Notre Dame ranked below Washington? One voter says yes
Voting in college football or basketball polls is difficult. Not that it's significant labor, but there aren't many "rules." It's up to each voter to interpret if Team A is better than Team B, and there's a lot of factors that come into play.
The trap most voters fall in is just going with the group, moving a team up a couple spots if they win, and down if they lose. We respect the journalists who think creatively (and the coaches who do too, in that poll) and do their own thing.
So it's probably hypocritical to pick apart Glenn Guilbeau's ballot, but it was pretty surprising.
On pollspeak.com, which keeps track of the Associated Press voters' ballots, Guilbeau's ballot stands out. He is an LSU beat reporter for Gannett Louisiana News Service in Baton Rouge, and perhaps the most intriguing thing about his intriguing ballot is his treatment of Notre Dame and Washington.
Guilbeau thinks Washington, which is 3-2 with a 38-point loss to LSU and a 31-point loss to Oregon, is better than 5-0 Notre Dame. Washington is 13th on his poll (not surprisingly, the highest any other voter had the Huskies) and Notre Dame 15th. Which is, not surprisingly, the lowest anyone has Notre Dame. And it isn't an issue of Guilbeau thinking Notre Dame hasn't beaten anyone. He has Michigan State and Michigan 19th and 20th, respectively, on his ballot and Notre Dame has beaten them both. Washington didn't make the AP Top 25 this week, coming in third among others receiving votes.
There's more. Guilbeau still has Texas at No. 8 (the highest of any voter) despite a home loss to West Virginia, Ohio State at No. 5 which is higher than all but one voter, and is the highest voter for Nebraska at No. 23. Nebraska is 4-2 coming off a 63-38 pounding at Ohio State and is not in the AP poll this week. He also has Florida the lowest among all voters at No. 7, and Louisville down at No. 25, which is the second-lowest on all the ballots.
If nothing else, we can't accuse Guilbeau of mindlessly going with the crowd. We just don't think the BCS standings will look much like Guilbeau's ballot when those are released Sunday.
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