Miami cracks top 10, BYU takes a dive as head-to-heads wreak havoc

The Associated Press doesn't offer too much direction to its poll voters, but it spells out one voting guideline pretty clearly: Pay attention to head-to-head results.

That order absolutely killed me as I constructed my poll ballot on Sunday morning. I had to drop USC for losing to Washington, but I couldn't drop the Trojans below Ohio State, because USC won in the Horseshoe a week earlier. I had to drop BYU below Florida State -- which had to be ranked below Miami -- but I couldn't rank the Cougars below Oklahoma, a team BYU beat two weeks earlier.

So I followed the rules and kept all the head-to-head winners above the head-to-head losers, with one exception. I didn't jump Washington over USC, because I didn't rank the Huskies. Sorry, but before they beat the Trojans, they had won one game (against Idaho) since 2007. If they handle Stanford this week, the Huskies probably will crack next week's poll.

But I'm not sure I can rank them above USC if the Trojans begin winning again. The head-to-head rule makes perfect sense, but at some point, I have to rank teams based on their body of work. By keeping the head-to-head winners above the teams they vanquished, I stiffed Cincinnati -- which deserved to move up and didn't -- and Virginia Tech -- which didn't deserve to move down.

Besides, we're headed for a scenario that could turn head-to-head on its head. If Miami beats Virginia Tech this week, the Hurricanes will be 3-0 going into a matchup with 2-1 Oklahoma. If the Sooners win, they'll have beaten Miami, which beat Florida State, which beat BYU. Hugh Falk, the proprietor of Pollspeak.com, suspects this chain of events would force voters to shut down like the logic-operated android women from Star Trek: The Shatner Generation. I'm guessing it'll look more like the money scene from the 1981 classic Scanners. In other words, we're going to need a mop to clean up the mess.

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