West Virginia disrespect continues despite statement win in latest AP Top 25 poll

The West Virginia Mountaineersput on an impressive show in Charlotteon Saturday night, running away with a 38-27 victory over a then-ranked Virginia team in a neutral-site game. The game never really looked in doubt for the Mountaineers from mind-third quarter onward, and Mike Hawkins Jr. put on the type of performancenot seen by West Virginia fans since the Pat White era.

But despite all that, it's not enough to win ovr enough hearts nationally. On Sunday afternoon, the latest AP Top 25 Poll revealed who the media voters across the country feel are the best teams in America – and West Virginia narrowly missed the cut.

West Virginia just misses out in new AP Top 25 poll

Of course, Virginia dropped from the No. 25 spot straight out of the poll after losing to the Mountaineers. But West Virginia, looking every bit of a Big 12 contender and off to their first 3-0 start 2016,was nowhere to be found.

Well, that's not quite accurate. The Mountaineers did receive plenty of vote from voters, likely ones who had their eyes on the game and saw the statement performance the Mountaineers put on in Charlotte, and they were the third team receiving votes outside the top 25, wth 93 votes. The Mountaineers also doesn't seem to be on the radar of the coaches who vote in the Coaches Poll Top 25, where they also fell outside of the rankings.

Is West Virginia being left out disrespectful to the Mountaineers?

We get it. West Virginia, in all likelihood, isn't currently a Top 25 teams in terms of power rankings. They could be later this season if they keep playing like this, but we are just one-third of the way through the season.

But when looking at the current teams in the Top 25 and doing both a resume test and an eye test, there is no reason West Virginia shouldn't be in the rankings. They literally just beat a team that was in the ranking handily, but instead of rewarding West Virginia for that, Virginia got punished. The Cavaliers received no votes in the poll. Even the Pitt Panthers got 12 votes. Western Michigan, Tulsa, James Madison, and North Dakota State all received votes. But not Virginia.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M gets whooped at home by Kentucky. Yes, they beat Arizona State – but is it possible Arizona State won't look like an impressive win in a few weeks? It took Kansas gift-wrapping them a game in London to come back to the US with a win this weekend.

Houston is still ranked. They have a close loss to Texas Tech, yes, but their wins are Oregon State and an FCS opponent. It's not certain how much better that resume is than wins over Coastal Carolina, and FCS opponent, and a then-ranked Virginia. SMU is ranked after a competitive loss with Louisville, but their wins are a three-point victory over Florida State, whose brand doesn't carry the weight it used to, and an FCS win.

So is West Virginia's resume really worse than these other teams, especially considering how easily they beat Virginia on Saturday night, and how special Mike Hawkins Jr. looked? That's up for each voter to decide, apparently. But we're not so sure ourselves.

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