Mr. Pearson and Mr. Wolf,
I run a college football blog and had a question for you.
I noticed that you are one of the two AP voters who have voted West Virginia the top team in the land this entire season. As a mere college football fan and not a professional such as yourself, I was wondering if you could enlighten me and our readers as to why you continue to make such a pick because I'm thoroughly confused.
I was under the (hopeful) impression that one's ballot had something to do with what happens on the field. Yes, West Virginia's victory over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl was quite impressive, but it was also last season. So please help me understand your vote as it pertains to the 2006 season.Does it have something to do with WVU's blowout win against 1-4 Marshall? Their 52-3 thumping of 1-5, 1-AA Eastern Washington? Were you moved by their 21 point victory over Maryland since a) they have a winning record at 3-2 and b) they're 1-A? Or did I miss something you didn't in their stirring victories over 2-3 ECU and 1-5 Mississippi State?
Any explanation you could give would be most helpful. I myself vote in an online blog poll but am obviously doing something wrong as I don't even have West Virginia in my top five. For some reason, I was much more impressed with Ohio State going on the road to defeat both Texas and Iowa in September. I gave more weight to Florida beating Tennessee, Alabama and LSU over the last 4 weekends. And 4 out of USC's 5 wins have come against teams with winning records, including ranked Nebraska and now-ranked Arkansas.
Hell, I even have the Vols ahead of the Mountaineers, being more impressed with their victories over undefeated Georgia and Cal, their lone loss being a one point set-back to Florida.
Anyway, since you are only one of two writers in the country in the three major polls (AP, Coaches' and Harris Interactive) to vote West Virginia #1, I was just looking for some insight as to what you see that the rest of the college football seems to be missing.
Sincerely,
Yost
MichiganZone.net
Posts
14 comments:
Check out his blog and click on comments...he also sensors them, I had 3 posts that were not "approved" for that post alone.
http://www.insidesocal.com/usc/archives/2006/10/the_top_25_4.html#comments
He is an idiot, its nice to see someone outside of California saying it too.
The letter is great. W.Va.'s opponents have less than a .30 winning percentage, none has been ranked at any time this year (and perhaps this decade), and the majority have records that are 1-4 or worse.
Furthermore, the excellent arguments made in the letter apply in principle -- albeit with less force -- to those giving Louisville a high ranking.
I have a terrible feeling the winner of W.Va.-Louisville will play for the MNC, which essentially means that one of these teams will make it to the championship game as a reward for a one win season (instead of a potential one loss Michigan/tOSU, Florida, USC, Texas, Tennessee, etc.).
Good letter, Yost.
What these gentlemen have is what I call the "Corky Frost Syndrome." Corky's the guy from Arizona who, back in 1992, voted Alabama #1 all season. When the Tide beat Miami in the Sugar Bowl to claim the MNC that year, old Corky looked like a freakin' genius!
His voting record was made public and he gained slight notoriety nationally (and major celebrity status down here) as the "prophet of college football." He was even grand marshall of the parade they had for the team in Tuscaloosa.
Every year since, the AP has some other crackpot attempting to do the same thing. And no, slight notoriety does not equal fame and fortune; it equates with EGO, something that sports writers have in abundance.
I think it attracts attention to their otherwise small local existence. If I vote for Ohio State, no one will notice. If I do something different, people will want to know that guy is.
Its sad really. Its like the people who are born and raised in Columbus, Ohio yet still decide to root for Michigan.
Attention whores get none of my respect.
i'm still trying to find out how scott wolf gained voting status. it's the l.a. daily news....and he writes a college football daily tabloid. his reporting has always been sub-par, and many time flat out inaccurate (cj spiller to usc). this guy's a dink.
Classic. I think you summed it up...
that dude should have never left Party of Five.
Seriously, Miami at #20?
That should say it all.
Yost - brilliant - but I think Notre Dame should have received votes for the #1 ranking bc we've got....well we've got...um, ah, um, well nevermind I vote for WV they're clearly the best in the nation.
Thats a great letter I hope they respond.
I understand pearson voting for WVU, since its Riverside...Ask anyone from Southern California about either the 909 or 951 area codes..Hell they just got DSL out there, no more AOL dailup...
Wolf is classic. I think he tried to get into USC and they denied him. The shit he writes is so off its fucking hillarious. He probably got his vote by default when the previous voter left and they figured a gay interior decorator would fit perfectly...
Don't know about Pearson, but Wolf doesn't have a lot of respect in SoCal.
Great Letter!
As an SC blogger I am utterly dumbfounded by his continual love for WVU.
I can see that he doesn't wnat SC at #1 but come on! not Ohio State?
Ok I'll bite.
He has Cal rated over Tennessee, too, the idiot. How can he dismiss Tennessee's 35-0 lead over Cal before they let up? Final score 35-18. Tennessee is the only 1 loss team with a 1 point loss (to Florida).
For the ninth consecutive week, Ohio State is the top team in the nation according to the Associated Press.
The Michigan Wolverines were ranked second in the latest poll, which had few changes after a weekend of close calls and near-upsets.
Southern California was ranked third, followed by West Virginia with Texas rounding out the top five.
The fourth-ranked Mountaineers received two first-place votes, and the Buckeyes got the other 63.
Kevin Pearson of the Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise and Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News are the two voters who again this week voted that West Virginia is the No.1-ranked tean in college football.
Wolf has a blog called Inside USC, and I left the following message:
"So you are one of the two morons who keep voting West Virginia as the best team in the nation!?
Who have the Mountaineers beat? They have yet to defeat a ranked team, and the combined records of their seven opponents is 20-32.
West Virginia has only one win against against a team with a winning record, Maryland at 5-2, and one of WVU's other six wins came against Division I-AA Eastern Washington, who has a record of 2-6.
Maybe you should go back to acting, you were pretty good on "Party of Five," but you don't seem to know much about college football."
http://buckeyebanter.com/2006/10/new-ap-poll-kevin-pearson-scott-wolf.html
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