Miami being left off an AP voter's top 25 ballot deserves an open investigation

How did this happen again? Genuinely... how did this happen again?

No. 4 Miami was left off one Associated Press Top 25 ballot this week, and it is just unimaginable that this could happen twice in the first four weeks of the season.

An honest mistake, or something more? A Canes Warning Investigation

WSLS-TV's Eric Johnson, a voter who covers Virginia Tech, submitted a Week 4 ballot that did not include Miami. Miami was the highest-ranked team omitted from any ballot in the poll released Sunday, and there is still some confusion as to why Johnson left off the Canes.

Miami is 4-0, has 1,501 points, received one first-place vote and sits behind only Texas, Georgia and Notre Dame. The Hurricanes have outscored Stanford, Florida A&M, Wake Forest and Central Michigan 207-36. Creg Stephenson had Miami No. 1 and the next-lowest ranking had the Hurricanes at No. 9.

With such a mistake, all things must be considered.

• Was this an ACC-on-ACC crime?
• Is he punishing Miami in some way because of the lack of competition to begin the season?
• Where were the Canes ranked in his previous ballots?
• Did he do this to any other teams?
• Was this an honest mistake (hopefully)?

Useful history and context

Top 10 teams that were left off a ballot from an AP voter in 2026

• Week 1: No. 7 Miami omitted by Brian Fonseca
• Week 3: No. 9 BYU omitted by Jerry Humphrey (accident)
• Week 4: No. 4 Miami omitted by Eric Johnson

Johnson's previous Miami rankings for the 2026 season

• Preseason: No. 4
• Week 1: No. 4
• Week 2: No. 6
• Week 3: No. 7
• Week 4: unranked

Examining Week 4 ballot

Johnson's top 25 ballot was all over the place. It's still pretty early in the season, so there will naturally be more variance as voters weigh data points differently. But there were other things to note with his ballot.

He put Michigan where?!

He ranked 3-1 Michigan at No. 18 and was the only voter who had the Wolverines that high. Coming off of a loss to Iowa, and having generally low stock due to the controversial win over Western Michigan and the complete collapse of Oklahoma, Michigan received 54 points and finished 31st in the full voting.

Johnson also ranked Penn State No. 20. The Nittany Lions are 3-1 after losing to Wisconsin and dropped out of the poll entirely. In Week 3, he had Penn State at No. 12.

ACC teams don't add up

Johnson placed Virginia Tech at No. 19 and ranked Louisville No. 23. The Hokies are 4-0, received 86 points and finished 30th, while the Cardinals (2-2) are out of the Top 25 after a loss to Wake Forest, received 25 points and finished 34th in the voting. The Demon Deacons are 3-1, with the only loss coming against Miami. Johnson did not rank Wake Forest.

Wake Forest just barely missed out on the top 25 with 88 points. Even if Johnson had ranked them No. 1, it would not have been enough to get the Demon Deacons into the top 25. Regardless, his ACC rankings are all over the place and the only thing that adds up is his ranking of VT.

Has an error been acknowledged?

Usually with these mistakes, the AP voter explains how/why the omission occurred and everybody calls it a day. With this scenario, there seems to have been posts explaining the error, but they were tough to find.

With the irregularities within the ballot, paired with leaving off Miami entirely, it's safe to say that this was probably a mistake. He should have taken a closer look at the ballot, though, or however this was entered into the computer.

Saturday (and gamedays for that matter) can be long for those who cover college football, but mistakes like these hurt the sport, even if it feels like the AP poll is irrelevant nowadays. Let's hope this doesn't happen again to any team... especially Miami.

Final verdict: Honest mistake

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