Miami’s latest AP poll surprise had less to do with where the Hurricanes landed and more to do with the fact that they didn’t land anywhere on one ballot at all.
No. 4 Miami was omitted from a Week 4 Associated Press Top 25 ballot, a stunning miss for a 4-0 team that had already been left off one AP voter’s ballot earlier this season.
Miami sits with 1,501 points, has one first-place vote, and trails only Texas, Georgia and Notre Dame. The Hurricanes have outscored Stanford, Florida A&M, Wake Forest and Central Michigan 207-36.
The ballot in question came from WSLS-TV’s Eric Johnson, who covers Virginia Tech. His Week 4 submission did not include Miami, making the Hurricanes the highest-ranked team left off any ballot in the poll released Sunday.
Creg Stephenson had Miami at No. 1, while the lowest ranking anyone gave the Hurricanes was No. 9.
Johnson’s Miami track record this season makes the omission even harder to ignore. He had the Hurricanes No. 4 in the preseason, No. 4 again in Week 1, No. 6 in Week 2 and No. 7 in Week 3 before leaving them unranked in Week 4.
The rest of his ballot raised eyebrows too. He slotted 3-1 Michigan at No. 18, and no other voter had the Wolverines that high. Michigan came in with 54 points and finished 31st in the full voting after the loss to Iowa, with its stock already down because of the controversial win over Western Michigan and Oklahoma’s collapse.
Johnson also placed Penn State at No. 20.
The Nittany Lions are 3-1, lost to Wisconsin, and dropped out of the poll entirely. A week earlier, he had Penn State at No.
His ACC picks were just as scattered. Virginia Tech checked in at No. 19 and Louisville at No.
- The Hokies are 4-0, picked up 86 points and finished 30th, while Louisville is 2-2, fell to Wake Forest, received 25 points and finished 34th.
Wake Forest, meanwhile, is 3-1 with its only loss coming against Miami, but Johnson did not rank the Demon Deacons. Wake Forest finished just outside the top 25 with 88 points, and even a No. 1 ranking from Johnson would not have pushed them into the poll.
There is some recent history here, too. Miami was omitted from Brian Fonseca’s Week 1 ballot, and BYU was left off Jerry Humphrey’s Week 3 ballot before that was described as an accident. Johnson’s omission adds another strange entry to that list.
Usually, these ballot errors get explained quickly and the matter ends there. In this case, there were posts explaining the error, but they were difficult to find. Given the oddities throughout the ballot and Miami being left off entirely, the safest read is that it was probably a mistake - though it was one that should have been caught before it ever went in.
Saturday can be a long day for everyone around college football, but misses like this do the sport no favors, even if the AP poll itself feels less important than it once did. Let's hope this doesn't happen again to any team... especially Miami.
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