Column: Fond, and not-so-fond, remembrances of college football’s poll system

A few days from now, eyes will be fixed on the first top-25 list released by the College Football Playoff selection committee.

Those rankings, due for release Tuesday, will be the only ones that matter. So we thought this might be a good time to pay final-weekend hommage to the venerable, diminished poll system.

The Associated Press media rankings, along with the USA Today coaches’ poll, have served as fillers in advance of the all-star committee.

Some it was comic relief: Do you think the coaches will ever catch on that Oregon defeated Michigan State?

People still do care about seeing a numerical ranking in front of their team, no matter how flimsy the proposition.

Mississippi State has genuinely cherished the school’s first No. 1 ranking.

The AP remains the longest-serving, most credible poll in a sport that took forever to concede to a playoff. The AP poll began in 1936, more than a decade before college coaches introduced their ranking in 1950.

The AP index has had issues but has generally outshined the whistle-blowing blowhards.

The AP low point in recent memory was the Texas-California controversy in 2004, when several media members appeared to manipulate votes to maneuver Texas into the Rose Bowl.

It was a shameful period for the often-shameful Bowl Championship Series. The AP feigned it had no idea its poll had been used in the BCS formula since 1998. The AP issued a cease-and-desist order and then returned to covering real wars.

The AP high points were in 1997 and 2003. In 1997, Michigan entered the Rose Bowl against Washington State ranked No. 1 in both polls. Michigan won the game and the AP did what it should have done: it awarded Michigan its national title.

However, the coaches demoted Michigan to No. 2 and gave their title to Nebraska and retiring coach Tom Osborne.

The AP shined again in 2003 when it crowned top-ranked USC its national champion in defiance of the BCS. The coaches once again stripped a No. 1 team after it won the Rose Bowl. The coaches were contractually bound to vote the winner of the BCS title game No. 1, which that year was Louisiana State, after its Sugar Bowl win over Oklahoma.

USC missed the title game because it finished third in the BCS standings.

The AP will continue to crown its own independent champion, but it is extremely unlikely it will be different from the winner of a four-team playoff.

A glance through the lens of the AP top 10:

1. Mississippi State (6-0). The top-dog Bulldogs play at Kentucky to kick off a series of three games they should be able to handle before a potentially huge showdown against Alabama on Nov. 15. After this weekend, Mississippi State has home games against Arkansas and Tennessee Martin.

2. Florida State (7-0). The Seminoles survived another scare last weekend and now enjoy a weekend off in advance of Thursday’s Atlantic Coast Conference game at Louisville. That game is likely to be Florida State’s last serious obstacle en route to another undefeated regular season.

3. Mississippi (7-0). The Rebels’ game at Louisiana State is the most intriguing of the weekend. LSU is 0-2 against Southeastern Conference West teams but looks like a young, talented team on the rise.

4. Alabama (6-1). The question heading into Tennessee is whether the Crimson Tide can improve as a road team before playing at LSU on Nov. 8.

5. Auburn (5-1). The Tigers host South Carolina in a game that can reinforce Auburn’s title hopes, or reclaim dignity for a Steve Spurrier team that has been deeply disappointing.

6. Oregon (6-1). If the Ducks don’t defeat California in the Bay Area on Friday night, please drop-kick Oregon into the Willamette River.

7. Notre Dame (6-1). Coach Brian Kelly’s biggest bye-week fear was realized when reports surfaced that one of his players recently attended a New York Knicks game with a porn star.

8. Michigan State (6-1). It’s hard to imagine Michigan pulling off an upset in East Lansing. That’s sad to report in this once-compelling state rivalry.

9. Georgia (6-1). The class of the SEC East gets some rest time ahead of next week’s water-downed “cocktail party” against Florida.

10. Texas Christian (5-1). The Horned Frogs host Texas Tech but really have only two difficult games left: at West Virginia next week and at home against Kansas State on Nov. 8.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com