Coco still likes me. Of that I am sure. Dogs really are man’s best friend.

As for the part of the college football world centered in Alabama and Ohio, not so much.

I have, it seems, sinned a great sin. I have followed in the dark-side-of-the-force footsteps blazed by Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter and Clinton Portis.

Passion hits me in waves of e-mails and phone calls and, surprisingly, tweets. They tell me, in so many words, that I am an idiot, that I should be fired, that I have embarrassed myself, the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, the journalistic profession and the free world.

Coco still likes me. Did I mention that?

My crime is simple — I am the only one on this week’s AP football poll to vote Boise State No. 1. It has been that way the last two weeks. The seven others who previously picked the Broncos changed their votes. Fifty-three of my fellow media voters selected Alabama. Five chose Ohio State. One picked Texas.

The Texas voter, I’m sure, gets no grief. Texas is considered major-college royalty and worthy of such mention despite a roster full of vulnerability (it is ranked seventh in the AP poll). Boise State, despite impressive tradition and credentials, is not.

That’s a shame.

Boise State is 51-4 over the last four years, made everybody’s preseason top-five list, has earned eight straight bowl bids, has beaten Oregon twice and Oklahoma once in recent years, and returns 20 of 22 starters from a 14-0 Fiesta Bowl-winning team. That makes it, by far, the most experienced team in America. If ever there was a non-BCS conference school that had a chance to win a national championship, this is it.

Do I even watch college football, the e-mails ask.

Did you know Boise State has a Heisman Trophy candidate in quarterback Kellen Moore, who is 28-1 as a starter and who threw 39 touchdowns against three interceptions last year. That it has a thousand-yard rusher and, basically, a pair of thousand-yard receivers as part of one of the nation’s most explosive offenses (42.0 points a game)?

Have you ever seen Alabama play, the e-mails ask. They smashed Penn State, a ranked team. Boise State would be lucky to finish fifth in the SEC.

I try to respond (Penn State started a true freshman quarterback on the road and was a big underdog), but the messages come too fast too often–even tweets from a co-worker who should know better.

The delete button, by the way, is a wonderful thing.

Why would you rank a cup-cake team like Boise, an e-mailer asks. You should be banned from ever casting a vote again. You are a bozo.

Did you know that the same arguments and insults used against the Boise State vote could have been applied to Butler basketball if someone had voted the Bulldogs No. 1 last November? That Butler was a pretender from a weak conference that had no business belonging with the big boys despite a top-10 early rating.

And then, of course, Butler showed it did belong.

The difference is that basketball has a playoff. Butler, a veteran, talented team, had the opportunity to prove itself. It just missed winning it all.

Boise State, ranked No. 3 behind Alabama and Ohio State, might not get that chance. It didn’t last year when Alabama and Texas met in the BCS championship game. If Boise State had faced Alabama, it might have been the Broncos, rather than the Crimson Tide, that won the championship.

We’ll never know.

I will stay true to my convictions and not be swayed by insults and pressure. I will cuddle with Coco, an adorable Sheltie wise beyond her species. In fact, I will cuddle now and …

Coco is barking the Alabama fight song.

Oh no!