Harris Interactive College Football Poll

The Harris Interactive College Football Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football teams. The rankings are compiled by Harris Interactive, a market research company that specializes in Internet research.

The poll was created in the summer of 2005 to replace the AP Poll, which decided it no longer wanted to be a part of the formula used by the BCS rankings to determine who plays in the BCS National Championship Game. Unlike the other two seasonal polls, the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll, the Harris Poll does not release a preseason poll; in fact, it does not come out until the last half of September, several weeks into the season. Also, the Harris Poll does not release a post-bowl game poll; the Final Harris Poll is released following the end of the regular season.

The Harris Interactive Poll is composed of former players, coaches, administrators, and current and former media who submit votes for the top 25 teams each week. The panel has been designed to be a statistically valid representation of all 11 FBS Conferences and independent institutions.

Polling methodology

First, Division I-Bowl Subdivision college football conferences and independent institutions nominate prospective panelists. Then Harris randomly selects 114 members from the nominees to participate in the actual panel. From each week in September to the end of the regular college football season these 114...
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