NCAA Cover Vote: Breakdown of Facebook Voting

[cdj]

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8494/8273496010_834fd499e5.jpg

Voting among all 126 FBS programs to grace the upcoming cover of NCAA Football ends Monday night, December 31. While it was expected from the get-go that the traditional college powers would dominate voting, tabulating the public Facebook voting totals shows some surprises as well.

Keep in mind that "every single fan interaction counts as a vote," so there could be some significant changes in store when the Top 32 is announced in January 2013. However, without regular updates (as stated would occur) the Facebook vote totals are the only way for fans & schools to see where they stand.

As of late Thursday night, the top schools in the voting were: Kentucky, Penn State, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Alabama and Notre Dame. Surprises in the top 32 include: #9 Navy, #21 Old Dominion, #26 Air Force, #27 Army and #32 Wyoming.

The voting total as of then sat at 85,308 with users being able to cast one vote for schools A-M and another for N-Z. While it appears the schools currently in the lead have benefited from promotion and word of mouth among fans, some schools seemingly have missed the memo. For example, 19 schools have less than 50 votes and FIU sits dead last with just 20 votes.

Having voting occur on Facebook was a smart idea as it ensures users can only vote once and - even better- it did not come in the form of an app that would intrude on user privacy. However, without a clear indication of "fan interaction votes" and an easy to follow leaderboard, fans & schools do not know where they stand thus decreasing any late 'get out the vote' attempts and hype for the cover vote. There may be programs just outside the top 32 who could have moved up with late promotion, but they had no idea of where they stood in voting.

Did you vote for your school in the NCAA Football Cover Vote? What aspects did you like & dislike? Continue on to view the full ranking of FBS programs. If the vote totals are available after the Dec. 31 deadline, we will update this article with them.




Rank
School
Votes


1
Kentucky
11,399


2
Penn State
10,493


3
Texas A&M
8,041


4
Nebraska
5,903


5
Alabama
3,805


6
Notre Dame
3,259


7
West Virginia
2,833


8
Ohio State
2,017


9
Navy
1,664


10
Michigan
1,663


11
Oregon
1,561


12
Louisville
1,391


13
Florida
1,242


14
Syracuse
1,224


15
South Carolina
1,219


16
LSU
1,183


17
Clemson
1,075


18
Georgia
1,065


19
Washington State
968


20
Florida State
945


21
Old Dominion
854


22
Miami
840


23
Arkansas
799


24
Oklahoma
765


25
Texas
722


26
Air Force
688


27
Army
627


28
Tennessee
594


29
Kansas State
592


30
Wisconsin
586


31
UCLA
579


32
Wyoming
554


33
Auburn
510


34
Virginia Tech
485


35
San Jose State
482


36
Texas Tech
472


37
Iowa
430


38
Michigan State
416


39
East Carolina
388


40
Missouri
372


41
UL Lafayette
352


42
Louisiana Tech
341


43
NC State
330


44
TCU
326


45
USC
320


46
Kansas
306


47
Baylor
302


48
UTSA
280


49
South Alabama
279


50
Boise State
274


51
North Carolina
260


52
Rutgers
247


53
Pittsburgh
246


54
Illinois
223


55
Washington
208


56t
Arizona State
202


56t
Oklahoma State
202


58
Utah
200


59
Arizona
199


60
BYU
198


61
Iowa State
196


62t
Cincinnati
178


62t
Ole Miss
178


64
Oregon State
161


65
Minnesota
156


66t
Boston College
141


66t
UCF
141


68
Idaho
128


69t
Mississippi State
125


69t
Northern Illinois
125


71t
Akron
122


71t
Fresno State
122


71t
Maryland
122


74t
Georgia Tech
121


74t
Western Kentucky
121


76
Stanford
114


77
Northwestern
113


78
New Mexico
112


79
Arkansas State
104


80
Vanderbilt
102


81t
Purdue
101


81t
Nevada
101


83
Marshall
96


84
Virginia
94


85t
Miami U
89


85t
USF
89


87
Kent State
83


88
Hawai'i
82


89
New Mexico State
80


90
Colorado
79


91
Ohio
79


92
Indiana
77


93t
California
75


93t
Duke
75


95
Houston
72


96
Central Michigan
71


97t
Temple
70


97t
Texas State
70


99t
Colorado State
64


99t
Florida Atlantic
64


101
Middle Tennessee State
63


102
Utah State
61


103
Toledo
60


104
Bowling Green
58


105
North Texas
56


106
Ball State
52


107
UL Monroe
51


108
Connecticut
49


109
San Diego State
47


110
Buffalo
46


111
UMass
43


112
Troy
41


113t
Eastern Michigan
37


113t
Southern Miss
37


115
Western Michigan
35


116
Georgia State
32


117
Rice
30


118
Memphis
29


119
UTEP
29


120t
SMU
27


120t
Tulsa
27


122
UAB
26


123
Wake Forest
25


124
UNLV
23


125
Tulane
22


126
FIU
20



***

You can view the page at http://www.thegamingtailgate.com/forums/content.php?648-NCAA-Cover-Vote-Breakdown-of-Facebook-Voting

[JBHuskers]

Tim Couch, your new cover athlete :D

[JeffHCross]

It wasn't an app? Huh, maybe I'll vote after all.

