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Sporting News, The, Dec 13, 2004 by Matt Hayes

I'm done with this crazy business. Don't ask me to vote again, AP, because I'll laugh at you and your silly system of uninformed voters who don't take your poll seriously. How on earth could anyone have dropped California or jumped Texas to put the Longhorns in the Rose Bowl ahead of the Bears?

It's a damn shame.

Here's some advice for voters: Watch the games. Cal is significantly--that's right, significantly--better than Texas. Who could watch Louisville and Utah and not believe they also would beat Texas and its one-dimensional offense? What has Texas done to prove it belongs among the elite, besides blow nearly every meaningful game under coach Mack Brown?

The bottom line: Texas and Cal had ugly wins this season and played in conferences in down cycles. So let's go to the key game for both: the losses. Cal outplayed the No. 1 team in the nation (Southern California) on the road. Texas didn't sniff the end zone in a shutout loss to Oklahoma on a neutral field.

A damn shame, all right.