AP Voter Doesn’t Rank Any Big 12 Football Team in Final Rankings Other Than Texas and Oklahoma
While no one is saying that advocating for Texas and Oklahoma to land among the AP Top 25 in the final week of voting is a bad thing, electing to leave the likes of Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Kansas, and even West Virginia off is a bold choice.
While West Virginia (unofficial No. 27) narrowly missed out on the final rankings, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and Kansas earned spots among the nation’s best with the college football season ending on Monday night. The list went on to prove both the strength of the future Big 12 Conference and that some AP Voters’ SEC bias is obvious.
However, there’s one voter in particular who stands out above the rest and he’s Ron Counts, of the Idaho Statemen, who released the following poll.
- Michigan
- Washington
- Texas
- Georgia
- Florida State
- Alabama
- Ohio State
- Oregon
- Penn State
- Ole Miss
- LSU
- Missouri
- Oklahoma
- SMU
- Liberty
- Arizona
- Iowa
- Notre Dame
- Oregon State
- JMU
- Tulane
- Kentucky
- Louisville
- Clemson
- Toledo
Despite the fact that Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and Kansas all had stellar outings in their bowl games, Counts believed that none of the three were deserving of a spot in his final poll.
Oklahoma State, ranked 20th at the time, took down the Texas A&M Aggies 31-23, which did not make them worthy of being in Counts’ AP Poll. Kansas State, ranked 25th at the time, took down No. 18 NC State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, 28-19, which also did not make them worthy of being ranked, in his eyes. Kansas, who entered the week unranked but receiving votes, put on one of the top performances of bowl season by routing the UNLV Rebels 49-36 thanks to six touchdown passes from senior quarterback Jason Bean. You can guess what Ron Counts thought of the Jayhawks in his final list.
While fans are deservedly upset over the choices made by some AP voters, thankfully the poll adds in a ranking of how close each voter list is to the final ballot. Counts’ Top 25 was the furthest away from the actual Final Top 25 of anyone in the Associated Press totaling a 3.32 rating. Who would’ve ever guessed that?
For reference, the Poll clarified the breakdowns by saying, “The numerical scores measure how similar each voter is to the overall poll, both in the current week and averaged over the season. A lower score is a more conventional voter, and a higher score is a bigger outlier. A score of 1.0 means that the teams on a ballot average one rank away from the AP Poll.”
While Ron Counts may have earned the title of dud of the year in the eyes of Big 12 fans everywhere, I believe the AP Poll says it best by reminding individuals to, “Please be kind to the voters.”
