ESPN TAKES THEIR NAME OFF THE COACHES POOL

              

The BCS isn’t the popular place to have your name linked to now-a-days.

ESPN pulled it’s name from the ESPN/USA TODAY COACHES POLL citing "conflict of interest". Recently, the coaches voted that only their final vote can be made public...not the rest of the polls. There have been many people calling for the coaches to make their votes public...to see if coaches are voting for conference allegiances.

This came to a head at the end of last season. California finished the season ranked #4 in the coaches poll. In the final poll, four coaches ranked Cal #7....and two more ranked them #8....despite Cal winning at Southern Miss and not having one vote for them below #6 in the previous poll. Texas, who was highly criticized for running a BCS campaign, jumped ahead of Cal and into the lucrative Rose Bowl. Cal ended up in the much smaller Holiday Bowl.

Last December, the Associated Press asked the BCS to stop using their poll in the BCS formula.

ESPN, in their statement, said it was cool that the coaches don’t want their votes public...but the network was uncomfortable in "sponsoring" a poll that is shrouded in controversy. They took over for CNN as co-sponsors of the coaches poll in 1997. USA Today will continue to have it’s name on the poll and the poll will continue to be included in the BCS formula.  The national newspaper also posted a editorial on the coaches vote [siding with the secrecy, of course] on their wesite:  USATODAY.com - Transparency helps ensure integrity of our college poll

One interesting note in all of this is the fact that ABC.....ESPN’s parent company....dumped the BCS after this upcoming season [ABC still has the rights to the Rose Bowl]. Some speculate that ESPN is trying to wipe their hands clean from the BCS mess that has tarnished college football and caused controversy every year since it began [despite promises of setting things straight]. Fox Sports will take over the BCS beginning in January 2007.

Fox Sports carries the Pac-10. Not anymore. ESPN signed a deal with the Pac-10 [who recently approved going to a 9-game conference season] to televise their games. ABC televised Pac-10 games....but ESPN didn’t have the cable rights.

Since the BCS was formed....their have really only been two "gripping" National Championship games. In 2002, Ohio State beat Miami 31-24 in double overtime [in which the game was decided by a controversial pass interference call] and 1998, Tennessee beat Florida State 23-16.