BCS poll has some star quality

Terry Bradshaw, Lou Holtz, Steve Largent and Anthony Munoz 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 comprised of former college football players, coaches and administrators, plus some media members. The names of its voters were released Monday. (See list in Stat Sheet/C4).

“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 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 Bradshaw, Largent and Munoz.

Bradshaw played at Louisiana Tech. Munoz was an All-American tackle at USC. Largent played for Tulsa.

Holtz retired from coaching last season, leaving South Carolina. He also made successful stops at Arkansas, Minnesota and Notre Dame.

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.

Former Southeastern Conference commissioner Roy Kramer, whose effort was pivotal in forming the BCS, will also 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 the college football season.

Harris poll voters will not be required to make their ballots public until Dec. 5.