College Football: USA Today Sports Information Direct... ummm..Coaches poll released.

The College Football poll with the most misleading name ever was released today:

The Amway Coaches Poll  

While it's not too wrong at the top, the bottom half leaves much to be desired....

1. Alabama (Duh)

2. Ohio State (Yup)

3. Florida State (Uh-huh)

4. USC (ehhh...)

5. Clemson (uh uh)

6. Penn State (OK)

7. Washington (more on this later)

8. Oklahoma (about right)

9. Michigan (meh)

10. Wisconsin (yes)

11. Oklahoma State (good)

12. LSU (sure)

13. Auburn (more in a bit)

14. Stanford (nope)

15. Georgia (sure, why not)

16. Florida (much too low)

17. Louisville (low)

18 Miami (meh)

19. Kansas State (way, way too high)

20 West Virginia (too high)

21 South Florida (probably too low)

22 Virginia tech (low)

23 Texas (low)

24 Tennessee (meh)

25 Utah (nope)

Teams also receiving votes are in the following order:

26. Washington State (high)

27. Colorado (high)

28 TCU (low)

29 Boise State (low)

Tie Notre Dame (high)

31 Texas A&M (high)

32 Pittsburgh (high)

33 NC State (high)

34 Oregon (OK)

35 Northwestern (high)

There are more but I'll stop there.

My biggest issue?  In the top 35 these esteemed "coaches" only saw fit to include 2 (two) non Power 5 conference schools.

South Florida at 21 is a joke. Based on paper (and at this point the poll is entirely based on paper) they should contend for a top 10 ranking this year and will more than likely be the Group of 5 representative to the "Here's a Cookie Now Don't Sue Us Bowl" of the year, the Cotton Bowl.  This slot was designed to prevent the Group of 5 conferences from suing due to a total lack of inclusion into the CFP.

Not said however, the way that the CFP excludes the Group of 5 conferences from playoff participation is by artificially ranking them low in the first place. The same can be said for Boise State, and Western Kentucky, and Toledo and whoever the hell voted Tulsa higher than Houston this year.

Think about this:  Arizona has 2 votes, one higher than projected conference winner Toledo and it's more than likely the Wildcats are going to have a losing season and get their coach fired this year.

The conference breakdown of the Top 25 is as follows:

SEC - 6 (of course)

ACC - 5

BigXII - 5

B1G - 4

PAC-12 - 4

AAC - 1

That the BigXII has more schools in the top 25 than the PAC 12 is crazy. That they have more than the BIG is defensible, but still out of sorts.  That this poll factors into calculating the members of the College Football Playoff is just sad.

Now, I'm not suggesting that Western Kentucky or Wyoming or Toledo could beat Alabama. But don't you think there's a better than average chance they COULD beat Utah or Kansas State?

Yup, and that's why this poll is so flawed.