Unprecedented for OSU: first-place votes in the final AP poll
Published: 1/10/2012 4:38 PM
Last Modified: 1/11/2012 1:55 PM
For the first time in program history, Oklahoma State got first-place votes – four of them – in the final Associated Press football poll.
With a 21-0 annihilation of LSU, Alabama captured the BCS national title and the AP national championship. Of the 60 voters on the AP panel of media members, 55 cast their No. 1 votes for the Crimson Tide. In spite of an absolutely dismal offensive performance, LSU actually got one first-place vote – from Albuquerque, N.M., radio host Erik Gee.
The four who voted Oklahoma State No. 1: Seth Emerson of The Macon (Ga). Telegraph, Matt Markey of The Toledo (Ohio) Blade, Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald and Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News.
OSU finished third – its highest final ranking ever – in both the AP poll and USA Today coaches’ poll.
Explaining his OSU No. 1 vote in an e-mail to the Associated Press, Wolf wrote: “I thought Oklahoma State played a better overall schedule than Alabama and deserved a share of the title if LSU lost. The fact that Alabama got a second shot at LSU influenced my decision because it is tough to beat the same team twice.
“It's not Oklahoma State's fault the BCS system denied them a chance to play in the title game.”
Conroy told the AP that he believes OSU’s high-powered offense would have conquered Alabama’s tremendous defense.
“It would have been a great game,” Conroy said.
Alabama is 12-1, losing to LSU on its home field.
LSU is 13-1, losing to Alabama on its home-away-from-home venue – the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
Oklahoma State, also 12-1, was the only team among the top three to have been beaten in a true road game – 37-31 in double overtime at Iowa State.
OSU’s detractors insist that the Cowboys lost championship legitimacy by stumbling against a Cyclone team that eventually finished 6-7. Some of those detractors may have forgotten the extraordinary circumstances of that Nov. 18 game. The Cowboys played only a few hours after learning that OSU women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke and assistant Miranda Serna had been killed in a plane crash.
-- Bill Haisten
Written by
Bill Haisten
Sports Writer
