My Associated Press football Top 25 preseason ballot

But first, a whole lot of boring preamble. (Skip way down if you just want the rankings, mine and AP's)

I know I'll have to mention this a few dozen more times here over the next few months, but the Associated Press poll has no bearing on the BCS. None. Na ... da. Not this one, not the last one. The preseason poll, by the way, was released today.

The only AP poll that really matters is the last one, when the organization votes on its national championship. And let's face it. AP's No. 1 team is always the one that wins the BCS title game. If the day comes when it isn't, we'll have a beauty of a controversy to discuss through eternity.

Second, the preseason ballot is the one that will get my least amount of thought and preparation. I admit it right now. Beyond who has a lot of good players back, the rest is guessing. So I just voted for the same top seven teams in the same order as my last ballot of the 2009 season.

For one thing, those seven teams are all supposed to be pretty good again. The order could be switched around endlessly, and I wouldn't say anyone was right or wrong.

So that's Alabama No. 1. I had Boise State No. 2 at the end of last season, being undefeated and all, after having upset an excellent TCU team in the Fiesta Bowl. Twenty-one of the other 59 pollsters agreed. Craig James, of ESPN and the Texas Tech/Mike Leach controversy, had the unbeaten Broncos No. 7. That was absurd.

I had Iowa sixth in the final poll. It finished seventh. It seems to have a prominent player or two returning.

I would have had the entire Top 25 the same as the one that I voted last January, but things broke down after No. 7. I just don't see Penn State, my No. 8 team at the end of last season, as a Top Ten team this go-round. I have the Nittany Lions at 15th, and that could be generous.

Now, this is the most important thing I'll say about all this: This season, I'm going to take AP's voting guidelines more literally than I  should have done last year. And it starts with this:

Base your vote on performance, not reputation or preseason speculation.

What that means to me is the team that has the most-impressive victory after the first week of play should be No. 1. And that stands a good chance of being the winner of the Boise State-Virginia Tech game in Washington, D.C.

Would a 48-7 opening win by Alabama over San Jose State outrank a Virginia Tech victory over the Broncos (or vice versa?) Maybe. But it's far from certain. Now, if Alabama dropkicks Penn State in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 11 ...

So my ballot will probably look weird (weirder?) to many of you in the first few weeks of the season until everyone has had a legitimate test or two. And I could knock Iowa down the latter a rung or six even if it mauls Eastern Illinois in its opener.

In the words of the campers in the Bill Murray movie "Meatballs," it just doesn't matter. If Iowa, for instance, has plowed through Iowa State, Arizona, Ball State and Penn State (three of them played in bowls last season) after the Eastern Illinois tune-up, it surely will be very high on my ballot. If it loses one or more of those games, it almost surely won't.

Enough, already. Here's my preseason Top 25, with the AP rank in parentheses:

1. Alabama (1)

2. Boise State (3)

3. Texas (5)

4. Florida (4)

5. Ohio State (2)

6. Iowa (9)

7. TCU (6)

8. Oklahoma (7)

9. Nebraska (8)

10. Miami FL (13)

11. Oregon (11)

12. Virginia Tech (10)

13. Wisconsin (12)

14. North Carolina (18)

15. Penn State (19)

16. Auburn (22)

17. Pittsburgh (15)

18. USC (14)

19. Georgia (23)

20. West Virginia (25)

21. Arkansas (17)

22. Utah (not rated)

23. Houston (NR)

24. Middle Tennessee State (NR)

25. Central Florida (NR)

Other ranked teams by AP: 16. Georgia Tech, 20. Florida State, 21. LSU, 24. Oregon State.