It’s time for Doug Lesmerises to put up or shut up

UPDATED – Doug Lesmerises sent me an e-mail regarding the following post – we’ve published it at the bottom.

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First, some background on the story, so nobody gets lost in my rant;

• Doug Lesmerises works for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and he is the beat writer for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
• Lesmerises has an AP vote and it has often been a bit wacky.  ESPN has actually done a story on his sometimes off-base poll results.
• Ohio State fans who know of his poll voting don’t like him very much

I’ve been harsh on the guy for a few weeks now, in my tweets especially.  He’s had the Buckeyes out of the Top 20 this year at one point, and he actually rewarded Michigan’s 3-point win over Indiana with a #13 ranking.  Granted, it is his vote and he can do with it what he wishes.

But he’s published his own criteria for that vote, and now it’s time for him to live up to it.

September 27th, 2009

I’ve received a lot of input from others on my ballot, and though I won’t change my voting guidelines, I have heard specific critiques on some slotting and taken that into account. It’s not a perfect ballot.

My general voting guidelines:

1. Based almost entirely on results
2. Reflection of the past, not a prediction of the future
3. Reevaluate from scratch on the entire body of work each week
4. No team owns its ranking from week to week

October 4th, 2009

Here’s my top 25 AP ballot for this week, based as always on results on the field, and treating every team as Team X as much as possible.

First, I applaud Lesmerises for telling us his rules for his own ballot.  He understands that his method has a madness to it, and the best way to quell the pitchfork-and-torch gang in his email box is to provide a definitive answer to the oft-asked question “What the $%&# were you thinking?”

On Sunday afternoon, Lesmerises will release his AP ballot once again.  This time, he’s going to have to follow his own rules.  Here’s why….

He’s had Boise State at #2 for 2 of the last three weeks (they were ranked #3 last week).  As a matter of fact, his reasoning for it two weeks ago was as such;

2. Boise State (4-0) – The win over Oregon to start the season looks even better after Oregon blew out Cal on Saturday. Has two win against MAC teams, but at least both were blowouts, and among the major teams that have beaten Fresno State (Wisconsin and Cincinnati also have), Boise State handled Fresno best. 

If you watched last night’s game between Boise State and Tulsa, you know where I’m headed with this.

The Broncos tried to give the game to Tulsa throughout the first and fourth quarters, and almost lost because of it.  Blown coverages and turnovers allowed the Golden Hurricanes to stay close all night.  Believe me, Tulsa looked BAD for most of the game, but Boise refused to put them away.

The game finally ended when Tulsa QB G.J. Kinne threw a 4th-down ball into the turf with 35 seconds left.  The turf he was throwing to was five yards away from a receiver, who didn’t have a defender within 15 yards of him.  Yeah, it was that bad of a throw.  Even Derek Anderson was wondering how that throw could be so bad.

Oh, and for reference…Oklahoma 45, Tulsa 0.  That game was less than 4 weeks ago.

So now let’s look back at Boise State’s schedule so far and then we’ll return to our friend at the PD;

• Week 1 – A swarming 19-8 win over Oregon (who hasn’t lost since, is 5-1 and sits at #13).  HUGE, quality win.
• Week 2 – A 48-0 win over Miami (OH), who is now 0-6 and is probably the worst team east of the Mississippi (good news for Duke).  That’s what you’re supposed to do to bad teams.
• Week 3 – A 51-34 win against Fresno State.  The Bulldogs are 2-3 now, having lost to Cincinnati and Wisconsin.  A good win for Boise, but time is showing that it might not have been such a “quality win”.
• Week 4 – A 49-14 win at Bowling Green.  The Falcons are 2-4, one of those wins was by ONE point against Kent State.  Bad opponent, blowout win though.
• Week 5 – Needed a surge in the second half to put away Div 1-AA UC Davis, 34-16.  Davis was still in the game in the 4th quarter at 27-16.  Did I mention that they were Div 1-AA?  Even 2-3 Fresno State beat them 51-0.
• Week 6 – A last-second win over Tulsa, 28-21.  In front of a national audience, Boise looked downright awful against a team tat any Top 5 school should have crushed.

OK, Mr. Lesmerises, it’s your turn.  By your own standards and your own writing, we know the following;

• NO TEAM owns it’s ranking from week to week.
• You re-evaluate from scratch each team’s body of work.
• Boise’s wins against weak MAC schools were OK because they were blowout wins
• You won’t change your voting guidelines
  

The question now is, are you a man of integrity?  Will you follow your own rules?

Nobody who watched that game last night truly believes that Boise State is worthy of a #2 ranking.  As a matter of fact, the past two games for the Broncos have been pretty bad.  Boise has weak teams scheduled, but they’re no longer covered by your “but it was a blowout” clause.

You’ve taken a LOT of heat from Buckeye fans, and a lot of your responses have been based on the loss against USC and a weak win over Navy.  Now that the Buckeyes have started blowing out average teams and beating previously unbeatens, you’ve moved us up the poll.

But will you punish Boise State for weeks worth of “meh” results on the field?

You know it, and I know it.  That was not a Top 10 team on the field last night.  No team owns their ranking from week-to-week.

Now comes the real test.

As Jason at Eleven Warriors stated in a tweet last night;

Double standard time. How far would the Buckeyes fall if they eked out a 7 point win at Tulsa?

True, Jason.  Very true.

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UPDATED! – Doug Lesmerises has sent me an email;

Hey Jeff,

This is Doug Lesmerises from the PD. Saw your post linked on 11 Warriors and clicked over. Interesting post. Of course, the Tulsa game will influence my opinion of Boise State, though I’m not sure exactly where the Broncos will end up on my ballot, though the UC Davis game also lowered them in my thinking, though just one spot on my ballot.

FYI – I didn’t do a big explanation of my ballot this week, but I did rank them No. 3 this week, behind Alabama and Florida. And you spelled my name wrong.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know I read your piece and agree with your premise – I do need to follow my own rules with every team.

Doug