3, Mississippi 1

A Closer Look at the Coaches Poll - ACC votes

Source: USA Today

By all accounts a down year for the ACC -- with no team ranked higher than 15th (Georgia Tech). Champion Virginia Tech was the only other team ranked, finishing 19th in the final Coaches' Poll. It appears that the ACC coaches felt that Boston College also deserved some credit -- 25 percent of BC's overall votes came from the ACC voters.

Coaches voting from the ACC: Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech; Tommy Bowden, Clemson (fired midseason); Bobby Bowden, FSU; Butch Davis, North Carolina; Jim Grobe, Wake Forest; Tom O'Brien, NC State.

First-place votes: Oklahoma 4, Florida 2
Oklahoma vs. Texas: Only Beamer ranked Texas over Oklahoma.
Outliers: Beamer had his Hokies 23rd in the nation, none of his league colleagues had the Hokies that low (TBowden had them 13th). ... Tommy Bowden has Georgia Tech 10th on his ballot - the next highest ranking of the Ramblin' Wreck by an ACC coach was 13th. ... Bobby Bowden must've been impressed by Michigan State (13th) and Ole Miss (19th) -- in both cases that's five spots higher than the national rankings.

Top 25 according to the ACC voters
(green = higher than national ranking; red = lower than national ranking)
1. Oklahoma, 147
2. Florida, 146
3. Texas, 138
4. Alabama, 132
5. USC, 125
6. Penn State, 119
7. Texas Tech, 115
8. Utah, 109
9. Boise State, 102
10. Ohio State, 96
11. TCU, 88
12. Cincinnati, 80
13. Georgia Tech, 74
14. Oregon, 72
15. Oklahoma State, 66
16. BYU, 57
17. Georgia, 51
18. Michigan State, 49
19. Virginia Tech, 43
20. Pitt, 33
21. Boston College, 24 (not ranked in Coaches' Top 25)
22. Northwestern, 23
23. Mississippi, 22
24. Missouri, 15
25. Ball State, 10

Other votes: Oregon State 9, Florida State 5, Iowa 3, North Carolina 3, East Carolina 3

A Closer Look at the Coaches Poll

One of the coolest online graphics each year is the Coaches' Top 25 breakdown that the USA Today puts together after the final poll of the regular season. It's interesting to see how the 61 coaches vote in this poll -- which accounts for 1/3 of the vaunted BCS formula.

It's also interesting to see who's voting -- this year's panel of 61 includes 10 coaches no longer employed:

Terry Bowden, Clemson
Sylvester Croom, Mississippi State
Phil Fulmer, Tennessee
Joe Glenn, Wyoming
Rocky Long, New Mexico
Shane Montgomery, Miami of Ohio
Hal Mumme, New Mexico State
Tommy Tuberville, Auburn
Ty Willingham, Washington
and Joe Tiller, Purdue (retired)

The panel of 61 includes seven coaches apiece from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and MAC (!); six from the ACC; five from the Pac-10 and Conference USA; four from the Sun Belt, Mountain West, Big East and WAC; and good ole Notre Dame. Given that it's uneven, I thought it'd be interesting to see how parochial is voting by the coaches in each conference -- i.e. did the Big 12 coaches elevate Oklahoma and Texas over Florida in the hopes of getting two teams in the title game.

Each conference will be its own post. Enjoy!