Associated Press Top 25 poll voters hit a new, ridiculous low with this week's results

At this point, it's reasonable to wonder if the voters who determine the Associated Press Top 25 poll are even trying anymore.

It's been a recurring problem in recent years, with the first part of the 2026 season showing once again that many poll voters are either not paying close enough attention, or are hopelessly consumed, or confused, by specific pro-conference or pro-team biases.

That observation was even more evident with the release of this week's poll, which has conclusively demonstrated, yet again, that preseason polls are given far too much importance and that no other conference gets the special treatment the SEC receives.

YES, THE SEC IS STILL GETTING RIDICULOUS PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT IN THE AP TOP 25 POLL

First? The Texas Longhorns. Texas has two poor quality losses this year, to the Oklahoma Sooners and a home loss to the Florida Gators. They have the miraculous escape over Ohio State, and a win over Ole Miss. They're No. 10 in the country. Texas Tech has just one loss, a bad one at Cincinnati, but two "ranked" wins in a surprisingly strong Big 12 Conference. They're No. 13.

We've had an entire offseason and half a season with SEC coaches, cough Lane Kiffin cough, complaining about moving to a nine-game schedule and demanding preferential treatment for their schedules, all while they're already getting it.

Missouri is No. 19, for some reason, despite an extremely unimpressive resume of providing losses for other SEC teams. They were blown out 31-3 by Ole Miss, lost to what's clearly a mediocre Mississippi State team, though at least that was with Kamario Taylor, but their big win over Florida now looks much less impressive considering the Gators' collapse.

But the biggest problem? Their ridiculous handling of that Florida team and the South Carolina Gamecocks. Exclusively because of their conference affiliation.

Florida has two impressive wins, over Ole Miss and Texas, but has three awful losses. Not one, not two, but three losses. They were blown out 45-17 at Missouri, blown out 38-19 by South Carolina, and blown out 27-8 by Georgia. That 27-8 loss was just on Saturday. Why are they ranked?

You could make the case that the Gators deserve to be in the top 25 had their three losses been even remotely close. They weren't. This is a deeply flawed team that is capable of flashes of brilliance against some opponents. They shouldn't be ranked. And they wouldn't be, if their jersey patch didn't have the SEC logo on it.

Meanwhile, Northwestern isn't ranked, despite having just two losses. Two close losses, to Indiana and a still-feisty Oregon Ducks team.

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South Carolina also has three losses, yet not only are they ranked, they're No. 23. At least Florida can point to Ole Miss and Texas, but the Gamecocks jumped into the top 25 after beating a very mediocre Oklahoma team. The