A strange melding of minds and machines

Ohio State and Louisiana State made it to the Bowl Championship Series title game and you may, or may not, want to know how:

A breakdown of the final BCS standings revealed sausage-making at its best -- or worst.

Opinions among the voting coaches, Harris pollsters and six BCS computer operators fluctuated more wildly last weekend than Kirk Herbstreit’s reporting.

Only two of the six BCS computers would have forwarded Ohio State to the title game.

In the USA Today Coaches’ poll, New Mexico State Coach Hal Mumme voted Hawaii No. 1; former Texas A&M; Coach Dennis Franchione had Hawaii at No. 22.

The highest vote Clemson received this year was a No. 11 by Bobby Bowden at Florida State. To which the Clemson coach could respond: “Thanks, Dad!”

Mike McGee, former USC athletic director and now one of 114 Harris poll panelists, voted the Trojans No. 2.

Shocking!

Playoff proponents can hold up the standings and say “See!?” while advocates for the status quo might compare this ugly process to working legislation through Congress.

At least Jim Tressel voted this time.

Last year, the Ohio State coach refused to submit his final ballot on the grounds he would have to reveal whether he voted archrival Michigan or Florida at No. 2 when Ohio State was No. 1.

Coaches for years were allowed to vote anonymously, but last year, for the first time, final votes were made public.

“I was scolded pretty good,” Tressel confessed Sunday.

Tressel said Grant Teaff, head of the American Football Coaches’ Assn., threatened to yank Tressel’s voting privileges.

This year, Tressel took a good, hard look and voted his team No. 1 and LSU second.

LSU Coach Les Miles voted his team No. 1 and Ohio State No. 2

Again: Shocking!

Transparency made trolling through the final coaches’ ballots a chuckle-fest.

Of the three indexes used in the BCS formula, the coaches come out looking the most all-over-the-map, with their prejudices and peccadilloes revealed.

The computers seemed to have a schoolgirl crush on two-loss Virginia Tech, which finished No. 1 in the computer index.

What made the Hokies so attractive: losing by 41 to LSU or blowing a 10-0 lead at home to Boston College in the final 2 minutes 13 seconds?

The Harris index was much maligned when it replaced the Associated Press media poll in 2005, but a review of this year’s ballots reveal it to be relatively credible.

Outtakes from this year’s three BCS indexes:

Coaches poll

* Florida Atlantic Coach Howard Schnellenberger didn’t think USC, which has won six straight Pacific 10 titles, could have won the Western Athletic Conference. Schnellenberger voted Hawaii No. 3, Boise State No. 10 and USC No. 12.

* Bobby Bowden penciled in Oklahoma at No. 10 -- is that a Bob Stoops’ issue? Bowden voted Missouri at No. 6 (Bobby: Oklahoma beat Missouri . . . twice).

Clemson Coach Tommy Bowden also voted Missouri (No. 5) ahead of Oklahoma (No. 7).

* Oklahoma received first-place votes from Steve Spurrier and Oklahoma’s Stoops, who was Spurrier’s defensive coordinator on Florida’s 1996 national title team.

* Virginia Tech got one second-place vote . . . yep, from its own Frank Beamer.

* Wyoming Coach Joe Glenn apparently likes Hawaii to double up on Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Glenn had Hawaii at No. 5 and Georgia at 10.

* Eight coaches didn’t think Hawaii deserved a BCS bid, voting the Warriors No. 13 or worse. Hawaii needed a top-12 BCS finish bid to qualify and made it at No. 10.

* Stiff-upper-lip-award: Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti voted his team No. 25, one spot behind Oregon State.

* Reason why Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach should be considered UCLA’s next football coach? He voted USC at No. 8. Only four coaches voted USC lower: Bobby Bowden (9), Dan Hawkins (9), Doug Martin (10) and Schnellenberger (12).

* Call it a Pac mentality: Half of the six coaches who voted USC at No. 2 were from the Pac-10. Trojans Coach Pete Carroll is not a voter.

Computers

* Jeff Sagarin does two sets of rankings: non-BCS and BCS. His non-BCS rankings would have put Oklahoma and Ohio State in the title game. In his BCS rankings, it’s Virginia Tech vs. LSU.

