Today's Harris Interactive College Football PollSM shows the Top 25 results compiled from rankings submitted by the Harris Interactive panel of former coaches, players and administrators, and current and former members of the media. Texas retained its No. 1 ranking with 104 first place votes. The top five teams in the rankings are unchanged from last week.
Highlights of October 19 Harris Interactive College Football Poll | ||||||||||||
 |  |  |  |  |  | |||||||
Rank | Team | Record | Points | Previous Game | Next Game | Previous Week's Rank | ||||||
 | ||||||||||||
1 |  | Texas (104) |  | 7-0 |  | 2,838 |  | Beat No. 11 Missouri 56-31 |  | No. 8 Oklahoma State |  | 1 |
2 |  | Alabama (6) |  | 7-0 |  | 2,692 |  | Beat Mississippi 24-20 |  | at Tennessee |  | 2 |
3 |  | Penn State (3) |  | 8-0 |  | 2,631 |  | Beat Michigan 46-17 |  | at No. 10 Ohio State |  | 3 |
4 |  | Oklahoma |  | 6-1 |  | 2,357 |  | Beat No. 16 Kansas 45-31 |  | at Kansas State |  | 4 |
5 |  | USC |  | 5-1 |  | 2,327 |  | Beat Washington State 69-0 |  | at Arizona |  | 5 |
6 |  | Florida |  | 5-1 |  | 2,225 |  | Idle |  | Kentucky |  | 6 |
7 |  | Texas Tech |  | 7-0 |  | 2,179 |  | Beat Texas A&M 43-25 |  | at No. 19 Kansas |  | 7 |
8 |  | Oklahoma State |  | 7-0 |  | 2,046 |  | Beat Baylor 34-6 |  | at No. 1 Texas |  | 10 |
9 |  | Georgia |  | 6-1 |  | 1,997 |  | Beat No. 22 Vanderbilt 24-14 |  | at No. 11 LSU |  | 9 |
10 |  | Ohio State |  | 7-1 |  | 1,814 |  | Beat No. 18 Michigan State 45-7 |  | No. 3 Penn State |  | 13 |
11 |  | LSU |  | 5-1 |  | 1,750 |  | Beat South Carolina 24-17 |  | No. 9 Georgia |  | 12 |
12 |  | Utah (1) |  | 8-0 |  | 1,679 |  | Beat Colorado State 49-16 |  | Idle |  | 14 |
13 |  | Boise State |  | 6-0 |  | 1,498 |  | Beat Hawaii 27-7 |  | at San Jose State (Fri) |  | 15 |
14 |  | South Florida |  | 6-1 |  | 1,160 |  | Beat Syracuse 45-13 |  | at Louisville |  | 19 |
15 |  | TCU |  | 7-1 |  | 990 |  | Beat No. 8 BYU 32-7 |  | Wyoming |  | NR |
16 |  | Missouri |  | 5-2 |  | 978 |  | Lost to No. 1 Texas 56-31 |  | Colorado |  | 11 |
17 |  | BYU |  | 6-1 |  | 932 |  | Lost to TCU 32-7 |  | UNLV |  | 8 |
18 |  | Pittsburgh |  | 5-1 |  | 763 |  | Beat Navy 42-21 |  | Rutgers |  | 25 |
19 |  | Kansas |  | 5-2 |  | 634 |  | Lost to No. 4 Oklahoma 45-31 |  | No. 7 Texas Tech |  | 16 |
20 |  | Ball State |  | 7-0 |  | 578 |  | Idle |  | Eastern Michigan |  | 23 |
21 |  | Tulsa |  | 7-0 |  | 528 |  | Beat UTEP 77-35 |  | UCF (Sun) |  | NR |
22 |  | Georgia Tech |  | 6-1 |  | 503 |  | Beat Clemson 21-17 |  | Virginia |  | NR |
23 |  | Florida State |  | 5-1 |  | 447 |  | Beat North Carolina State 26-17 |  | Virginia Tech |  | NR |
24 |  | Boston College |  | 5-1 |  | 366 |  | Beat No. 17 Virginia Tech 28-23 |  | at North Carolina |  | NR |
25 |  | Minnesota |  | 6-1 |  | 284 |  | Idle |  | at Purdue |  | NR |
Number of first place votes shown in parentheses.
Other teams receiving votes: Northwestern 228; Virginia Tech 219; Michigan State 81; North Carolina 74; Vanderbilt 70; Cincinnati 35; Oregon 35; Maryland 28; Arizona 24; California 24; Illinois 10; Fresno State 9; Kentucky 6; Auburn 5; Wake Forest 3; Notre Dame 2; Oregon State 1.
Dropped out of Top 25: Virginia Tech, Michigan State, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, California, Wake Forest.
Poll Methodology and Process
The 2008 Harris Interactive College Football Poll is comprised of former players, coaches, administrators and current and former members of the media who have committed to submit rankings for the top 25 college football teams each week. These panelists were randomly selected from among more than 300 nominations submitted by the 11 Division I-A Conference offices and the independent schools. The panel has been designed to be a statistically valid representation of all 11 Division I-A Conferences and independent institutions. Today, 114 poll participants submitted their top 25 college football team rankings.
The 11 Division 1-A Conference Commissioners and Notre Dame Athletics Director Jack Swarbrick decided not to accept the Harris Interactive recommendation to apply a standard statistical practice that addresses potential instability, error or bias associated with unusual ranking patterns. This process, which began in 2005, will remain the same for the 2008 season. Each week Harris Interactive will conduct a thorough verification of the results, and the rankings will stand as submitted.
This week's rankings and other information about the poll can be found at www.harrisinteractive.com/bcspoll and www.bcsfootball.org.
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and rich history in multimodal research, powered by our science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.