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Bless All the Subversive Traditions, Each and Every One

By Matt Hinton

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The USA Today Coaches Poll remains one of the decisive factors in the ever-evolving BCS formula, and it is out today. (Hat tip: Corey from Tomahawk Nation). Three-fourths of the first-place votes went to USC, shockingly enough. LSU and Florida are 2-3, and nine coaches carried over first place votes from January for the Gators.

Whatever. Polls with no rhyme or reason or individual accountability are fast and furious this time of year, and this one looks like the coaches - or, more likely, their PR lackeys, who might actually have time for this shit* - have been reading the magazines and nodding in agreement. All we can really tell from this is that they fear and respect the SEC: half the league (in order, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee and Arkansas) is in the top 20; the first five are all in the top 15. I'll give odds to anyone willing to bet the final ballot looks like that.


Coaches poll? You know what to do. Now watch this putt.
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No, the "Others receiving votes" addendum is so much more interesting:
Others receiving votes (with 2006 records):

Boston College (10-3) 150; Georgia Tech (9-5) 150; Miami (Fla.) (7-6) 91; Notre Dame (10-3) 90; South Carolina (8-5) 90; Wake Forest (11-3) 71; Missouri (8-6) 58; Oregon State (10-4) 52; Brigham Young (11-2) 47; Clemson (8-5) 30; Oregon (7-6) 30; South Florida (9-4) 26; Texas Tech (8-5) 20; Alabama (6-7) 16; Oklahoa State (7-6) 15; Southern Mississippi (9-5) 14; Iowa (6-7) 12; Kansas State (7-6) 8; Memphis (2-10) 5; Houston (10-4) 4; Arizona (6-6) 1; Duke (0-12) 1; Kentucky (8-5) 1; Washington State (6-6) 1.

God bless Steve Spurrier, still thumbing his nose at the notion of quasi-objective polling with the annual throwaway vote for his old school, Duke, still just a little more than 30 months removed from its last win over a I-A program. Yep, loved coachin' ball fer the Devils, good buncha folks up there. Hear they're gettin' better. Give 'em a vote.

Pretty much everything Spurrier does is kosher here. But tell me, please, who voted for Memphis? And why is the sport's championship still partially beholden to this madman's opinion?

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* - Nick Saban? Not a member of the paper's 60-man Board of Coaches, and therefore not a voter. Maybe that's why Alabama was only 39th. Urban Meyer's not on there, either, so don't blame him for the somewhat irrational Florida love. And keep all this mum around the Orgeron - he's still waiting to get his ballot in the mail, and you know what can happen when he gets disappointed...