As I suspected, my 15th and final ballot of the season was the most difficult to complete, for one overriding reason.
In my way of thinking, it had to represent teams' total body of work, not merely bowl performance. But because the latter remains freshest in the minds of most, I'm braced for a degree of backlash.
Case in point: Florida. By season's end, few would argue the Gators -- who dropped their last three with a feeble offense and laughable kicking situation -- hardly resembled a top-25 contender. But what about their previous 10 victories, which included triumphs against Ole Miss, Tennessee and Georgia?