[BCS Bits is a weekly public release by BCS administrator Bill Hancock.  This series was started before this blog was launched, and will be double posted for the next three weeks.  The first post will be starting from the first edition, and a latter post will feature the current edition]

The season’s first Harris Interactive College Football Poll will be released Sunday (September 27).  The poll is administered independently by Harris and so they’re the experts.  But here are a few tidbits that may be of interest:

• This is the fifth season that the Harris poll has been an element of the BCS Standings.
• The Harris Poll comprises one-third of the Standings.   The other two elements, of course, are the USA Today Coaches Poll and the average of six computer rankings.
• Each of the 11 conferences nominated 30 people to serve on the Harris panel; Harris randomly selected 10 from each bunch.  Notre Dame nominated nine (Harris selected three) and Army and Navy nominated three (Harris selected one.)  Yep, there are 114 panelists.
•  The panelists’ names will be available at www.harrisinteractive.com/bcspoll in the next day or two. 
• The rankings will be posted on the Harris web site each Sunday.  Each individual panelist’s rankings will be posted on Selection Sunday.
• The season’s first BCS Standings—Volume 12, No. 1—will be released October 18.

Thank you for listening.

[commentary after the jump]

When I first received BCS bits in the E-mail on September 22nd I was taken aback that the BCS would sent a release to someone known to be an active blogger with an expressed interest to reform the BCS.

This follows a pattern I have found of the BCS exceeding my expectations (based on media characterizations)  in responsiveness and tone when the proper personnel are reached.  Bill Hancock has been polite and informative at every turn.  He has commented on this by stating: "We are interested in hearing all opinions, although time restrictions often preclude our sending personal responded to the hundreds of people who make suggestions each week."

I then sat back and looked for this material elsewhere on the web to see if it appeared anywhere.  This release appeared at BCS Guru's site, but none of the others have.  Apparently I have my hands on an exclusive series (that any other media outlet could have their hands on, but even the AP looks away).  Not bad for a week old blog.

The topic of this first edition was timely for the initial release of the Harris Poll the following Sunday.  The panelists names are now available at the link provided above.  The final votes will also be available at that link after the final BCS standings are released.

With 10 representative from each conference it is hard to argue that the poll unfairly favors any one conference over another. 

Among the other BCS components only the Colley Matrix Method ranking can claim the level of transparency the Harris poll process allows.  This is also the only part of the BCS BCS formula that the BCS has contracted to be produced, with the remainder offering to participate independently.  The Harris Interactive College Football Poll is probably one of the better components used by the BCS standings.