[Bohica1010]

Kentucky is leading? It's got to be rigged! We aren't talking basketball!

[JBHuskers]

It wasn't an app? Huh, maybe I'll vote after all.

No it's all Facebook stuff.

[SmoothPancakes]

It wasn't an app? Huh, maybe I'll vote after all.

Yep, it's just simply a poll posted on the game's Facebook page. Two poll questions, teams Air Force through Missouri and teams Navy through Wyoming.

And looking at the page right now, holy shit. They have been going insane with poll questions. It's gotta be over 100 different poll questions by now with various teams listed, rivalry, new teams joining conferences, best teams in a conference, etc, pitting anywhere from 2 to 4 or 5 times against each other in a poll asking for likes, comments and votes. Those final vote tallies after the 31st are gonna be insane if all those polls, all those likes and all those comments count.

[JBHuskers]

Yeah those various polls count towards the total also, IIRC.

[SmoothPancakes]

Yeah those various polls count towards the total also, IIRC.

Good god. It's gonna be impossible to predict who will make it to the round of 32 then.

[cdj]

Yep, it's just simply a poll posted on the game's Facebook page. Two poll questions, teams Air Force through Missouri and teams Navy through Wyoming.

And looking at the page right now, holy shit. They have been going insane with poll questions. It's gotta be over 100 different poll questions by now with various teams listed, rivalry, new teams joining conferences, best teams in a conference, etc, pitting anywhere from 2 to 4 or 5 times against each other in a poll asking for likes, comments and votes. Those final vote tallies after the 31st are gonna be insane if all those polls, all those likes and all those comments count.

In response to a similar article posted at pastapadre.com (http://www.pastapadre.com/2012/12/28/how-schools-are-faring-in-first-round-of-the-ncaa-football-14-cover-vote#more-70134) several hours after this one, NCAA Football Marketing Director Randy Chase tweeted this: "The main polls are not the only votes that count. The smaller polls also count (https://twitter.com/randychase75/status/284738438551449600)." EDIT - Chase later added this on Twitter in response to pastapadre: "it's based on social media engagements..votes in polls, likes, comments, hashtags etc. top 32 with the most engagements move on (https://twitter.com/randychase75/status/284885545677631488)"

The usage of these smaller polls is very unclear. In the LIKE v COMMENT battles for conference superiority, do all conference members get votes? Were all schools available to vote on individually (or Like/Comment) at some point in one of these polls? Or what happens when an applicable school (TCU) is missing from a question (http://www.facebook.com/questions/10151289815427280/)? There's too many unknowns at how the system works and my fear is that should the Top 32 differ greatly from the Facebook voting results, there will be many claims of shenanigans, regardless of whether or not any occurred. Having the regular updates (as stated) would have helped somewhat as at least then fans could have rallied on the Facebook voting to overcome changes due to the smaller poll results.

[OSUCowboyofMD]

This whole idea is stupid:bang:

[CLW]

This whole idea is stupid:bang:

:+1: x :infinity:

[steelerfan]

Caring that this is stupid - is stupid. :)

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[jaymo76]

:+1: x :infinity:

put whatever you want on the cover. If this game doesn't step it up this year, it won't matter at all. NCAA has become stale and is in need of a major reboot. The cover should show us what the game values for 14.

[JeffHCross]

No, caring isn't stupid, steeler. We care about the game, its sales, and how it is marketed. If the marketing is either unsuccessful or frustratingly complicated, then the series could suffer as a result. It's bad enough that there are two polls (A-M and N-Z). Now we throwing in a bunch of other polls too? And tabulating all of those results? Plus likes? Based on, presumably, the alma mater of the people who like the page? Good grief.


put whatever you want on the cover. If this game doesn't step it up this year, it won't matter at all. NCAA has become stale and is in need of a major reboot. The cover should show us what the game values for 14.No "major" changes are coming until the next generation. Count on it.

[steelerfan]

I still disagree, Jeff. The cover is the least important facet of any game. It's a waste of energy to concern yourself with it. I have a hard time believing that how the cover is handled will markedly impact sales.

