My AP ballot: Hurricanes to the top 10

Looking to rebuild Miami’s empire? Photo by Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports

I had Miami at No. 20 on last week’s AP college football ballot, when the Hurricanes were unranked, so I was a little bit ahead of the curve there.

I moved the Canes to No. 10 after Miami upset Florida on Saturday; seems reasonable because that’s one of the best victories of the early season, and I don’t mind having teams make big poll jumps in the early season because the impact of each game is magnified when there is a small sample size.

Not many agreed with me, though. Only two of the other 59 AP voters ranked Miami higher.

Harder — OK, impossible — to explain is how four voters STILL rank Florida over Miami.

You can’t always honor head-to-head-results later in the year, but it’s pretty easy this early in the season to rank Team A over Team B if team A beat Team B.

Only one voter had Ole Miss higher than my ranking of 20th, although the Rebels did slide into the Top 25 this week. Mississippi’s season-opening win at Vanderbilt is a better victory than many of the ranked teams have at this point.

I’m also possibly overly stubborn about Michigan State, holding the Spartans at No. 23, despite their USC-like ineptitude on offense.

Wisconsin and Arizona State narrowly missed my cut this week. The Badgers are No. 20 in the AP poll and the Sun Devils are first among “others receiving votes.” Wisconsin plays at Arizona State this Saturday; the winner definitely gets ranked by me.

Elsewhere in the poll, Arizona continues to have the support of two voters — Ed Johnson of the Albuquerque Journal (No. 20) and Kyle Ringo of the Boulder (Colo.) Daily Camera. Ringo tabs the Cats at No. 23. Those votes account for Arizona’s nine points in the AP poll.

Here is my voting vs. the actual Top 25:

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