I don't think it's right pickin' on the elderly

But I do it anyway. Bruce Feldman's blog entry (subscriber) at ESPN today focused on the Harris Poll in the BCS and how old some of the voters are:

"I looked at some of those names -- Wow, man, are you kidding me? I thought a lot of these guys were dead," said one head coach.

The more I think about it, the more this seems like a problem. Consider this post at EDSBS, which brings to mind (a) the fallibility of human voters and (b) the interplay between the mores of the day and the opinions of humans. The latter is what concerns me. If there's a age slant to the Harris Poll, there might also be a generational bias... as in the older voters view the game from their generational point of view, not necessarily the most accurate. Without jumping into the deep end of the "Offensive Revolution", I think the game has definitely changed since the '70s.

Proof positive that the game has passed some by: Beano Cook. Yeah, it's no great task fisking Beano. But he, as much as anyone in college football punditry, represents that past generation.

Perhaps these don't really show that Beano is stuck in 1970 (I'm sure there are plenty of examples out there), but here are some nuggets of insanity, inanity and incomprehensibility from today's espn chat with Count Jigglyjowls of the Three Rivers:

Mark (Lexington, KY): I am a huge Louisville fan and was wondering do you think UofL has a good shot at getting into the Rose Bowl if they go undefeated?
Beano Cook: If 60 teams go on probation...

I'm sure when the 5-6 Gamecocks hear from the NCAA they'll gladly give up their spot at #59 to the 11-0, BCS bound conference champs. Let's not overdo the hyperbole here.

Scott (Cleveland, Ohio): Is Randy Walker at Northwestern another of the coaches on the hot seat? Seems that program has risen to be average but now is stuck.
Beano Cook: Tough to be on the hot seat there when you have the toughest academics in the Big Ten and the only private school in the league...

Nothing all that egregious here. Randy Walker shouldn't be on the hot seat. The flaw in the logic is where earlier in the chat Beano (without being asked) listed off a bunch of coaches on the hot seat and included Bobby Johnson at Vandy, a school which has the toughest academics and is the only private school in its league. Their situations might be different (Walker's had more success, but has also had more time, support, and talent), but if Beano's reason works for one...

Charlie Weiss (south bend, in): How will my Irish team fare in my 1st season, will my QB and WR actually produce a passing game and will my defense actually defend the pass this season? Maybe a 8-9 win season? What do you think?
Beano Cook: At least seven wins. In last year's draft, Purdue, Boston College and Pittsburgh had two players drafted, the same as Notre Dame. The Irish lost to all three of those teams at home last season.

I have no idea what this means. Notre Dame lost at home last year to teams it plays on the road this year, without much comparative difference in the returning talent... so shouldn't they lose those games too? So does that mean Beano expects them to lose them and still get to seven (by beating 2 out of Michigan, Tennessee and USC)? Addled mind.

Beano Cook: Strange things happen, and it is unlikely, but that's why they play the games, as one Chris Berman has said in the past. This isn't like an election in Chicago, where you know the result after the first vote.

Chris Berman? Chicago voting? We're off the rails.

Today's chat featured only 4 Note-Trah-Dame questions and 4 Penn State questions. Topical 15 years ago.

Perhaps today's chat isn't a perfect fit for my grand unification theory, that Beano is from another time (or planet) and that voters of his ilk might slant the Harris Poll. But if the first released Harris Poll has Notre Dame, Alabama, Penn State, Army, Navy, University of Chicago and Yale, we'll know that this was a bad idea.

And one other thing about the Harris Poll: where will Brentson Buckner find time to vote considering all the lip balm he has to put on before every game?

Also football related: A couple of new comments to the SEC scheduling post down below. Anyone have an answer to my question from today?