Are you curious to see a sampling of the coaches’ ballots in the final Top 25 USAToday Coaches Poll?  How well did the coaches do in ranking one of the BCS bowl bound teams?

Well, here goes.  As Hawai’i finished as the only undefeated team in Division 1A (in regulation & overtime), I was curious to see how the coaches who participate in the poll ranked them.  First of all, 60 coaches participated in the balloting, representing both BCS and non-BCS affiliated conferences.  How did the results tabulate?

Like a pretty good bell curve distribution.

Ranking          # of Votes                   Ranking          # of Votes 

1                      1                                  12                    3

2                      0                                  13                    4

3                      1                                  14                    2

4                      1                                  15                    0

5                      4                                  16                    0

6                      2                                  17                    1

7                      5                                  18                    0

8                      9                                  19                    0

9                      3                                  20                    0

10                    16                                21                    0

11                    7                                  22                    0

The highest rank was the #1 attributed to Hal Mumme.  He is the coach of the New Mexico State Aggies team that lost to Hawai’i, 13-50 in October.  Mumme runs a rather unorthodox, pass-oriented offensive attack at NMSU, so it was no surprise that he’d reward June Jones’ team with a #1 ranking.  His Aggies utilize short passes to multiple receivers and backs out of the backfield.  Mumme must be smarter than a 5th grader, as no one that young could come up with such a crazy offensive scheme!

Some other interesting observations:  Former Miami coach Howard Schnellenberger (now at FAU) voted Hawai’i #3; Tommy Tuberville (Auburn) #4 (does he know something Alabama doesn't?); Joe Glenn (Wyoming), Pat Hill (Fresno State), and George O’Leary (UCF) voted the Warriors #5.  O'Leary doesn't even have a college degree!  Wow, these guys are pretty smart!

Michigan’s Lloyd Carr and Boise State’s Chris Peterson put them at #6.  I wonder if Carr is wishing he scheduled Hawai'i instead of App State?  

Amongst other coaches Hawai’i faced this year, D. Tomey (San Jose State) had them 7th and Tyrone Willingham (Washington) put them in 10th place.  

A majority of the other coaches put the Warriors in 10th place, including Mike Bellotti (Oregon), Mario Cristobal (FIU), Phil Fullmer (Tennessee), Mark Richt (Georgia), Mike Riley (Oregon State), Steve Spurrier (South Carolina), Bob Stoops (Oklahoma), and Ron Zook (Illinois).  Thanks for the vote of confidence gentlemen.  Look forward to seeing you in New Orleans Mark Richt!  

We’re talking about some coaches who are way smarter than a fifth grader!  Most of them have coached in at least one BCS bowl game over the past few years! 

On the other hand, there always has to be someone who has used up their lifeline.  These coaches must have fallen asleep before Hawai'i dispatched UW last Saturday, curiously putting Hawai’i south of the #10 boarder. 

Getting away from the mean, we see that Bobby (Florida State) & Tommy Bowden (Clemson) voted Hawai’i in at #12.  Was there a conspiracy here?  Collusion?  Did they let Terry Bowden fill out their ballots for them?  Who knows, but at least their ranking is close enough to the average to be within the statistical margin of error range. 

On the other hand, Frank Beamer (Virgina Tech), Mack Brown (Texas), Tom O’Brien (NC State), and Joe Tiller (Purdue) all had Hawai’i positioned at #13.  Is Tiller still fuming over the Boilermaker’s loss to the Warriors in 2006?  Is Brown still afraid to play Hawai'i?  What were these guys thinking?  Bowl positioning perhaps?

Next up, Dan Hawkins (Colorado) late of Boise State.  Why #14 Dan?  What were you thinking?  You're only 3 seasons removed from the WAC and you don’t remember the Warriors?  A team you beat 5 years straight!  Didn't you read Sun Tsu's The Art of War?  Surely you were smarter than a fifth grader? 

Another offensive genius now takes the field, Mike Leach of Texas Tech.  Leach is widely regarded as one of the most innovative offensive minds in all of college football.  With a mind like that, he had to have put June Jones’ run and shoot Warriors in the top 10.  But no, all poor Mike Leach could do was rank them #17.  Number #17?  Are you jealous Mike?  Were you hoping to match up with them in the Tidy Bowl?  You’re definitely not smarter than a 5th grader when it comes to ranking your peers’ efforts. 

Finally, the real loser at this game is former Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione.  Coach Fran submitted a ballot with Hawai’i ranked #22!  Number 22?  Are you on crack?  Can you believe it?  Did Coach Fran sell his ballot in his secret newsletter to the highest paying booster?  Who knows!  Maybe he had a kid complete it, filling it out in crayon!  What was he thinking (that he was going to lose his job or exit gracefully)?  Does he even know anything about college football?  I’m sorry coach, but you are the biggest loser (in more ways then one). 

Dennis Franchione is not smarter than a 5th grader! 

During June Jones' 9 year tenure as the Hawai'i head coach, the Warriors have played the following BCS conference schools:

Alabama (SEC) 3 times (2006, 2003, 2002) Record 1W, 2L

Southern California (PAC 10) 3 times (2005, 2003, 1999) Record 3L

Wisconsin (Big 10) twice (2005, 2001) Record 2L

Oregon State (PAC 10) twice (2006, 1999) Record 1W, 1L

Michigan State (Big 10) twice (2005, 2004) Record 1W, 1L

Arizona State (PAC10) once (2006) Record 1W

Northwestern (Big 10) once (2004) Record 1W

Purdue (Big 10) once (2006) Record 1W

Washington State (PAC 10) (1999) Record 1L (close loss)

*Cincinnati (Big East) once (2002) Record 1W

NOTE:  Cincinnati was not a member of the Big East in 2002, but since the only thing that has changed for them is conference affiliation, I include it here.

