Logan Lowery is backtracking, now.

[NorCalDawg]

Lousy excuse, IMHO.

http://insidemsusports.com/2014/09/21/ap-voting-flawed-formula/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

At least he said he'd make some adjustments and use some logic in future voting.

[Thrill1]

Hats off to the State fans that absolutely pounded him over this on twitter. He had no choice but to recant.

[NorCalDawg]

I tweeted him early to call him out on it, but there were some that were absolutley relentless. Agree, hats off to whoever those guys were!

[Quaoarsking]

So the scorecard is now 2 voters that will be moving up MSU significantly next week, 1 voter who scoffs at the idea and refuses to admit he was wrong, and 5-6 still with no comment.

[cheewgumm]

Who is the one that scoffs?

[War Machine Dawg]

Who is the one that scoffs?

Indeed. I'll activate the FWTCT crew to get at him.

[CadaverDawg]

I appreciate him fixing it, but it still doesn't resolve the main issue. This isn't a MSU thing....this is a problem with the overall AP vote. It is clearly flawed beyond belief. The bottom line is, they need to either do away with the poll altogether or create qualifications that must be met before submitting a ballot. I know that these polls aren't the end all be all, but they absolutely matter when it comes to bowl selection, perception, and possibly playoff selection. This needs to be fixed and it starts by drawing attention to it.

Again, this isn't about Lowery. He screwed up, yes...but the fact that he is casting a ballot while admitting he only watched one game Saturday, is...well...F'd up. The thought of millions of college football fans, and most importantly media members and "experts", hinging their thoughts about certain teams on this type of voting system is just ridiculous.

I applaud Quars for leading the charge on this, and I think WMD could have something there with his pushing the issue on to the FWTCT crew. Yes, we're reacting because it affects OUR team, which drew attention to it....but this is about an overall flawed system, and ultimately has zero to do with MSU.

[yjnkdawg]

Lousy excuse, IMHO.

http://insidemsusports.com/2014/09/21/ap-voting-flawed-formula/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

At least he said he'd make some adjustments and use some logic in future voting.

Do you think, he even knows the defintion of logic? Pretty lame excuse, I agree.

[NorCalDawg]

Do you think, he even knows the defintion of logic? Pretty lame excuse, I agree.

Based on that "explanation" he gave I'd say it's unlikely, but I bet he'll at least put more thought into it next time.

[sbcmortgageman]

I'm surprised he's the Only voter out of MS considering that David Brandt works for the AP. I'd of thought he would have a vote too.

[Homedawg]

Based on that "explanation" he gave I'd say it's unlikely, but I bet he'll at least put more thought into it next time.

Best I can tell, after his "explanation", and I'm admitting I quit reading halfway through it, he is an idiot. He needs to devise a formula to vote? His formula failed him? I didn't need anymore than that bull. So basically, he isn't smart enough to vote. And the only reason he's recanting now is because people lit him up calling him out for being in the top 3 dumbest voters, and he happens to be from this state. Genius****

[Quaoarsking]

Who is the one that scoffs?

Garry Smits.

[Quaoarsking]

Indeed. I'll activate the FWTCT crew to get at him.

Please do. By my calculation, we would have risen 64 points in the polls JUST by having all voters rank us ahead of LSU. That would have been enough to 13th ahead of South Carolina, and knocking on the door of 12th (I didn't check to see how Georgia would have fallen by moving us up on ballots -- probably not much but a little).

[Dog316]

Lousy excuse, IMHO.

http://insidemsusports.com/2014/09/21/ap-voting-flawed-formula/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

At least he said he'd make some adjustments and use some logic in future voting.

^^^^^^

He may have used flawed logic, but he obviously lacks common sense too. He created his own formula and when it didn't give a credible result, he used it any way. But . . . he has the perfect answer to his flawed logic: he didn't have time to watch all the games. What is really sad is that he is our bear writer

[bulldogcountry1]

Each team's highest and lowest vote should be thrown out, like the olympics. That would eliminate some partiality and overall knumbskullness.

[War Machine Dawg]

Garry Smits.


Please do. By my calculation, we would have risen 64 points in the polls JUST by having all voters rank us ahead of LSU. That would have been enough to 13th ahead of South Carolina, and knocking on the door of 12th (I didn't check to see how Georgia would have fallen by moving us up on ballots -- probably not much but a little).

Thanks. Could you please drop a link to his comments?

[SapperDawg]

My comment to him (posted on the site): Its not about one AP voter, it is about being a professional and not taking the voting lightly, which is what happened here. To only use analytics without using human judgement to quality control the results, is NOT being professional. Using the "formula" only is a cop out. If you cant provide the professionalism being the ONLY AP voter in MS requires, then give up your vote or ask for help.

[Dawgface]

What a dip. You use a formula that spits out a crazy result and go with it anyway. Poor excuse.

[dparker]

I appreciate him fixing it, but it still doesn't resolve the main issue. This isn't a MSU thing....this is a problem with the overall AP vote. It is clearly flawed beyond belief. The bottom line is, they need to either do away with the poll altogether or create qualifications that must be met before submitting a ballot. I know that these polls aren't the end all be all, but they absolutely matter when it comes to bowl selection, perception, and possibly playoff selection. This needs to be fixed and it starts by drawing attention to it.

