AP College Football Poll Voter Taking Heat for No. 1 Pick

To overreact or not to overreact to the first week, that is the question.

The most interesting AP Poll of the year might be the one released after the first week of the season.

By this point, the initial rankings have been ingrained in fans’ minds for weeks. It’s the first opportunity to reevaluate college football’s pecking order based on data from the current season rather than last season, and the outsized importance of first impressions to voters can lead to giant rises and falls in the polls.

Brett McMurphy, a veteran college football reporter for the Action Network, was subject to one such first impression. In response to No. 8 Florida State’s dominant 45–24 win over No. 5 LSU in Orlando Sunday evening, McMurphy anointed the Seminoles the No. 1 team in the country.

It was an audacious selection that drew comment throughout the college football world.

Shockingly, Florida fans objected.

Many protested the knee-jerk nature of McMurphy's selection.

Although many Florida State fans celebrated the pick, a few disagreed, with at least one pointing to the Seminoles’ treatment in 2014 as reason not to immediately disregard Georgia.

Still, observers recognized that Florida State's return to glory was years in the making.