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?It's hard to pick on the pollsters this early without any real evidence for them to overlook, but many have picked up where they left off from last season. Here's a rundown of the entries that stood out from the AP preseason rankings:
Chris Fowler is much higher on 4 teams than just about every other pollster. Penn St has made some underrated list this preseason. Not here, 13th for our College Gameday host. South Carolina at 14th, Miami 16th and Alabama 18th all stand out.
Kirk Herbstreit deserves come credit for having his highest Big Ten team 7th, take that credit away upon realization it's Penn State. Herby is jumping on the South Florida bandwagon with a 25th vote.
Scott Wolf (LA Daily News) was among my favorite to pick on last year. Hawaii at 15th and BYU at 17th demonstrate Scott will be a part of this poll often again this season.
Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) is driving the UCLA bandwagon. Most pollsters have the Bruins in the mid to high teens, but hello, Doug has them 8th. I've been drinking the Westwood kool-aid myself, but now I understand why there wasn't much left to drink. Lesmerises sucked it all down.
Dave Birkett (Oakland (MI) Press) Michigan is a justified #2, so the homerism really isn't in effect. The reason Birkett makes this list is a curious choice at #9. An unsettling QB situation combined with a defense that has lost some talent must be impressive for Mr. Birkett. Florida State this high may be among the most unusual choices in this first round of rankings.
Stewart Mandel (SI) has a sensible ranking, but interesting to note he placed Wisconsin 5th ahead of Michigan 6th.
Aaron Fentress (Oregonian) supported the home state, but might have chosen the wrong team. Oregon State comes in at 21, while the Ducks are left off.
Here's a list of the AP voters and their rankings (note: some of the voters on the list are still displaying last year's rankings). Feel free to bash away in the comments. We'll tackle these pundits again after Week 1.







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