The college football world once breathlessly waited each week for the AP poll. The coaches poll, too, I suppose, but we long ago learned that the coaches put little intellectual energy into their ballots. So the AP reigned supreme.
Not so much anymore, with the advent of the College Football Playoff and the weekly rankings that start in late October. The playoff rankings send the AP poll to the curb every year, since what the committee thinks is infinitely more important than what the media panel thinks.
So the AP poll now is just a nice list to use the first couple of months of the season.