How the poll works
Each credentialed voter submits a ranked ballot of 25 teams every week; points are added up and the published Top 25 is the order of total points.
An invite-only panel, published every season
1st place = 25 points … 25th = 1
Released with the poll, with outliers flagged
Points: 25 to 1
A team earns 26 minus its rank on each ballot (25 for first, down to 1 for 25th). A team left off gets 0 from that voter. The maximum is 25 points times the number of voters.
Ties share a rank (shown as “T-12”) and the next rank is skipped. Within a tie, teams are listed by first-place votes, then alphabetically.
First-place votes
The number in parentheses after a team is how many voters ranked it No. 1. First-place votes add no bonus beyond the 25 points already counted; they show how decisive the top spot is.
“On X of N ballots”
On X of N ballots means X voters ranked that team somewhere from 1 to 25, and the rest left it off. It measures how broad support is, which points alone can hide.
Others, dropped out, no longer receiving votes
- Others receiving votes: teams with points outside the Top 25, by points.
- Dropped out of the Top 25: ranked last week, not ranked this week (may still be receiving votes).
- No longer receiving votes: had points last week, none this week.
Eligibility
- Voting is by invitation only. The panel includes media members and others who follow the sport closely.
- Each voter's affiliation is listed on the voter roster.
- One ballot per voter per week.
- Every program in the division is eligible, including schools moving up from another division. Transitioning programs aren't held out or penalized.
Ballot window
Opening time follows the sports calendar for that week. The Monday deadline below is Central.
- 48 hours before the week endsVoting opens
The ballot for that week opens on the sports calendar, 48 hours before the week's window closes. It is not a fixed Saturday time.
- Before the deadlineReminders
Voters who haven't submitted may be reminded ahead of the deadline.
- Mon., 9 a.m. CentralPublish deadline
Ballots are due by 9 a.m. Central (8 a.m. Mountain). A ballot stays editable until that week's poll is published.
- When the poll publishesTabulation
Points, ranks, movement, and outlier flags are calculated.
- Same momentPublish
An admin reviews the outlier report and publishes the poll, and the ballots go public at the same moment.
Transparency
- All ballots are public when the poll publishes: the grid, each voter's ballot, and the voter roster.
Outlier policy
An outlier is a rank 8 or more spots from that team's published rank. The published rank includes teams that received votes outside the Top 25.
Leaving a published Top 25 team off a ballot is listed on its own, separate from outliers. Ranking a team that missed the Top 25 is an outlier only when the gap is 8 spots or more. A 25th-place vote for a team the poll placed just outside, within 7 spots, stays unflagged. A team with no published rank is unflagged too.
- Flags are informational; ballots are never altered.