Public Enemies

For anyone claiming to be a college football fan, the following link is a treasure trove of fun: http://www.pollspeak.com/pollstalker/pollstalker.php?r=F&s=13&p=26.

What you'll find are the ballots for everyone voting in the AP Top 25 College Football Poll. You can see individual ballots and how they compare with their peers' votes. They also highlight voters who are extreme -- votes that are the highest or lowest for each team, or are within one or two of that high or low. This week, Alabama finished with 58 first-place votes, gaining the vote of Greg Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. That leaves two voters putting a team other than the Crimson Tide at the top of their ballot. As such, I'm beginning a new feature called "Public Enemies."

Public Enemy #2: Pete DiPrimio
Pete writes for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, the hometown paper of my wife. It is utterly disappointing, as she has also stated, that a bad name is being given to this great city because of the silliness of one of its sports writers. I agree with a few of DiPrimio's votes that are marked extreme: he's got Auburn at #7, which is their second-highest vote; he's got Oklahoma at #8, which is their lowest vote. However, while voting is an individual choice, I have to disagree that having Boise State in front of Alabama is a fair choice. I'm not sure what games he's been watching, but it's a tough argument for Boise State to be on top.

Public Enemy #1: Greg Archuleta
The Albuquerque Journal employs Greg Archuleta as a sports writer and somehow he has been chosen or found his way to an AP vote. With that responsibility, he has placed Ohio State #1, Boise State #2, and Alabama #3. While I'm sure he's got some reasoning behind these choices, it is difficult to find it. Ohio State finally played a road game and didn't do much to impress against an unranked team. Boise State played one of the worst FBS schools on the road, but haven't played the competition the Tide has faced so far. It may seem like crying over spilled milk that two voters did not choose Alabama for the top of their ballot; I choose to see it more of highlighting what I consider to be Les Miles-type incompetence in assessing the football season so far.

Strangest Voter of the Week: Scott Wolf
This guy seems to be gearing up for some time on the Public Enemies list. He gave six teams their highest ratings (including Oklahoma at #2) as well as two teams their lowest ranking (including Ohio State at #6); he's also got two teams ranked in near extreme positions. I remember looking at his ballots last year and wondering how a writer from the Los Angeles Daily News scavenges a vote; I bet it has something to do with an underhanded deal involving USC.