AP Poll voter addresses scrutiny after moving Florida up on ballot despite USF loss
By Rolando Rosa
Published:
Florida fell at home to American Conference program South Florida in Week 2. The Gators plummeted from No. 13 to entirely out of the AP poll. Meanwhile, after its second straight victory vs. a ranked opponent, South Florida entered the rankings at No. 18.
However, AP voter Haley Sawyer of the SoCal News Group had a mystifying ballot that somehow had Florida moving up 2 spots while still keeping South Florida unranked.
Sawyer has received public wrath both from South Florida fans and college football fans in general over the last day or so. Given an opportunity to explain her ballot, Sawyer declined.
“I don’t want to go too much into my process or logic…” Sawyer said in a video. “But I will say I appreciate everyone’s interaction on social media and all of your feedback.
“There’s ton of people who vote on the AP Poll. It’s not a perfect system, but at the end of the day, no matter who you pick, it does even out because there’s so many people who vote … It’s really fun for discussion but it doesn’t probably matter in the end.”
Ultimately, Sawyer’s ballot was an extreme outlier so it didn’t result in significant changes to this week’s AP Poll.
Florida will have ample opportunities to get back into the rankings based on merit in the coming weeks, starting with a road contest at No. 3 LSU on Saturday. South Florida also has an opportunity to move up in the AP Top 25 — and perhaps land a spot on Sawyer’s ballot — against Miami on Saturday.
