The Big Ten engenders resentment. It’s the default television conference for the Midwest and the Northeast. It receives more media attention than the football merits. There’s a backlash from other areas of the country. Fans in the South and west feel their local rivalries deserve equal billing with THE GAME. The spirit of reprisal has even infiltrated the ivory towers of the prestigious Associated Press Poll. Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News has been bludgeoning Big Ten teams all season, reserving particular venom for Wisconsin.

Big Ten teams have been rated in the Top 25 of the AP Poll thirteen times over the first three weeks. Only once, Iowa after the second week, was Wolf not on the extreme low end ranking Big Ten teams. He was on the moderate low end.  Here are his Big Ten rankings.

Preseason: Ohio State #6 (55/59 higher, average 2.67), Iowa #14 (56/59 higher, average 9.22), Wisconsin #25 (59/59 higher, average 12.3), Penn State (unranked, actual #19)

Wolf is the only voter to have Wisconsin lower than #20. He is one of only eight AP voters to leave Penn State unranked.

Week 1: Ohio State #6 (59/59 higher, average 2.47), Iowa #13 (55/59 higher, average 8.6), Wisconsin #23 (59/59 higher, average 11.32), Penn State (unranked, actual #18)

Wolf has the lowest rating for Ohio State, one of seven voters ranking them lower than #3. Wolf is the only writer with Wisconsin ranked lower than #18. Wolf is one of six AP voters to have Penn State unranked.

Week 2: Ohio State #7 (58/58 higher, average 2.1), Iowa #10 (40/58 higher, average 8.42), Wisconsin #22 (58/58 higher, average 11.51), Michigan (unranked, actual #20), Penn State (unranked, actual #22)

Ohio State drops to #7, despite beating Wolf’s Week One #8 Miami. Wolf is the only AP voter with Ohio State lower than #3. Wolf is the only AP voter with Wisconsin ranked lower than 16. Wolf is one of only three AP voters to leave Michigan unranked.

Wolf is entitled to his opinion, even if it’s biased, but the problem is College Football polls aren’t for shits and giggles. They affect the season. The AP recused itself from the BCS process, but it still awards a national title. Journalists are creating the news they are supposed to cover. In Wolf’s case, he appears to be actively influencing the news based on personal prejudice. In what other genre of “journalism” would that be acceptable?

[Photo via Getty]