This AP Voter Has The "Craziest" Preseason Top 25 Ballot
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The first Associated Press Top 25 poll of the season was unveiled yesterday. You can view the full rankings here.
The actual rankings didn't appear to be too much of a surprise, but that doesn't mean individual ballots didn't raise some eyebrows. Take the one from Mitch Vingle of the Charleston-Gazette.
So Vingle put Clemson over Alabama at No. 1, but he wasn't alone in doing that. Seventeen other people did the same. However, as you get further down the ballot, there are more surprises from Vingle.
He is very high on Michigan, who he slotted fourth overall. The Wolverines are actually ranked 10 spots lower at No. 14. Vingle is the lowest of any pollster on Georgia, who he ranks No. 9.
Overall, Vingle has nine "extreme" picks, which are teams he slots five or more spots higher or lower than their actual rankings. He's very high on WVU, the team he covers, as well as LSU, Oregon and Texas, while being lower than most on Miami, Notre Dame and USC.
Here is Vingle's full ballot.
- Clemson
- Alabama
- Wisconsin
- Michigan
- Ohio State
- Auburn
- Oklahoma
- Washington
- Georgia
- Stanford
- South Carolina
- West Virginia
- Oregon
- Penn State
- Michigan State
- Texas
- TCU
- Miami
- Florida State
- LSU
- Notre Dame
- Boise State
- NC State
- USC
- USF
The games start this weekend, with the official Week 1 being less than 10 days away.
At that point, you can throw all the rankings out the window.
