Let’s give the AP voters some credit: Unlike the amazing cowards that coach college football and vote in the weekly USA Today Coaches Poll, the media members make public their top 25 votes every single week (the weasel coaches only do that after the final poll). And we’re all for diverting from group think and making interesting, different picks.

That said, what on earth was The Buffalo (NY) News reporter Rodney McKissic thinking when not only did he drop South Florida to 10th, but had Virginia Tech 6th, Missouri 7th, Hawaii 8th, Cincinnati 12th, and Florida State 18th?!?!

McKissic’s vote (which you can see here, and all the voters here) seems to swing between giving the little guy a chance, then ignoring the results and going strictly on history. Based on 2007 games, how on earth is Virginia Tech 6th? Was it the 41-point loss at LSU? The 7-point nailbiter they won at home over 1-4 North Carolina? The 10-point home win over a 2-3 East Carolina team (who also beat North Carolina)?

By the way, South Florida has wins over West Virginia (number 11 in your poll), and at Auburn. You know, the same team that beat Florida on Saturday. Yet somehow the Bulls rank four slots below Virginia Tech.

In his vote, McKissic has the Bulls behind three other unbeaten teams who, while fine squads, have nowhere near the star power of wins South Florida has. Missouri is 7th, and because of a 4-0 record and the dearth of unbeaten teams (and a win at Illinois) deserves to be close to the top ten … but not THAT high.

Hawaii? Nice story, but honestly, who have they played?

Boston College? A team that struggled to a 10-point home win against Massachusetts?

How long are voters, both coaches and media, going to drop Big East teams because they play in the Big East? (a bogus theory indeed: The league went 4-0 in bowl games last year, despite Alabama coach Nick Saban’s attempt to discredit the conference) Show me a team that’s won two games as big as South Florida this year. No, they’re not the best team in the land, but to ignore facts for the Bulls and a handful of other teams is an irresponsible use of something that could decide the national title contestants.

But maybe McKissic has one positive: He’s not Saban. Congrats on that.