No Home Cookin' For BC In Preseason AP Poll

Boston College didn't crack the top 25 of the Associated Press preseason poll, and only received one point in the voting. That one vote didn't even come from the Boston Herald's Steve Conroy. Conroy did, however, place four of BC's 2010 opponents on his ballot -- Virginia Tech (10), Florida State (15), Notre Dame (24) and Clemson (25). 

BC's one vote came from a very unlikely place -- ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit. 

I guess you can't expect to get much love in the poll when your program's beat writer doesn't like the program's chances enough to put them in their Top 25.

This got me thinking about the biases in the AP poll. So I set out to answer the question which AP voters favored their team the most in their 2010 preseason ballot? Think of the following top 5 as the AP's equivalent to the BlogPoll's Coulter/Kos award. With a huge assist from Pollspeak.com, here are five AP voters with preseason ballots that included a healthy serving of home cookin'.

1. Desmond Conner, Hartford Courant - Conner, the UConn football beat writer for the Courant, ranked his Huskies #21 on his preseason ballot. Only one of the AP's 59 other voters agreed -- the Tampa Tribune's Scott Carter -- while 58 ballot either had the Huskies lower or not on the ballot at all. UConn opens the season at Michigan.

2. Tom Hart, Big Ten Network - Sure, Tom is representing a TV network that covers an entire conference, but if you do a little digging, you'll note in Hart's bio that he is a Missouri grad. Hart voted accordingly, placing the Tigers at #21 on his ballot. Only two other voters ranked Mizzou higher, while 57 either kept Missouri off their ballot entirely or ranked them lower than 21.

3. Adam Zuvanich, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal - Zuvanich's beat includes Texas Tech football for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Only 2 voters had the Red Raiders ranked higher than 24, Adam's rank for TTU, while 56 voters left Texas Tech off their ballot entirey. TTU opens the season at home against SMU.

4. Eric Hansen, South Bend Tribune - Hansen ranked the Irish at 22 on his preseason ballot. Only 3 voters had the Irish ranked higher while 56 voters had the Irish lower in their polls. The Irish open the season hosting Purdue.

5. Mike DeArmond, Kansas City Star - DeArmond, who covers the Missouri Tigers, voted his team at 23. Fifty-six other voters disagree, either placing Missouri at 24, 25 or leaving them off the ballot entirely. Missouri opens the season against Illinois in the Arch Rivalry, the last game in the series for a few years.

Honorable mention: Garland Gillen of WWL-TV Channel 4 out of New Orleans ranked LSU at 14. One voter agreed, one voter had the Tigers higher, and 58 had LSU lower. Wade Denniston, who covers Utah State football for the Logan (UT) Herald-Journal, loves him some Utah football. He ranks BYU at 11 and Utah at 17, the highest individual ballot rankings for both programs.