The record: 6-10 overall, 0-3 on the road, 6-7 at home.  They have been competetive again good middle-of the road BCS conference opponents, but have struggles against the upper-level BCS teams (USC, Wisconsin), but a pretty good record against quality BCS conference opponents none the less.  Take out the five losses to those two schools and Hawai'i is a respectable 6-5.  Again, looks like your typical middle-of-the-road BCS conference team record within conference.

Hawai'i's 3 road games against BCS opponents were:

At Alabama (2006), a game Hawai'i almost won (they nearly beat 'Bama at 'Bama's newly renovated stadium to open the season.  That game was pretty close with Hawai'i losing at the end. 

At USC - They hung with the men from Troy for much of the first half, but were overmatched the rest of the way. 

At Michigan State in 2005.  This second MSU game was crybaby John L Smith's retribution for the tail-whipping MSU suffered the year before in Hawai'i.  The Spartans were clearly outclassed in the ’04 game, but John L. blamed the officiating rather than stand up to his own coaching ineptitude.  So John L. got his revenge at home.  And even with questionable Big 10 officiating, June Jones was man enough to not cry about it after the game.  Consequently, Michigan State backed out of their 2007 game with Hawai'i by paing UH off with a few hundred thousand dollars!

Hawai'i's poor road record against BCS conference opponents is not surprising, as the Warriors are not a historically good road team. How can you be when your nearest opponent is over 2500 miles and two time zones away?

Traveling eastbound for 5 hours takes a harder toll on a person that traveling westbound, another factor in Hawaii's historically poor road record. But, to the appreciation of Warrior fans everywhere, it appears coach Jones has alleviated that problem this year, even thought three of their in-conference road wins have been ugly. But, unlike Michigan (App State), USC (Stanford), and Kentucky (Mississippi State) the ugly wins they’ve achieved on the road sure looks and feels sweeter than losing at home to lesser quality team’s you should disposed of without remorse.

So, against the BCS big boys, Hawai’i’s historical home record during Jones’ tenure looks good at 6-7.  A nearly a .500 record means they have been competitive against solid BCS conference teams, regardless of the other team’s won-loss record during the year in which they played them.  Yes, playing at home has it's advantages.

I fully expect their home-record versus the BCS conference schools to improve to 7-7 when they dispose of the Washington Huskies later this month.

It’s common knowledge this year's schedule stinks (thank you AD Herman Frazier for overstating your connections), but consider the following list of "cupcakes" that Florida State & Miami played against during their glory days in the 80's and 90's:

FSU - Memphis State, Tulsa, Western Carolina, Southern Miss, East Carolina, Southern Illinois, Tulane, Temple, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Georgia Southern, Louisiana Tech, Western Michigan, Middle Tennessee State, Wake Forest, Central Florida, Toledo, Wichita State, as well as Louisville, Pitt, Boston College, Cincinnati, Kansas, Virginia, Syracuse.

Miami - Duke, Houston, Mississippi State, Louisville, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Miami OH, Toledo, San Jose State, San Diego State, Pitt, Tulsa, Long Beach State, Oklahoma State, Rutgers, Troy State, Temple, as well as Cal and Missouri.

You don't see a lot of schools on that list that were exactly lighting up the polls during those years!

So, what does this all mean? Yes, Hawai'i is having a great year, and yes, they deserve more respect then they receive (I don’t recall anyone complaining about FSU and Miami’s cupcake schedules back in the day), but to gain the type of respect that those two Florida schools have, Hawai’i needs to not only keep winning, but must maintain a high level of consistency over several years, win WAC championships, and be competetive on the road if they want the respect they truly deserve. 

To do that, they also need the assistance of the East Coast media, many of who are are too lazy to do their jobs and stay up late to watch the Warrior's games on ESPN (do you hear me Erick Smith of USA Today?).  The problem with the media is that they jump on the bandwagon and give instant respect to schools like FSU and Miami (and USF this year).  Sure former two won a handful of national championships between them and the latter started off really hot, but again, as far as I remember, the media never 'dissed FSU nor Miami for playing cupcake schedules as much as the media has abused Hawai’i this year.

The 2007 Hawai'i team is not as bad of some pundits make them out to be, but like Ohio State (who have they played so far, other than Penn State?  Oh yeah, they got beat by Illinois too!), or Kansas for that matter, the toughest part of their schedule is ahead of them. Only time will tell if they make their second off-island bowl in school history.  Surely, they deserve credit for being one of only two undefeated Division 1A schools at this point in the season! 

I say let the season play itself out, as Hawaii's road only got tougher with Fresno State, Nevada, and Boise State taking their turns to knock the Warriors out of the WAC title chase and BCS contention.   Thankfully, the Warriors took care of the first two and the only one is left to vanquish for the WAC title and a BCS invite.  Should the Warriors get past their final WAC obstacle, and finish the season undefeated, they at least deserve a spot at the BCS banquet!

I'mua Hawaii! 

Here's hoping they bring their "A" game to finally knock out pesky foe Boise State!
GO WARRIORS!