I'm almost mad at myself for not thinking of this first so I could take credit for coming up with such a good idea. Sports Illustrated, in reaction to the AFCA closing final Coaches' Poll ballots and emboldened by courtroom wins in the FSU academics case, will use state and federal Freedom of Information Acts to acquire the 51 ballots of coaches who work at public schools.

There is no reason why they should not be released under FOIAs because doing so would not violate any kinds of confidentiality protected by law. Andy Staples mentions the possibility of a school claiming that because ballots are phoned in, no paper trail exists, but that's extremely unlikely.

Bravo to SI, and I look forward both to seeing the ballots and to seeing what kind of terrible excuses the schools try to make for not releasing them. Also, bravo to Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly for speaking out in favor of transparency in the Coaches' Poll. At least there's one sane guy in the bunch.