Posts like this, you could argue, suggest I have too much time on my hands. I prefer to think of it as being thorough ... diligent ... detail-oriented. In all, the research took a mere 15 minutes.

I went through all 65 ballots in the Associated Press Top 25, and as I expected, found a wide spectrum of opinions as to where USF should be ranked after losing back-to-back games. You find the Bulls ranked in every position from 11th to 25th, with at least two votes in every position from 14th down. There are seven voters who did not have the Bulls in their top 25; I won't name them, but will point out they're from Alabama, Arizona, Michigan, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming, suggesting no perceptible geographic bias.

Most common ranking? Eighteenth, with nine ballots. The highest three ballots are from consistent USF believers -- Joe Giglio of the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer has USF 11th, Rich Kaipust of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald has the Bulls 12th, and SI.com's Stewart Mandel has USF ranked 13th.

Famous-people ballots? The Times' Brian Landman has USF 18th, and there's a poetry in the head-to-head, A-greater-than-B accuracy of this run: 17. Connecticut; 18. USF; 19. Auburn; 20. Florida. Mandel has the same run on his ballot, only from 12th to 15th. ESPN folks? Chris Fowler is one of five voters who have USF 25th; Kirk Herbstreit and Craig James are among six who have the Bulls 22nd.

Ah, if only the coaches' ballots were public during the season. Or even the Harris voters -- with 120 of them, I'd never get sleep.