2006 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

Three human polls and one formulaic ranking make up the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) football rankings, in addition to various publications' preseason polls. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a National Championship title. That title is bestowed by one or more of four different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason: the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll. About halfway through the season, two additional polls are released, the Harris Interactive Poll and the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. The Harris Poll and Coaches Poll are factors in the BCS Standings. At the end of the season, the BCS Standings determines who plays in the BCS bowl games as well as the BCS National Championship Game.

This article demonstrates the fluctuation in rankings on a weekly basis in college football during the 2006 football season. The team voted number one in the final AP and Coaches Polls can claim the title of National Champion. The BCS Rankings and Harris Poll do not vote in a final poll as their sole purpose is to determine who plays in the BCS National Championship Game. Other polls exist and may vote for different schools which causes confusion, especially for split titles. But generally, only the AP and Coaches Polls are used in crowning the National Champion.

Harris Interactive Poll

The Harris Poll is the newest poll as it was created in 2005 to replace the AP Poll in the BCS formula and consists of former players, coaches, administrators, and current and former media who submit votes for the top 25 teams each week. The panel has been designed to be a statistically valid representation of all 11 Division I FBS Conferences and independent institutions. The poll operates identically to the Coaches Poll, except with 114 members, the point values of the highest ranked teams are higher than the Coaches Poll. The maximum points a single team can earn is 2850 points. The poll ends at the conclusion of the regular season, and does not produce another poll after the bowl games.

BlogPoll

The BlogPoll is a poll run and voted on by sports bloggers. [cite web | title=mgoblog: Blogpoll Central | url=http://mgoblog.blogspot.com/2005/05/blogpoll-central.html | publisher=mgoblog.blogspot.com | accessdate=2006-09-08 ] 2006 is the 2nd year of the poll. Over 60 separate blogs voted in the poll throughout the year. It is administered by the Michigan blog "mgoblog".

References

*cite web | title=College Football Rankings | publisher=ESPN.com | url=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankingsindex | accessdate=2006-09-11
*cite web | url=http://sportsline.com/collegefootball/polls | title=NCAA Football Polls | publisher=CBSSportsline.com | accessdate=2006-10-02
*cite web | url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/polls/ | title=College Football Polls | publisher=SI.com | accessdate=2006-10-10
*cite web | title=Breaking down the Top 25 teams | url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2006-08-03-top-25-capsules_x.htm | publisher=USAToday.com | accessdate=2006-08-04
*cite web | title=mgoblog: BlogPoll | accessdate=2006-01-09 | url=http://mgoblog.blogspot.com/ | publisher=mgoblog
*cite web | title=Harris Poll | accessdate=2006-10-10 | url=http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/poll?poll=Harris | publisher=Fox Sports

Notes