ZB you realize the reason why there is so much weight put into the AP poll is because there is no actual national championship award for college football. There's the BCS, and as far as I can tell (please correct me if I am wrong) they are a seperate entity from the NCAA. From the BCS website:
http://www.bcsfootball.org/news/story?id=4809793
No where does it say anything about crowning a national champion, simply to ensure a macthup between 1 vs 2. The Coaches Poll is obligated to crown the BCS winner it's champion, but it's still an independent poll just like the AP.
The reason I bring this up is because if college football were to institute a playoff system, whether 4,8, 12 or 16 teams, this would obviously blow up the current BCS format and force the NCAA to officially crown a national champion, making the final AP poll as meaningless as CBB.