Posted on Tuesday, August 23 @ Eastern Daylight Time 
Former South Carolina coach Lou Holtz and former athletics director Mike McGee are among the 114 panelists voting in a new poll the Bowl Championship Series will use this season to determine which teams play in college football’s four major bowls, including the national title game.
The Harris Interactive College Football Poll panel is made up of former college football players, coaches and administrators, plus some media members. The names of its voters were released Monday.
The Harris Poll replaces The Associated Press Top 25 media poll as one of
three components in the BCS standings. The USA Today coaches’ poll and a
compilation of six computer rankings make up the other two-thirds of a team’s
BCS grade.
The AP poll had been used by the BCS since its inception in 1998, but after
last season the AP asked BCS officials to stop using its rankings in their
formula.
ESPN pulled its affiliation to the coaches poll after last season.
The Harris panel has numerous big names on it, including NFL Hall of Famers
Terry Bradshaw, Steve Largent and Anthony Munoz.
Others with S.C. connections are former Clemson standout Brentson Buckner of
the Carolina Panthers and former Furman coach Dick Sheridan.
Among the other former players voting in the Harris Poll are Rocket Ismail,
Boomer Esiason, Don Maynard, Lee Roy Selmon and Craig Morton.
Spike Dykes, Gerry DiNardo and Foge Fazio are among the former coaches taking
part in the poll.
The first Harris poll will be released Sept. 25, four weeks into the college
football regular season. Harris poll voters will not be required to make their
ballots public until the final poll Dec. 5.
Voters in the coaches’ poll agreed for the first time to release their final
ballots this season.
The first BCS standings will be released Oct. 17.
Police cite Tennessee LB for underage drinking. A Tennessee reserve
linebacker was beat up by a group of men and then cited for underage drinking
after university police arrived to investigate.
Sophomore Ryan Karl became the team's eighth player to have a brush with the
law since January when he was cited on July 9. Six other players were arrested
or cited last year.
Karl has been punished internally, coach Phillip Fulmer said Monday.
Four players have been suspended for games this season for misbehavior, but
Karl will not miss any games, Fulmer said.
Former Tennessee receiver to play at Carson-Newman. Former Tennessee
receiver James Banks has enrolled at Division II Carson-Newman and plans to play
next season.
Banks was dismissed from Tennessee last season after being suspended several
times for a variety of incidents. |