Arizona Football

Arizona Wildcats Football: AP Top 25 voters watch Week 11

By Javier Morales

Posted on November 3, 2014

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Notes about Arizona’s No. 21 ranking in the AP Top 25 poll released yesterday after the Wildcats lost at UCLA 17-7

What have you done for me lately?: The pollsters who had Arizona the highest last week dropped the Wildcats the most after their dismal performance against the Bruins. Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer had the Wildcats No. 5 last week, one spot out of his Final Four, but dropped them the most (14 spots) to No. 19 on his ballot. The next highest drop was 11 spots on the ballots of Seth Emerson of the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph (No. 8 to No. 19) and Kyle Ringo of the Boulder (Colo.) Daily Camera (No. 10 to No. 21). Ringo will cover the Colorado-Arizona game this Saturday. Arizona’s significant drop in their voting — despite playing a ranked team on the road — smacks of the Wildcats letting them down big time.

Smallest fall: Three voters dropped Arizona only two spots in their voting from the previous week, including two that pegged the Wildcats higher than their No. 21 ranking. Chuck McGill of the Charleston (W.V.) Daily dropped Arizona from No. 16 to No. 18 in his ballot. Garry Smits of the Jacksonville (Fla.) Florida Times-Union dropped Arizona from No. 17 to No. 19.

Crazy: Although Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News had Arizona at No. 10 before the Wildcats lost to USC, he dropped Arizona completely from his rankings after that game. Wolf put Arizona back in his rankings at No. 20 after the Wildcats’ win at Washington State. He then dropped them only three spots to No. 23 after the loss to UCLA. Therefore, a loss to UCLA is not as bad as one to USC? By the way, Wolf covers the Trojans.

What Michigan media bias? Maybe Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press misses covering Rich Rodriguez while others there loathe the coach. Sharp ranked Arizona highest among voters at No. 14, the spot the Wildcats held last week.

Reverse West coast bias?: Arizona’s highest ranking by media outlets in the Pac-12 states is at No. 19. Five West coast voters, including Ringo and Wolf, have Arizona out of their Top 20 after the loss to the Bruins. The others are Mike Sorenson (No. 21) of the Salt Lake Deseret News, Jon Wilner (No. 24) of the San Jose Mercury News and Michael Lev (No. 25) of the Orange County Register,

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Second-straight week, Scooby Wright is the @pac12 Defensive Player of the Week. #BearDown http://t.co/bmEZuM4YZ0 pic.twitter.com/sOSCIYnzHu

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) November 3, 2014

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Scooby Wright is the only FBS player to rank top 20 in tackles, tackles for loss, sacks and FF. #BearDown @BednarikAward @NagurskiTrophy