Again, this isn't about Lowery. He screwed up, yes...but the fact that he is casting a ballot while admitting he only watched one game Saturday, is...well...F'd up. The thought of millions of college football fans, and most importantly media members and "experts", hinging their thoughts about certain teams on this type of voting system is just ridiculous.

I applaud Quars for leading the charge on this, and I think WMD could have something there with his pushing the issue on to the FWTCT crew. Yes, we're reacting because it affects OUR team, which drew attention to it....but this is about an overall flawed system, and ultimately has zero to do with MSU.

+1 This is the root of the problem.

[NorCalDawg]

I appreciate him fixing it, but it still doesn't resolve the main issue. This isn't a MSU thing....this is a problem with the overall AP vote. It is clearly flawed beyond belief. The bottom line is, they need to either do away with the poll altogether or create qualifications that must be met before submitting a ballot. I know that these polls aren't the end all be all, but they absolutely matter when it comes to bowl selection, perception, and possibly playoff selection. This needs to be fixed and it starts by drawing attention to it.

Again, this isn't about Lowery. He screwed up, yes...but the fact that he is casting a ballot while admitting he only watched one game Saturday, is...well...F'd up. The thought of millions of college football fans, and most importantly media members and "experts", hinging their thoughts about certain teams on this type of voting system is just ridiculous.

I applaud Quars for leading the charge on this, and I think WMD could have something there with his pushing the issue on to the FWTCT crew. Yes, we're reacting because it affects OUR team, which drew attention to it....but this is about an overall flawed system, and ultimately has zero to do with MSU.

Hammer, meet nail.

[archdog]

If we beat LSU we should be ranked above them. Simple as that in this early season. It gets tough when you are at week 8 and LSU beats someone of quality and a different team losses to said team. Then his equation would be screwed up.

[notsofarawaydawg]

His Bama logic is definitely flawed. I bet he didn't use that same logic when he chose where to put the elephants.

[Quaoarsking]

Thanks. Could you please drop a link to his comments?

Its on his Twitter replies. @gsmitter.

He wasn't necessarily rude about it. More like he just didn't understand why anyone would care. Maybe no one has ever questioned his ballot before. He also clearly knew nothing about our game other than the final score.

[dawg27]

Hats off to the State fans that absolutely pounded him over this on twitter. He had no choice but to recant.
I tweeted him said i would not buy the paper no more he is a joke.

[WinningIsRelentless]

Who the f@@@ uses a formula to rank the top 25??? This shows he has no talent besides f@@@ing writing and can't rank teams based on performance/competition on the field.

[War Machine Dawg]

Who the f@@@ uses a formula to rank the top 25??? This shows he has no talent besides f@@@ing writing and can't rank teams based on performance/competition on the field.

You're missing the point. These guys are using a formula because they're only watching 1 game a week - the team they're covering. Sure, they'll see bits & pieces of other games. Maybe a few biased SportsCenter highlights. But mostly, they're going off final score & whatever measure they try to use to be "impartial." In Logan's case, that's a formula.

[Quaoarsking]

Who the f@@@ uses a formula to rank the top 25??? This shows he has no talent besides f@@@ing writing and can't rank teams based on performance/competition on the field.

The idea of using a formula is fine -- I've tinkered with a formula myself the last fews years.

The problem is that Logan presumably doesn't have a math or stats background so he has little credibility in creating a formula in the first place. Secondly, he implied that his formula starts with the previous week's ranking and adjusts by the results of this week. It's not our fault that he has been misranking us all season.

Lastly, he should just use his formula as an outline and make manual adjustments as necessary. It looks like he's going to do that now, so good for him for recognizing his mistake and fixing it.

[FlabLoser]

You're missing the point. These guys are using a formula because they're only watching 1 game a week - the team they're covering. Sure, they'll see bits & pieces of other games. Maybe a few biased SportsCenter highlights. But mostly, they're going off final score & whatever measure they try to use to be "impartial." In Logan's case, that's a formula.

The AP poll is supposed to be a POLL of people's opinions. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a poll but would be some kind of power index/matrix thing.

[Hypnodawg]

You're missing the point. These guys are using a formula because they're only watching 1 game a week - the team they're covering. Sure, they'll see bits & pieces of other games. Maybe a few biased SportsCenter highlights. But mostly, they're going off final score & whatever measure they try to use to be "impartial." In Logan's case, that's a formula.

And that would be fine if he also adjusted the formula with his observation. He made a measurement (LSU vs. MSU) and didn't use that measurement to update his estimate. He simply iterated his model. Why in the hell would you not use your only measurement, for which he is specifically being asked? Relying purely on the model is fine if you made no observation, but he made one and chose to ignore it. That is the definition of bias.

[Johnson85]

The AP Poll needs to be seriously reworked. It probably shouldn't come out until Tuesday at the earliest. The voters spend all day Saturday working, and then get Sunday and Monday to educate themselves (while performing their normal work duties). That still is a pretty big ask of them but at least it's physically possible. Having the poll come out any earlier just doesn't realistically give enough time for most voters to educate themselves.

I've always recognized that a lot of AP voters were idiots, but I'd never really realized why until now. The people voting should be people sitting around watching football all day on Saturday and Sunday. Not sure how you find people liek that that also know enough about football to be credible, but right now the two major polls are voted on by people that have no time to actually watch the game (if you believe coaches actually vote). I think the unofficial coaches system is probably what needs to be done. Give each coach a vote to delegate, preferably to somebody not working 80 hours a week during football season.