This shows the problem with the polls and committee...
Taking a look at aggy, many votes come from out of market. That's because 90 percent of the voters only watch 1 or 2 games (if that). Then they turn to ESPN to catch the breakdown of Saturday's action. And we all know there is no bigger SEC sunshine pumper than ESPN. Even the editing of the game highlights are tinted when it comes to ESPN...
Granted, 99 percent of the entire Nation is well aware of the ESPN--SEC favoritism, but out of market voters/writers have caved to peer pressure, so publicly fall in line with the ESPN tune. Looking at voters this season (past couple of years), the further away from the SEC footprint, the less likely an SEC team gets penalized for a loss. Voters way North/West don't follow SEC mid pack teams closely. So they go with the ESPN flow. It reflects in the polls (especially pre polls) each year... There is a reason dictators control the media in their countries, and it's no different here when the biggest sports content provider has it's own conference to pimp.