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) November 3, 2014

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WHERE AP TOP 25 VOTERS SHIFTED ARIZONA RANKING
Source: College Poll Tracker
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Wk7,Wk8,Wk9,Wk10,Wk11,Move,Pollster,Affiliation
No.15,No.19,No.19,No.16,No.18,-2,Chuck McGill,Charleston (W.V.) Daily
No.15,No.18,No.18,No.17,No.19,-2,Garry Smits,(Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union
No.17,No.24,No.23,No.20,No.22,-2,Joey Knight,Tampa Bay Times
No.9,No.10,No.11,No.11,No.14,-3,Drew Sharp,Detroit Free Press
No.10,No.11,No.14,No.14,No.17,-3,Jimmy Burch,Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram
No.6,No.17,No.15,No.14,No.17,-3,Steve Sipple,Lincoln (Neb.) Journal
No.15,No.17,No.17,No.16,No.19,-3,Ed Johnson,Albuquerque (N.M.) Journal
No.13,No.19,No.17,No.16,No.19,-3,Ross Dellenger,Baton Rouge (La.) The Advocate
No.8,No.16,No.17,No.17,No.20,-3,Kellis Robinett,Wichita (Kan.) Eagle
No.7,No.20,No.18,No.17,No.20,-3,Jim Polzin,Madison (Wis.) State Journal
No.10,No.14,No.14,No.17,No.20,-3,John Silver,Manchester (Conn.) Journal Inquirer
No.12,No.22,No.18,No.18,No.21,-3,Mike Sorenson,Salt Lake (Utah) Deseret News
No.8,No.17,No.17,No.18,No.21,-3,Harold Gutmann,Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun
No.10,UNR,UNR,No.20,No.23,-3,Scott Wolf,L.A. Daily News
No.13,No.24,No.24,No.23,NR,-3,Grant Ramey,Maryville (Tenn.) Daily Times
No.8,No.13,No.13,No.14,No.18,-4,Chris Murray,Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal
No.13,No.17,No.16,No.15,No.19,-4,Nick Baumgardner,Grand Rapids (Mich.) MLive.com
No.12,No.14,No.16,No.17,No.21,-4,Brent Axe,Syracuse (N.Y.) Post-Standard
No.13,No.17,No.19,No.20,No.24,-4,Jay Binkley,Kansas City KCSP-AM
No.9,No.16,No.20,No.21,No.25,-4,Kirk Bohls,Austin (Texas) American-Statesman
No.12,No.17,No.15,No.14,No.19,-5,Doug Doughty,Roanoke (Va.) Times
No.5,No.20,No.17,No.15,No.20,-5,Charles Davis,FOX Sports
No.12,No.14,No.15,No.15,No.20,-5,Ken Medlin,Raleigh (N.C.) WRAL-TV
No.9,No.17,No.15,No.15,No.20,-5,Matt McCoy,Columbus (Ohio) WTVN-AM
No.8,No.16,No.15,No.15,No.20,-5,Pete DiPrimio,Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel
No.17,UNR,No.19,No.16,No.21,-5,Logan Lowery,Northeast (Miss.) Daily Journal
No.9,No.23,No.18,No.19,No.24,-5,Josh Kendall,Columbia (S.C.) The State
No.13,No.22,No.22,No.20,No.25,-5,Michael Lev,Orange County Register
No.2,No.7,No.12,No.12,No.18,-6,Brett McMurphy,ESPN
No.12,No.13,No.13,No.13,No.19,-6,Eric Hansen,South Bend (Ind.) Tribune
No.8,No.14,No.13,No.13,No.19,-6,Tom Murphy,Little Rock (Ark.) Democrat-Gazette
No.12,No.14,No.13,No.13,No.19,-6,Tommy Deas,Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News
No.13,No.15,No.15,No.14,No.20,-6,Adam Zucker,CBS Sports Network
No.7,No.19,No.15,No.14,No.20,-6,John Shinn,Norman (Okla.) Transcript
No.8,No.15,No.15,No.15,No.21,-6,Eric Avidon,Framingham (Mass.) Metro West Daily News
No.11,No.21,No.14,No.16,No.22,-6,Ferd Lewis,Honolulu Star-Advertiser
No.8,No.20,No.21,No.17,No.23,-6,Keith Sargeant,Asbury Park (N.J.) Press
No.8,No.10,No.8,No.8,No.15,-7,Donald Heath,Savannah (Ga.) News
No.14,No.13,No.12,No.12,No.19,-7,Adam Jude,Seattle Times
No.8,No.11,No.12,No.12,No.19,-7,Sam Werner,Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
No.10,No.13,No.12,No.12,No.19,-7,Gary Horowitz,Salem (Ore.) Statesman Journal
No.11,No.13,No.11,No.13,No.20,-7,Garland Gillen,New Orleans WVUE-TV
No.8,No.13,No.13,No.13,No.20,-7,Mike Herndon,Alabama Media Group
No.9,No.17,No.16,No.14,No.21,-7,Tim Griffin,San Antonio Express-News
No.7,No.13,No.15,No.15,No.22,-7,Steve Batterson,Davenport (Iowa) Quad-City Times
No.14,No.19,No.16,No.16,No.23,-7,Nate Sandell,Twin Cities (Minn.) KSTP-AM
No.8,No.17,No.15,No.17,No.24,-7,Jon Wilner,San Jose Mercury News
No.10,No.21,No.16,No.19,NR,-7,Steve Nulph,Laramie (Wyo.) Boomerang
No.8,No.12,No.12,No.11,No.19,-8,Daniel Berk,Arizona Daily Star
No.11,No.12,No.12,No.12,No.20,-8,Adam Sparks,Murfreesboro (Tenn.) Daily News Journal
No.7,No.12,No.12,No.12,No.20,-8,Bob Asmussen,Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette
No.8,No.16,No.13,No.12,No.20,-8,Iliana Limon Romero,Orlando Sentinel
No.6,No.20,No.19,No.15,No.23,-8,Chad Cripe,The Idaho Statesman
No.11,No.20,No.18,No.17,No.25,-8,Rob Long,Washington (D.C.) WJFK-AM
No.11,No.14,No.15,No.13,No.22,-9,Bill Rabinowitz,Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
No.10,No.13,No.13,No.13,No.22,-9,Robert Cessna,Bryan-College Station (Texas) Eagle
No.19,No.17,No.15,No.15,No.24,-9,Larry Vaught,Danville (Ky.) Advocate Messenger
No.6,No.11,No.10,No.8,No.19,-11,Seth Emerson,Macon (Ga.) Telegraph
No.11,No.13,No.10,No.10,No.21,-11,Kyle Ringo,Boulder (Colo.) Daily Camera
No.5,No.6,No.5,No.5,No.19,-14,Doug Lesmerises,Cleveland Plain Dealer
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He also writes articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.