Duke Gets Point in USA Today Poll and #38 Sagarin

[III]

This is something we haven't seen in quite a while:

USA Today Poll
(http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankingsindex)


Others Receiving Votes
Northwestern 98, Michigan State 88, Kentucky 86, Ball State 43, Maryland 40, Tulsa 38, Florida State 31, TCU 25, California 20, Georgia Tech 18, Illinois 14, Nebraska 8, Oregon State 6, North Carolina 5, Clemson 5, Notre Dame 3, Cincinnati 2, Duke 1, OLE MISS 1.

Someone out there is getting interested.

[YmoBeThere]

Is it Steve up to his old mischief?

[wilson]

Actually, I think they gave Carl Franks a vote this year.

[DukeUsul]

Surprisingly high, if you ask me.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt08.htm

We're rated higher than: Maryland, Michigan, Stanford, BC, ECU, Clemson

It seems our Predictor score helps bring our rating up - the Predictor uses scoring margin, so this past week was a big help.

[footballfan2]

i'm pretty sure there is a site where you can see how each coach voted

[jimsumner]

We want Michigan!

We want Michigan!

Everybody, now.

We want Michigan!

Okay, enough frivolity. If Duke is still 38 at the end of November, make your bowl plans.

[CameronBornAndBred]

For right now...I just want Georgia Tech :)
I see our schedule ranking is 64. I wish I had noticed that # last week, did anyone see it? I bet with Navy and Northwestern both winning, it has gone up.

[Bluedog]

They don't reveal coaches votes until the last vote of the year.

http://chroniclesports.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/duke-earns-vote-in-coaches-poll/

Here's the list of voters:

http://www.math.tulane.edu/~mnicholas/College%20Football/coaches.html

I'd guess Spurrier.

Cutcliffe:


“It might be a good friend or it may be Coach Spurrier who did it again, as he did in the past,” Cutcliffe said. “Those things don’t mean a lot, other than if somebody is sincere in the vote, that there is some respect that is being earned. All that is short-lived if you don’t take care of your business. We’re more interested in just becoming a better football team.”

[OZZIE4DUKE]

“It might be a good friend or it may be Coach Spurrier who did it again, as he did in the past,” Cutcliffe said. “Those things don’t mean a lot, other than if somebody is sincere in the vote, that there is some respect that is being earned. All that is short-lived if you don’t take care of your business. We’re more interested in just becoming a better football team.”

Whether it was Spurrier or Phillip Fulmer, the HC at Tennessee, when we get 3 votes (those two plus another) then we'll have done it the old fashioned way - by earning it. Let's beat GT next Saturday and it could happen!

[footballfan2]

Whether it was Spurrier or Phillip Fulmer, the HC at Tennessee, when we get 3 votes (those two plus another) then we'll have done it the old fashioned way - by earning it. Let's beat GT next Saturday and it could happen!

i think if we beat Georgia tech, we get more than 3 votes!

[duketaylor]

Pretty much deserved by now, especially given that Navy won at Wake. Such a great transition/transformation in football, let's keep it going!! GTHC, GTH!!!

[AtlBluRew]

Whether it was Spurrier or Phillip Fulmer, the HC at Tennessee, when we get 3 votes (those two plus another) then we'll have done it the old fashioned way - by earning it. Let's beat GT next Saturday and it could happen!

Three votes in the Harris Poll (which is used in the BCS)

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankings?pollId=5

[Jarhead]

Surprisingly high, if you ask me.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt08.htm

We're rated higher than: Maryland, Michigan, Stanford, BC, ECU, Clemson

It seems our Predictor score helps bring our rating up - the Predictor uses scoring margin, so this past week was a big help.
A #38 ranking is better than it has been for many years, and I hope it goes up considerably. Based on the offense in the second half, Saturday, and the defense for the entire game, a much hire ranking wouldn't be a stretch.

[hurleyfor3]

Northwestern should really be ranked (hard ranked I mean, not this implicit 26th stuff) at 5 -0.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Whatever the Harris poll is, Duke earned 3 votes in it. (http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/poll?poll=Harris) Never heard of it until today, but nice to get some recognition for something other than losing.

Edit...I looked it up and this is what the Harris poll is, in their own words (http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/bcspoll.asp).

"This year, the BCS has again commissioned Harris Interactive to construct a panel of former players, coaches, administrators and current and former media who are committed to ranking the college teams each week during the 2008 college football season. Panelists have been randomly selected from among more than 300 nominations submitted by the conference offices and the independent institutions. The panel has been designed to be a statistically valid representation of all 11 Division I-A conferences and institutions participating in the Bowl Championship Series.

Poll participants will submit their rankings for the Top 25 teams on a weekly basis during the 2008 season, beginning September 28, through December 7. Harris Interactive will release the results of the overall rankings each week. Consistent with the desire of the BCS for transparency, panelists’ names and their individual team rankings for the December 7 poll also will be released."

[Wander]

Duke is currently number 41 in the BCS standings.