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[JeffHCross]

Personally, if they're going to do a vote, I wish it was straightforward and simple. That goes for any company, any purpose, any outcome. Over complicating the vote just to get more social media attention is a bad, bad road for companies to go down. And I'm getting real tired of it from EA in particular.

[steelerfan]

First, notice the :) next to my comment that caring is stupid. I wasn't attacking anyone.

Second, I'm sure somebody thinks this is a good idea (even if it's just EA). Why is it ok to say that what they care about (people that like the idea, EA) is stupid, but not the other way around?

For the record, I agree it's stupid. I just also think that caring is too. :) I suppose you think that my thinking it's stupid to care that this is stupid is - stupid. :D

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[JeffHCross]

Ah, wasn't quick enough with my edit :D I had realized the circular logic problem :fp:

I knew you weren't attacking anyone. Just was amused when you said it was a waste of energy :)

[steelerfan]

Ah, wasn't quick enough with my edit :D I had realized the circular logic problem :fp:

I knew you weren't attacking anyone. Just was amused when you said it was a waste of energy :)

;):D

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[oweb26]

I always look at game covers as "the marketing team has to earn there paycheck somewhere"

[CLW]

I always look at game covers as "the marketing team has to earn there paycheck somewhere"

put Te'o on the cover and call it a day he is from a huge football school with allot of tradition and they could market the game with a defensive guy on the cover and allege the defense is improved.

[oweb26]

put Te'o on the cover and call it a day he is from a huge football school with allot of tradition and they could market the game with a defensive guy on the cover and allege the defense is improved.

You seem like a knowledgeable guy, when has corporate world every used simple logic? That is probably the best idea and you thought of it in 10 minutes but when you work in an environment where everyone thinks they need there opinions to be heard ( i.e. corporate america) you get shit like this.

[JeffHCross]

I'm less concerned with the cover itself than what I perceive the direction of the marketing to be. Not sure I like the latest trends.

As for Te'o, we say 'put' like it's a guarantee he would accept. It isn't always.

[cdj]

EA SPORTS has tweeted out the current top five in the #NCAACoverVote. The number in parenthesis is their Facebook voting status as of late Thursday night:

1. Notre Dame (6)
2. Oregon (11)
3. Ohio State (8)
4. Texas A&M (3)
5. LSU (16)

[souljahbill]

Rats!

[CLW]

EA SPORTS has tweeted out the current top five in the #NCAACoverVote. The number in parenthesis is their Facebook voting status as of late Thursday night:

1. Notre Dame (6)
2. Oregon (11)
3. Ohio State (8)
4. Texas A&M (3)
5. LSU (16)

LMFAO so :Kentucky: is the CLEAR leader with votes from the "main" vote but doesn't even scratch the Top 5? Call me crazy but perhaps the vote is rigged?

[souljahbill]

Yeah, I don't really understand this myself.

[JeffHCross]

LMFAO so :Kentucky: is the CLEAR leader with votes from the "main" vote but doesn't even scratch the Top 5? Call me crazy but perhaps the vote is rigged?Unless the "main" vote is significantly weighted, Kentucky doesn't have nearly enough widespread social media support to win.

[cdj]

Personally, if they're going to do a vote, I wish it was straightforward and simple. That goes for any company, any purpose, any outcome. Over complicating the vote just to get more social media attention is a bad, bad road for companies to go down. And I'm getting real tired of it from EA in particular.

Well said. Initially it seemed the Facebook vote was what was being stressed most and today we see that it may not be the primary factor in choosing the Top 32. I would think getting people to like or keep up with the Facebook product page (to see game info & ultimately make a purchase in July) would trump social media engagements (a bunch of tweets & instagram photos) in December & January.

[JBHuskers]

I'm sure there is a fancy analytic program to quantify it all on EA's end, but there is no way for the general public to follow that; hence think it's rigged.

[JeffHCross]

I'm sure there is a fancy analytic program to quantify it all on EA's end, but there is no way for the general public to follow that; hence think it's rigged.This, though I'd be personally surprised if it was truly sophisticated. Either way, to imply it is a specific vote, when it is more a general popularity contest is full of sigh.

EDIT: Realized you said 'fancy'. You're probably right. Fancy in marketing by a third-party, most likely. Simple in execution.

[cdj]

I was planning on updating the initial table with final Facebook vote totals, but it looks as if voting is still open despite the stated 12/31 deadline.

[steelerfan]

put Te'o on the cover and call it a day he is from a huge football school with allot of tradition and they could market the game with a defensive guy on the cover and allege the defense is improved.

Not so fast my friend!

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