While the wackiness of the season's inaugural weeks caused me to abandon most of my balloting principles, a relatively stable weekend has resulted in a moment or two of enlightenment.
Time to embrace conviction, and re-establish those principles, regardless of the fallout.
Henceforth, I'm going to make concerted efforts not to penalize teams for winning in conference or being idle, and to lend minimal credence to style points. This is, after all, the 85-scholarship era. A win is a win.
These aren't hard-and-fast rules, mind you. Circumstances won't allow them to be rigidly observed. But they'll remain stern personal guidelines from here on.