Here's how the AP voters voted

[hifigator]

hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/specials/top25_front/voters.html?SITE=NCKIN&SECTION=HOME

It's kind of interesting to look at. For instance a writer for the Tennessean voted Alabama #17, behind 4 teams that already have a loss. I would think they should be a bit higher than that, but of course, Tennessee hates Alabama. A slight bit of bias perhaps?

[hifigator]

The same guy has East Carolina still at #20 after a very bad loss to a terrible NC State team.

Heck, he has Clemson #18, only one spot behind Bama. Hmm, didn't those two teams play just a few weeks ago? I don't know what game he saw, but in the game I saw, one of the teams was significantly better than the other.

[SFHoya99]

Think less intentional bias, think more sheer stupidity/laziness.

Polls suck. None of the voters put the effort in you think they do.

[hifigator]

I wouldn't argue with you SF, but I would think that would be more true of the coaches poll and not as much so for the media polls, but maybe I am wrong.

[rosslynhoya]

If you recall the early part of last season, the lone guy who kept giving Georgetown the #1 vote each week represented the Birmingham (Ala.) News. Very coincidentally we just happened to be playing a neutral site game in Birmingham last fall.

I don't think it was stupid or lazy for him to want to cover a big game and therefore have a bias in our favor.

[hifigator]

On a somewhat related note, I have asked several sportswriters this question and have never gotten a satisfactory answer.

My question is basically what are they voting on? A follow up or lead in question is if there is any instruction ever given to the voters. In other words, are they "supposed" to pick the teams that at this point in the season won beat any other team and so forth? In that sense, things like injuries and maturing through the year could factor in significantly. Or are they supposed to pick the team that they think will be "the best" at the end of the year? If that is the case, then I think they would have to pay a bit of attention to scheduling and therefore consider more strongly teams that are likely to be highly ranked becasue they have an easy or favorable schedule. I don't think there is a perfect formula for this inexact science. Aside from obvious differences in opinion, there is still quite a bit of subjectivity in such a format.


The bottom line to me is that I think too many voters are trying to pick teams based on how they will finish the season, therefore factoring in far too much, any scheduling advantage/disadvantage. My own personal opinion is that they should be ranking the teams based on which team they think would win any contest agains other teams.