The Harris Interactive College Football Poll was a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football teams. The rankings were 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 in the BCS formula. The AP had 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.[1] Unlike the other two seasonal polls, the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll, the Harris Poll did not release a preseason poll; in fact, it did not come out until the last half of October, several weeks into the season. Also, the Harris Poll did not release a post-bowl game poll or crown a national champion; the final Harris Poll was released along with the final BCS rankings.
The Harris Interactive Poll was composed of former players, coaches, administrators, and current and former media who submitted votes for the top 25 teams each week. The panel was designed to be a statistically valid representation of all 11 FBS Conferences and independent institutions.[2]