Headlines: Final Football Poll

Brian: Jeff, Boston College finishes the season #10 in the Associated Press poll. A great way to end the season. Hats off the Matt Ryan, Coach Jags, the school and the program. In the USA Today/ESPN poll, BC just misses the top 10 and finishes #11. My one beef with the final poll - being tied with Texas at #10 and being kept out of the Top 10 in the USA Today/ESPN poll. Are the coaches seriously telling me that 4 of the top 10 football programs this year come from the Big XII? Yet, the top 4 Big XII teams conveniently missed playing each other this season (Texas missed facing Missouri and Kansas, Kansas missed Oklahoma). Aside from the bowl win, Texas beat the likes of Arkansas State, UCF, Rice, Iowa State, Baylor, Nebraska, OK State and Texas Tech, and only 1 ranked team, #19 TCU. BC beats three ranked opponents, all on the road, and had a top 15 SOS.

Jeff: If the BCS did end of year rankings I'd be interested to see where we would've finished. Throughout the year BC was ranked higher in BCS standings than AP/USA Today polls because of the computer element. However, they don't release year-end polls so I am happy with a #10 ranking in the AP. I strongly disagree with Texas being ranked as high as they are though. Yes they had a big bowl win as did Missouri and Kansas, but you make a great point that they didn't play Missouri and Kansas during the year. On the other hand, BC played every ACC bowl bound team (Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Maryland, and Clemson) this year except Virginia. And had a total of 5 wins against bowl bound teams. The sad part is though that only Wake Forest won their bowl game. So in that way its almost surprising that BC did move up in the final polls. USC only gets one vote for #1 in the final poll, surprised?

Brian: For some idea of final computer rankings, Real Time RPI has us ranked #12 and Texas at #16. I'm less surprised with the USC #1 vote and more surprised that Georgia didn't receive more than 3 votes. They trounced the only FBS undefeated team in the Sugar Bowl, and finished the year winning 7 straight (including wins over @ #11 Florida, #18 Auburn and #23 Kentucky). LSU has lost twice since Georgia last lost. I'm just excited to see that the University of Georgia president is stepping it up, putting pressure on the BCS and the NCAA to create a playoff. We need more school presidents and Athletic Directors (note to Gene) to put pressure on the NCAA to do away with the BCS. Fans have lost confidence in this utterly broken system. Unfortunately, an 8 game playoff doesn't work because there are 11 conferences in Div I-A. The non BCS conference champions would sue the daylights out of the NCAA if they were not given the opportunity to compete in an NCAA-sanctioned postseason championship.

Jeff: Georgia was damned if they did, damned if they didn't playing Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. Since they handled Hawaii easily, the perception is more that Hawaii just wasn't very good, not that Georgia is great. But everyone thought the SEC was the best conference all year and now they have the #1 and #2 teams in the country. I agree. I am very happy BC is #10 in the AP. One spot behind Va Tech. Right where they should be in my opinion the way everything shook out in the end.

Brian: Its somewhat ironic that BC finishes one spot behind Virginia Tech in my opinion. Eagles fans know the truth - that the game at Blacksburg wasn't a fluke and that we were the more talented team this season. It's just a shame we couldn't show it on the field early December in Jacksonville. Hats off to the Hokies and their top 10 finish.