My final AP Top 25 ballot

My preseason No. 1 team was Alabama. So I guess I didn't need to waste all that time filling out ballots between then and Monday night.

1. Alabama (12-1). It's always been my dream to vote a team No. 1 in the nation after it didn't win its conference or even its division. But this was the best team.

2. Oklahoma State (12-1). I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure the Cowboys would have run more than four plays in Alabama territory had it played the Tide in the BCS title game.

3. LSU (13-1). Great season, great team, but we all know the enduring memory.

4. Stanford (11-2). One of the best two-loss teams you'll ever see.

5. USC (10-2). Another of the best two-loss teams you'll ever see.

6. Arkansas (11-2). Only losses were to Alabama and LSU, so ... pretty, pretty good.

7. Oregon (12-2).  Yeah, I have the Pac-12 champs as my third Pac-12 team in the rankings. Since when do conference standings matter for anything?

8. Boise State (12-1). Had the Broncos beaten TCU ...

9. South Carolina (11-2). Win 11 games, be on the SEC's undercard. Tough conference.

10. Wisconsin (11-3). A Big Ten title, and yet, what might have been.

11. Michigan State (11-3). Not the best team, but few in the nation had more heart. Iowa fans should hang on to this fact in this long offseason: Wisconsin and Michigan State had senior quarterbacks in 2011.

12. Michigan (11-2). News flash: The Wolverines are back.

13. Baylor (10-3). For those who haven't been paying attention, Baylor is suddenly a sports powerhouse.

14. TCU (11-2). The Horned Frogs' bowl win was 19 days ago.

15. Houston (13-1): Highest Top 25 finish for any team that ever played in a TicketCity Bowl.

16. Oklahoma (10-3). The preseason No. 1 team ended the season at the Insight Bowl. But it left happy.

17. Kansas State (10-3). Bill Snyder should have been the national Coach of the Year.

18. West Virginia (10-3): I'm still trying to wrap my mind around West Virginia in the Big 12. Has anyone in college athletics looked at a Rand McNally lately?

19. Southern Mississippi (11-2): This is the best team in America with a knockoff Iowa Tiger Hawk logo.

20. Georgia (10-4). Dawgs won an SEC division title. Of course, UCLA won a Pac-12 division title.

21. Florida State (10-3). The state of Florida once was to college football what the state of Alabama is now.

22. Nebraska (9-4). Cornhusker Country doesn't look kindly on playing in Capital One Bowls, let alone playing losing them. But it was the best bowl the Huskers have seen in five years.

23. Virginia Tech (11-3). Again, why would Boise State-Michigan not have been a better game than Virginia Tech-Michigan?

24. Northern Illinois (11-3). Huskies will take a 9-game winning streak into its Sept. 1 game against Iowa in Chicago.

25. North Dakota State (14-1).  Yeah, that's right. FCS champion North Dakota State. The team that beat Georgia Southern, 35-7, in a national semifinal a few weeks after Georgia Southern rushed for 302 yards on 39 carries and scored 21 points against ... ALABAMA!