* Anderson & Hester has Ohio State and Missouri as its top two, Arizona State at No. 8 and USC at No. 9. A&H; must have had the television switched off on Thanksgiving.

* Richard Billingsley nailed the title game with his 1-2 of Ohio State and LSU. We’re not so sure he nailed 3-9 Notre Dame at No. 62 and 8-4 Bowling Green at No. 82.

* Colley Matrix has LSU and Virginia Tech in his title game and Ohio State at No. 5.

* Ken Massey has Virginia Tech at No. 1 and LSU at No. 2. Massey once studied math at . . . Virginia Tech. This year his final numbers had Hawaii at No. 10 and USC at No. 12.

* Peter Wolfe’s computer anointed Virginia Tech and Oklahoma as the top two schools. Ohio State, at No. 5, is playing in Wolfe’s Rose Bowl, not his title game.

Harris poll

The most eclectic of the BCS indexes, composed of former players, athletic directors, commissioners, broadcasters and writers -- but no longer former masonry executives and conflicted ESPN employees.

Wrapping up its third BCS season, Harris seems to have weeded out its shaky characters, but this year was not without some interesting offerings:

* Larry Keech, a retired sportswriter, signed off on a ballot with a 1-2 of Hawaii and Kansas. Keech did not have Tennessee or Auburn in his top 25.

* Roy Kramer, former Southeastern Conference commissioner and the “godfather” of the BCS, voted Hawaii off the BCS island at No. 14. Wonder what he’ll say if Hawaii beats Georgia?

* Steve Owens, Heisman Trophy winner for Oklahoma in 1969, voted Oklahoma No. 2. Former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce had the Buckeyes at the top of his list.

* Former Southern Methodist star Lance McIlhenny thought Ohio State vs. Hawaii was a good 1-2 punch.

* Former ABC executive Loren Matthews gave rival Fox the television title game it wanted: Ohio State-LSU.

Blitz package

This year’s Heisman Trophy campaign is getting feisty. The Rocky Mountain News, which has conducted a Heisman poll for 21 years, has Florida quarterback Tim Tebow beating out Arkansas tailback Darren McFadden for the award, with Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel finishing third ahead of Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan.

The Heisman will be awarded Saturday night in New York. The Rocky Mountain News poll has picked the winner in 17 out of 20 previous polls. Heismanpundit.com also has Tebow beating out McFadden in a close race, but it has Brennan third ahead of Daniel.

Hawaii Coach June Jones went on the offensive this week in defense of his quarterback, who has been labeled by some talking heads a “system” quarterback. Jones railed to ESPN that Tebow, not Brennan, was the “system” quarterback. Tebow is a running quarterback in Urban Meyer’s spread offense.

“Tim Tebow’s system is a college system,” Jones told ESPN. Does Jones have a point? Yes. Brennan is probably equipped to become a better pro than Tebow. The last spread quarterback coached by Meyer -- Alex Smith at Utah -- has struggled with the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.

* The Sugar Bowl matchup of Hawaii versus Georgia may be the most intriguing. Jones is already playing on the financial disparities between the programs. “My recruiting budget is $50,000,” Jones said. “To be competing against a school like Georgia is amazing.”

Hawaii can expect to earn about $3.5 million for its Sugar Bowl appearance, the amount Boise State reaped for last year’s Fiesta Bowl.

“It hopefully means we’re going to get some new carpet and some new stuff in my office,” Jones said. “So when recruits come we’ll look like a first-class operation.”

* The six BCS computers are in agreement on one thing: The SEC was the nation’s best conference this year. The SEC ranks first in all six BCS conference-rating indexes. (Note: Billingsley’s listed ratings Wednesday were through games of Nov. 24). The Pac-10 was second in two indexes. The Big Ten, which produced this year’s No. 1 team, ranked sixth in four of the six computers.

* Some think this year’s craziness may quicken a move toward the modified, “plus-one” model SEC Commissioner Mike Slive has been floating to conference representatives. “It’s very possible,” Slive said. “ . . . It may be this season, and this result may give us a hint toward the answer to that question.” The plus-one model is not a playoff and would only add an additional game after the BCS bowl games. The soonest it could be implemented is 2011.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com