'I Don't Want To Go Too Much Into My Process': An AP Poll Voter Moved Florida Up 2 Spots After a Home Loss to USF and Should Have Her Voting Privileges Revoked Immediately

I'm sorry, what?

Florida suffered the worst loss of any team so far this season when the Gators fell 18-16 at home to South Florida. The loss sent the Gators tumbling from No. 13 to out of the AP Top 25, but not in Haley Sawyer's ballot. Sawyer thought UF's performance was good enough to move them up a couple spots from No. 16 to No. 14 and somehow still has USF outside the Top 25 entirely. The AP Poll has many similar ridiculous occurrences every year, but this is the most egregious I can remember.

Her explanation seems to be that one voter's idiocy can be counteracted by the consensus of the group, which isn't much of a defense, though it does have a kernel of truth. But Sawyer saying she doesn't want to go into her "process or logic" would indicate that she did, in fact, do this on purpose and that she seems to believe there is some sort of justification out there for doing this, both of which are certifiably insane.

The AP Poll just as an idea is stupid. The people voting to rank the best teams in the country are the ones watching the least amount of football. They're at a stadium covering one game all day and may catch a couple drives of another if it's on TV in the press box. These are perhaps the least qualified people to be making judgments on the entire landscape of the sport and that's before accounting for people who will rank teams higher after a home loss as a 17-point favorite. It's all nonsense.

I suppose the good news is this doesn't actually matter. The bad news is we will be dealing with it until the end of time.