Pollsters administer swift and austere justice

The AP and USA have come under scrutiny this week on the validity of the pre-season poll as there is no true data other than returning starters to go on, does it give some schools an unfair advantage and place a “glass ceiling” on others? Well, in order to help balance the scales the polls have been greatly rewarding the risk takers and subsequently handing down stiff penalties for those that disappoint. The most notable movers this week were:

Ole Miss – Sentenced to the equivalent of the “Death Penalty”, as they get hammered 17 places in the AP to 21 after a tough SEC road loss to the Ol’ Ball Coach. Why their drop is so significant in relation to others is because of the tough road they’ll face with their SEC schedule. No doubt they’ll taste defeat again and the hopes of a 2-loss team climbing that many places to get back to BCS status is remote.

California – No East Coast bias here, Cal gets the same sentence and drops 18 spots from 6 to 24 after getting smoked in Eugene. This sentence is even worse than that handed down to Ole’ Miss because the Pac-10 doesn’t provide the quality wins that a SEC schedule would so Cal can’t climb all the way back even if they run the table.

Penn St. – Actually, a light sentence for being found guilty of a home loss to an unranked opponent, but they’re actually not out of the picture at 15 (11 spot drop) as they should run the table in a weak Big-10 with their shot at Ohio St. and a BCS game on the horizon. What has fallen off the radar is a NCG reservation.

Miami – the pollsters giveth and taketh away, as the benefactors of a nostalgic gravitational pull towards matchups of Orange Bowls past the ‘Canes went from obscurity to top ten with a bullet (and a Fla. St. dropped pass) only to have the slipper get smashed in Blacksburgh. However now Miami is justly ranked and should be able to win the ACC but they’ll have to put up a good showing at home against OU next week to be in contention for a BCS bid.

Florida State – It’s hard to tell where this pendulum will stop with this team as they osculate from a tough home loss to a Miami team that turned out to be better than expected to upsetting a BYU team that many thought was BCS bound, to getting kicked out of the top 25, and justifiably so, after a terrible home loss to USF, and it’s wasn’t the University of San Francisco.

Did the crime justify the punishment for these schools or was it too “Jack McCoy”?