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] First, Division I-Bowl Subdivision college football conferences and independent institutions nominated prospective panelists.
Then Harris randomly selected 115[3] members from the nominees to participate in the actual panel.
Each week from mid October to the end of the regular college football season these 115 panelists voted on the particular ranking of teams.