There is a scene in the movie "Runaway Jury" where Gene Hackman says "A trial is too important to be left to juries."

Apparently the same thing could also be said about the college football coaches poll and some of the coaches who vote in it.

Witness the soap opera surrounding tomorrow's No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown of Ohio State and Texas in which Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel said one thing and his USA Today Coaches Poll ballot said another.

Tressel said at his Tuesday news conference, "I've got (the Longhorns) ranked No. 1 on our ballot."

This turned out to be news to USA Today, which disclosed that Tressel's ballot had Ohio State — not Texas — No. 1. Normally coaches' ballots are released only for the regular season's final poll but this was such a whopper that, in the interest of credibility, USA Today felt compelled to make it public.

Ohio State said the whole thing was a miscommunication and "honest mistake" not a ploy to lull Texas. You can buy that explanation, if you wish. But the revealing thing here isn't just whether Tressel was playing games. Rather it is how coaches go about their ballots. It is how the process has been ripe for abuse for years.

So, when the Buckeyes tried to spin their way out of pollgate, saying an assistant actually phoned in the ballot and changed the order, it shouldn't have been a surprise. It has long been behind-the-scenes legend that some coaches — and we are left to wonder just how many — either manipulate their ballots to suit their needs in a given week or turn the voting over to someone else. Either way the process of choosing a national champion is flawed.

"You can bet on one thing: If we're playin' 'em I'm voting them high," Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione told reporters two seasons ago in a burst of honesty.

More than one coach has made it clear he'd use his ballot to do what was best for his team that week — whether that meant building up an opponent or boosting the home team.

Nor are coaches above tossing an old friend a bone, either. In 1997 it was widely assumed coaches voted Nebraska their share of the national championship as a career achievement award for retiring coach Tom Osborne, allowing the Cornhuskers to vault past Michigan in the last poll.

Coaches are in a position to know more than the writers who vote in the Associated Press poll, but have more conflicting loyalties, too. (In the interest of full disclosure, the writer of this column votes in the Associated Press poll and UH coach June Jones said he has not voted in a coaches poll since 1999.)

Of course, choosing a national champion shouldn't come down to sports writers or coaches. Better it be decided on the field, where all the other NCAA championships are determined.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.