Buckner Releases First Harris Poll Vote

by Press Release - Tue Sep 27 10:04:15 GMT-04:00 2005

Greenville, SC-This week his poll counted.

Carolina Panther defensive tackle Brentson Buckner has released his weekly college football poll each week since August over his website, brentsonbuckner.com, but this week the poll had additional meaning.

Buckner is the only active NFL player with a vote in the Harris Interactive Poll, one of the two polls that the BCS will use in selecting the teams that will play in the Bowl Championship Series games this year. The Harris Poll released its first rankings on Monday and Buckner's vote was one of 113 that counted.

Buckner, like 110 of the 113 voters in the Harris poll, lists Southern Cal number-one. He has had the Trojans number-one the entire season. "When you watch Southern Cal play it is like watching a video game. They have the quarterback in Matt Leinart, the running back in Reggie Bush, and a lot of other weapons from tight ends to wide receivers. They are hitting on all cylinders. It will take a special team on a special day to beat them."

Michigan State was another team that impressed Buckner. He had the Spartans ranked 25th in the nation after they defeated Notre Dame in South Bend, a worse ranking than most of the pollsters, then moved them up to number17 this week, the biggest jump in Buckner's poll.

"I was waiting to see if they could sustain it. The last eight times Michigan State beat a top 10 team they followed it with a loss. They would beat Notre Dame, then lose to Northwestern. But, I was impressed with what they did with Illinois after winning such an emotional game at Notre Dame. They gained over 700 yards of total offense."

Louisville tumbled from the top 10 to number-21 in Buckner's poll. The Cardinal made a similar drop in just about everyone's poll after a loss to South Florida. "I thought Oregon State was a pretty good team and Louisville put 63 on them. Then South Florida beat them. I watched that game and Louisville was never in it. That really surprised me because a lot people thought they could run the table."

Buckner will be available for a live chat on brentsonbuckner.com Wednesday night at 7:30 PM to discuss his poll, college football in general or his Carolina Panthers. To join the chat, log on to the site and follow the chat links.

Following is Brentson's week four top-25:

1. Southern Cal

2. Texas

3. Virginia Tech

4. Georgia

5. Florida

6. Florida State

7. LSU

8. Tennessee

9. Ohio State

10. Miami (FL)

11. Boston College