Every two weeks, varsityequestrian.com publishes a coaches' poll ranking the top 10 varsity equestrian teams in the nation.
On Feb. 2, the poll ranked Auburn No. 2 and Georgia No. 1, even though Auburn had received the most No. 1 votes.
A press release from varsityequestrian.com said UGA had received five second place votes, giving them the boost into first place.
Steve Weakland, director of athletic communication at Fresno State University, said the voting is based on a point system.
"It's a point ranking," Weakland said. "Each team that gets a first place vote gets ten points, nine for second, eight for third all the way down to one point for 10th place."
After all votes come in, Weakland and his team at Fresno State compile them all together.
"The ranking is based on total number of points earned," Weakland said.
UGA earned 83 points in the
Feb. 2 poll, while Auburn earned 81 points.
Auburn had actually lost to UGA Nov. 13, 2009, but was still ranked even with the Bulldogs in first place when the next coaches' poll came out.
"The actual coaches polls kept us even with Georgia at No.1, even though I thought we should've dropped," said Auburn head coach Greg Williams.
Not all varsity equestrian coaches get to vote in the poll.
"There's a committee selected of coaches and a couple other equestrian experts that make up the coaching poll," Weakland said.
Auburn does get a vote in the poll.
"There's a select group that gets to vote of coaches and actually Auburn is one, we're on a three year rotation right now," Williams said.
Williams said the coaches who do vote look at more than just a team's record when they vote.
"You look at the wins and losses, but also most of the coaches know who they think is the toughest and they vote a lot with that," Williams said.
Even with the drop from No. 1 to No. 2, Williams was optimistic about how it affected his team.
"By their reaction of how hard they want to ride, I wish we could be knocked down to about eighth right before nationals, because they ride much better," Williams said.
The drop to second did seem to motivate the riders as they went into South Carolina and beat the No. 4 Gamecocks last weekend.
"We should have been dropped to second, but seeing it in print still just burns you up," Williams said. "It just made everybody want to go out that much harder."
UGA overtook Auburn on a week where Auburn did not have a meet. The Bulldogs were idle last weekend and will be idle this weekend, giving Auburn three chances to retake first place.
"We have two home meets this weekend against really good schools, New Mexico State, which has really been coming on strong this year and Oklahoma State, which is always one of the tough ones," Williams said.
Auburn faces No. 9 New Mexico State University next Saturday at 1 p.m. and No. 5 Oklahoma State University Sunday at 1 p.m.
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