Voters didn't really care that Jerami Grant was absent against Georgia Tech...
This week's arbitrary rankings by coaches and media have arrived, and Syracuse falls for a third straight week -- this time to No. 11 in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll, respectively. Unlike other teams, Syracuse does not receive the benefit of the doubt when a player is injured. So despite beating Florida State on the road once Jerami Grant returned, most voters decided it didn't matter much to them.
The AP Voter(s) You Arbitrarily Love This Week: John Feinstein (NPR - Washington), you are this week's winner, moving the Orange up to No. 5. John Werner (Waco Tribune-Herald), Bret Strelow (Fayetteville Observer) and Matt McCoy (WTVN-AM) all voted Syracuse No. 6, rewarding Grant's return and the Orange's return to form.
The AP Voter(s) You Arbitrarily Hate This Week: There were several voters who (likely) didn't pay attention to Grant's absence, nor did they pay mind to this season's results when placing teams like UNC and Cincinnati (among others) in front of SU. Dave Borges (New Haven Register), Jon Wilner (San Jose Mercury News), Kevin Lyttle (Austin American-Statesman), Ed Graney (Las Vegas Review-Journal) and Mark Berman (Roanoke Times) all dropped the Orange all the way down to No. 13.
***
Looking at the overall voting, can't really take issue with folks who placed the Orange anywhere in the 9-11 range. Yes, other top teams suffered bad losses, but Georgia Tech is a miserable team and that was a home game. And while beating FSU was nice, it certainly wasn't an amazing feat by any means. I pointed out the problem with those that voted Syracuse at No. 13 (and there were plenty at No. 12, too), but it bears repeating: What on earth are you evaluating this team on if you think there are 11 or 12 teams in the country better than them?
For those curious where the rest of the ACC teams were slotted in this week's polls, Duke only dropped to sixth in the Coaches Poll and seventh in the AP poll, respectively, despite a bad loss to Wake Forest. Virginia's own bad loss to Maryland only saw them fall to No. 6 in the AP Poll and No. 8 in the Coaches. North Carolina was 15th in both polls. Pitt also received a few Coaches Poll votes.
Thoughts? I know this could go either way this week, depending on how rational or irrational you choose to look at this. Share your thoughts below.