Terry Bradshaw, Lou Holtz, Steve Largent, Craig Morton and Anthony Muñoz 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.
“Harris Interactive has been diligent in creating a voting panel that is balanced, statistically valid, and representative of all I-A conferences and independents,” BCS coordinator and Big 12 Conference commissioner Kevin Weiberg said in a statement.
The Harris Poll replaces The Associated Press 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 Bradshaw, Largent and Muñoz.
Bradshaw played at Louisiana Tech. Muñoz was an All-America offensive tackle at USC. Largent played for Tulsa. Morton played quarterback at California before taking the Broncos to their first Super Bowl.
Holtz retired from coaching last season, leaving South Carolina. He also had successful stops at North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota and Notre Dame.
Earle Bruce, Eddie Crowder, Mike Lude, Spike Dykes, Gerry DiNardo and Foge Fazio are among the former coaches taking part in the poll. Bruce and Lude are former Colorado State coaches, Crowder a former Colorado coach and athletic director.
Former Southeastern Conference commissioner Roy Kramer, whose effort was pivotal in forming the BCS, also will be a Harris poll voter.
The 114-member panel was selected by Harris Interactive Inc., a marketing firm hired by the BCS, out of a group of more than 300 nominations supplied by the Division I-A conferences and Notre Dame. The voters were chosen to give equal representation to all 11 conferences.
The first Harris poll will be released Sept. 25, four weeks into college football’s regular season. Harris poll voters will not be required to make their ballots public until the final poll Dec. 5.
The first BCS standings will be released Oct. 17.
Utah: The university will conduct a moment of silence before its season opener against Arizona on Sept. 2 in memory of Thomas Herrion, the former Utes lineman who died after an NFL preseason game.
The Utes also will add a black No. 76 to their helmets in honor of Herrion, a captain of Utah’s 2003 Mountain West Conference championship team. Herrion collapsed shortly after playing for the San Francisco 49ers in a game Saturday in Denver. He played at Utah in 2002 and 2003 after transferring from Kilgore College in Texas.
Texas A&M: Wide receiver L’Tydrick Riley will miss the season after apparently suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament during practice, coach Dennis Franchione said. Riley, a senior, hurt his left knee during noncontact drills Saturday.
Franchione said a final diagnosis is expected this week, but said Riley is expected to have season-ending surgery.
Riley caught 20 passes for 285 yards and a touchdown last year.
Utah State: Sophomore Leon Jackson III was named starting quarterback. He played in eight games as a freshman, completing 26-of-46 passes for 404 yards with one touchdown.
