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10/16/07
Picking APart the Pollsters: 6 Teams Get 1st Place Votes
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Our weekly look at the individual AP Ballots is back again for this season. Who was the biggest homer? Who doesn't make any sense? Who actually (gasp!) deserves some credit.

A day late due to my absence, but I still wanted to chime in on a few of these pollsters. Naturally, our favorite AP voter tops the list.

Jon Wilner (San Jose Mercury News)
1. LSU
2. South Carolina
7. Ohio State
16. Virginia Tech
17. Arizona State

FXDirect pointed to Wilner's explanation yesterday morning. For the first time this year I actually agree with several of Jon's points. I'm also willing to move teams up after a loss and not instinctively drop a team the customary 4-5 spots after a loss. Do I think LSU is best team in the country? Yes. But if we were to always go by who we thought was the best, why even play the games. LSU should drop from the top spot, for now, while others continue to win games. Sure the Tigers would beat Kentucky 8 times out of 10, but we're talking 2007 and their record is sporting an L. It's a good debate I have a hard time with each season -- do you vote for who you personally believe is the best despite losses?

What's frustrating about Wilner's rankings is that while he credits several teams for losing to highly ranked foes, he continues to place Virginia Tech down in the mid-teens.

Neal McCready
(Alabama Press-Register)
1. Arizona State
7. Kentucky
8. LSU

Presenting the complete opposite point of view from Jon Wilner. I'm good with Kentucky over LSU for at least this week, but come on, Arizona State?  Here is Neal's explanation to a blogger that questioned McCready directly:
ASU's 7-0 and unbeaten in one of the two best leagues in the country, the Pac 10 and SEC. Those leagues are 1 and 2 in some order; that's for someone else to debate. Regardless, Ariz. St. is the only team from those leagues unbeaten. It comes down to Ohio State (bad league this year), South Florida (two huge wins but a weak schedule otherwise) and Boston College (weak league this year). I considered them all, but I went with the team from the best of those leagues.

ASU has to win next week, obviously, but if they do, you'll see others begin to jump on the wagon. If not, they'll just be the latest to fall by the wayside in a wacky year in college football.

Neal McCready
I understand the angle of crediting a team for its league, but the school should have had to actually play the good teams in the conference for this to be factored in, right?

Mike DeArmond (Kansas City Star)
6. Southern Cal
8. Virginia Tech
9. Kentucky
10. LSU

While I'm against keeping a team #1 after a loss, I can't determine any reasonable logic for having the LSU Tigers behind USC or Virginia Tech ... not to mention dropping them all the way down to 10. LSU plays in the best conference in the country and lost to a fellow Top 10 team.

My #1: Ohio State. Do they have as many quality wins as other top teams? Of course not. But they've consistently been winning handily and looked very good in doing so. We'll find out about the Buckeyes this weekend and over the next several weeks.
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