Code Orange

OK, tell me how Southern California loses to Stanford, and only drops 8 spots in the AP poll and 6 spots in the Coaches poll, yet Wisconsin loses to now 5-1 and #18/19 ranked Illinois, and they drop 14 spots in the AP and 10 spots in the Coaches poll? I can at least see dropping them 10 spots for being in the top 5 and losing, but why does USC stay in the top 10? For that matter, why does Florida drop 7 spots in the Coaches poll for almost beating now #1 LSU?

Look, I’m generally a fan of the Pac 10 and think they don’t get as much respect as other conference (though that finally seems to have changed this year), and I have a major beef against the SEC, but dropping Florida - who lost to #1 (and deservedly so) LSU - more than USC, who lost to lowly previously 1-win Stanford, goes beyond stupid. Other than just voting for USC because they’re USC, it makes absolutely no sense and a stain on college football polling I think. I know that the polls often give preference to big name teams for the most part, but that’s ridiculous.

It just doesn’t make sense. And why is 5-1 Purdue still in the Coaches poll and why is 3-2 Tennessee back in the AP poll? Aren’t 5-1 Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Indiana, or Virginia good enough yet? What about 5-0 Connecticut, who isn’t even in the top 30 of either poll if you go through “others receiving votes.” How about 4-1 Wyoming who beat Virginia, and gets a grand total of 20 total points in both polls combined (only 2 in the AP!)

While the entire SEC East sans Vanderbilt is ranked (and knowing the pollsters, they would be too if they had beaten Auburn), we have all these other undefeated or 1-loss teams being looked over because they’re only Wyoming or only Indiana and why should we rank “only Wyoming” over the grand power that is Tennessee?