The AP Wants out of the BCS Formula

Here's the Washington Post Article (free registration required). The main problem is that we know who votes for whom in the AP poll. This creates some big problems, and conflicst of interest, for the voters. Two quotes:

"Three AP voters from newspapers in Texas were criticized for moving the Longhorns ahead of California. In another incident, a sports columnist in Alabama was criticized in a story on the front page of his own newspaper for voting the Trojans and Sooners ahead of Auburn."

"The AP had to do this and the BCS should have seen it coming," said Jerry Palm, who publishes projections of the BCS standings on his Web site, Collegebcs.com. "It was obvious to me that it was an ethical dilemma for the writers. It could have come down to one guy deciding who will get $14.4 million. It's a real problem for the sportswriters. They shouldn't be deciding this and coaches shouldn't be deciding it, either. Coaches have a clear-cut conflict of interest and secret voting, so there's no accountability."

According to the article, BCA officials are considering using a committee to choose who gets into the BCS bowl games.