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In the grand scheme, the weekly AP Top 25 poll and the USA Top 25 Coaches Poll carry no meaning.
The College Football Playoff is ultimately decided at the end of the year by a selection committee.
However, the weekly selections by reporters in the AP poll are interesting to dissect because of potential bias, lack of knowledge or extreme opinion from some of its members.
CollegePollTracker.com monitors each voter of the AP poll weekly.
This week, after its 44-20 win at Nevada on Saturday, Arizona is ranked No. 20 in the poll despite five voters not including the Wildcats in their ballot. The number is down from 12 after Arizona’s 42-32 win over UTSA in the season-opener.
The voters who excluded Arizona from this week’s poll are Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Eric Hansen of the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune, Michael Lev of the Orange County Register, Nathan Deen of the Savannah (Ga.) Morning News and Sam McKewon of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald.
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Mike Sands of WLBT/Fox 40 in Jackson, Miss., has Arizona highest at No. 14.
Some interesting notes of those who did not rank Arizona this week:
— Lesmerises ranks Temple at No. 21, Toledo at No. 24 and Houston No. 25. All of those teams are in the “others receiving votes” category. The Owls are 2-0 after winning at Cincinnati. The Rockets beat Arkansas last week on the road. Houston is 2-0 after beating an 0-2 Louisville team last week.
A #BeastMode performance by @All_Day_JR_28 #BearDown #OTTNO pic.twitter.com/bMlaZs4i1L
— Matt Dudek (@AZ_Matty_D) September 14, 2015
— Lev ranks Stanford at No. 23. The Cardinal, who have looked mediocre in the first two weeks, are far down the “others receiving votes” category at No. 41.
— Deen’s southern bias shows with him ranking Florida No. 22, Virginia Tech No. 24 and Mississippi State No. 25. The Hokies and Bulldogs are 1-1. All three of those teams are not ranked this week.
— McKewon shows his regional ties as the voter that places Oklahoma State at No. 17. The Cowboys are ranked No. 25 counting all of the ballots. He ranks Cal at No. 20, a bit high inasmuch as the Golden Bears have won against Grambling and San Diego State.
With Arizona playing FCS school NAU this week it will be interesting to see if the Wildcats fall out of more Top 25 ballots.
By the way, ASU (1-1) is ranked by eight voters this week, the highest at No. 18 by Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News.
ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He has also written articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.
